FROM AMENOPHIS IV TO AKHENATEN:

The Failed Revolution of Egypt’s Heretic Pharaoh

Emma Kloster

Senior Division
 FROM AMENOPHIS IV TO AKHENATEN:

The Failed Revolution of Egypt’s Heretic Pharaoh

The end of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt was marked by religious reform,

massive building projects, and drastic changes in artistic freedom. Royalty lost interest in local

affairs, a situation that led to the eventual political domination of the nobles and priests of

Karnak later abandoning the short-lived capital Aketaten in the desert. A majority of the

scholars who have studied what was left behind of Amenophis IV have come to the conclusion

that this ‘heretic pharaoh’s legacy was demolished along with the temples to his god, the Aten.

As the militant Horemheb later proved when he erased Amenophis IV’s city and relics, only time

was the final conqueror of the religion sparked by the radical pharaoh.

Crowned in the city of Karnak around 1378/1352 B.C.E., Amenophis IV was Egypt’s

sole ruler for the next seventeen years. His titles described Thebes1 as “the Heliopolis of the

South” a remnant of Amenophis IV’s education in Memphis1 and his father’s previous conflicts

with the cult of Amun. The crowning in Karnak1 suggests that Amenophis IV did not begin his

reign in open conflict with the priests of Amon-Re, and he continued the traditional erection of

temples for the worship of Amon-Re in Karnak, finishing the projects quickly with what

appeared to be impatience. This beginning neutrality between Amenophis IV and the cult of

Amun shows that either the daydreaming pharaoh has been given too little credit for his

knowledge of political affairs, or that he was not yet prepared to present his idea of the Aten to

the Egyptian people.

Securing the Future with Atenism

While the reasons for Amenophis IV’s religious impulses are unknown, portraits of him

show a fragile man with delicate health, an obvious precursor to his limited possibilities as a

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militant king2. Leaving him to pursue the religious and artistic aspects of the Egyptian culture,

Amenophis IV’s studies of his people resulted in his creation of the Aten. Originally portraying

that Aten as a sun disc, Amenophis IV’s god was similar to the Heliopolitan material

manifestation for Re-Harakhte, who was represented in many cults as a sun disc3. Nothing

would have disturbed the momentum of the Egyptian state if Amenophis IV had introduced his

Aten as a god equivalent to its predecessors; the Egyptian pantheon was hospitable towards

additions due to the many local gods that had been developed over the empire’s growth. It was

the complete omission of the god Amun from the Aten’s name that dissatisfied the cult of Amun,

allowing tensions to rise between Amenophis IV and the priests of the ancient god of Karnak4.

Defining his god as the one who “lives as Re-Harakhte of the two horizons, who rejoices

in the horizon in his name of Show, who is the Aten”, Amenophis IV claims that the Heliopolitan

god Re-Harakhte—the traditional sun disc—is the same as an old wind god known as Show, who

is only a form of the Aten5. In this statement, Amenophis IV simply states that all other god’s

are only aspects of his one god—the Aten—who he claims to be the creator of energy and

therefore life. Near his fifth or sixth year of reign, Amenophis IV abandoned the representation

of the sun disc, exchanging it with the sun itself. At his thirty-year sed-festival6, Amenophis IV

divided the Aten’s full name into two cartouches, presenting it as a royal name, to the dismay of

the cult of Amun.

While Nicolas Grimal argues in his A History of Ancient Egypt that this religious

outburst of Amenophis IV was not revolutionary, it would have taken few changes to Amenophis

IV’s ‘Atenism’ for it to have been an effective turning point in Egyptian history. Amenophis

IV’s religion was an intellectual and methodical form of religious ‘revelation’ that was unable to

grasp the imagination of the Egyptian people and engage them in the new cult. If Atenism had

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been introduced as a redemptive religion, the contradiction between its monotheistic form and

the mysterious symbolism that outlined the traditional Egyptian cult’s magical basis could have

allowed Atenism to offer a religious pathway that would have appeared more ‘true’ to the people

in the effects of the Aten on their everyday lives. As the king portrayed himself and the royal

family as the ‘true pathway’ to the Aten, it would have led to a direct control over the Egyptian

nation’s subjects that even the warlord Tuthmosid’s would have envied7. The elimination of the

traditional cults—especially the Amun priesthood—would have left the royal family as the only

way for the Egyptian’s to contact the Aten, as the king was his god’s priest. If Amenophis IV

had had such political ambitions, it is possible that he would have moved the capital into

Heliopolis instead of scouting out the virgin land for a new city, and his new religion of Atenism

would have thrived.

Eliminating the Priests

Instead, Amenophis IV marked the rise of Atenism with an incredible speed and

radicalism that in its haste left no lasting imprint. Two main reasons could be attached to

Amenophis IV’s rush to bring the Aten into predominance. The first is that Atenism, in itself,

was merely a test of economic strength between the Amun priesthood and the power of the

pharaoh. Spoils left from the Tuthmosid dynasty’s campaigns could have been a cause for

conflict, the victor gaining not only political dominance over the Egyptian state, but also enough

wealth to continue to expand their respective projects throughout Egypt and its colonies8.

However, there is no documentary evidence supporting such assumptions.

The second reason involves Egypt’s new recognition of the diversity amongst the world’s

people, which James Henry Breasted claimed might have triggered crisis concerning the

traditional polytheistic Egyptian cult8. This hypothesis identifies Amenophis IV’s ‘revolution’ as

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an attempt to identify political universalism with monotheism under a “cosmic power.” In

Amenophis IV’s ‘Hymn to Aten’, not only does the hymn negate the existence of other gods, but

it also has no mention of the word ‘god’ or ‘gods’ in it at all9. Despite which of these two

theories is true, Amenophis IV still managed to close down a majority of Egypt’s traditional

cults. Upheaval from the sudden closing of temples to a representation of Atenism that was

stronger in what it eliminated than what it represents positively for the people of Egypt. Military

forces were spread throughout the empire to erase all inscriptions of Amun; the reasons behind

Amenophis IV’s hatred of the priests of Amun are still unknown.

Corruption and Caricature

Confiscating any priestly goods within the temples he closed for the state, Amenophis IV

stripped the cults of their wealth, continuing on with his construction of Atenist temples. As the

pharaoh’s neglect of local issues grew, a new system of corruption and arbitrariness was formed

within the Egyptian state. The administration grew quickly as Amenophis IV bribed influential

people to stand beside his reformation, an army increasing in size as soldiers followed nobles

who sided with the pharaoh. Construction of Amenophis IV’s new temples continued post haste

with the aide of the pharaoh’s supporters, a detriment to the economy in general. His systematic

destruction of the temples was harmful, but the later abandonment of his distribution system led

to ruination as he left it without providing a replacement system.

As the economy began to fail, the influence of Amenophis IV’s new ideology allowed

greater freedom in contemporary works. This new literate freedom was best represented in the

poetic compositions of the period, where creativity was allowed full rein; similar literary

expression appeared later in the Ramessid period to the enthusiasm of the composers of the

time10. Amenophis IV’s naturalistic approach to the arts caused everyday language to leak into

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great literary works, producing a language closer to Coptic than that of the rigid, traditional,

Pyramid Texts11. While art never reached the same excess of open-mindedness as literature, the

increase in naturalistic artwork and family scenes grabbed the attention of sculptors, as well as a

type of graffiti that the pharaoh himself had designed. Eventually, art reached a stage of

exaggeration that pushed the appearance of its subjects to the point of caricaturist shape. Though

the extremity of such works gradually softened, the forms of artwork were still excessive in

comparison to traditional pieces. Towards the end of Amenophis IV’s reign, nature studies, as

well as family scenes, became more popular.

Aketaten: The Site at Tell-el-Amarna

The majority of Amenophis IV’s reforms that are mentioned above took place after his

fourth year of reign. During this time period, Amenophis IV had a territory scouted between

Thebes and Memphis, dubbing the plot of virgin land Aketaten. Blueprints of the city show that

it was to be the equal and opposite of both Thebes and Karnak, complete with the buildings

necessary for Aketaten to become the Egyptian capitol, its own temple of worship for the Aten to

be built beside Amenophis IV’s palace12. Because the royal court was quickly confined to the

king after he moved into Aketaten, Atenism had virtually no effect on the population.

Amenophis IV had moved too quickly to assert his dominance over the royal court, leaving the

population with no chance to assess the new cult and give it a place in their lives. Atenism

would have had no effect on the population even if Amenophis IV had moved the capitol back to

Heliopolis; it had no relevance towards the traditional structure of Egyptian society that had been

in place for hundreds of years, giving no reason for the populace to intertwine the new cult into

it’s daily life.

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 Believing to have finally eliminated the worshipers of Amun-Re, Amenophis IV

officially declared a new name for himself on the boundary stelae of Aketaten. Erasing the final

trace of Amun from the royal family, Amenophis IV changed his name to Akhenaten: “It pleases

Aten.12” Attempting to re-forge his communication with outside empires, Akhenaten sent

messages to kings from Babylonia, Assyria, Mittani, Arzaqa, Alasia, Hatti, as well as Syria,

Lebanon, and Canaan13. Thus the most important building in Aketaten for the modern scholar is

the remnants of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh. Within the ‘Bureau’ was a deposit of

documents known as the Amarna Letters, a set of messages sent mainly between the pharaohs

Amenophis III and Akhenaten and the foreign kings mentioned above that surrounded them.

During Akhenaten’s reign, however, Egypt withdrew from most of these countries to deal with

its own internal problems and religious reforms.

Erased

During the last three years of Akhenaten’s reign, the people of Egypt were prey to the

pharaoh’s anti-Amun persecutions. Under the orders of Akhenaten, an undisciplined military

punished those who were found worshipping the old gods, leading to a chaos and destruction

only rivaled by the state of the Egyptian economy. The powerful hand of Egypt that had been

created during the reign of the Tuthmosids was pulled back into its own nation, and the flow of

tributes provided to Egypt from the countries surrounding it were beginning to lessen without the

intense threat of the Egyptian military. Dying after seventeen years of reign, Akhenaten was

later defaced, Aketaten itself stripped to the ground. Through the obliteration of Akhenaten’s

legacy as the only ‘heretic pharaoh’ of Egypt, images of the Aten—wherever the god’s royal

cartouche was missing—were left intact, the legacy of Akhenaten laid to waste as the traditional

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cult of his god continued in practice during the next dynasty before vanishing into the desecrated

memory of Akhenaten.

Word Count 2,146

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 ENDNOTES

1. Silverman, David P. "Ancient Egypt." MSN Encarta. University of Pennsylvania. 15

Dec. 2007 <http://encarta.msn.com/text_461511156___3/Ancient_Egypt.html>. “C.
Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period”
2. Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson
Inc., 2001. pg 84.
3. Cerny, Jaroslav. Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: Hutchinson University Library,
1952. pg 62.
4. Ions, Veronica. Egyptian Mythology. Rushden, Northants, England: Newnes Books,
1965. pg 92.
5. Cerny, Jaroslav. Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: Hutchinson University Library,
1952. pg 62.
6. Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson
Inc., 2001. pgs 71-73.
7. Grimal, Nicolas. A History of Ancient Egypt. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1992. pgs
217-218.
8. Assmann, Jan. The Mind of Egypt. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1996. pgs 214-
215.
9. Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson
Inc., 2001. pg 229.
10. Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson
Inc., 2001. pg 149.
11. Grimal, Nicolas. A History of Ancient Egypt. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1992. pgs
232-233.
12. Cerny, Jaroslav. Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: Hutchinson University Library,
1952. pg 63.
13. Petrie, W. M. Flinders. Syria and Egypt: From the Tell El Amarna Letters. Strand,
London: Methuen & Co., 1898. The Universal Digital Library. 30 Nov. 2007
<http://tera-3.ul.cs.cmu.edu/index.html>. pgs 31-32.
14. Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson
Inc., 2001. pgs 190-191.

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 WORKS CITED

Assmann, Jan. The Mind of Egypt. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1996. 214-228. Focusing on
the rise of Atenism during the Amarna Period, Assmann analyzes the religion’s effects on
politics, though mainly allowing his discussion to revolve around Atenism in comparison
to modern religions and the different Egyptian cults of the time period and the conflicts
between them.
Cerny, Jaroslav. Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1952. 61-
66. A concise look at the development of Egyptian gods over time, the brief section from
pages 61 to 66 covering Akhenaten can be compared to earlier mentions of the older
gods, such as those representing the funerary cult, to draw conclusions as to the
differences and similarities between the Aten and gods like Re-Harakhte.
Grimal, Nicolas. A History of Ancient Egypt. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1992. 226-244. Grimal
takes a purely historical version of the Amarna period’s history, complying with the most
logical conclusions and dates without failing to mention disagreeing views. Most of his
dates vary only one to two years from other sources that have compromised a date in-
between those he provides.
Kemp, Barry J. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006.
This source covers the physical evidence attributed with Ancient Egyptian sites and how
it changed Egyptian culture, analyzing the after affects from a modern viewpoint. It
mentions Akhenaten and the Amarna period little, only noting briefly the Amarna letters
and their effects on court life and the relationship between gods and the pharaohs.
Petrie, W. M. Flinders. Syria and Egypt: From the Tell El Amarna Letters. Strand, London:
Methuen & Co., 1898. The Universal Digital Library. 30 Nov. 2007 <http://tera-
3.ul.cs.cmu.edu/index.html>. Though without a direct translation of the hieroglyphic
tablets to English, Petrie’s summarizations of the events that take place in each Amarna
letter are useful in placing Egypt’s political power into that of the nations surrounding it.
Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. 272-290. In it’s
tenth chapter, Shaw’s history of Egypt begins a concise overview of the Amarna period,
taking the time between main events to discuss some of the parts of the Amarna Period’s
history that have solid evidence behind them and drawing connections.
Ions, Veronica. Egyptian Mythology. Rushden, Northants, England: Newnes Books, 1965.
Providing background information on the god Amun (or Amon), this source gives
information on the development of the god in the Egyptian mindset as well as the reasons
for its rise and downfall in prominence.
Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc., 2001.
A book focusing singularly on Akhenaten instead of Egyptian history or the Amarna
Letters, this source goes more in depth on the issues involving the people of the time
period as well as exterior factors that affected Akhenaten’s reign.
Silverman, David P. "Ancient Egypt." MSN Encarta. University of Pennsylvania. 15 Dec. 2007
<http://encarta.msn.com/text_461511156___3/Ancient_Egypt.html>. This website
proved useful for procuring a general framework of the movement of the Egyptian capitol
between Memphis and Thebes, as well as giving brief information on Heliopolis and
Karnak.
"Amarna Project." The Amarna Project. Nov. 2007. 23 Sept.-Oct. 2007.

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 <http://www.amarnaproject.com/>. Homepage for the Amarna Project, it gives details on
what artifacts have been found by the Amarna Project’s team as well as giving brief notes
about the history of the area and the architecture and ruins found within.

Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Egyptian Book of the Dead: the Papyrus of Ani. London. 1895.
One of the more commonly seen translations of the Book of the Dead, Budge provides
examples of the hieroglyphic papyri that he translated from. Comparing the art within
each slate to that of the Amarna period’s, it can be seen how art and writing began to
merge the styles seen in the Pyramid Texts to that of the Amarna period’s artwork.

"Theban Mapping Project." Theban Mapping Project. Nov. 2006. Sept.-Oct. 2007.
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/>. Homepage for the Theban Mapping Project,
this page gives an idea of the general locations of a tomb that could possibly belong to
Akhenaten as well as showing the tomb’s architecture with effective 3-D modeling of
the tomb’s architecture.

Mercer, Samuel A. B. The Pyramid Texts. Longmans, Green & Co. New York, 1952.
An example of the more classical form of Egyptian hieroglyphics in before the Amarna
Period, the images provided by Mercer of the original texts can show major differences
when compared to pieces of Amarna art.

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