The Great Hymn Akhenaten And Religion

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).

In addition, it was an effort to institute a monotheistic tradition in the country that was quite unfamiliar for that era and unexpected for that level of the expansion of ancient Egyptian philosophy and evolution. In fact, religion was extremely important to ancient Egyptian society because people at the era deeply trusted on the natural forces and they created different cults worshiping gods of the sun, earth, and water. In such a way, they believed that through reverencing these gods they could merit their provision and, therefore, ancient Egyptians totaled for higher harvests, revenue and improved existence which they could achieve only with the support of various deities. Moreover, it is obvious the amount to which the attempt of Akhenaten to introduce monotheism in ancient Egypt was radical. It is obvious that the honoring of one god, Aten, should change the opinion of the surrounding world and the position of gods in the life of ancient Egyptian people.

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

Akhenaten's ancestry, together with his claimed "unlimited personal force of character" suggested he would not allow himself to be set aside by the priesthood. Breasted says that Akhenaten moved his capital to Amarna "endeavouring to displace it by the nationalism which had preceded it for twenty centuries." This further illustrates the possibility of a feud between the two aspects of Government. Aldred resolutely rejects this suggestion, saying "The idea of a struggle between an enlightened and progressive king on the one side and a reactionary and scheming priesthood on the other, will simply not stand up to closer scrutiny" . Aldred also suggests that a mere technicality in theology was all that separated Akhenaten's religion from that of Egyptian traditionalists . According to Aldred, the priesthood and the administration were as "indissolubly linked as they ever had been" . However he says clear distinction of power still remained, as demonstrated by Akhenaten's ability to subsequently reduce the status of the priesthood, his "mere surrogates" . This is a transparent contradiction, Aldred

Religion in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia played a significant role in developing and organizing the society. Based on the common belief of the world’s divine creation, both civilizations had regular rituals and ceremonies to honor the supernatural beings. In rituals and ceremonies, the cult was expressed as the manifestation of components that symbolized the divine such as the cult images, temples, and shrines. Since religion was an important aspect in the people’s daily lives, it also had an impact on the ruling system in the two civilizations. Even though Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have similar foundational beliefs about the cult, different cultic practices imply the difference in the structure and the scope of

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,

Although the world experiences periods of darkness, which indicate death and possibly evil, Aten reappeared each day to guide and protect the people. Besides, this text indicates that when Aten was present, citizens participated in productive activities. As stated in the text, “… Everyone had his food, and his time of life is reckoned.” Since Aten supplied the citizens with items to survive, this text suggests that survival depends on the gods, not humans. Consequently, the gods played a significant role in humans’ lives in ancient societies.

Akhenaten the first person that made his own religion by believing in one god. Akhenaten lived a very long life. As a child he was the last one out. his brothers and sisters would go to sermones and he could not. As an a adult he had made his own civilization.and he left a mark on the world by making is own region.

     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

and given the name Tutankhaten, meaning "the living image of Aten." At that time ancient Egypt was going through great social and political troubles. King Tut’s father had forbidden the worship of many gods in favor of worshiping one, Aten, the sun disk which is part of the sun god Ra. For this, he is known as the "heretic king." Historians differ on how powerful the change from polytheism to monotheism was or whether it was King Akhenaten only trying to elevate the sun god Ra to more power above the other gods. But as I was reading it looked like King Akhenaten was trying his best to reduce the power of the priests and shift the traditional temple-based economy to a new regime run by local government administrators and military commanders so he could have a more say in what was going on in

In addition to being from approximately the same time and place, the subject matter of these artworks overlap in important ways. Both works deal, in particular, with religion, belief in one god. In The Great Hymn to the Aten, “The Hymn poem, singing of the hymns in particular always have been a Egyptian tradition that feature the cult of the sun of god Ra” (Lichtheim, 2003). However, this hymn is different from any other deities and may have taken place at specific moments of the day and year within the sun temples in demarcated places. (Lichtheim, 2003) Akhenaten with Nefertiti and their children visual artwork also faces religion belief in one god. the visual artwork purpose shows both of the male and female proportions human body. The sun

The Author’s (Akhenaten, the sun God) purpose was that Akhenaten wanted everyone to only believe and worship one god. He wanted everyone to trust in only one God, and that God of course, was Aten the sun god. The story of Aten was that he wanted to change everyone’s beliefs into the same as his own. The people of Egypt was forced to change from a polytheistic religion, the worship of many gods. He believed that all good things are connected to the sun, in which is said to create life and well being.

Tell el-‘Amarna, the city built by Heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten was located between Luxor and Cairo along the Nile. The city was occupied during the reign of Akhenaten and abandoned after his death by his son, Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Although the city was along occupied for a short period of time, archaeologists have been able to reconstruct a fairly accurate representation of the city. However, because the city was associated with Aten and the religion of the heretic king, the city was partially destroyed and nearly all evidence of the culture during the reign of Akhenaten was destroyed. Although the Egyptian people attempted to erase this pharaoh from history, the city tells the story of the time through the few pieces of art, the tombs, and the city plans. The articles written by Croker and one of the ones written by Kemp discuss the value of architecture and how it related to status within the society of the time. The other articles written by Ikram, and Kemp, Stevens, Dabbs, Zabecki, and Rose discuss the art, religion, and ritual practices. The city of Amarna was created on the basis of abandoning the old gods in favor of the worship of a single god, Aten. Societies in ancient history were based primarily on religion, and while archaeologists try to use Amarna as a basis for the study of New Kingdom Egypt because the religions changed Amarna should not be used as a template. Akhenaten aimed to abandon the old ways

Egyptian society had been strictly polytheistic until Akhenaten rose to power. He changed the religion to Atenism, the monotheistic worship of the sun-disc, Aten. The Pharaoh changed his name from Amenhotep to Akhenaten in a bold move to signify the transition to Atenism. Nefertiti followed his example, changing her name to Neferneferuaten, which roughly translates to “beautiful are the beauties of Aten, beautiful woman has come”. This period in Egyptian history is called the Amarna Period. Throughout this period of cultural upheaval, Nefertiti stood beside her husband’s decision to change the religion. She was in fact often depicted leading worship, a role that, before the duel rule of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, was reserved for Pharaoh’s only. There are also ancient images of Nefertiti riding chariots, and slaying the enemy. This drastic change in art had much to do with the conversion to Atenism. Aten was a creative god who encouraged expression. Along with the nature of their new god, Pharaoh Akhenaten decreed that all royal portraits be accurate representations of the royal family. As noted by award-winning author and Yale graduate Esther Friesner in her historical fiction novel Sphinx’s Princess, “This says a lot about Akhenaten, since his surviving statues show him with a potbelly, an oddly shaped head, and numerous other physical characteristics that might lead

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