Akhenaten, the Sun Disk and the Amarna Period of Egypt

Did you know that the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten is claimed to have invented monotheism? Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and the Amarna period of Egypt. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can now find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos twice a week so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. Before we jump into Akhenaten and his radical changes let's set the scene in ancient Egypt first. Akhenaten ruled in Egypt as pharaoh during the 18th dynasty of the The New Kingdom of Egypt spanned between circa 1570 and circa 1069 BCE, the time of imperial Egypt when it established its empire. The New Kingdom is one of the most famous periods of Egyptian history in the modern day since it includes the reigns of the pharaohs Hatshepsut and Thutmose III of dynasty 18, Seti I and Ramesses the Great in the 19th dynasty and Ramesses III of the 20th dynasty. The period we are looking at though is the life and family of Amenhotep III between circa 1386 and 1353 BCE who was the father of Akhenaten and grandfather of Tutankhamun. Amenhotep III is considered one of the most successful Egyptian rulers. His reign was one of the most opulent in Egyptian history and he maintained a stable empire whilst expanding its borders and devoting himself to the arts and building projects. During the reign of Amenhotep III the cult of Amun the god of the sun and air and also known as the hidden one and its priests had accumulated more land than the king and were becoming increasingly wealthy so Amenhotep worked to overcome their growing power by aligning himself with a minor god Aten. Aten is pretty much the sun in the sky. It's a sun disc and has no humanoid form nor any myths associated with it. Amenhotep III's plan to build the cult of Aten at the expense of the cult of Amun didn't really work but it did elevate the Aten from a minor god with the sun disc being present on some inscriptions during his reign and the Aten would become a prominent feature in the rule of his son and successor Amenhotep IV. Now you might be thinking who is this Amenhotep IV? Well Amenhotep IV began his rule after his father's death pretty normally although he did begin to erect a few temples here and there for the Aten which was a bit odd. Then in the fourth or the fifth year of his reign Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten which basically means successful for or of great use to the god Aten and moved the Egyptian capital from Thebes to a Since he moved the capital from the traditional site of Thebes to Amarna the period of his reign is known as the Amarna period. This is where it gets pretty radical. Amenhotep IV who is now known as Akhenaten instituted some serious religious reforms in Egypt. He outlawed the old polytheistic Egyptian religion and elevated the Aten or the sun disc as the ultimate deity establishing monotheism and proclaimed himself as the living incarnation of the Aten. The people could only worship the sun disc through the pharaoh which was him all while also proclaiming himself and his queen Nefertiti as gods who were aspects of Aten and so his construct is still considered monotheistic. The pharaoh being the servant of the gods most often Horus was not a new thing but few had actually proclaimed themselves as a god incarnate. It is possible even likely that Akhenaten established his new religion primarily to lessen the power of the Amun cult and return more power to the throne but equally possible he sincerely believed in what he was doing. By the ninth year of his reign he closed the temples and suppressed the religious practices of ancient Egypt which we can only assume was not happily received by the people of Egypt as many jobs depended on selling religious amulets icons and statuary and people relied on the temples for food supplies and other assistance. He didn't stop at closing the temples but chiseled other gods and their names from inscriptions most notably Amun. The backbone of the ancient Egyptian religious beliefs was mart or balance and the new religion instituted by Akhenaten went against this long-standing belief as it claimed there was only one god who could take care of every person's needs. This concept was completely foreign to the ancient Egyptians who believed that every god and goddess had their own sphere of influence and no single god could provide for all and maintain balance. It's important to note that although Akhenaten's belief system is often referenced as the first monotheism there is still evidence at this time for the continual worship of the Egyptian deities in the household and possibly secret worship services still being held honoring the traditional gods of Egypt. Akhenaten seemed to be pretty focused on his new religion and his new residences at Amarna and documents and letters known as the Amarna letters which are correspondence found in Amarna between the king of Egypt and foreign nations show that nations and allies of Egypt wrote numerous times for help in a number of affairs and that these requests were ignored. At this time Egypt was powerful and wealthy but it seems as though Akhenaten wasn't too interested in what was happening beyond the borders of Egypt or even beyond his palace. He sent poorer quality gifts to allies and seemed to only engage in requests and issues that personally interest him. Although this scenario is still hotly debated evidence from the Amarna letters and a later decree by his son Tutankhamun suggests he was a pretty poor ruler as noted by the Egyptologist who says Akhenaten's reign was an inward focused regime that had lost interest in its foreign policy. Akhenaten's religious vision of the Aten as an all-powerful all-loving deity supreme creator and sustainer of the universe is thought to have influenced later monotheistic religious beliefs. We even have some of Akhenaten's writings such as the great hymn to the Aten having been composed to the sun disc which gives a glimpse into the radical new religious beliefs of Akhenaten that elevated this minor deity to supreme god. Akhenaten's city was built on land that had never been built on before and facing the east so that the rays of the morning sun lighted the temple doorways. Surrounding the city were boundary stelae and there were four main districts the north city, central city, southern suburbs and the outskirts. The northern palace in the north city was where the Aten was worshipped and the royal family lived impartments behind it. A common feature of the buildings built by Akhenaten was that they had no roofs which was a gesture to welcome the rays of the Aten. The standard burials in ancient Egypt were constructed on the west bank of the Nile with Osiris watching over them as the foremost of the westerners but Akhenaten had his royal tombs constructed on the east side facing the sun as an homage to Aten. With the change in building and temple style to accommodate the worship of Aten there was also a dramatic shift in art style. This shift is seen both in the physical depictions of Akhenaten and his family and the subject of the art. Ancient Egyptian art wasn't produced for art's sake but all had a functional or political purpose such as tomb paintings which were painted showing scenes of the deceased's life so the spirit would remember it in the afterlife. People and deities were depicted formally the figures are almost always proportionate and emotionless but this all changed with Akhenaten. The figures of the pharaoh and his family were depicted with long necks and arms and spindly legs they were lean and oddly proportioned. This can be even better seen in surviving statues of Akhenaten which show his large lips and hips long skinny face and large thighs moving into thin legs and elongated feet. Scholars have theorized the reason for this dramatic change in artistic depiction with different genetic disorders being thrown in the but the most likely reason for the change in art style is Akhenaten's religious beliefs. The Aten and its sun rays were thought by the pharaoh to have presided over all and infused all living things and this belief was illustrated by the depiction of the pharaoh and his family with these little hands on the end of each ray touching them. These images are thought to suggest Akhenaten's We also have a change in content with images showing Akhenaten with his wife Nefertiti and their children being blessed by the Aten. The intimacy of these images with the pharaoh choosing to have his family and their private moments committed to stone is a significant change from the previous artistic style and function of ancient Egypt. His wife Nefertiti is also sometimes displayed more prominently and of similar size to Akhenaten which has led some scholars to suggest that she was held in high honor by her husband. Then of course we couldn't talk about the art of the Amarna period without mentioning the bust of Nefertiti a famous depiction of Akhenaten's great royal wife. The bust which is currently on display in Berlin is one of the most famous and to come from ancient Egypt and although it was created during the reign of Akhenaten it is a more realistic style of art than the other oddly proportioned depictions of Nefertiti and her family. It is thought to be an idealized portrait of the queen just as other depictions from the Amarna period may be. Akhenaten and his family who have been tentatively attributed to some of the is a bit of a difficult family tree to understand. We know that Akhenaten and his great royal wife Nefertiti had six daughters. We also know that he had children with his lesser wife Kia and perhaps another woman who was known as the younger lady. More famous than Akhenaten or even Nefertiti is the son of Akhenaten Tutankhamun whose body was found in an untouched tomb in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter in 1922. Tutankhamun who was born as Tutankhaten which means living image of the Aten but whose name was changed when he assumed the throne was the son of Akhenaten but we still aren't really sure who his mother is. His mother isn't mentioned in inscriptions and many Egyptologists think that his mother may be Kia but also maybe the younger lady. In the words of Zahi Hawass most scholars believe that Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten and Kia but the balance of opinion may yet change. Akhenaten ruled Egypt from his new capital for 17 years until his death but between Akhenaten's death and Tutankhaten's ascension there was a pharaoh named Smenkhare. Smenkhare may have been Nefertiti who ruled while Akhenaten's health may have been declining but Tutankhaten was still too young to rule but we aren't really sure who this Smenkhare is. After two years of Smenkhare's rule Tutankhaten assumed the throne changed his name to Tutankhamun and returned the old religious practices to Egypt. Tutankhamun would go on to marry his half-sister which was the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and die by the age of 19. Interestingly Akhenaten was unknown in Egyptian history until the discovery of his city Adimana in the 19th century. This was due to Tutankhamun's successors Ai and Horemheb tearing down the temples and monuments built by Akhenaten to honor the Aten and removing both his name and those of his immediate successors from the record of pharaohs. Horemheb listed himself as the successor of Amenhotep III making absolutely no mention of the rulers of the Amarna period in an effort to wipe their memory from the historical annals of Egypt. His mistake was in using the ruins of these monuments as fill in other building projects and once these were found in the modern day the story of Akhenaten and the Amarna period came to light. Many Egyptologists depict Akhenaten as the heretic king and a bad guy. Do you agree? Let us know what you think in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on any of our new videos. This video was brought to you by World History Encyclopedia. For more great articles and interactive content head to our website via the link below. If you like my shirt you can find this design and a bunch more in our shop at worldhistory.store or you can find a link for it under our merch tab down below. 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