"Self-made you fashioned your body,
Creator uncreated.
Sole one, unique one, who traverses eternity.
Remote one, with millions under his care ;
Your splendor is like heaven's splendor,
Your color brighter than its hues."
This is not an excerpt from the Bible, or a tract from the Quran. This is an ancient Egyptian hymn. This much will not shock or surprise many Egyptians. Most modern Egyptians are caught between the Abrahamic disdain for the "idolatrous" ancient religion of the land of the Nile, and pride in their ancient heritage. The solution, for them, has always been Akhnaten.
Akhnaten is an ideal solution for the dilemma of the modern Egyptian. To him they ascribe notions of monotheism, purity, and dedication that allow a large degree of compatibility with Abrahamic religion. Thus, they can claim some pride in their ancient heritage while dismissing its bulk as corrupted. In reality Atenism is very compatible with modern occidental religions but for all the wrong reasons.
Just as Hieroglyphs were a layered and complex multiform writing system, so was ancient Egyptian religion. The religion of Egypt combined worship forms that ranged from local deities, personal deities, pantheism, animism, and even one of the most mature forms of monotheism in the history of humanity.
The hymn at the top of the article is a hymn to Amun, not Aten. Amun was a local god at Waset, modern day Luxor. When Semites were kicked out of Egypt during the civil war at the end of the second intermediate period under the leadership of Waset, Amun rose to prominence. Amun was originally the god of the hidden power of creation, he developed in the New Kingdom into the king of gods. And then he became the one God, other gods being just reflections of him. He became hidden, yet omnipresent, distant, yet immediately reachable for the poorest of the poor. Amun became unknowable, yet omniscient. He became an all powerful all encompassing monotheistic mystery.
However, the worship of other gods continued. Amun was not jealous and his priesthood was (contrary to the reputation) undemanding. If a wife felt more able to connect with the divine through Isis who embodied her personal trials, so be it. It wasn't a problem that a lot of the populace loved Osiris, after all it was Osiris who in the after life fashioned bodies for foreigners and Egyptians buried without mummification (again contrary to pop perception) to allow them to live ever after. Osiris was the god who died and rose so that the common man could be salvaged in the afterlife (ring a bell?). Osiris, Isis, and Hathor were just aspects of the hidden God, and the hidden God appreciated being worshipped in any manner.
The image of the mother of a God born from a king God who died and was risen to give salvation to common man
is not an image that has died
The hidden God even appreciated foreigners. He identified their gods as just aspects of him, like the Egyptian gods, just with other names. Was Baal anything different from Geb? Was Apollo anything but a White people's Horus? But this complex syncretic tapestry that allowed some people to be monotheists, others polytheists, and others animists without condemning any to death or hell did not sit well with some.
The hidden nature of Amun was too much for some who remembered the sun god Re of the olden times. While Amun was the God who was in the sun, beyond it, and beyond everything, Re was the power of the sun.
Amenhotep IV was a Pharaoh whose name meant Amun is satisfied. Amenhotep was upset with the democratization of religion in the form of the popular cults of Osiris and Isis. He was also upset at the worship of the hidden god Amun, irritated by the distant nature that contrasted with the visible sun god of old. Amenhotep developed a new cult around Aten. Aten is not the power beyond the sun as many modern Egyptian Muslims and Christians believe. Aten is in fact the physical home of the sun, its disc as is visible in the day sky. Amenhotep wanted to emphasise the visible, physical nature of Re as opposed to the new immaterial aspect of Amun.
Aten was a physical manifestation of the sun, a jealous
desert god who only talked to the Pharaoh
Amenhotep also wanted to restore the centrality of the Pharaoh to worship. Thus his first targets were Osiris and Isis. Not because Amenhotep believed his god was the only god, but because Osiris and Isis were worshipped without the involvement of the Pharaoh. He then turned to Amun, he changed his name from Amenhotep to Akhnaten and proceeded to eradicate the worship of other gods.
Akhnaten believed gods other than his did exist. He just believed that his god was better and more powerful and thus nobody should worship any other god. The priests of Amun believed their god was the only God, however they believed that anyone can worship any god and they ultimately would be worshipping an aspect of Amun.
Akhnaten formed a cult in which he and his family only could worship, he and his family only could commune with the only god worth worshipping. The populace seethed. Unable to worship their democratic gods and goddesses of the home and the field, they revolted. Again, contrary to our popular belief, the fall of Atenism was a popular demand to which the priesthood and the royalty had to bow.
The ancient religion didn't die. The iconoclasm, henotheism, and sterility of Atenism were taken into the Levant to form the seed of upcoming Semitic religions. The cult of Osiris who died and was reborn to save humanity in the afterworld was coupled with the cult of Isis the untouched mother who raised the son of a god to bring justice to the world. This cult swept across the Mediterranean combined with ideas of Amenistic monotheism and the monasticism of the priests of Thoth to form the basis of all occidental religions.
Modern Egyptians believe that ancient Egyptians had received a message that was then corrupted. History points towards a progression from ancient Egypt to Abrahamic religion. But whichever way one wants to see it, it was somewhere in Middle Egypt as the local population had a bunch of Sectarian clashes that they would continue to have for millenia and to this current day that man was introduced to God as we know him in Abrahamic religions.
"Praisegiving to Amun !
I make hymns in his name.
I give to him praise :
to the height of heaven,
and the breadth of the earth.
I tell his might to him who sails down-stream,
and to him who sails up-stream.
Beware of him !
Repeat it to son and daughter,
to great and small.
Herald him to the generations not yet born.
Herald him to the fishes in the deep,
and to the birds in the sky.
Repeat it to him who knows it not,
and to him who knows.
Beware of him !
You are Amun, the Lord of the silent.
Who comes at the cry of the poor.
When I call to you in my distress,
You come to rescue me.
Give breath to him who is wretched.
Rescue me from bondage.
You are Amun-Re, Lord of Thebes,
Who rescues him who is in the netherworld ;
For you are he who is [merciful],
When one appeals to you.
You are he who comes from afar." Stela of Neb-Ra
Creator uncreated.
Sole one, unique one, who traverses eternity.
Remote one, with millions under his care ;
Your splendor is like heaven's splendor,
Your color brighter than its hues."
This is not an excerpt from the Bible, or a tract from the Quran. This is an ancient Egyptian hymn. This much will not shock or surprise many Egyptians. Most modern Egyptians are caught between the Abrahamic disdain for the "idolatrous" ancient religion of the land of the Nile, and pride in their ancient heritage. The solution, for them, has always been Akhnaten.
Akhnaten is an ideal solution for the dilemma of the modern Egyptian. To him they ascribe notions of monotheism, purity, and dedication that allow a large degree of compatibility with Abrahamic religion. Thus, they can claim some pride in their ancient heritage while dismissing its bulk as corrupted. In reality Atenism is very compatible with modern occidental religions but for all the wrong reasons.
Just as Hieroglyphs were a layered and complex multiform writing system, so was ancient Egyptian religion. The religion of Egypt combined worship forms that ranged from local deities, personal deities, pantheism, animism, and even one of the most mature forms of monotheism in the history of humanity.
The hymn at the top of the article is a hymn to Amun, not Aten. Amun was a local god at Waset, modern day Luxor. When Semites were kicked out of Egypt during the civil war at the end of the second intermediate period under the leadership of Waset, Amun rose to prominence. Amun was originally the god of the hidden power of creation, he developed in the New Kingdom into the king of gods. And then he became the one God, other gods being just reflections of him. He became hidden, yet omnipresent, distant, yet immediately reachable for the poorest of the poor. Amun became unknowable, yet omniscient. He became an all powerful all encompassing monotheistic mystery.
However, the worship of other gods continued. Amun was not jealous and his priesthood was (contrary to the reputation) undemanding. If a wife felt more able to connect with the divine through Isis who embodied her personal trials, so be it. It wasn't a problem that a lot of the populace loved Osiris, after all it was Osiris who in the after life fashioned bodies for foreigners and Egyptians buried without mummification (again contrary to pop perception) to allow them to live ever after. Osiris was the god who died and rose so that the common man could be salvaged in the afterlife (ring a bell?). Osiris, Isis, and Hathor were just aspects of the hidden God, and the hidden God appreciated being worshipped in any manner.
is not an image that has died
The hidden God even appreciated foreigners. He identified their gods as just aspects of him, like the Egyptian gods, just with other names. Was Baal anything different from Geb? Was Apollo anything but a White people's Horus? But this complex syncretic tapestry that allowed some people to be monotheists, others polytheists, and others animists without condemning any to death or hell did not sit well with some.
The hidden nature of Amun was too much for some who remembered the sun god Re of the olden times. While Amun was the God who was in the sun, beyond it, and beyond everything, Re was the power of the sun.
Amenhotep IV was a Pharaoh whose name meant Amun is satisfied. Amenhotep was upset with the democratization of religion in the form of the popular cults of Osiris and Isis. He was also upset at the worship of the hidden god Amun, irritated by the distant nature that contrasted with the visible sun god of old. Amenhotep developed a new cult around Aten. Aten is not the power beyond the sun as many modern Egyptian Muslims and Christians believe. Aten is in fact the physical home of the sun, its disc as is visible in the day sky. Amenhotep wanted to emphasise the visible, physical nature of Re as opposed to the new immaterial aspect of Amun.
desert god who only talked to the Pharaoh
Amenhotep also wanted to restore the centrality of the Pharaoh to worship. Thus his first targets were Osiris and Isis. Not because Amenhotep believed his god was the only god, but because Osiris and Isis were worshipped without the involvement of the Pharaoh. He then turned to Amun, he changed his name from Amenhotep to Akhnaten and proceeded to eradicate the worship of other gods.
Akhnaten believed gods other than his did exist. He just believed that his god was better and more powerful and thus nobody should worship any other god. The priests of Amun believed their god was the only God, however they believed that anyone can worship any god and they ultimately would be worshipping an aspect of Amun.
Akhnaten formed a cult in which he and his family only could worship, he and his family only could commune with the only god worth worshipping. The populace seethed. Unable to worship their democratic gods and goddesses of the home and the field, they revolted. Again, contrary to our popular belief, the fall of Atenism was a popular demand to which the priesthood and the royalty had to bow.
The ancient religion didn't die. The iconoclasm, henotheism, and sterility of Atenism were taken into the Levant to form the seed of upcoming Semitic religions. The cult of Osiris who died and was reborn to save humanity in the afterworld was coupled with the cult of Isis the untouched mother who raised the son of a god to bring justice to the world. This cult swept across the Mediterranean combined with ideas of Amenistic monotheism and the monasticism of the priests of Thoth to form the basis of all occidental religions.
Modern Egyptians believe that ancient Egyptians had received a message that was then corrupted. History points towards a progression from ancient Egypt to Abrahamic religion. But whichever way one wants to see it, it was somewhere in Middle Egypt as the local population had a bunch of Sectarian clashes that they would continue to have for millenia and to this current day that man was introduced to God as we know him in Abrahamic religions.
Amun was a hidden God who pervaded everything, yet was jealous of nothing, and was reachable by everyone in every possible way
"Praisegiving to Amun !
I make hymns in his name.
I give to him praise :
to the height of heaven,
and the breadth of the earth.
I tell his might to him who sails down-stream,
and to him who sails up-stream.
Beware of him !
Repeat it to son and daughter,
to great and small.
Herald him to the generations not yet born.
Herald him to the fishes in the deep,
and to the birds in the sky.
Repeat it to him who knows it not,
and to him who knows.
Beware of him !
You are Amun, the Lord of the silent.
Who comes at the cry of the poor.
When I call to you in my distress,
You come to rescue me.
Give breath to him who is wretched.
Rescue me from bondage.
You are Amun-Re, Lord of Thebes,
Who rescues him who is in the netherworld ;
For you are he who is [merciful],
When one appeals to you.
You are he who comes from afar." Stela of Neb-Ra
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