A HYMN TO ATEN
During
the Eighteenth Dynasty, Pharaoh Amenophis IV abandoned Egypt’s gods for a brand
new religion. His new name was Akhenaten, which meant ‘living spirit of
Aten.’ Akhenaten,
with his queen Nefertiti at his side (shown below), created a
revolutionary period in Egyptian history now known as the Amarna
Interlude. A new naturalistic form of art (as seen in the vignette)
accompanied a religious revolution. Akhenaten promoted the worship of the
sun god Ra in the form of the cult of the sun disc Aten. With Nefertiti’s
support, he established themselves as living gods. Only by worshipping
the royal couple could his subjects access the Aten. Aten, the solar
deity, was given a status above all the other Egyptian gods and the priesthood
became irrelevant. For a short while, they established their capital of
Akhetaten in modern-day el Amarna and outlawed the worship of the old
gods. This made Akhenaten and Nefertiti many enemies and, after their
deaths, their images were expunged from the hieroglyphic records.
To zoom in, click on the board. Then,
to further enlarge it, click