The Life and Times of Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt

by Arthur E. P. Brome Weigall

6. HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THIS PERIOD OF AKHNATON’S REIGN.

There is very little historical information to be procured for these years of the king’s reign. When he had been about ten or eleven years upon the throne, and was some twenty-one years of age, his fourth daughter, Nefernefernaton, was born. The queen had presented no son to Akhnaton to succeed him, but he does not seem in this emergency to have cared to turn to any secondary wives; and, as far as we can tell, he remained all his life a monogamist, although this was in direct opposition to all traditional custom. Steadily during these years the king’s health seems to have grown more precarious, for almost daily he must have overtaxed his strength. His brain was so active that he could not submit to be idle; and even when he reclined amidst the flowers in his garden, his whole soul was straining upwards in the attempt to pierce the barrier which lay between him and the God who had caused those flowers to bloom. The maturity of his creed at this period leads one to suppose that he had given to it his very life’s force; and when it is remembered that at the same time his attention was occupied by the administration of a kingdom which he had twisted out of all semblance to its former shape, the wonder is that his brain was at all able to stand the incessant strain. Rare indeed must have been those idle moments which the artists of the City of the Horizon attempted to represent.

In the twelfth year of his reign, the tribute of the vassal kingdoms reached such a high value that a particular record was made of it, and scenes showing its reception were sculptured in the tombs of Huya and Meryra II.[53] An inscription beside the scene in the tomb of Huya reads thus:—

Year twelve, the second month of winter, the eighth day.... The King ... and the Queen ... living for ever and ever, made a public appearance on the great palanquin of gold, to receive the tribute of Syria and Ethiopia, and of the west and the east. All the countries were collected at one time, and also the islands in the midst of the sea; bringing offerings to the King when he was on the great throne of the City of the Horizon of Aton, in order to receive the imposts of every land and granting them [in return] the breath of life.

The king and queen are shown seated in the state palanquin side by side; and although Akhnaton holds the insignia of royalty, and is evidently very much upon his dignity, the queen’s arm has found its way around his waist, and there lovingly rests for all the world to see. The palanquin, probably made of wood entirely covered with gold foil, is a very imposing structure: a large double throne, borne aloft by stout poles upon the shoulders of the court officials. The arm-rests are carved in the form of sphinxes, which rise above a glistening hedge of cobras, and the throne is flanked on either side by the figure of a lion carved in the round. A priest walks in front of the palanquin sending up a cloud of incense from a censer, and professional mummers dance and skip in the roadway in advance of the procession. Behind the royal couple walk the princesses, attended by their nurses and ladies; and on all sides are arrayed courtiers, officers, soldiers, and servants.

Soon the ground marked out for the ceremony is reached, and the king and queen betake themselves to a gorgeous little pavilion which has been erected for them, and here they sit together upon a double throne, their feet supported upon hassocks. The queen sits upon Akhnaton’s left, and in the picture her figure is hidden by that of her husband; but as her right arm is seen to encircle his waist, and her left hand to hold his left hand, one may suppose that she is reclining against him, with her royal head upon his shoulder. Nefertiti was the mother of a family of children, but was not more than about twenty[54] years of age; and as she is said to have been extremely beautiful, one may presume that this scene of conjugal affection was not without its charm. The little princesses cluster round the throne, one of them holding a young gazelle in her arms, while another strokes its head.

In front of this pavilion the deputations from the vassal kingdoms pass by; and in order that the king may not be wearied by their ceremonious homage, a group of professional wrestlers, boxers, and fencers is provided for his diversion; while near them some buffoons and mummers dance and tumble to the accompaniment of castanets and hand-clapping. The tribute of Syria is brought by long-robed Asiatics, who cast themselves upon their knees before the throne with hands uplifted in salutation. Splendid Syrian horses are led past, and behind them chariots are wheeled or carried along. Then come groups of slaves, handcuffed, but not cruelly bound nor maltreated, as was the custom under other Pharaohs. Bows, spears, shields, daggers, elephant-tusks, and other objects, are carried past and deposited upon the ground near the pavilion; while beautiful vases of precious metal or costly stone are held aloft for the king to admire. Wild animals are led across the ground by their keepers, and amongst these a tame mountain lion must have caused something of a sensation. Several nude girls, selected probably for their beauty, walk past; and one may suppose that they will find subsequent employment amongst the handmaidens in the palace.

From the “islands in the midst of the sea” come beautiful vases, some ornamented with figures in the round. From Libya ostrich eggs and ostrich feathers are brought. The tribute of Nubia and the Sudan is carried past by befeathered negroes, and consists mainly of bars and rings of gold and bags of gold-dust, procured from the mines in the Eastern Desert. Shields, weapons, tusks, and skins are also to be seen, and cattle and antelopes are led before the throne. As the Asiatics had startled the assembly by bringing with them a lion, so the negroes cause a stir by leading forward a panther of large size. Finally, male and female slaves, the latter carrying their babies in baskets upon their backs, are marched past the pavilion; but here again these slaves are not maltreated. It is particularly noticeable that the groups of miserable captives which one sees in all such scenes of other periods, with their arms bound in agonising positions and their knees giving way under them, are entirely absent from the representations of Akhnaton’s ceremonies. Human suffering was a thing hateful to the young Pharaoh who knew so well the meaning of physical distress; and the tortures of the prisoners, or the beheading of some rebel, such as would have been a feature of an occasion of this kind under Amonhotep II., or even, perhaps, under Amonhotep III., would have been as revolting to Akhnaton as it would be to us.