Monotheism and the Cult of the Aten
In the reign of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) toward
the end of Dynasty 18, radical changes affected Egyptian religious
beliefs and customs. Amenhotep IV, son of Amenhotep III and Queen
Tiye, turned the cult of the Aten into a form of solar monotheism
based on the worship of the life force present in the sun and
imposed this doctrine on his subjects.
Although each line of kings had previously adopted one deity as royal patron and supreme state god, there had never been an attempt to exclude other deities, and the multitude of gods had been tolerated and worshiped at all times. The Aten is first mentioned in the Middle Kingdom when, as the sun disk, it was merely one aspect of the sun god Re. However, in the reign of Tuthmosis IV it was identified as a distinct solar god, and his son Amenhotep III established and promoted a separate cult for the Aten. There is no evidence that he neglected the other gods or attempted to promote the Aten as an exclusive deity. There is no single source of evidence for the cult’s beliefs and doctrines, but the famous Hymn to the Aten, found inscribed on tomb walls at Akhetaten (Tell el-Amarna), described the god as the creator of all living things. The sun disk was the visible symbol of the god; this represented the Aten’s real essence, which was its beneficent and universal creative force expressed through the light and warmth of the sun. The other element in the doctrine was the role of the king (Akhenaten), who had a divine nature and acted as the god’s sole representative and agent on earth. This concept restored the kingship to a status it had enjoyed in earlier times. Although at first scholars believed that Atenism was a new set of beliefs promoted by Akhenaten, it is now generally accepted that some elements (such as the god’s role as universal creator of mankind, animals, birds, and plants, and his fatherhood of foreign peoples as well as the Egyptians) were present in earlier cults, particularly that of Amen-Re. In the New Kingdom such ideas were promoted to unite the peoples of Egypt’s empire under one supreme god. But Akhenaten did introduce one entirely new concept that was alien to traditional Egyptian religion the belief that the Aten was the only god and that all other deities should be obliterated. Amenhotep IV spent the early years of his reign at Thebes where he lived with his queen Nefertiti and their growing family of six daughters. At first he allowed the traditional deities to continue, but near the Temple of Karnak (Amen-Re’s great cult center) he erected several buildings including temples to the Aten. These were dismantled by his successors and used as infilling for new constructions in the Temple of Karnak. When these were dismantled in modern times for restoration of the temple, some 36,000 decorated blocks from the Aten buildings were revealed; archaeologists were able to use a computer to assist them in piecing together many elements of these relief scenes and inscriptions. The relationship between the king and priesthood of Amen-Re soon deteriorated, however, and in year 5 of his reign Amenhotep IV took decisive steps to establish the Aten as an exclusive, monotheistic god. He disbanded the priesthoods of all the other gods, obliterated the divine names from the monuments, and diverted the income from these cults to support the Aten. To emphasize his complete allegiance to the god the king changed his name from Amenhotep to Akhenaten (“Servant of the Aten”), and Nefertiti took the additional name of Nefernefruaten. Akhenaten then moved from Thebes and established a new royal residence and political and religious capital at a site midway along the Nile. He claimed that the god had chosen this place, which, as a virgin site, had no associations with any traditional deities. The royal court and a nucleus of professionals and craftsmen now began to establish a city there, and it was given the name “Akhetaten” (“Horizon of the Aten”). Hastily constructed, the city covered some eight miles of land on the east bank of the river, while on the west bank land was set aside to provide crops for the population. The whole area was encircled with fourteen boundary stelae inscribed with the king’s conditions that governed the establishment of the capital. The city included palaces, a records office, administrative headquarters, military barracks, and houses for the officials and craftsmen; several temples built to honor the Aten were a most important feature. Behind the city in the eastern cliffs rockcut tombs were constructed for the courtiers and officials, and in a distant wadi (dry valley) a tomb was prepared for the royal family. The cult of the Aten was vigorously promoted by the king and the court circle, but it probably gained little external support. It could not offer any moral philosophy or popular mythology to attract ordinary people, and it could not replace the comforting prospect of the afterlife, which Osiris had promised, with any valid alternative. Once again the belief was probably promoted that eternity could only be attained through the king’s bounty rather than through divine worship and observance of a moral code during life. At Akhetaten, a special art form developed that is unique in its representation of the human figure. This may have been based on Akhenaten’s own physical abnormalities (although the only evidence for these is provided by reliefs and statuary, since his body has never been found). Each figure is shown with an elongated face and head, slanting eyes, and a malformed body with an emaciated neck and pronounced breasts and thighs. This may indicate that the king suffered from a disorder of the endocrine glands, and these features were then extended to representations of all human figures to emphasize that the king’s abnormalities were in fact the perfect form, since he was the god on earth. Another interpretation suggests that this was simply a new and experimental art form encouraged by the king to mark a complete break with the traditional art that was so closely associated with abandoned religious ideas. The term “Amarna Art” is often used for this experiment; indeed, the site itself is frequently referred to as Tell el- Amarna (its modern name). Akhenaten apparently produced no male heirs (although one theory proposes that he was Tutankhamun’s father), and this undoubtedly contributed to his failure to ensure that his religious innovations continued after his death. Later generations regarded him as a heretic who ruled without the traditional gods’ approval, and the temple closures and disbanding of the priesthood would have had dire effects upon the country’s economy and employment. Atenism never gained popular support and probably had little direct effect on people’s religious beliefs. When Akhenaten’s successors reversed his experiment and returned to the traditional gods, the population was largely unaffected. Under Tutankhamun the court went back to Thebes and the pantheon of gods was reinstated. The motives behind this religious “revolution” have been much discussed. Was Akhenaten a visionary who believed that he was prompted by revelation to take these steps to advance the cult of the Aten? Or were his aims politically inspired in that he tried to restore the status and influence of the kingship by introducing a “new,” omnipotent god who was represented on earth by the king? Was he a political opportunist who merely carried to their conclusion the trends and reforms initiated by his father and grandfather, thus attempting to resolve the age-old threat posed to the kingship by the power of Amen-Re and his priesthood? By thus attempting to define and separate his “religious” and “political” motives, however, perhaps we are imposing modern concepts that are not applicable to that age. .
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Monotheism and the Cult of the Aten
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