The Art of Akhenaten - Paper

Nonetheless, during the 12th Dynasty, there was a temple built for Amun’s worship and toward the end of the 18th Dynasty, Amun’s status increased even more and he became known as “…the great royal deity who was “Father of the Gods” and ruler of Egypt and the people of its empire (Rosalie 104).

This investigation attempts to correctly analyze in what way the geography of Egypt influenced the ancient Egyptian religion. This query is very relevant because, certain geographical items influenced the creation of the ancient religion that helped shape many religions that are very prevalent today such as Christianity and Judaism. The issues that will be addressed are how the great Sahara Desert surrounding the civilization, the Nile river that nourishes the whole population, and how the overall common beliefs and myths built the foundation of the ancient Egyptian religion and subsequently influenced modern day religions. This analysis will focus on the time period of 3110 BCE to 550 CE and the place being examined is the country of Egypt. This will be accomplished through the exploration of research documents and informational novels.

Akhenaten is often not credited as being one of the great pharaoh’s of ancient Egypt; his name is not as recognized as his son, Tutankhamen. However he deserves acknowledged for being a revolutionary leader. Akhenaten is most well-known as being a spiritual enthusiast and instigator of revolution within the kingdom of Egypt. Many historians have recognized Akhenaten with being solely responsible for developing a religious revolution in Egypt. Nevertheless his struggles defined as the first true effort at instituting a monotheistic state in a polytheistic society, his efforts were not eternal. The reasoning behind his decisions to change Egypt's faith is still observed though to this day. “Today most historical resources believe Akhenaten

Amenhotep IV commenced his reign in 1353 BCE and was of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. When Amenhotep IV came to power, the priests of Amun had been gradually growing in power and were almost equal with the royal house in terms of wealth and influence. During the 5th year of his reign he outlawed the ancient religion which was centered on the worship and offerings to many Gods in particular those of the composite deity Ra-Amun-Horus (Ra- daytime sun, Amun- underworld sun, - Horus- the sunrise). He then changed his name to Akhenaten, proclaiming himself to be the living incarnation of the all-powerful, single deity known as ‘Aten’ (The visible sun). Traditionally, as described in the Coffin Texts of the Middle kingdom, the ‘Aten’ was the name for the sun-disk and in the "Story of Sinuhe", Amenemhat I is described to have soared into the sky, uniting with the Aten, his creator. The early stages of "Atenism" was as a henotheistic religion (devotion to a single god but recognising the existence of others), but quickly developed into a monotheistic system where the worship of all other Gods was banned, including the making and worship of idols, allowing only the rayed sun-disk to be displayed as a representation of ‘God’, for the ‘Aten' was the sole deity. Ordinary people could not worship the Aten

Historians' views as to why Akhenaten moved his capital to Amarna are distinctly contrasted, and the suggestions are numerous. These include three predominant theories promoted by various historians with divergent views of Akhenaten. These theories are all conceptually based on the concept of Akhenaten using Amarna to develop his religious ideals. Firstly, it is believed that having his revolutionary religious reforms reached their goals; Akhenaten employed the city of Amarna as an escape from Amun dominated Thebes. This would remove the distractions of other Gods and Deities still around in Thebes, and leave people free to worship the Aten. Secondly it is suggested that Akhenaten repositioned his capital to Amarna in order to escape the

Akhenaten, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, had big shoes to fill when he stepped up to the throne. His father, Amenhotep III, had helped restore their country to its former glory by being a diplomat. Amenhotep negotiated with bordering nations to provide stable political alliances, and trade routes. Egypt,

The king’s decision to move the capital from Thebes to this new site was due to the fact that the sun rose from a dip in the surrounding mountaintops, which he believed to be Aton coming up to watch over the city. Akhenaten commemorated the founding of his new capital by erecting boundary stelae, markers placed around the capital to show the limit of the city. These markers were also used to keep any god other than Aton, out of the city. After a year of residing in the new capital, Akhenaten prohibited the worship of Amun-Ra completely and ordered that all temples dedicated to the worship of Amun-Ra be closed. The king also prohibited all festivals and worship of Osiris, Isus, Mut and Ptah and any and all other major and minor deities, as only one god was to be worshipped, that god being Aton. In this sense, Akhenaten became a ruler with a newly created religion, monotheism. The total defilement of Amun-Ra from all statues, papyrus and temples meant that his father’s name had to be defiled too. To wipe out a person’s name meant wiping out a part of that person’s being. Therefore, that person could not be introduced to the God’s and resurrected – one of the ancient Egyptian’s worst fears.

As a result, Amenhotep III soon shifted attention and investment of resources to various solar deities/cults including Nekhbet, Thoth, Hathor, Ptah, and largely developed interest in the Aten “the dazzling sun disk”. His self-deification as Amun and later Aten as discussed by Jan Assman, aside from reinforcing control of territory, was a direct political challenge to the power of the Amun priesthood, as evident through his depiction at the Soleb temple with the horns of Amun. In his identification and claims to be an incarnation ofAmun, a main deity, who he no longer fell subject to the Amun priesthood’s religious will, but rather was in a more dominant position over them, further reasserting his authority as Pharaoh-god. Influences of Aten were starting to feature prominently as religious symbolism, such as the replacing of the neb glyph/ traditional depiction of the solar boat with new iconography and epithets on royal regalia; and adding Aten to names of buildings, royal barges and even his daughter, Bakenaten. This rebellion endured and most possibly shaped his son,

The Ancient Egyptian were polytheistic most of the time, which means that they believed in multiple gods. When Akhenaten was pharaoh, the Egyptians were monotheistic, meaning they worshiped only one god. He ended the worship of other gods and claimed that Aten, the lord of all was the only god in Egypt. The Egyptians didn't like this idea, so on their own,

The main purpose of this paper is to describe the visual analysis of the artwork. This paper examines an Egyptian half nude portrait art which is taken from Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig.1). The statue characterized both male and female seated figure with a Braid hair. In this essay, I will present a complete visual description of this artwork (its preservation, costume and iconography), and then I will compare it to another artwork which is chosen from Textbook that is Akhenaten and his Family (Fig. 2).

Along with his striking religious changes, Akhenaten also led a political revolution, namely in the perception of the pharaoh. One of the most visible changes in Akhenaten’s reign was a drastic change in art. Public perception of the pharaoh was essential to political power, but Akhenaten's portraits do not portray the pharaoh in the “larger-than-life” style associated with other New Kingdom rulers. Firstly, Akhenaten was feminine in appearance, and is shown affectionately playing with his children and Nefertiti. Amarna art is realistic and Akhenaten chose to portray a reality no other pharaoh had been willing to show. Nicholas Reeves explains these changes: “In Akhenaten’s ‘new look’ these striking changes in composition and gesture, which

Envision a world where the single purpose in life was to obey the gods who indirectly controlled people through your king. Rituals, duties, and praising were all part of a manifest to pass the tests of the Underworld to achieve eternal life after death. While this may seem like a radical lifestyle to us, this was how the real world was for the civilians during the Ancient Egyptian times. To truly express their fondness and devotion to the gods, people constructed works of art to represent this; remembrances of their collective significant figures in their locality were highly practiced in order to please them. In particular, the State of Khafre was created to honor their deceased king who held significant power in their society as a part of their funeral liturgy. It epitomized the repercussion he held over his nation and the respect he had acquired. The Statue of Khafre did not just illustrate a polytheistic community, but it also prompted the civilians to be respectful towards their god whom were expressed with kings through their practice of rituals, and additionally exhibited how their religion was ultimately integrated as an essential part of life.

     During the New Kingdom of Egypt (from 1552 through 1069 B.C.), there came a sweeping change in the religious structure of the ancient Egyptian civilization. "The Hymn to the Aten" was created by Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1369 to 1353 B.C., and began a move toward a monotheist culture instead of the polytheist religion which Egypt had experienced for the many hundreds of years prior to the introduction of this new idea. There was much that was different from the old views in "The Hymn to the Aten", and it offered a new outlook on the Egyptian ways of life by providing a complete break with the traditions which Egypt held to with

Amenhotep IV was the first pharaoh to challenge the Egyptian culture and religious beliefs. His decision to make Aten, “The God of the Sun Disk”, the only god, took power away from the temple priests. Before Amenhotep IV made the changes, Egypt practiced polytheism not only worshiping the Sun Disk God, but around 12 other gods with roles such as fertility, the sky, the Nile River, childbirth, etc. With Egypt practicing monotheisms the temple priest have lost control of any political or religious gain they once held. This will be the first time Egypt practices monotheism. In making this change Amenhotep IV became known as Akhenaten, “Shining Spirit of Aten”. Becoming Akhenaten was not the only changes reflected from his reign as pharaoh.

The Egyptian city of Amarna was a capital built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten which was abandoned shortly after his death in 1332 BCE. The city of Amarna was where Akhenaten pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the devotion of the power of the sun god, the Aten. It remains the largest accessible living site of Ancient Egypt. It is a key to the history of the religious experiences of Egypt and to a fuller extent the life of an egyptian. There is no other site like it. The website mentions that the site is in danger of encroachment. This sounds very interesting to me and I’d like to see how the life of an Egyptian was at the time. I don’t know much about the Egyptians, but I’d like to learn more