Somewhere in North Africa

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Akhenaton

Amenhotep the fourth, son of Amenhotep the third and Queen Ti. Ruled Egypt during the Eighteenth dynasty.

Akhenaton

He was the first to invite people to adore one god that he saw in the sun, Aton.
He changed his name to Akhnaton and transfered the capital of Egypt from Thebes (Luxor) to Akhetaton (Tal el Amarna, near Menya).
Sometimes I think he was a prophet but when God talked to him, he thought that it was the sun, well who knows.. I don't , I just think he was a great man, he had an influence on art, social life and religion back then.
In the scultptures and the reliefs of his time, he's always portrayed as a family man adoring Aton with his wife Nefertiti and their 3 daughters. Aton is portrayed as a disk (the sun) with her rays as arms reaching out to Akhenaton and his family.

Photo taken in the Egyptian museum - Cairo, Egypt

posted by shamoussa at Wednesday, March 02, 2005

5 Comments:

  • I love him but...
    some people argue he was the first example of religious tyranny, as he prevented the "Amon" worship and harrassed Amon-worshippers...
    Who knows.. Things can always be seen differently

    By Blogger R, at 11:03 PM  

  • "some others" say that the right translations of his "God" is "the power behind the sun", he was using the sun as a symbol for his God, being the bigest material symbol he could find, that's why it was there on all his paintings but it doesn't mean he was worshipping it

    generally speaking the old religions that believed in many Gods were more tolerant to other believes simply because they acceept the idea that people can worship other Gods than theirs as they can all exist, on the other hand religeons that believe(d) in one God, are usually less tolerant to others because they believe they're right and all others are wrong

    By Blogger Darsh-Safsata, at 8:51 AM  

  • Never crossed my mind ya Darsh.. thank you..

    By Blogger shamoussa, at 12:08 PM  

  • Nice to discover your site. You've a special vision.

    For Akhenaton (or Ikhnaton), I adore him very much and I think he was one of our history geniuses.

    Linked here: History of Religion in Ancient Egypt (1)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:00 AM  

  • Hi,

    Just for info:

    Statue of Egyptian queen unearthed


    Tuesday 24 January 2006, 0:53 Makka Time, 21:53 GMT


    Queen Ti statue found in the Karnak Temple in Luxor



    A US archaeological team has unearthed a statue of Queen Ti, one of the most important women in ancient Egypt and wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities says.


    The statue, mostly intact, was found under a statue of Amenhotep III in the sprawling Karnak Temple in Luxor, which was a royal city in ancient Egypt.

    The statue was found by an archaelogical team from the Johns Hopkins University.

    Ti was the first queen of Egypt to have her name appear on official acts alongside that of her husband. She was known for her influence in state affairs in the reigns of both her husband (1417-1379 BC) and of her son, Akhenaton, (1379-1362 BC) during a time of prosperity and power in the 18th dynasty.

    Her son is remembered for being the first pharaoh to advocate monotheism.

    Ti, of Nubian heritage, is believed to be the grandmother of Tutankhamun, perhaps the most famous ruler of ancient Egypt.

    Amenhotep III, who ruled for 38 years, made a basic change in the history of ancient Egypt when he named his wife, Ti, as queen against the tradition that his sister should be queen.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:44 PM  

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