5. AKHNATON THE “SON OF GOD” BY TRADITIONAL RIGHT.
It may be understood how the boy longed for truth in all things when one remembers the thousand exaggerated conventions of Egyptian life at this time. Court etiquette had developed to a degree which rendered life to the Pharaoh an endless round of unnatural poses of mind and body. In the preaching of his doctrine of truth and simplicity Akhnaton did not fail to call upon his subjects to regard their Pharaoh not as a celestial god, as had been the custom, but as a man, though, of course, one of divine origin. It was usual for the Pharaoh to keep aloof from his people: Akhnaton was to be found in their midst. The court demanded that their lord should drive in solitary state through the city: Akhnaton stood in his chariot with his wife and children, and allowed the artist to represent him joking therein with his little daughter. In portraying the Pharaoh the artist was expected to draw him in some conventional attitude of dignity: Akhnaton insisted upon being shown in all manner of natural attitudes—now leaning languidly upon a staff, now nursing his children, and now eating his dinner. Thus again one sees his objection to heroics, and his love of naturalness.
Akhnaton driving with his Wife and Daughter.
But while he strove for truth and sincerity in this manner he did not attempt to remove from his mind the belief in which he had been brought up, that as Pharaoh of Egypt he was himself partly divine. Not only was he by reason of his religion the representative, and hence, in a manner of speech, the “son” of God, but by right of royal descent he was the “son of the Sun.” The names of the Pharaohs were always surrounded by an oval band, known as a cartouche, which was the distinguishing mark of a royal name. Akhnaton wrote the name of the Aton within such an oval, thus indicating that the Pharaoh’s royal rights were also held by, and therefore derived from, God Himself. There was thus, as Christ later taught His disciples to believe, a kingdom of heaven over which God presided; and although impersonal, intangible, and incomprehensible, the Aton was the very “King of kings, the only ruler of princes.” Amon-Ra and other of the old deities had been called at various times “King of the gods.” Akhnaton, however, applied to Aton the words “King and God.”
Akhnaton is spoken of as “the unique one of Ra, whose beauties Aton created,” and as “the beloved son of Aton,” whom “Aton bare.” Addressing the Aton, his courtiers were wont to say, “Thy rays are on Thy bright image, the Ruler of Truth (i.e., the King), who proceeded from eternity. Thou givest to him Thy duration and Thy years; Thou hearkenest to all that is in his heart, because Thou lovest him. Thou makest him like the Aton, him Thy child, the King.” “Thou lookest on him, for he proceeded[48] from Thee.” “Thou hast placed him beside Thee for ever and ever, for he loves to gaze upon Thee.... Thou hast set him there till the swan shall turn black and the crow turn white, till the hills rise up to travel and the deeps rush into the rivers.” “While heaven is, he shall be.” Some of the Pharaohs had called themselves “the beautiful child of Amon”; and Akhnaton, borrowing this phrase, was sometimes spoken of as “the beautiful child of the Aton.”[49]
Akhnaton and his Wife and Children.
In his capacity as Pharaoh and “son of God,” Akhnaton demanded and received a very considerable amount of ceremonial homage; but he never blinded himself to the fact that he was primarily but a simple man. He most sincerely wished that his private life should be a worthy example to his subjects, and he earnestly desired that it should be observed in all its naturalness and simplicity. He did his utmost to elevate the position of women and the sanctity of the family by displaying to the world the ideal conditions of his own married life. He made a point of caressing his wife in public, putting his arm around her neck in the sight of all men. As we have seen, one of his forms of oath was, “As my heart is happy in the Queen and her children....” He spoke of his wife always as “Mistress of his happiness, ... at hearing whose voice the King rejoices.” “Lady of grace” was she, “great of love” and “fair of face.” Every wish that she expressed, declared Akhnaton, was executed by him. Even on the most ceremonious occasions the queen sat beside her husband and held his hand, while their children frolicked around them; for such things pleased that gentle father more than the savour of burnt-offerings. It is seldom that the Pharaoh is represented in the reliefs without his family; and, in opposition to all tradition, the queen is shown upon the same scale of size and importance as that of her husband. Akhnaton’s devotion to his children is very marked, and he taught his disciples to believe that God was the father, the mother, the nurse, and the friend of the young. Thus, though “son of God,” Akhnaton preached the beauty of the human family, and laid stress on the sanctity of marriage and parenthood.