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Title: The Life and Times of Akhnaton - Pharaoh of Egypt
Author: Weigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (Arthur Edward Pearse Brome)
Language: English
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have
been placed at the end of the book.
Footnotes [79] and [82] have a translation of some heiroglyphic
words, using several accented characters. These will display,
using Unicode combining diacriticals, on this device as
ȧ (a with dot above)
ḥ and Ḥ (h and H with dot below)
a͑ and A͑ (a and A with half left circle above)
Pages 155 and 156 of the original book have a two-column side by
side comparison of “Akhnaton’s Hymn” and “Psalm CIV”. The Psalm
has been placed under the Hymn in this etext.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._
Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. With numerous Illustrations.
TRAVELS IN THE UPPER EGYPTIAN DESERTS.
“Since the times of Eliot Warburton and Kinglake many writers
have celebrated the delights of travel in the desert. None, I
think, has realised the fascination of the desert more fully than
Mr Weigall.”--_Westminster Gazette._
JOHN WARD, F.S.A. (author of ‘Pyramids and Progress,’ &c.),
writes: “... The very best book of travel ... I have seen for
years; so interesting that it can be read with pleasure by people
who know not Egypt, and so unpretendingly scientific ... that
to one who is an expert Egyptologist it is a treasure-trove.
The language is so clear, the descriptive portions so graphic,
and yet the style so simple, that the work is, in its way,
a masterpiece. Then the clear type, the handy size, and the
exquisite photographs make the book a rare possession.”
Demy 8vo. With Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.
“Interesting and readable in no common degree.”--_Scotsman._
THE TREASURY OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
Chapters on Ancient Egyptian History and Archæology.
Mr Weigall has performed a remarkable literary feat. He has
truly made dry bones live, and has presented his researches in
Egyptology in a manner so fascinating as to arouse the enthusiasm
of the patrons of the circulating libraries. Of this volume it is
enough to say that it is worthy of the author of ‘The Life and
Times of Akhnaton.’
WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
[Illustration: PAVEMENT DECORATION FROM THE PALACE OF AMONHOTEP III.]
The Life and Times of
Akhnaton
The Life and Times of
Akhnaton
Pharaoh of Egypt
BY
ARTHUR E. P. WEIGALL
CHIEF INSPECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES, UPPER EGYPT
AUTHOR OF ‘A REPORT ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF LOWER NUBIA,’
‘A CATALOGUE OF THE WEIGHTS AND BALANCES IN THE CAIRO
MUSEUM,’ ‘A GUIDE TO THE ANTIQUITIES OF UPPER EGYPT,’
‘DIE MASTABA DES GEMNIKAI’ (WITH PROFESSOR VON
BISSING), ‘TRAVELS IN THE UPPER EGYPTIAN
DESERTS,’ ETC.
“Ye ask who are those that draw us to the Kingdom if the Kingdom
is in Heaven? The fowls of the air, and all the beasts that are
under the earth or upon the earth, and the fishes of the sea, these
are they which draw you, and the Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”
--GRENFELL AND HUNT: _Oxyrhynchus Papyri_, iv. 6.
SECOND IMPRESSION
William Blackwood and Sons
Edinburgh and London
1911
_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_
_TO_
_THEODORE M. DAVIS,_
_THE DISCOVERER OF_
_THE BONES OF AKHNATON_,
This Book is Dedicated.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
I.
THE PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS OF AKHNATON.
1. THE ANCESTORS OF AKHNATON 7
2. THE GODS OF EGYPT 11
3. THE DEMIGODS AND SPIRITS--THE PRIESTHOODS 18
4. THOTHMES IV. AND MUTEMUA 21
5. YUAA AND TUAU 25
6. AMONHOTEP III. AND HIS COURT 33
II.
THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF AKHNATON.
1. THE BIRTH OF AKHNATON 42
2. THE RISE OF ATON 45
3. THE POWER OF QUEEN TIY 49
4. AKHNATON’S MARRIAGE 53
5. THE ACCESSION OF AKHNATON 58
6. THE FIRST YEARS OF AKHNATON’S REIGN 62
7. THE NEW ART 68
8. THE NEW RELIGION DEVELOPS 76
9. THE NATURE OF THE NEW RELIGION 84
III.
AKHNATON FOUNDS A NEW CITY.
1. THE BREAK WITH THE PRIESTHOOD OF AMON-RA 88
2. AKHNATON SELECTS THE SITE OF HIS CITY 92
3. THE FIRST FOUNDATION INSCRIPTION 94
4. THE SECOND FOUNDATION INSCRIPTION 101
5. THE DEPARTURE FROM THEBES 105
6. THE AGE OF AKHNATON 110
IV.
AKHNATON FORMULATES THE RELIGION OF ATON.
1. ATON THE TRUE GOD 115
2. ATON THE TENDER FATHER OF ALL CREATION 118
3. ATON WORSHIPPED AT SUNRISE AND SUNSET 124
4. THE GOODNESS OF ATON 127
5. AKHNATON THE “SON OF GOD” BY TRADITIONAL RIGHT 130
6. THE CONNECTIONS OF THE ATON WORSHIP WITH OLDER
RELIGIONS 135
7. THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH 138
8. THE MATERIAL NEEDS OF THE SOUL 143
V.
THE TENTH TO THE TWELFTH YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
1. THE HYMNS OF THE ATON WORSHIPPERS 149
2. THE SIMILARITY OF AKHNATON’S HYMN TO PSALM CIV. 155
3. MERYRA IS MADE HIGH PRIEST OF ATON 157
4. THE ROYAL FAMILY VISIT THE TEMPLE 162
5. AKHNATON IN HIS PALACE 167
6. HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THIS PERIOD OF AKHNATON’S REIGN 169
7. QUEEN TIY VISITS THE CITY OF THE HORIZON 176
8. TIY VISITS HER TEMPLE 182
9. THE DEATH OF QUEEN TIY 184
VI.
THE THIRTEENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGION OF ATON 189
2. AKHNATON OBLITERATES THE NAME OF AMON 193
3. THE GREAT TEMPLE OF ATON 198
4. THE BEAUTY OF THE CITY 202
5. AKHNATON’S AFFECTION FOR HIS FAMILY 208
6. AKHNATON’S FRIENDS 213
7. AKHNATON’S TROUBLES 217
VII.
THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
1. THE HITTITE INVASION OF SYRIA 223
2. AKHNATON’S CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS TO WARFARE 226
3. THE FAITHLESSNESS OF AZIRU 230
4. THE FIGHTING IN SYRIA BECOMES GENERAL 235
5. AZIRU AND RIBADDI FIGHT TO A FINISH 239
6. AKHNATON CONTINUES TO REFUSE TO SEND HELP 243
7. AKHNATON’S HEALTH GIVES WAY 246
8. AKHNATON’S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 252
VIII.
THE FALL OF THE RELIGION OF AKHNATON.
1. THE BURIAL OF AKHNATON 258
2. THE COURT RETURNS TO THEBES 264
3. THE REIGN OF HOREMHEB 268
4. THE PERSECUTION OF AKHNATON’S MEMORY 272
5. THE FINDING OF THE BODY OF AKHNATON 276
INDEX 285
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PAVEMENT DECORATION FROM THE PALACE OF AMONHOTEP III.
(_coloured_) _Frontispiece_
CEILING DECORATION FROM THE PALACE OF AMONHOTEP III.
(_coloured_) 36
THOTHMES IV. SLAYING ASIATICS 22
TUAU, GRANDMOTHER OF AKHNATON 26
CHEST BELONGING TO YUAA 28
QUEEN TIY 30
YUAA, GRANDFATHER OF AKHNATON 32
AMONHOTEP-SON-OF-HAPU, THE “WISE MAN” OF THE COURT
OF AMONHOTEP III. 34
SITE OF THE PALACE OF QUEEN TIY 38
COFFIN OF YUAA 40
AMONHOTEP III. 54
AKHNATON 58
THE ART OF AKHNATON COMPARED WITH ARCHAIC ART 72
THE ARTIST AUTA 76
AKHNATON AND NEFERTITI WITH THEIR THREE DAUGHTERS 108
THE HEAD OF THE MUMMY OF THOTHMES IV., THE GRANDFATHER
OF AKHNATON 110
AKHNATON DRIVING WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER 130
AKHNATON AND HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN 134
AN EXAMPLE OF THE FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN SYRIA
AND EGYPT 190
CARVED WOODEN CHAIR, THE DESIGNS PARTLY COVERED
WITH GOLD-LEAF 202
AKHNATON. (_From a Statuette in the Louvre_) 206
HEAD OF AKHNATON’S DAUGHTER 208
LETTER FROM RIBADDI TO THE KING OF EGYPT, REPORTING
THE PROGRESS OF THE REBELLION UNDER AZIRU. (_British
Museum, No. 29,801_) 234
DEATH MASK OF AKHNATON 258
THE TEMPLE AT LUXOR 270
MAP OF AKHETATON, THE CITY OF THE HORIZON OF ATON
(TEL EL AMARNA) _At end._
“How much Akhnaton understood we cannot say, but he had certainly
bounded forward in his views and symbolism to a position which
we cannot logically improve upon at the present day.”--PETRIE:
‘History of Egypt.’
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AKHNATON.
INTRODUCTION.
The reign of Akhnaton, for seventeen years Pharaoh of Egypt (from
B.C. 1375 to 1358), stands out as the most interesting epoch in the
long sequence of Egyptian history. We have watched the endless line
of dim Pharaohs go by, each lit momentarily by the pale lamp of our
present knowledge, and most of them have left little impression
upon the mind. They are so misty and far off, they have been
dead and gone for such thousands of years, that they have almost
entirely lost their individuality. We call out some royal name,
and in response a vague figure passes into view, stiffly moves
its arms, and passes again into the darkness. With one there comes
the muffled noise of battle; with another there is singing and
the sound of music; with yet another the wailing of the oppressed
drifts by. But at the name Akhnaton there emerges from the darkness
a figure more clear than that of any other Pharaoh, and with it
there comes the singing of birds, the laughter of children, and the
scent of many flowers. For once we may look right into the mind
of a king of Egypt and may see something of its workings; and all
that is there observed is worthy of admiration. Akhnaton has been
called “the first individual in human history”;[1] but if he is
thus the first historical figure whose personality is known to us,
he is also the first of all human founders of religious doctrines.
Akhnaton may be ranked in degree of time, and perhaps also in
degree of genius, as the world’s first idealist; and, since in all
ancient Oriental research there never has been, and probably never
will be, brought before us a subject of such intellectual interest
as this Pharaoh’s religious revolution, which marks the first point
in the study of advanced human thought, a careful consideration of
this short reign deserves to be made.
The following pages do not pretend to do more than acquaint the
reader with the subject, at a time when, owing to the recent
discovery of the Pharaoh’s bones, some interest may have been
aroused in his career. A series of volumes have lately been issued
by the Egypt Exploration Fund,[2] in which accurate copies are to
be found of the reliefs, paintings, and inscriptions upon the walls
of the tombs of some of Akhnaton’s disciples and followers. In the
year 1893 Professor Flinders Petrie excavated the site of the city
which the Pharaoh founded, and published the results of his work
in a volume entitled ‘Tell el Amarna.’[3] Recently Professor J. H.
Breasted has devoted some space to a masterly study of this period
in his ‘History of Egypt’ and ‘Ancient Records of Egypt.’[4] From
these publications the reader will be able to refer himself to the
remaining literature dealing with the subject; but he should bear
in mind that the discovery[5] of the bones of Akhnaton himself,
which have shown us how old he was when he died--namely, about
twenty-eight years of age,--have modified many of the deductions
there made. Those who have travelled in Egypt will probably have
visited the site of Akhnaton’s city, near the modern village of El
Amarna; and in the museums of Cairo, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
Leiden, and elsewhere, they will perhaps have seen some of the
relics of his age.
During the last few years an extraordinary series of discoveries
has been made in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes.
In 1903 the tomb of Thothmes IV., the paternal grandfather of
Akhnaton, was discovered; in 1905 the tomb of Yuaa and Tuau, the
maternal grandparents of Akhnaton, was found; in 1907 Akhnaton’s
body was discovered in the tomb of his mother, Queen Tiy; and
in 1908 the tomb of the Pharaoh Horemheb, one of the immediate
successors of Akhnaton, was brought to light. At all but the
first of these discoveries the present writer had the pleasure
of assisting; and a particular interest in the period was thus
engendered, of which the following sketch, prepared during an Upper
Egyptian summer, is an outcome. It must be understood, however,
that a volume written at such times as the exigencies of official
work allowed--partly in the shade of the rocks beside the Nile,
partly at railway-stations or in the train, partly amidst the ruins
of ancient temples, and partly in the darkened rooms of official
quarters--cannot claim the value of a treatise prepared in an
English study where books of reference are always at hand. It is
hoped, however, that no errors have been made in the statement of
the facts; and the deductions drawn therefrom are frankly open to
the reader’s criticism. There will certainly be no two opinions
as to the acknowledgment of the originality, the power, and the
idealism of the Pharaoh whose life is now to be outlined.[6]
I.
THE PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS OF AKHNATON.
1. THE ANCESTORS OF AKHNATON.
The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egyptian kings took possession of the
throne of the Pharaohs in the year 1580 B.C., over thirteen hundred
years after the buildings of the great pyramids, and some two
thousand years after the beginning of dynastic history in the
Nile Valley. The founder of the dynasty was the Pharaoh Aahmes I.
He drove out the Asiatics who had overrun the country during the
previous century, and pursued them into the heart of Syria. His
successor, Amonhotep I., penetrated as far as the territory between
the Orontes and the Euphrates; and the next king, Thothmes I., was
able to set his boundary-stone at the northern limits of Syria, and
thus could call himself the ruler of the entire east end of the
Mediterranean, the emperor of all the countries from Asia Minor to
the Sudan. Thothmes II., the succeeding Pharaoh, was occupied with
wars in his southern dominions; but his successor, the famous Queen
Hatshepsut, was able to devote the years of her reign to the arts
of peace.
She was followed by the great warrior Thothmes III., who conducted
campaign after campaign in Syria, and raised the prestige of Egypt
to a point never attained before or after that time. Every year he
returned to Thebes, his capital, laden with the spoils of Asia.
From the capture of the city of Megiddo alone he carried away 924
splendid chariots, 2238 horses, 2400 head of various kinds of
cattle, 200 shining suits of armour, including those of two kings,
quantities of gold and silver, the royal sceptre, the gorgeous tent
of one of the kings, and many minor articles. Booty of like value
was brought in from other shattered kingdoms, and the Egyptian
treasuries were full to overflowing. The temples of the gods also
received their share of the riches, and their altars groaned
under the weight of the offerings. Cyprus, Crete, and perhaps the
islands of the Ægean, sent their yearly tribute to Thebes, whose
streets, for the first time in their history, were thronged with
foreigners. Here were to be seen the long-robed Asiatics bearing
vases fresh from the hands of Tyrian craftsmen; here were chariots
mounted with gold and electrum drawn by prancing Syrian horses;
here were Phœnician merchants with their precious wares stripped
from the kingdoms of the sea; here were negroes bearing their
barbaric treasures to the palace. The Egyptian soldiers held their
heads high as they walked through these streets, for they were
feared by all the world. The talk was everywhere of conquest, and
the tales of adventure now related remained current in Egypt for
many a century. War-songs were composed, and hymns of battle were
inscribed upon the temple walls. The spirit of the age will be seen
in the following lines, in which the god Amon addresses Thothmes
III.:--
“I have come, giving thee to smite the princes of Zahi,
I have hurled them beneath thy feet among their highlands....
Thou hast trampled those who are in the districts of Punt,
I have made them see thy majesty as a circling star....
Crete and Cyprus are in terror....
Those who are in the midst of the great sea hear thy roarings;
I have made them see thy majesty as an avenger,
Rising upon the back of his slain victim....
I have made them see thy majesty as a fierce-eyed lion,
While thou makest them corpses in their valleys....”
It was a fierce and a splendid age--the zenith of Egypt’s great
history. The next king, Amonhotep II., carried on the conquests
with a degree of ferocity not previously apparent. He himself was
a man of great physical strength, who could draw a bow which none
of his soldiers could use. He led his armies into his restless
Asiatic dominions, and having captured seven rebellious Syrian
kings, he hung them head downwards from the prow of his galley as
he approached Thebes, and later sacrificed six of them to Amon
with his own hand. The seventh he carried up to a distant city of
the Sudan, and there hung him upon the gateway as a warning to all
rebels. Dying in the year 1420 B.C., he left the throne to his son,
Thothmes IV., the grandfather of Akhnaton, who at his accession
was about eighteen years of age.[7]
2. THE GODS OF EGYPT.
With the reign of Thothmes IV. we reach a period of history in
which the beginnings are to be observed of certain religious
movements, which become more apparent in the time of his son
Amonhotep III. and his grandson Akhnaton. We must look, therefore,
more closely at the events of this reign, and must especially
observe their religious aspect. For this reason, and also in order
that the reader may the more readily appreciate, by contrast, the
pure teachings of the Pharaoh whose life forms the subject of the
following pages, it will be necessary to glance at the nature of
the religions which now held sway. Egypt had at this time existed
as a civilised nation for over two thousand years, during the
whole of which period these religious beliefs had been developing;
and now they were so engrained in the hearts of the people that
changes, however slight, assumed revolutionary proportions,
requiring a master-mind for their initiation, and a hand of iron
for their carrying into execution. At the time of which we now
write, this mind and this hand had not yet come into existence, and
the old gods of Egypt were at the zenith of their power.
Of these gods Amon, the presiding deity of Thebes, was the most
powerful. He had been originally the tribal god of the Thebans, but
when that city had become the capital of Egypt, he had risen to
be the state god of the country. The sun-god Ra, or Ra-Horakhti,
originally the deity of Heliopolis, a city not far from the modern
Cairo, had been the state god in earlier times, and the priests of
Amon contrived to identify the two deities under the name “Amon-Ra,
King of the Gods.” Amon had several forms. He was usually regarded
as a man of shining countenance, upon whose head two tall feathers
arose from a golden cap. Sometimes, however, he assumed the form
of a heavy-horned ram. Sometimes, again, he adopted the appearance
of a brother god, named Min, who was later identified with the
Greek Pan; and it may be mentioned in passing that the goat-form
of the Greek deity may have been derived from this Min-Amon of the
Thebans. On occasions Amon would take upon himself the likeness of
the reigning Pharaoh, choosing a moment when the monarch was away
or was asleep, and in this manner he would obtain admittance to the
queen’s bed-chamber. Amonhotep III. himself was said to be the son
of a union of this nature, though at the same time he did not deny
that his earthly father was Thothmes IV. Amon delighted in battle,
and gave willing assistance to the Pharaohs as they clubbed the
heads of their enemies or cut their throats. It is possible that,
like other of the Egyptian gods, he was but a deified chieftain
of the prehistoric period whose love of battle had never been
forgotten.
The goddess Mut, “the Mother,” was the consort of Amon, who would
sometimes come to earth to nurse the king’s son at her breast. By
Amon she had a son, Khonsu, who formed the third member of the
Theban trinity. He was the god of the Moon, and was very fair to
look upon.
Such were the Theban deities, whose influence upon the court was
necessarily great. The Heliopolitan worship of the sun had also a
very considerable degree of power at the palace. The god Ra was
believed to have reigned as Pharaoh upon earth in the dim ages of
the past, and it was thought that the successive sovereigns of
Egypt were his direct descendants, though this tradition actually
did not date from a period earlier than the Fifth Dynasty. “Son of
the Sun” was one of the proudest titles of the Pharaohs, and the
personal name of each successive monarch was held by him in the
official titulary as the representative of Ra. While on earth Ra
had had the misfortune to be bitten by a snake, and had been cured
by the goddess Isis, who had demanded in return the revealing of
the god’s magical name. This was at last told her; but for fear
that the secret would come to the ears of his subjects, Ra decided
to bring about a general massacre of mankind. The slaughter was
carried out by the goddess Hathor in her form of Sekhmet, a fierce
lion-headed woman, who delighted to wade in streams of blood; but
when only the half of mankind had been slain, Ra repented, and
brought the massacre to an end by causing the goddess to become
drunk, by means of a gruesome potion of blood and wine. Weary,
however, with the cares of state, he decided to retire into the
heavens, and there, as the sun, he daily sailed in his boat from
horizon to horizon. At dawn he was called Khepera, and had the
form of a beetle; at noon he was Ra; and at sunset he took the
name of Atum, a word derived from the Syrian Adon, “Lord,” better
known to us in its Greek translation “Adonis.” As the rising and
the setting sun--that is to say, the sun near the horizon--he was
called Ra-Horakhti, a name which the reader must bear in mind.
The goddess Isis, mentioned in the above tradition, was the consort
of Osiris, originally a Lower Egyptian deity. Like Ra, this god had
also reigned upon earth, but had been murdered by his brother Set,
his death being ultimately revenged by his son Horus, the hawk.
Thus Osiris, Isis, and Horus formed a trinity, which at this time
was mainly worshipped at Abydos, a city of Upper Egypt, where it
was thought that Osiris had been buried. Having thus ceased to
live upon earth, Osiris became the great King of the Underworld,
and all persons prayed to him for their future welfare after death.
Meanwhile Horus, the hawk, was the tribal god of more than one
city. At Edfu he was worshipped as the conqueror of Set; and in
this manifestation he was the husband of Hathor, the lady of
Dendereh, a city some considerable distance from Edfu. At Ombos,
however, Set was worshipped, and in the local religion there was
no trace of aught but the most friendly relations between Set and
Horus. The goddess Hathor, at the same time, had become patron of
the Western Hills, and in one of her earthly forms--namely, that of
a cow--she is often seen emerging from her cavern in the cliffs.
At Memphis the tribal god was the little dwarf Ptah, the European
Vulcan, the blacksmith, the artificer, and the potter of the gods.
In this city also, as in many other districts of Egypt, there was
a sacred bull, here called Apis, who was worshipped with divine
honours and was regarded as an aspect of Ptah. At Elephantine a
ram-headed deity named Khnum was adored, and there was a sacred
ram kept in his temple for ceremonial purposes. As Khnum had some
connection with the First Cataract of the Nile, which is situated
near Elephantine, he was regarded as of some importance throughout
Egypt. Moreover, he was supposed by some to have used the mud at
the bottom of the Nile to form the first human being, and thus he
found a place in the mythology of several districts.
A vulture, named Nekheb, was the tribal deity of the trading city
of Eileithiaspolis; a ferocious crocodile, Sebek, was the god of
a second city of the name of Ombos; an ibis, Thoth, was that of
Hermopolis; a cat, Bast, that of Bubastis; and so on--almost every
city having its tribal god. Besides these there were other more
abstract deities: Nut, the heavens, who, in the form of a woman,
spread herself across the sky; Seb, the earth; Shu, the vastness
of space; and so forth. The old gods of Egypt were indeed a
multitude. Here were those who had marched into the country at the
head of conquering tribes; here were ancient heroes and Chieftains
individually deified, or often identified with the god whom their
tribe had served; here were the elements personified; here the orbs
of heaven which man could see above him. As intercourse between
city and city became more general, one set of beliefs had been
brought into line with another, and myths had developed to explain
the discrepancies. Thus in the time of Thothmes IV. the heavens
were crowded with gods; but standing above them all, the reader
will do well to familiarise himself with the figure of Amon-Ra, the
god of Thebes, and with Ra-Horakhti, the god of Heliopolis. In the
following pages the lesser denizens of the Egyptian Olympus play
no great part, save as a routed army hurled back into the ignorant
darkness from which they came.
3. THE DEMIGODS AND SPIRITS--THE PRIESTHOODS.
The sacred bulls and rams mentioned above were relics of an ancient
animal-worship, the origin of which is lost in the obscurity of
prehistory. The Egyptians paid homage to a variety of animals, and
almost every city or district possessed its particular species to
which special protection was extended. At Hermopolis and in other
parts of Egypt the baboon was sacred, as well as the ibis, which
typified the god Thoth. Cats were sacred both at Bubastis, where
the cat-goddess, Bast, resided, and in various other districts.
Crocodiles were very generally held in reverence, and several river
fish were thus treated. The snake was much feared and reverenced;
and, as a pertinent example of this superstition, it may be
mentioned that Amonhotep III., the father of Akhnaton, placed a
figure of the agathodemon serpent in a temple at Benha. The cobra
was reverenced as the symbol of Uazet, the goddess of the Delta,
and, first used as a royal emblem by the archaic kings of that
country, it became the main emblem of sovereignty in Pharaonic
times. It is unnecessary here to look more closely at this aspect
of Egyptian religion; and but a word need be said of the thousand
demons and spirits which, together with the gods and the sacred
animals, crowded the regions of the unknown. Many were the names
which the magician might call upon in the hour of his need, and
many were the awful forms which the soul of a man who had died
was liable to meet. Osiris, the great god of the dead, was served
by four such genii, and under his authority there sat no less
than forty-two terrible demons whose business it was to judge the
quavering soul. The numerous gates of the underworld were guarded
by monsters whose names alone would strike terror into the heart,
and the unfortunate soul had to repeat endless and peculiarly
tedious formulæ before admittance was granted.
To minister to these hosts of heaven there had of necessity to be
vast numbers of priests. At Thebes the priesthood of Amon formed
an organisation of such power and wealth that the actions of the
Pharaoh had largely come to be controlled by it. The High Priest
of Amon-Ra was one of the most important personages in the land,
and his immediate subordinates, the Second, Third, and Fourth
Priests, as they were called, were usually nobles of the highest
rank. The High Priest of Amon was at this period often Grand Vizir
also, and thus combined the highest civil appointment with the
highest sacerdotal office. The priesthood of Ra at Heliopolis,
although of far less power than that of Amon, was also a body of
great importance. The High Priest was known as “the Great One of
Visions,” and he was probably less of a politician and more of
a priest than his Theban colleague. The High Priest of Ptah at
Memphis was called “the Great Master Artificer,” Ptah being the
Vulcan of Egypt. He, however, and the many other high priests of
the various gods, did not rank with the two great leaders of the
Amon and the Ra priesthoods.
4. THOTHMES IV. AND MUTEMUA.
When Thothmes IV. ascended the throne he was confronted by a very
serious political problem. The Heliopolitan priesthood at this
time was chafing against the power of Amon, and was striving to
restore the somewhat fallen prestige of its own god Ra, who in
the far past had been the supreme deity of Egypt, but had now to
play an annoying second to the Theban god. Thothmes IV., as we
shall presently be told by Akhnaton himself,[8] did not altogether
approve of the political character of the Amon priesthood, and it
may have been due to this dissatisfaction that he undertook the
repairing of the great Sphinx at Gizeh, which was in the care of
the priests of Heliopolis. The sphinx was thought to represent a
combination of the Heliopolitan gods Horakhti, Khepera, Ra, and
Atum, who have been mentioned above; and, according to a later
tradition, Thothmes IV. had obtained the throne over the heads of
his elder brothers through the mediation of the Sphinx--that is
to say, through that of the Heliopolitan priests. By them he was
called “Son of Atum and Protector of Horakhte, ... who purifies
Heliopolis and satisfies Ra,”[9] and it seems that they looked to
him to restore to them their lost power. The Pharaoh, however, was
a physical weakling, whose small amount of energy was entirely
expended upon his army, which he greatly loved, and which he led
into Syria and into the Sudan. His brief reign of somewhat over
eight years, from 1420 to 1411 B.C., marks but the indecisive
beginnings of the struggle between Amon and Ra, which culminated in
the early years of the reign of his grandson Akhnaton.
[Illustration: _Thothmes IV. slaying Asiatics._]
Some time before he came to the throne he had married a daughter
of the King of Mitanni, a North-Syrian state which acted as a
buffer between the Egyptian possessions in Syria and the hostile
lands of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, and which it was desirable,
therefore, to placate by such a union. There is little doubt that
this princess is to be identified with the Queen Mutemua, of whom
several monuments exist, and who was the mother of Amonhotep III.,
the son and successor of Thothmes IV. A foreign element was thus
introduced into the court which much altered its character, and led
to numerous changes of a very radical nature. It may be that this
Asiatic influence induced the Pharaoh to give further encouragement
to the priest of Heliopolis. The god Atum, the aspect of Ra as the
setting sun, was, as has been said, of common origin with Aton or
Adonis, who was largely worshipped in North Syria; and the foreign
queen with her retinue may have therefore felt more sympathy with
Heliopolis than with Thebes. Moreover, it was the Asiatic tendency
to speculate in religious questions, and the doctrines of the
priests of the northern god were more flexible and more adaptable
to the thinker than was the stiff, formal creed of Amon. Thus,
the foreign thought which had now been introduced into Egypt, and
especially into the palace, may have contributed somewhat to the
dissatisfaction with the state religion which becomes apparent
during this reign.
Very little is known of the character of Thothmes IV., and
nothing which bears upon that of his grandson Akhnaton is to be
ascertained. Although of feeble health and unmanly physique, he was
a fond upholder of the martial dignity of Egypt. He delighted to
honour the memory of those Pharaohs of the past who had achieved
the greatest fame as warriors. Thus he restored the monuments of
Thothmes III., of Aahmes I., and of Senusert III.,[10] the three
greatest military leaders of Egyptian history. As a decoration for
his chariot there were scenes representing him trampling upon his
foes; and when he died many weapons of war were buried with him.
Of Queen Mutemua’s character nothing is known; and the attention
of the reader may at once be carried on to Akhnaton’s maternal
grandparents, the father and mother of Queen Tiy.
5. YUAA AND TUAU.
Somewhere about the year 1470 B.C., while the great Thothmes III.
was campaigning in Syria, the child was born who was destined to
become the grandfather of the most remarkable of all the Pharaohs
of Egypt. Neither the names of the parents nor the place of birth
are known; and the reader will presently find that it is not easy
to say whether the child was an Egyptian or a foreigner. His name
is written Aau, Aay, Aai, Ayu, A-aa, Yaa, Yau, and most commonly
Yuaa; and this variety of spelling seems rather to indicate that
its pronunciation, being foreign, did not permit of a correct
rendering in Egyptian letters. He must have been some twenty years
of age when Thothmes III. died; and thus it is quite possible that
he was one of those Syrian princes whom the Pharaoh brought back
to Egypt from the courts of Asia to be educated in the Egyptian
manner. Some of these hostages who were not direct heirs to Syrian
thrones may have taken up their permanent residence on the banks
of the Nile, where it is certain that a fair number of their
countrymen were settled for business and other purposes. During the
reign of Amonhotep II., Yuaa must have passed the prime years of
his life, and at that king’s death he had probably reached about
the forty-fifth year of his age. He had married a woman called
by the common Egyptian name of Tuau, regarding whose nationality
there is, therefore, not much question. Two children were born
of the marriage, the first a boy who was named Aanen, and the
second a girl named Tiy, who later became the great queen. Tiy was
probably a little girl some two years old when Thothmes IV. came
to the throne, and as her parents both held appointments at court,
she must have presently received those first impressions of royal
luxury which influenced her childhood and her whole life.
[Illustration: _Tuau, grandmother of Akhnaton._]
At this time Yuaa held the sacerdotal office of Priest of Min, one
of the most ancient of the Egyptian gods. Min, who had many of
the characteristics of, and was later identified with, the Greek
Pan, was worshipped at three or four cities of Upper Egypt, and
throughout the Eastern Desert to the Red Sea coast. He was the god
of fecundity, fertility, generation, reproduction, and the like,
in the human, animal, and vegetable worlds. In his form of Min-Ra
he was a god of the sun, whose fertilising rays made pregnant the
whole earth. He was more noble than the Greek Pan, and represented
the pristine desires of lawful reproduction in the family, rather
than the erotic instincts for which the Greek god was famous.
Were one to compare him with any of the gods of the countries
neighbouring to Egypt, he would be found to have as much likeness
to the above-mentioned Adonis, who in North Syria was a god of
vegetation, as to any other deity. This fact offers food for some
thought, for if Yuaa was a foreigner, hailing, as may be supposed,
from Syria, there would have been no Egyptian god, except Atum,
to whose service he would have attached himself so readily as to
that of Min. Although a tribal god, Min was not essentially the
protector and upholder of Egyptian rights and Egyptian prejudices.
He was, in one form or another, universal; and he must have
appealed to the sense and the senses of Syrian and Egyptian alike.
At this time, as we have seen, the priests of Amon, whose wealth
had brought corruption in its train, were under the cloud of royal
displeasure, and the court was beginning to display a desire to
rid itself of an influence which was daily becoming less exalted.
It may be that Yuaa, upholding the doctrines of Min and of Adonis,
had some connection with this movement, for he was now a personage
of considerable importance at the palace. He may have already held
the title of Prince or Duke, by which he is called in his funeral
inscriptions; and one may suppose that he was a favourite of the
young king, Thothmes IV., and of his wife, Queen Mutemua, whose
blood was soon to unite with his own in the person of Akhnaton.
When Thothmes IV. died at the age of twenty-six, and his son
Amonhotep III., a boy of twelve years of age, came to the throne,
Yuaa was a man of over fifty, and his little daughter Tiy was a
girl of marriageable age according to Egyptian ideas, being about
ten years old.[11]
[Illustration: _Chest belonging to Yuaa._]
The court at this time was more or less under the influence of
the now Queen-Regent Mutemua and her advisers, for Amonhotep III.
was still too young to be allowed to go entirely his own way,
and amongst those advisers it seems evident that Yuaa was to be
numbered. Now the boy-king had not been on the throne more than a
year, if as much, when, with feasting and ceremony, he was married
to Tiy; and Yuaa and Tuau became the proud parents-in-law of the
Pharaoh.
It is necessary to consider the significance of the marriage.
The royal pair were the merest children; and it is impossible
to suppose that the marriage was not arranged for them by their
guardians. If Amonhotep at this early age had simply fallen in love
with this girl, with whom probably he had been brought up, he, no
doubt, would have insisted on marrying her, and she would have been
placed in his _harîm_. But she became his Great Queen, was placed
on the throne beside him, and received honours which no other queen
of the most royal blood had ever received before. It is clear that
the king’s advisers would never have permitted this had Tiy been
but the pretty daughter of a noble of the court. There must have
been something in her parentage which entitled her to these honours
and caused her to be chosen deliberately as queen.
There are several possibilities. Tuau may have had royal blood in
her veins, and may have been, for instance, the granddaughter of
Thothmes III., to whom she bears some likeness in face. Queen Tiy
is often called “Royal Daughter” as well as “Royal Wife”; and it is
possible that this is to be taken literally. In a letter sent by
Dushratta, King of Mitanni, to Akhnaton, Tiy is called “my sister
and thy mother”; and though it is possible that the word “sister”
is here used to indicate the general cousinship of royalty, it
is more probable that some real connection is meant, for other
relationships, such as “daughter,” “wife,” and “father-in-law,”
are precisely stated in the letter. Yuaa may have been indirectly
of royal Egyptian blood, or he may have been, as we have seen,
the offspring of some Syrian royal house, such as that of Mitanni,
related by marriage with the Pharaoh; and thus Tiy may have had
some distant claim to the throne, and Dushratta would have had
reason for calling her his sister. Queen Tiy, however, has so often
been called a foreigner for reasons which have now been shown to be
quite erroneous that we must be cautious in adopting any of these
possibilities. It has been stated that her face is North-Syrian
in type,[12] and, as the portrait upon which this statement is
based is, in all features except the nose, reminiscent of Yuaa,
that noble would also resemble the people of that country; and in
this connection it must be remembered that the marriage of Tiy
and Amonhotep took place under the regency of Mutemua, herself
probably a North-Syrian princess. Be this as it may, however, the
two children, not yet in their ’teens, ruled Egypt together, and
Yuaa and Tuau stood behind the throne to advise them.
[Illustration: _Queen Tiy._]
Tuau now included amongst her titles those of “Royal Handmaid,” or
lady-in-waiting, “the favoured-one of Hathor,” “the favourite of
the King,” and “the Royal mother of the great wife of the King,” a
title which may indicate that she was of royal blood. Amongst the
titles of Yuaa one may mention those of “Master of the Horse and
Chariot-Captain of the King,” “the favourite, excellent above all
favourites,” and “the mouth and ears of the King,”--that is to say,
his agent and adviser. He was a personage of commanding presence,
whose powerful character showed itself in his face. One must
picture him now as a tall man, with a fine shock of white hair; a
great hooked nose, like that of a Syrian; full, strong lips; and
a prominent, determined jaw. He has the face of an ecclesiastic,
and there is something about his mouth which reminds one of the
late Pope, Leo XIII. One feels, in looking at his well-preserved
features, that here perhaps may be found the originator of the
great religious movement which his daughter and grandson carried
into execution.
[Illustration: _Yuaa, grandfather of Akhnaton._]
6. AMONHOTEP III. AND HIS COURT.
Besides Yuaa and Tuau and the Queen-Dowager Mutemua, there was
a certain noble, named Amonhotep-son-of-Hapu, who may have
exercised considerable influence upon the young Pharaoh. So good
and wise a man was he, that in later times he was regarded almost
as a divinity, and his sayings were treasured from generation
to generation. It may be that he furthered the cause of the
Heliopolitan priesthood against that of Amon; and it is to be
observed in this connection that, in the inscription engraved upon
his statue, he refers to the Pharaoh as the “heir of Atum” and
the “first-born son of Horakhti,” those being the Heliopolitan
gods. When, presently, a daughter was born to Tiy, who was named
Setamon, this philosopher was given the honorary post of “Steward”
to the princess; while at the same time he filled the office of
Minister of Public Works, and held various court appointments. At
this period, when religious speculation was beginning to be freely
indulged in, the influence of a “wise man” of this character
would necessarily be great; and should any of his sayings come to
light, they will perhaps be found to bear upon the subject of the
religious changes which were now taking place. A late tradition
tells us that this Amonhotep had warned the Pharaoh that if he
would see the true God he must drive from his kingdom all impure
persons; and herein one may perhaps observe some reference to the
corrupt priests of Amon, whose ejection from their offices was
daily becoming more necessary.
[Illustration: _Amonhotep-son-of-Hapu, the “wise man” of the Court
of Amonhotep III._]
At the time of which we write Egypt still remained at that height
of power to which the military skill of Thothmes III. had raised
her. The Kings of Palestine and Syria were tributaries to the
young Pharaoh; the princes of the sea-coast cities sent their
yearly impost to Thebes; Cyprus, Crete, and even the Greek islands,
were Egyptianised; Sinai and the Red Sea coast as far south as
Somaliland were included in the Pharaoh’s dominions; and the
negro tribes of the Sudan were his slaves. Egypt was indeed the
greatest state in the world, and Thebes was a metropolis at which
the ambassadors, the merchants, and the artisans from these
various countries met together. Here they could look upon buildings
undreamed of in their own lands, and could participate in luxuries
unknown even in Babylon. The wealth of Egypt was so enormous that
a foreign sovereign who wrote to the Pharaoh asking for gold
mentioned that it could not be considered as anything more valuable
than so much dust by an Egyptian. Golden vases in vast quantities
adorned the tables of the king and his nobles, and hundreds of
golden vessels of different kinds were used in the temples.
The splendour and gaiety of the court at Thebes remind one of the
tales from the Arabian Nights. One reads of banquets, of splendid
festivals on the water, of jubilee celebrations, and of hunting
parties. When the scenes depicted on the monuments are gathered
together in the mind, and the ruins which are left are there
reconstructed, a life of the most intense brilliancy is shown. This
was rather a development of the period than a condition of things
which had been derived from an earlier _régime_. The Egyptians
had always been a happy, light-hearted people; but it was the
conquests of Thothmes III. that had given them the security and
the wealth to live as luxuriously as they pleased. The tendency of
the nation was now to break away from the old, hardy traditions of
the earlier periods of Egyptian history; and virtually no other
body, except the priesthood of Amon, held them down to ancient
conventionalities. But while the king and his court made merry
and amused themselves in sumptuous fashion, that god Amon and his
representatives towered over them like some sombre bogie, holding
them to a religion which they considered to be obsolete, and
claiming its share of royal wealth.
[Illustration: CEILING DECORATION FROM THE PALACE OF AMONHOTEP III.]
About the time of his marriage Amonhotep built a palace on the
western bank of the Nile, on the edge of the desert under the
Theban hills, and here Queen Tiy held her brilliant court. The
palace was a light but roomy structure of brick and costly woods,
exquisitely decorated with paintings on stucco, and embellished
with delicate columns. Along one side ran a balcony on which were
rugs and many-coloured cushions, and here the king and queen could
sometimes be seen by their subjects. Gardens surrounded the
palace, almost at the gates of which rose the splendid hills. On
the eastern side of the building the king later constructed a huge
pleasure-lake especially for the amusement of Tiy. The mounds of
earth which were thrown up during its excavation were purposely
formed into irregular hills, and these were covered with trees and
flowers. Here the queen floated in her barge, which, in honour of
the Heliopolitan god, she called “Aton-gleams”; and as she watched
the reflections of the hills and the trees in the still water, she
may well have imagined herself in those fair lands of Syria from
which Aton or Adonis had come.
The name Aton was Syrian. The setting sun, as we have seen, was
called in Egypt Atum, which was derived from the Asiatic Adon or
Aton; and it is now that we first find the word introduced into
Egypt as a synonym of Ra-Horakhti-Khepera-Atum of Heliopolis.
Presently we find that one of the Pharaoh’s regiments of soldiers
is named after this god Aton, and here and there the word now
occurs upon the monuments. Thus, gradually, the court was bringing
a new-named deity into prominence, closely related to the gods
of Heliopolis; and it may be supposed that the priesthood of Amon
watched the development with considerable perturbation. The Pharaoh
himself does not seem to have worried very considerably with regard
to these religious matters. He was, it seems, a man addicted to
pleasure, whose interests lay as much in the hunting-field as in
the palace. He loved to boast that during the first ten years of
his reign he had slain 102 lions; but as he was a mere boy when he
first indulged in this form of sport, it is to be presumed that his
nobles assisted him handsomely in the slaughter on each occasion.
In one day he is reported to have killed fifty-six wild cattle, and
a score more fell to him a few days later; but here again one may
suppose that the glory and not the deed was his.
[Illustration: _Site of the Palace of Queen Tiy._]
In the fifth year of his reign he led an expedition into the
Sudan to chastise some tribe which had rebelled, and he records
with pride the slaughter which he had made. It is stated that
these negroes “had been haughty, and great things were in their
hearts; but the fierce-eyed lion, this prince, he slew them by the
command of Amon-Atum.” It is interesting to notice that Atum is
thus brought into equal prominence with Amon, and one may see from
this the trend of public opinion.
At this time the Vizir, a certain Ptahmes, held also the office of
High Priest of Amon; but when he died he was not succeeded in his
duties as Vizir by the new head of the Amon priesthood, as was to
be expected. The Pharaoh appointed a noble named Rames as his prime
minister, and thus separated the civil and the religious power:
a step which again shows us something of the movement which was
steadily diminishing the power of Amon.
Queen Tiy seems to have borne several daughters to the king, and
it is possible that she had also presented him with a son. But,
if this is so, he had died in early childhood, and no heir to
the throne was now living. It may have been partly due to this
fact that Amonhotep, in the tenth year of his reign, married
the Princess Kirgipa or Gilukhipa, daughter of the King of
Mitanni, and probably niece of the Dowager-Queen Mutemua.[13] The
princess came to Egypt in considerable state, bringing with her
317 ladies-in-waiting; but she seems to have been thrust into
the background by Tiy, who, even in the official record of the
marriage, is called the king’s chief wife. The marriage may have
been purely political, as was that of Thothmes IV.; and there is
certainly no record of any children born to Gilukhipa. She and
her ladies but added a further foreign element to the life of the
palace, and swelled the numbers of those who had no sympathy with
the old gods of Thebes.
[Illustration: _Coffin of Yuaa._]
It must have been somewhere about the year 1390 B.C. that Tiy’s
aged father, Yuaa, died; and Tuau soon followed him to the grave.
They were buried in a fine sepulchre in the Valley of the Tombs
of the Kings at Thebes; and if they are not to be considered as
royal, this will have been the first time that persons not of royal
blood had been buried in a tomb of large size in this valley.
A quantity of funeral furniture was placed around the splendid
coffins in which their mummies lay, and amongst this there were
a few objects which evidently had been presented by the bereaved
king and queen and by the young princesses, Setamon and another
whose name is now lost. Yuaa and his wife had evidently been much
beloved at the court, and as the parents of the great queen they
had commanded the respect of all men. To us they are remarkable as
the grandparents of that great teacher, Akhnaton, whose birth has
now to be recorded.
II.
THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF AKHNATON.
1. THE BIRTH OF AKHNATON.
It has been seen that Queen Tiy presented several children to the
king; but it was not until they had reigned some twenty-five or
twenty-six years that the future monarch was born. As the years
had passed the queen must have grown more and more anxious for a
son, and many must have been the prayers she offered up that a
male child might be vouchsafed to her. In Egypt at the present
day the desire to bear a son holds dominion in the heart of every
young woman; and those to whom this privilege has not been granted
forsake the laws of the prophet and still lay their passionate
appeal before the old gods. The present writer was asked recently
by a young peasant to allow his wife to walk round the outer wall
of an ancient temple, in order that she might perchance bear a male
child thereafter; and on another occasion three young women were
seen sliding down the plinth of an overturned statue of Rameses
the Great for the same purpose. With similar emotion, though with
greater intelligence, Queen Tiy must have turned in her grief from
one god to another, promising them all manner of gifts if they
would grant her desire. To Ra-Horakhti Aton she appears to have
turned with the most confidence; and perhaps, as will presently
be seen, she vowed that if a son were granted to her she would
dedicate him to the service of that god.
It is probable that the little prince first saw the light in the
royal palace at Thebes, which was situated on the edge of the
desert at the foot of the western hills. It was, as has been said,
an extensive building, lightly constructed and gaily decorated.
The ceilings and pavements of its halls were fantastically painted
with scenes of animal life: wild cattle ran through reedy swamps
beneath the royal feet, and there many-coloured fish swam in the
water; while overhead flights of pigeons, white against a blue sky,
passed across the hall, and wild duck hastened towards the open
casements. Through curtained doorways one might obtain glimpses of
the garden planted with flowers foreign to Egypt; and on the east
of the palace shone the great pleasure-lake, surrounded by the
trees of Asia.
In all the world there are few places more beautiful than the site
of this palace. Here one may sit for many an hour watching the
changing colours on the wonderful cliffs, the pink and the yellow
of the rocks standing out from the blue and the purple of the deep
shadows. In the fields which now surround the ruined palace, where
the royal gardens were laid out, one obtains an impression of
colour, of beauty, and of gaiety--if it can be so expressed--which
is not easily equalled. The continuous sunshine and the bracing
wind render one intensely awake to natural joys; and here, indeed,
was a fitting birthplace, one feels, for a king who taught his
people to study the beauties of nature.
2. THE RISE OF ATON.
The little prince was named Amonhotep,[14] “the Peace-of-Amon,”
after his father; but though the supremacy of Amon was thus
acknowledged, the Heliopolitan deity appears to have been
considered as the protector of the young boy. While the luxurious
court rejoiced at the birth of their future king, one feels that
the ancient priesthood of Amon-Ra must have looked askance at the
baby who was destined one day to be their master. This priesthood
still demanded implicit obedience to its stiff and ancient
conventions, and it refused to recognise the growing tendency
towards religious speculation.
Probably stronger measures would have been taken by it to resist
the growing power of Ra-Horakhti, had it not been for the fact that
Ra was also a form of Amon, and had been identified with him under
the name of Amon-Ra. The god Amon was originally but the local
deity of Thebes; and, when the Theban Pharaohs of the Eighteenth
Dynasty had elevated him to the position of the state god of all
Egypt, they made him acceptable to the various provinces, as we
have seen, by pointing to his identification with Ra, the sun-god,
who, under one form or another, found a place in every temple and
held high rank in every variety of mythology. As Amon-Ra he was
able to be appreciated by the sun-worshippers of Syria and by those
of Nubia, for there were few races who would not do homage to the
great giver of warmth and light.
It is possible that those more thoughtful members of the court
who were quietly attempting to undermine the influence of the
priesthood of Amon, and who were beginning to carry into execution
the schemes of emancipation which we have already noticed, now
endeavoured to strip Amon of his association with the sun; for
that identity was really his simple claim to acceptance by any
but Thebans. The priesthood, on their part, it may be supposed,
drew as much attention as possible to the connection of their
deity with Ra; for they knew that none but the Heliopolitan god
could be advanced with success as a rival of Amon by those who
desired to overthrow the Theban god. Thus one finds that the High
Priest of Ra at Heliopolis was given, and was obliged to accept,
the honorary office of Second Priest of Amon at Thebes,[15] which
at once placed him under the thumb of the Theban High Priest. The
propounders of the new thought, however, met this move by bringing
into greater prominence the claims, not of Ra-Horakhti, but of
Aton, which was merely a more elusive form of the sun-god. The
priesthood of Amon had always checked the individual growth of
Ra-Horakhti by regarding him simply as an aspect of Ra, and hence
of Amon-Ra. One of the essential features of the new movement was
the regarding of Ra as an aspect of Ra-Horakhti, and the calling
of Ra-Horakhti by the uncontaminated name of Aton. Aton, in fact,
was originally introduced into the matter largely for the purpose
of preventing any identification between Amon-Ra and Ra-Horakhti.
Soon the name of Aton, entirely supplanting that of Atum, was heard
with some frequency at Thebes and elsewhere, but always, it must
be remembered, as another word for Ra-Horakhti.
The desire of the court for a change of religion is understandable.
The cult of the god Amon, as has been said, was so hedged about
with conventionalities that free thought was impossible. We have
seen, however, that the upper classes were passing through a phase
of religious speculation, and they were ready to revolt against the
domination of a priesthood which forbade criticism. The worship of
the intangible power of the sun, under the name of Aton, offered
endless possibilities for the exercise of those tendencies towards
the abstract which were now beginning to be felt all over the
civilised world. This was man’s first age of philosophical thought,
and for the first time in history the gods were being endued with
ideal qualities.
Apart from all questions of religion, the priesthood of Amon had
obtained such power and wealth that it was a very serious menace
to the dignity of the throne. The great organisation which had its
headquarters at Karnak had become an incubus which weighed heavily
upon the state. For political reasons alone, therefore, it was
desirable to push the priests of Heliopolis into a more prominent
position.
There was, moreover, a third consideration. The god Aton, with
whom Ra and Ra-Horakhti were now being identified, was, we have
seen, originally the same as the Syrian and Greek Adonis, the word
“Adon” or “Aton” meaning simply “lord.” Thus the propounders of the
new doctrines must have dreamt of an Egypto-Syrian empire bound
together by the ties of a common religion. With one god understood
and worshipped from the cataracts of the Nile to the distant
Euphrates, what power could destroy the empire?
3. THE POWER OF QUEEN TIY.
In Amonhotep III. one may see the lazy, speculative Oriental, too
opinionated and too vain to bear with the stiff routine of his
fathers, and yet too lacking in energy to formulate a new religion.
On the other hand, there is every reason to suppose that Queen
Tiy possessed the ability to impress the claims of the new thought
upon her husband’s mind, and gradually to turn his eyes, and those
of the court, away from the sombre worship of Amon, “the unknown
god,” into the direction of the brilliant cult of the sun. Those
who have travelled in Egypt will realise how completely the land
is dominated by the sun. The blue skies, the shining rocks, the
golden desert, the verdant fields, all seem to cry out for joy of
the sunshine. The extraordinary energy which one may feel in Egypt
at sunrise, and the deep melancholy which sometimes accompanies the
red nightfall, must have been felt by Tiy also in her palace at
Thebes.
As the years passed the power and influence of Queen Tiy increased;
and now that she had borne a son to the king there was added to
her great position as royal wife the equally great _rôle_ of
royal mother. Never before had a queen been so freely represented
on all the king’s monuments, nor had so fine a series of titles
been given before to the wife of a Pharaoh. At Sedênga, far up in
the Sudan, her husband erected a temple for her; and in distant
Sinai a beautiful portrait head of her was recently found. All
visitors to Thebes have seen her figures by the side of the legs of
the two great colossi at the edge of the Western Desert; and the
huge statues of herself and her husband, now in the Cairo Museum,
will have been seen by those who have visited that collection. Of
Grilukhipa,[16] however, and the king’s other wives, one hears
nothing at all: Queen Tiy relegated them to the background almost
before their marriage ceremonies were over.
By the time that Amonhotep III. had reigned for thirty years or
so, he had ceased to give much attention to state affairs, and
the power had almost entirely passed into the capable hands of
Tiy. Already an influence, which we may presume to have been to a
large extent hers, was being felt in many directions: Ra-Horakhti
and Aton were being brought into the foreground, a tone of
thought which can hardly be regarded as purely Egyptian was being
developed, the art was undergoing modifications and had risen to a
pitch of excellence never attained before or after. The exquisite
low-reliefs of the end of the reign of Amonhotep III.--for example,
those to be seen at Thebes in the tombs of Khaemhat and Rames,[17]
both of which are definitely dated to the close of the reign--stir
one almost as do the works of the early Florentine masters. There
is an elusive grace in the dainty figures there sculptured, which,
through another medium and under other laws of convention, cause
them to appeal with the same force of indefinable sweetness as do
the figures in the works of Filipino Lippi and Botticelli. In the
mass of Egyptian painting and sculpture of secondary importance
such gems as these have been overlooked and have not been
appreciated by the public; but the present writer ventures to think
that some day they will set the heart of all art-lovers dancing as
danced those of Queen Tiy’s great masters.
The court in which the little prince passed his earliest years was
more brilliant than ever it had been before, and Queen Tiy presided
over scenes of indescribable splendour. Amonhotep III. has been
truly called “the Magnificent”; and at no period, save that of
Thothmes III., were the royal treasuries so full or the nobles so
wealthy. Out of a pageant of festivities, from amidst the noise
of song and laughter, the little sad-eyed prince first emerges on
to the stage of history, led by the hand of Queen Tiy; but as he
appears before us, above the clink of the golden wine-bowls, above
the sound of the timbrels, one seems to hear the lilt of a more
simple song, and the peaceful singing of a lark.
4. AKHNATON’S MARRIAGE.
During the last years of his reign the Pharaoh, although well under
fifty years of age,[18] seems to have suffered from permanent
ill-health. On two occasions the King of Mitanni sent to Egypt a
miracle-working statuette of the goddess Ishtar, apparently in the
hope that Amonhotep might be cured of his illness by it. It is
probable that the king had never been a very strong man. Having
been born when his father--himself extremely delicate--was but
a child, he had had little chance of enjoying a robust middle
age, and he passed on to his children this inherent weakness. One
hears no more of his daughters,[19] whom we have seen mourning for
their grandparents Yuaa and Tuau, and there is some likelihood
that they died young. The little Prince Amonhotep was already
developing constitutional weaknesses which rendered his life very
precarious. His skull was misshapen, and he must have been subject
to occasional epileptic fits. And now Queen Tiy gave birth to a
daughter, who was named Baketaton in honour of the new god, and who
seems to have lived less than a score of years, since nothing more
is heard of her after her twelfth or thirteenth year.
[Illustration: _Amonhotep III._]
As Amonhotep, at the age of forty-eight or forty-nine, felt his
end approaching, he seems to have shown considerable anxiety in
regard to the succession. Here was his only son--now a boy of ten
or eleven years of age--in so sad a state of health that he could
not be expected to live to manhood, and in the event of his
death the throne would be without an occupant in the direct line.
Obviously it was necessary that he should be married as soon as
possible, in order that he might become a father as early as that
was naturally possible. Amonhotep III. himself had been married to
Tiy when he was about twelve years of age, and his father Thothmes
IV. had likewise been married at that early age.[20] The little
Prince Amonhotep should, therefore, also be given a wife at once;
and the Pharaoh now began to look around for a suitable consort
for him. He had heard that Dushratta, King of Mitanni, had a small
daughter who was said to be a comely maiden; but it appears that
she was only eight or nine years of age,[21] and therefore could
not be expected to provide an heir for at least another four years.
Nevertheless there were many political reasons for proposing the
union. Mitanni was, as we have seen, the buffer state between
the Pharaoh’s Syrian possessions and the lands of the Hittites
and of the Mesopotamians. Thothmes IV. had asked a bride from
Mitanni, and Amonhotep III. himself had obtained Gilukhipa from
thence, if not Queen Tiy also: both these being probably political
matches, designed for the welfare of the Syrian empire. The Pharaoh
therefore decided upon this marriage for his sickly son, and sent
an embassy to Dushratta to negotiate the union between these two
children.
The reply of Dushratta has, fortunately, been preserved to us. The
Mitannian king acknowledges the arrival of the envoy, and is much
rejoiced at this further binding together of the two countries. In
a subsequent letter it is evident that the princess has already
been sent to Egypt, and we are led to suppose that Prince Amonhotep
has at once been married to her. The little princess was named
Tadukhipa, but on her arrival in Egypt she was renamed Nefertiti.
Her age, as mentioned above, is apparent from the fact that,
although in after life she gave birth to children at very regular
intervals, her first child was not born until nearly five years
after her marriage.[22] So young was she that she did not at once
cohabit with the prince, but was put under the care of a certain
lady of the court named Ty, the wife of a noble of the name of Ay,
who afterwards usurped the throne. This lady Ty called herself in
later years “great nurse and nourisher of the Queen,” and Ay always
called himself the king’s father-in-law (_neter at_). It would thus
seem that they had become the actual foster-parents of the little
Syrian girl. It was not at all unusual in Egypt for a child to be
adopted thus; and it is a curious fact that if a woman gave the
breast to a child of any age but for a moment, or if a man placed
his finger in the child’s mouth, a formal adoption was considered
to have been made.[23]
The court had hardly settled down after the celebration of the
marriage of Amonhotep and Tadukhipa-Nefertiti, when it was thrown
into mourning by the death of Amonhotep “the Magnificent,” which
occurred in the thirty-sixth year of his reign. Queen Tiy at
once assumed control of state affairs, on behalf of her barely
eleven-year-old son, who as Amonhotep IV. now ascended the throne
of the Pharaohs.
5. THE ACCESSION OF AKHNATON.
On coming to the throne the young king fixed his titulary in the
following manner:--
Mighty Bull, Lofty of Plumes; Favourite of the Two Goddesses,
Great in Kingship in Karnak; Golden Hawk, Wearer of Diadems
in the Southern Heliopolis; King of Upper and Lower Egypt,
Beautiful-is-the-Being-of-Ra, the Only-One-of-Ra; Son of the
Sun, Peace-of-Amon (Amonhotep), Divine Ruler of Thebes; Great in
Duration, Living for Ever and Ever, Beloved of Amon-Ra, Lord of
Heaven.
These titles were drawn up on more or less prescribed lines, and
conformed to the old custom of the Pharaohs. Like his ancestors,
he was called “Beloved of Amon-Ra,” although, as we have seen, the
power of that god was already much undermined. To counterbalance
this reference to the god of Thebes, however, one finds the
surprising title--
High Priest of Ra-Horakhti, rejoicing in the horizon in his name,
“Heat-which-is-in-Aton.”
Let the boy be said to be beloved of Amon-Ra till the walls of
Thebes reverberate with the cry; let Amon-Ra be called Lord of
Heaven till the priestly heralds can shout no more: the doom of the
god of Thebes cannot now be averted, for the reigning Pharaoh is
dedicated to another god.
[Illustration: _Akhnaton._]
It is obvious that a boy of eleven years of age could not himself
have claimed the office of the High Priest of Ra-Horakhti.
Queen Tiy and her advisers must have deliberately endowed the
youthful king with this office, largely in order to set the seal
upon the fate of Amon. There were, perhaps, other reasons why
this remarkable step was decided upon. It may be, as has been
said, that the queen, before the birth of her son, had vowed him
to Ra-Horakhti. Again, the boy was epileptic, was subject to
hallucinations; and it may be that while in this condition he had
seen visions or uttered words which led his mother to believe
him to be the chosen one of the Heliopolitan god, whose name the
prince must have been constantly hearing. In a palace where the
mystical “Heat-which-is-in-Aton,” which was the new elaboration of
the god’s name, was being daily invoked, and where the youthful
master of Egypt was constantly falling into what appeared to be
holy frenzy, it is not unlikely that the rising deity would be
connected with the eccentricities of the young Pharaoh. The High
Priest of Ra-Horakhti was always called “The Great of Visions,” and
was thus essentially a visionary prophet either by nature or by
circumstance; and the unfortunate boy’s physical condition may have
been turned, thus, to account in the struggle against Amon-Ra.
One may now imagine the Pharaoh as a pale, sickly youth. His head
seemed too large for his body; his eyelids were heavy; his eyes as
one imagines them were wells of dream. His features were delicately
moulded, and his mouth, in spite of a somewhat protruding lower
jaw, is reminiscent of the best of the art of Rossetti. He seems
to have been a quiet, studious boy, whose thoughts wandered in
fair places, searching for that happiness which his physical
condition had denied to him. His nature was gentle; his young heart
overflowed with love. He delighted, it would seem, to walk in the
gardens of the palace, to hear the birds singing, to watch the fish
in the lake, to smell the flowers, to follow the butterflies, to
warm his small bones in the sunshine. There was a grave dignity
in his gait, or the artists have lied; and his words were already
fraught with wisdom. The great crown of the Pharaohs sat easily
upon his head, for his every movement was royal. He accepted as
his due the homage of the court; yet he does not seem to have
acted with arrogance, and was ever a tender-hearted, impulsive
child. Already he was sometimes called “Lord of the Breath of
Sweetness”;[24] and already he was so much beloved by his subjects
that their adherence to him through the rough places of his future
life was assured. For the first years of his reign he was, of
course, entirely under the regency of his mother. Dushratta, the
King of Mitanni, writing to congratulate the boy on his accession,
addressed himself to Queen Tiy, as though he thought the king
would hardly yet be able to understand a letter; and in a later
communication he asks the Pharaoh to inquire of his mother as to
certain matters of international policy. But although so young, the
king was wise beyond his years, as the reader will presently see.
6. THE FIRST YEARS OF AKHNATON’S REIGN.
In a subsequent chapter it will be the writer’s purpose to show
to what heights of ideal thought, and to what profundities of
religious and moral philosophy, this boy, in the years of his
early manhood, attained; and it will but enhance our respect for
his abilities when he reached maturity, if we find in his early
training all manner of shortcomings. The beautiful doctrines of
the religion with which this Pharaoh’s name is identified were
productions of his later days; and until he was at least seventeen
years of age neither his exalted monotheism nor any of his future
principles were really apparent. Some time after the eighth year of
his reign one finds that he had evolved a religion so pure that one
must compare it with Christianity in order to discover its faults;
and the reader will presently see that this superb theology was not
derived from his education.
One of the first acts of the king’s reign, undertaken at the
desire of Queen Tiy or of the royal advisers, was the erection of
a temple to Ra-Horakhti Aton at Karnak.[25] This was in no way an
insult to Amon, for Thothmes III. and other Pharaohs had dedicated
temples at Karnak to gods other than Amon. The priesthood of
Amon-Ra recognised the existence of the many deities of Egypt, and
gave them their place in the constitution of heaven, reserving for
their own god the title of “King of the Gods.” There was a temple
of Ptah here; there were shrines set apart for the worship of Min;
and other gods, unconnected with Amon, were here accommodated. The
priests of Amon-Ra thus could not offer any serious objection to
the project. The building[26] was to be constructed of sandstone,
and therefore various officials were dispatched to the great
quarries of Gebel Silsileh, which lie on the river between Edfu
and Kom Ombo, and to those near Esneh. Large tablets were there
carved upon the cliffs towards the close of the work, and on them
the figure of the Pharaoh was represented worshipping Amon, who
was thus still the state god. Above the king’s figure, however,
the disk of the sun is seen, and from it a number of lines,
representing rays, project downwards towards the royal figure.
These rays terminate in hands, which thus seem to be distributing
the “Heat-which-is-in-Aton” around the Pharaoh. This is the first
representation of the afterwards famous symbol of the religion of
Aton, and it is significant that it should make its _début_ in a
scene representing the worship of Amon.
The king is called the High Priest of Ra-Horakhti; but the title
“Living in truth,” which he took to himself in later years, and
which had reference to the religion of Aton which he was soon to
evolve, does not yet appear.
A large number of fragments from this shrine have been
discovered, and on these one sees references to the gods Horus,
Set, Wepwat, and others. The king is still called by the name
Amonhotep, which was later banned, and the names of Aton,
afterwards always written within the royal ovals or cartouches,
are still lacking in that distinction. The temple was called
“Aton-is-found-in-the-House-of-Aton,” a curious name of which
the meaning is not clear.[27] A certain official named Hataay was
“Scribe and Overseer of the Granary of the House of the Aton,”
by which this temple is probably meant; and in the tomb of Rames
a reference is made to the building by its full name, and a
picture of it is given, but otherwise one knows little about it.
The rapidity with which it was desired to be set up is shown by
the fact that the great, well-trimmed blocks of stone usually
employed in the construction of sacred buildings were largely
dispensed with, and only small easily-handled blocks were used. The
imperfections in the building were then hidden by a judicious use
of plaster and cement, and thus the walls were smoothed for the
reception of the reliefs. The quarter in which the temple stood was
now called “Brightness of Aton the Great,” and Thebes received the
new name of “City of the Brightness of Aton.”
There are two other monuments which date from these early years of
the king’s reign: both are tombs of great nobles. At this period
one of the greatest personages in the land was the above-mentioned
Rames, the Vizir of Upper Egypt. This official was now engaged in
constructing and decorating a magnificent sepulchre for himself in
the Theban necropolis. In the great hall of this tomb the artists
were busy preparing the beautiful sculptures and paintings which
were to cover the walls, and ere half their work was finished they
set themselves to the making of a fine figure of Amonhotep IV.
seated upon his throne, with the goddess Maat standing behind him.
The scene was probably executed a few months before the making of
the tablets at the quarries. The sun’s rays do not appear, and
the work was carried out strictly according to the canons of art
obtaining during the last years of Amonhotep III. and the first of
his son. But hardly had the figures been finished before the order
came that the Aton rays had to be included, and certain changes in
the art had to be recognised; and therefore the artists set to work
upon another figure of the king standing under these many-handed
beams of “heat,” and now accompanied by his, as yet, childless
wife. The two scenes may be seen by visitors to Thebes standing
side by side, and nowhere may the contrast between the old order
of things and the new be so clearly observed.
While Rames was providing a tomb for himself at Thebes, another
great noble named Horemheb, who ultimately usurped the throne, was
constructing his sepulchre at Sakkârah, the Memphite necropolis
near Cairo. Horemheb was commander-in-chief of the army, and in his
tomb some superb reliefs are carved showing him receiving rewards
in that capacity from the king. Some of the scenes represent the
arrival of Asiatic refugees in Egypt, who ask to be allowed to take
up their abode on the banks of the Nile, and the figures of these
foreigners rank amongst the finest specimens of Egyptian art. In
the inscriptions, Horemheb, who is supposed to be addressing the
king, states that the Pharaoh owes his throne to Amon,[28] but yet
we see that the figure of the king is drawn in that style of art
which is typical of the new religion.[29]
7. THE NEW ART.
This sudden change in the style of the reliefs which we have
observed in these two tombs and on the quarry tablets seems to be
attributable to about the fourth year of the king’s reign. The
reliefs which were now carved upon the walls of the new temple of
Ra-Horakhti at Karnak show us a style of art quite different from
that of the king’s early years. The figure of the Pharaoh, which
the artists in the tomb of Rames represented as standing below the
newly-invented sun’s rays, is as different from the earlier figure
there executed as chalk is from cheese. The Pharaoh whom we see
in the tomb of Horemheb and on the quarry tablets is represented,
according to canons of art, entirely different from those existing
at the king’s accession.
In the drawing of the human figure, and especially that of the
Pharaoh, there are three very distinct characteristics in this new
style of art. Firstly, as to the head: the skull is elongated;
the chin, as seen in profile, is drawn as though it were sharply
pointed; the flesh under the jaw is skimped, thus giving an upward
turn to the line; and the neck is represented as being long and
thin. Secondly, the stomach is made to obtrude itself upon the
attention by being drawn as though from a fat and ungainly model.
And thirdly, the hips and thighs are abnormally large, though
from the knee downwards the legs are of more natural size. This
distortion of human anatomy is marked in a lesser degree in all the
lines of the body; and the whole figure becomes a startling type
of an art which seems at first to have sprung fully developed from
the brain of the boy-Pharaoh or from one of the eccentrics of the
court.
The king was now fifteen years old, and seems to have been
extraordinarily mature for his age. It may be that he had objected
to be represented in the conventional manner, and had told his
artists to draw him as he was. The elongated skull, the pointed
chin, and even, perhaps, the protruding paunch, may thus have
originated. But the ungainly thighs could only be accounted for
by some radical deformity in the royal model, and that he was a
well-made man in this respect his recently discovered bones most
clearly show.
Purely tentatively a suggestion may here be offered to account for
this peculiar treatment of the human body. It is probable that the
king had now, in a boyish way, become deeply interested in the
religious contest which was beginning to be waged between Amon-Ra
and Ra-Horakhti Aton. Having listened to the arguments on both
sides, it may have occurred to him to study for himself the ancient
documents and inscriptions bearing on the matter. In so doing, he
would have found that Amon had become the state god only some few
hundred years before his own time, and that previous to his ascent
to this important position, previous even to the earliest mention
of his name, Ra-Horakhti had been supreme. Carrying his inquiries
back, past the days of the pyramid kings to the archaic Pharaohs
who reigned at the dim beginning of things, he would still have
found the Heliopolitan god worshipped. One of the Pharaohs’ most
cherished titles was “Son of the Sun,” which, as we have seen, had
been borne by each successive sovereign since the days of the Fifth
Dynasty, whose kings claimed descent from Ra himself. Such studies
would inevitably bring two matters into prominence: firstly,
that Amon was, after all, but a usurper; and, secondly, that as
Pharaoh he was the descendant of Ra-Horakhti, and was that god’s
representative on earth.
On these grounds, more than on any others, all things connected
with Amon would become distasteful to him. He was too young to
understand fully which of the two religions was the better morally
or theologically; but he was old enough to be moved by the romance
of history, and to feel that those great, shadowy Pharaohs who
lived when the world was young, and who at the dawn of events
worshipped the sun, were the truest and best examples for him to
follow. They were his ancestors, and as they were the sons of Ra,
so he, too, was the proud descendant of that great god. In his
veins there ran the blood of the sun, that “Heat-which-is-in-Aton”
pulsed through and through him; and the more he read in those old
documents the more he was stirred by the glory of that distant
past when men worshipped the god whose rights Amon had usurped.
Now the canons of art were regarded as a distinctly religious
institution, and the methods of treating the human figure then in
vogue had in the first place the sanction of the priesthood of
Amon; and few things would be more upsetting to their _régime_
than the abandoning of these canons. This was probably recognised
by those who were furthering the cause of Ra-Horakhti, and the
young king may have been assisted and encouraged in his views.
Presently it may have been brought home to him that, since he was
thus the representative of those archaic kings and the High Priest
of their god, it was fitting that the canons acknowledged by those
far-off ancestors should be recognised by him. Here, then, he would
both please his own romantic fancy and deal a blow at the Amon
priesthood by banning the art which they upheld, and by infusing
into the sculptures and paintings of his time something of the
spirit of the most ancient art of Egypt.
[Illustration: _The Art of Akhnaton compared with Archaic Art._
1. The head of Akhnaton. From a contemporary drawing.
2. The head of a king. From an archaic statuette found by
Professor Petrie at Abydos.
3. The head of Akhnaton. From a contemporary drawing.
4. The head of a prince. From an archaic tablet found by
Professor Petrie at Abydos.
5. An archaic statuette found by Professor Petrie at Diospolis,
showing the large thighs found in the art of Akhnaton.]
In the old temples of Heliopolis and elsewhere a few relics of
that period, no doubt, were still preserved; and the king was thus
able to study the wood and slate carvings and the ivory figures of
archaic times. We of the present day can also study such figures,
a few specimens having been brought to light by modern excavators;
and the similarity between the treatment of the human body in this
archaic art and the new art of Akhnaton at once becomes apparent.
In the accompanying illustrations some archaic figures are shown,
and one may perhaps see in them the origin of the idiosyncrasies
of the new school. Here and in all representations of archaic men
one sees the elongated skull so characteristic of the king’s style;
in the ivory figure of an archaic Pharaoh one sees the well-known
droop of Akhnaton’s head and his pointed chin; in the clay and
ivory figures is the prominent stomach; and here also, most
apparent of all, are the unaccountably large thighs and ponderous
hips.
Akhnaton’s art might thus be said to be a kind of renaissance--a
return to the classical period of archaic days; the underlying
motive of this return being the desire to lay emphasis upon the
king’s character as the representative of that most ancient of all
gods, Ra-Horakhti.
Another feature of the new religion now becomes apparent. In the
worship of Ra-Horakhti Aton there was an endeavour to do honour to
the Pharaoh as the son of the sun, and to the god as the founder of
the royal line. Tradition stated that Ra or Ra-Horakhti had once
reigned upon earth, and that his spirit had passed from Pharaoh to
Pharaoh. This god was thus the only true King of Heaven, and Amon
was but a usurper of much more recent date. It was for this reason
that the names of the new god were placed within royal cartouches;
and for this reason the king was so careful to call Ra-Horakhti
his “father,” and to name him “god and king.” For this reason also
Akhnaton often wore the crown of Lower Egypt which was used at
Heliopolis, but never the crown of Upper Egypt, which history told
him did not exist when Ra ruled on earth.[30]
Apart from the representation of the human form, the new art is
chiefly characterised by its freedom of poses. An attempt is made
to break away from tradition, and a desire is shown to have done
with the conventions of the age. Never before had the artists
caught the swing of a walk, the relaxation of a seated figure, so
well or so truthfully. Sculpture in the round now reached a height
of perfection which places it above all but the art of the Greeks
in the old world; and there is a grace and naturalness in the
low-reliefs which command one’s admiration.
There are only two artists of the period who are known by name.
The one was a certain Auta, who is represented in a relief dating
from some eight years after the change in the art had taken place.
It is a significant fact that this personage held the post of
master-artist to Queen Tiy; and it is possible that in him and his
patron we have the originators of the movement. The king, however,
was now old enough to take an active interest in such matters; and
the other artist who is known by name, a certain Bek, definitely
states that the king himself taught him. Thus there is reason to
suppose that the young Pharaoh’s own hand is to be traced in the
new canons, although they were instituted when he was but fifteen
years old.
8. THE NEW RELIGION DEVELOPS.
There is an interesting record, apparently dating from about
this period, which is to be seen upon the rocks near the breccia
quarries of Wady Hammamât. Here there are three cartouches standing
upon two _neb_ signs, symbolic of sovereignty, and above them is
the disk and rays of the new religion. One of these cartouches,
surmounted by the tall feathers worn by the queens of this period,
contains a very short name, which can only be that of Queen
Tiy.[31] The other two cartouches contain the names Amonhotep (IV.)
and the Pharaoh’s second designation. Thus we see that after the
new religious symbol had been introduced, and just before the king
took the name of “Akhnaton,” Queen Tiy still held equal royal rank
with him, and was evidently Regent.
[Illustration: _The Artist Auta._]
During the fifteenth to the seventeenth years of his age the king
devoted a considerable amount of time and thought to the changes
which were taking place. With the enthusiasm of youth he threw
himself into the new movement, and one may suppose that it required
all Queen Tiy’s tact and diplomacy to keep him from offending his
country by some rash action against the priesthood of Amon. Those
priests were by no means reconciled to the king’s devotion to
Ra-Horakhti; and although he still nominally served the Theban god,
they felt that every day he was becoming more estranged from that
deity. No doubt there were many passages of arms between the High
Priest of Amon-Ra and this royal High Priest of the sun, young as
he was. The new art, upsetting all the old religious conventions,
was distasteful to the priests; the new religious thought did not
conform to their stereotyped doctrines; and much that the king said
was absolutely heretical to their ears. The tide of new thought,
directed in so eager and boyishly unreserved a manner, was sweeping
them from their feet, and they knew not whither they were being
carried.
The court officials blindly followed their young king, and to
every word which he spoke they listened attentively. Sometimes
the thoughts which he voiced came direct from the mazes of his
own mind; sometimes perhaps he repeated the utterances of his
deep-thinking mother; and sometimes there passed from his lips the
pearls of wisdom which he had gleaned from the wise men of his
court. It had been the boy’s desire to listen to the dreams of
the East, to receive into his brain those speculations which ever
meander so charmedly through the lands more near the sunrise. At
his behest the dreamers of Asia related to him their visions; the
philosophers made pregnant his mind with the mystery of knowledge;
the poets sung to him harp-songs in which echoed the cry of the
elder days; the priests of strange gods submitted to him the
creeds of strange people. To him was made known the sweetness of
the legends of Greece. The laughter of the woods rang in his ears,
though never in narrow Egypt had he felt the enchantment of great
forests. He had not seen the mountains, and the wooded slopes which
rise from the Mediterranean were scenes but dreamed of; and yet it
was the flute of Pan and the song of the nymphs in the mountain
streams which set the thoughts dancing within his misshapen skull.
He had not walked in the shadow of the cedars of Lebanon, nor had
he ascended the Syrian hills; but nevertheless the hymns of Adonis
and the chants of Baal were as familiar to him as were the solemn
chants of Amon-Ra. The rose-gardens of Persia, the incense-groves
of Araby, added their philosophies to his dreams, and the
haunting lips of Babylon whispered to him tales of far-off days.
From Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus there came to him the
doctrines of those who had business in great waters; and Libya and
Ethiopia disclosed their mysteries to his eager ears. The fertile
brain of the Pharaoh was thus sown at an early age with the seed of
all that was wonderful in the world of thought.
It must always be remembered that the king had much foreign blood
in his veins. On the other hand, those men to whom he spoke, though
highly educated, were but superstitious Egyptians who could not
relieve themselves of the belief that a divine power rested upon
the Pharaoh. Thus his speculative young brain poured its fantasies
into attentive minds unbiassed by rival speculations, though
narrowed by conventions. Egyptians, ever lacking in originality,
have always possessed the power to imitate and adapt; and those
nobles whose fortunes were dependent upon the royal favour soon
learnt to attune their minds to the note of their king. Daily they
must have gone about their business, ostentatiously attempting to
hold to the difficult path of truth; laboriously telling themselves
what wonders the new thought revealed to them; loudly praising the
wisdom of the boy-Pharaoh; and nervously asking themselves whether
and when the wrath of Amon would smite them.
Thus encouraged, the king and his mother developed their
speculations, and drew into their circle of followers some of
the greatest nobles of the land. A striking example of this
proselytising is to be found in the tomb of the Vizir Rames. It has
already been stated that that official had constructed for himself
a sepulchre in the Theban necropolis, upon the walls of which he
had first caused a portrait of the young king to be sculptured in
the old conventional style, and later had added another portrait
of the Pharaoh standing beneath the radiating beams of the sun,
executed in the new style. Rames now added various other scenes and
inscriptions, and he records a certain speech made by the king to
him, and his own reply.
“The words of Ra,” the king had said, “are before thee.... My
august father[32] taught me their essence and [revealed] them
to me.... They were known in my heart, opened to my face. I
understood....”
“Thou art the Only One of Aton; in possession of his designs,”
replied Rames. “Thou hast directed the mountains. The fear of
thee is in the midst of their secret chambers, as it is in the
hearts of the people. The mountains hearken to thee as the people
hearken.”
Thus one sees how the king was already formulating some kind of
doctrine in his head, and that the nobles were receiving it; but it
is significant that there are here representations of Rames loaded
with gifts by the Pharaoh, as though in reward for his allegiance.
The Pharaoh seems, indeed, to have showered honours upon those
who appeared to grasp intelligently the thoughts which were
still immature in his own head; and there must have been many an
antagonist who rallied to his standard from the sheer love of gold.
The king was in need of all the support which he could muster,
for an open break with the priesthood of Amon-Ra grew more and
more probable as his doctrines shaped themselves in his mind; and
although the people of Egypt as a whole would, without question,
follow their Pharaoh for the one reason that he _was_ Pharaoh,
there was every probability that the Amon priesthood and the Theban
populace would make something of a stand against any infringement
of the rights of their local god.
The young Pharaoh seems to have been very popular, and one may
presume that he inherited, from his illustrious fathers, the
charm of manner which there is not a little evidence to show they
possessed. Throughout his life, and for some years after his death,
he retained the affection of his people; and when one considers
how faithfully his nobles followed him so long as he had strength
and health to lead them, and how completely lost they were at his
death, one realises how great an influence he must have exerted
over them. Even at this early age they seem to have possessed a
deep regard for the grave, thoughtful boy; and behind all the
pretence, the hypocrisy, and the merely conventional loyalty, one
surely catches a glimpse of a strong, personal affection for the
king.
We must here record the birth of the king’s first daughter, which
occurred in about the fifth year of his reign, when he was some
sixteen years of age, and when Nefertiti was about thirteen years
old. The child was named Merytaton, “Beloved of Aton”; and though
the advent of a daughter instead of a son must have been a
grave disappointment to the royal couple, a remarkable degree of
affection was lavished upon the little girl, as will be apparent in
the sequel.
9. THE NATURE OF THE NEW RELIGION.
There was nothing strikingly exalted in the religion which was
now so filling the king’s mind. Ra-Horakhti Aton was in no
wise considered as the only god: there were as yet no ideas of
monotheism in the doctrine. In the new temple at Karnak, as we have
seen, Horus, Set, Wepwat, and other gods were named; and elsewhere
Amon was reluctantly recognised. The goddess Maat, in the tomb
of Rames, was not obliterated from the walls, but still stood
protecting the king; and in the same tomb Horus of Edfu is invoked.
In the tomb of Horemheb, Horus, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Hathor
are mentioned, and the gods of the Necropolis still receive honour;
Horemheb himself still holds the honorary post of High Priest of
Horus, Lord of Alabastronpolis; Thoth and Maat are referred to;
and there is a magical prayer to Ra, which is by no means of
lofty character. Scarabs of this period speak of the Pharaoh as
beloved of Thoth. And in a letter to the king dated in the fifth
year of his reign, Ptah and “the gods and goddesses” of Memphis are
referred to.
This letter is of such interest that a fuller account of it must
here be given. It was addressed to the king, who is still called
Amonhotep, by a royal steward named Apiy, who lived at Memphis.
Two copies of the letter were found at Gurob,[33] both dated in
the fifth year of the king’s reign, the third month of winter,
and the nineteenth day. The letter begins with the full titles of
the Pharaoh, including the phrase “living in truth,” which from
this time onwards was always added to his name. Then follows the
invocation: “May Ptah of the beautiful countenance work for thee,
who created thy beauties, thy true father who raised (?) thee from
his house to rule the orbit of the Aton.” Next comes the real
business of the letter: “A communication is this to the Master,
[to whom be] life, prosperity, and health, to give information
that the temple of thy father Ptah ... is sound and prosperous; the
house of Pharaoh ... is flourishing; the establishments of Pharaoh
... are flourishing; the residence of Pharaoh ... is flourishing
and healthy; the offerings of all the gods and goddesses who are
upon the soil (?) of Memphis are ... complete; complete [are they]
there is nothing delayed from them.” Again the titles of the king
are given, and the letter ends with the date.
Thus in the fifth year of the king’s reign, when he was about
sixteen years of age, the various gods of Egypt were still
acknowledged; and, though the art had been changed and the worship
of Ra-Horakhti under the name of Aton had made great strides
towards supremacy, there is as yet no sign of the lofty monotheism
which the Pharaoh was soon to propound.
In the portions of the tomb of Horemheb which date from
this period, Ra-Horakhti is invoked in the following words:
“Ra-Horakhti, great god, Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, who cometh
forth from his horizon and illuminateth the Two Lands [of Egypt],
the sun of darkness as the great one, as Ra;” and again: “Ra,
Lord of Truth, great god, sovereign of Heliopolis, ... Horakhti,
only god, king of the gods, who rises in the west and sendeth
forth his beauty.” From other sources, which we have seen, the
god is called “Ra-Horakhti rejoicing in the horizon in his name
Heat-which-is-in-Aton.”
Here we have simply the old religion of Heliopolis, to which has
been grafted something of the doctrines of the Syrian Adonis or
Aton. At Heliopolis there was a sacred bull, known as Mnevis, which
was regarded as the living personification of Ra-Horakhti, and
which was treated with divine honours, like the more famous Apis
bull of Memphis. Even this superstition was accepted by the king at
this time, and continued to be acknowledged by him for yet another
year or two.[34] The “Heat-which-is-in-Aton” offered food for much
speculation, and, by directing the attention to an intangible
quality of the sun, opened up the widest fields for religious
thought. But, with this exception, there was nothing as yet in the
new religion to command one’s admiration.
III.
AKHNATON FOUNDS A NEW CITY.
“A brave soul, undauntedly facing the momentum of immemorial
tradition ... that he might disseminate ideas far beyond and
above the capacity of his age to understand.”--BREASTED: ‘History
of Egypt.’
1. THE BREAK WITH THE PRIESTHOOD OF AMON-RA.
The expected break with the priesthood of Amon was not long in
coming. One knows nothing of the details of the quarrel, but it may
be supposed that Akhnaton himself flung down the gauntlet, making
the rash attempt to rid himself of the weight of an organisation
which had proved such a drag upon his actions. There is no evidence
to show that he disbanded the priesthood, or prohibited the
worship of Amon at this period of his reign; but as the ultimate
persecution of that god, some years later, commenced very soon
after the death of his mother, one may suppose that it was her
restraining influence which prevented him from precipitating a
struggle to the death with the god of Thebes. The king was now
entering upon the sixth year of his reign and the seventeenth of
his age, and he was already developing in his mind theories and
principles which were soon to produce radical changes in the new
religion of the Court. He found, no doubt, that it was hopeless
to attempt to convert the people of Thebes to the new doctrines;
and daily he realised the more clearly that the development either
of the faith of Ra-Horakhti Aton, or of the ideals which he was
beginning to find therein, was cramped and checked by the hostility
of the influences which pressed around his immediate circle. From
the walls of every temple, from pylons and gateways, pillars and
obelisks, the figure of Amon stared down at him in defiance;
and everywhere he was confronted with the tokens of that god’s
power. His little temple at Karnak was overshadowed by the larger
buildings of Amon; and the few priests who served at the new altar
were lost amidst the crowds of the ministers of the Theban god. How
could the flower thrive and bloom in such uncongenial soil? How
could the sun shine through such density of conventional tradition?
The king, no doubt, endeavoured to cripple the priesthood of Amon
by cutting down its budget as much as possible, and by attempting
to win over to his side some of the priests of high standing. Had
he succeeded in reducing it to the rank of the smaller cults, it
is probable that he would have been satisfied so to leave it; for
at this time he wished only to place Ra-Horakhti in a position of
undoubted supremacy above all other gods. But the vast resources of
Amon seemed unconquerable, and there appeared to be little chance
of reducing the priesthood to a position of inferior rank.
In this dilemma the king took a step which had been for some
time considered in his mind and in the minds of his advisers. He
decided to abandon Thebes. He would build a city far away from all
contaminating influences, and there he would hold his court and
worship his god. On clean, new soil, he would establish the earthly
home of Ra-Horakhti Aton, and there, with his faithful followers,
he would develop those schemes which now so filled his brain. Thus
also, by reducing Thebes to the position of a provincial town, he
might lessen the power of the priesthood of Amon; for no longer
would Amon be the royal god, the god of the capital. He would shake
the dust of Thebes from off his sandals, and never again would
he allow himself to be baffled and irritated by the sight of the
glories of Amon.
The first step which he took was that of changing his
name from Amonhotep, “The-Peace-of-Amon,” to Akhnaton,
“The-Glory-of-Aton”; and from that time forth the word Amon hardly
passed his lips. He retained two of his other names,--_i.e._,
“Beautiful-is-the-Being-of-Ra,” and “The-Only-One-of-Ra,” the
latter being often used by him; but such titles and names as that
which made mention of Karnak be entirely dispensed with. He now
laid more stress upon the nature of his god as “Aton” or “the
Aton”[35] than as Ra-Horakhti; and from this time onwards the
name Ra-Horakhti becomes less and less prominent, though retained
throughout the king’s reign.
2. AKHNATON SELECTS THE SITE OF HIS CITY.
Down the river it would seem that the young Pharaoh now sailed
in his royal _dahabiyeh_, looking to right and left as he went,
now inspecting this site and now examining that. At last he came
upon a place which suited his fancy to perfection. It was situated
about 160 miles above the modern Cairo. At this point the limestone
cliffs upon the east bank leave the river and recede for about
three miles, returning to the water some five or six miles farther
along. Thus a bay is formed which is protected on its west side
by the river in which there here lies a small island, and in all
other directions by the crescent of the cliffs. Upon the island
he would erect pavilions and pleasure-houses. Along the edge of
the river there was a narrow strip of cultivated land whereon he
would plant his palace gardens, and those of the nobles’ villas.
Behind this verdant band the smooth desert stretched, and here
he would build the palace itself and the great temples. Behind
this again, the sand and gravel surface of the wilderness gently
sloped up to the foot of the cliffs, and here there would be roads
and causeways whereon the chariots might be whirled in the early
mornings. In the face of the cliffs he would cut his tomb and those
of his followers; and at intervals around the crescent of these
hills he would cause great boundary-stones to be made, so that all
men might know and respect the limits of his city. What splendid
quays would edge the river, what palaces reflect their whiteness
in its waters! There would be broad shaded avenues, and shimmering
lakes surrounded by the fairest trees of Asia. Temples would raise
their lofty pylons to the blue skies, and broad courts should lie
stretched in the sunlight.
In Akhnaton’s youthful mind there already stood the temples and
the mansions; already he heard the sound of sweet music. The
laughter of maidens was added to the singing of the birds which
he heard in the trees; the pomp of imperial Egypt displaced the
farm-houses and the fields of corn which now occupied the site;
and the song of the shepherd in the wilderness was changed to the
rolling psalms of the Aton. Fair was this dream and enthralling to
the dreamer. To Queen Tiy it probably did not appeal so strongly;
for Thebes was full of associations to her, and her palace beside
the lake was very dear. There is, indeed, every reason to suppose
that the dowager-queen lived on at Thebes after her son had
abandoned it.
3. THE FIRST FOUNDATION INSCRIPTION.
Preparations were soon made for the laying out of the city, and
in a very short time Akhnaton was called upon to visit the site
in order to perform the foundation ceremonies. Fortunately the
inscriptions upon some of the boundary tablets in the desert tell
us something of the manner in which the king marked the limits of
the city.[36] The first inscription reads as follows:--
Year 6, fourth month of the second season, day 13.[37] ... On
this day the King was in the City of the Horizon of Aton.[38] His
Majesty ascended a great chariot of electrum, [appearing] like
Aton when he rises from his [eastern] horizon and fills the land
with his love; and he started a goodly course [from his camping
place] to the City of the Horizon.... Heaven was joyful, earth
was glad, and every heart was happy when they saw him. And his
Majesty offered a great sacrifice to Aton, of bread, beer, horned
bulls, polled bulls, beasts, fowl, wine, incense, frankincense,
and all goodly herbs on this day of demarcating the City of the
Horizon....
After these things, the good pleasure of Aton being done, ...
[the King returned from] the City of the Horizon, and he rested
upon his great throne with which he is well pleased, which
uplifts his beauties. And his Majesty continued in the presence
of his father Aton, and Aton shone upon him in life and length of
days, invigorating his body each day.
And his Majesty said, “Bring me the companions of the King, the
great ones and the mighty ones, the captains of soldiers, and
the nobles of the land in its entirety.” And they were conducted
to him straightway, and they lay on their bellies before his
Majesty, kissing the ground before his mighty will.
And his Majesty said unto them, “Ye behold the City of the
Horizon of Aton, which the Aton has desired me to make for him as
a monument in the great name of my Majesty for ever. For it was
the Aton, my father, that brought me to this City of the Horizon.
There was not a noble who directed me to it; there was not any
man in the whole land who led me to it, saying, ‘It is fitting
for his Majesty that he make a City of the Horizon of Aton in
this place.’ Nay, but it was the Aton, my father, that directed
me to it to make it for him.... Behold the Pharaoh found that
[this site] belonged not to a god, nor to a goddess, it belonged
not to a prince, nor to a princess. There was no right for any
man to act as owner of it.” ...
[... And they answered and said] “Lo! it is Aton that putteth
[the thought] in thy heart regarding any place that he desires.
He doth not uplift the name of any King except thy Majesty; he
doth not [exalt] any other except [thee.] ... Thou drawest unto
Aton every land, thou adornest for him the towns which he had
made for his own self, all lands, all countries, the Hanebu[39]
with their products and their tribute upon their backs for him
that made their life, and by whose rays one lives and breathes
the air. May he grant eternity in seeing his rays.... Verily, the
City of the Horizon will thrive like Aton in heaven for ever and
ever.”
Then his Majesty lifted his hand to heaven unto Him that formed
him, saying, “As my father Ra-Horakhti Aton liveth, the great
and living Aton, ordaining life, vigorous in life, my father,
my rampart of a million cubits, my remembrancer of eternity,
my witness of that which pertains to eternity, who formeth
himself with his own hands, whom no artificer hath known, who is
established in rising and in setting each day without ceasing.
Whether he is in heaven or in earth,[40] every eye seeth him
without [failing,] while he fills the land with his beams and
makes every face to live. With seeing whom may my eyes be
satisfied daily, when he rises in this temple of Aton in the City
of the Horizon, and fills it with his own self by his beams,
beauteous in love, and lays them upon me in life and length of
days for ever and ever.
“I will make the City of the Horizon of Aton for the Aton, my
father, in this place. I will not make the City south of it,
north of it, west of it, or east of it. I will not pass beyond
the southern boundary-stone southward, neither will I pass beyond
the northern boundary-stone northward to make for him a City of
the Horizon there; neither will I make for him a city on the
western side. Nay, but I will make the City of the Horizon for
the Aton, my father, upon the east side, the place which he did
enclose for his own self with cliffs, and made a plain (?) in
the midst of it that I might sacrifice to him thereon: this is
it. Neither shall the Queen say unto me, ‘Behold, there is a
goodly place for the City of the Horizon in another place,’ and
I hearken unto her. Neither shall any noble nor [any one] of all
men who are in the whole land [say unto me], ‘Behold, there is a
goodly place for the City of the Horizon in another place,’ and
I hearken unto them. Whether it be down-stream or southwards,
or westwards, or eastwards, I will not say ‘I will abandon this
City of the Horizon and will hasten away and make the City of
the Horizon in this other goodly place’ for ever. Nay, but I did
find this City of the Horizon for the Aton, which he had himself
desired, and with which he is pleased for ever and ever.
“I will make a temple of Aton for the Aton, my father, in this
place. I will make a ... of Aton for the Aton, my father, in this
place. I will make a Shadow-of-the-Sun[41] of the Great Wife of
the King, Nefertiti, for the Aton, my father, in this place. I
will make a House of Rejoicing for the Aton, my father, on the
island of ‘Aton illustrious in Festivals’ in this place.... I
will make all works which are necessary for the Aton, my father,
in this place. I will make ... for the Aton, my father, in this
place. I will make for myself the Palace of Pharaoh; and I will
make the Palace of the Queen in this place. There shall be made
for me a sepulchre in the eastern hills; my burial shall be
made therein ... and the burial of the Chief Wife of the King,
Nefertiti, shall be made therein, and the burial of the King’s
daughter Merytaton shall be made therein. If I die in any town
of the north, south, west, or east, I will be brought here and
my burial shall be made in the City of the Horizon. If the Great
Queen, Nefertiti, who lives, die in any town of the north, south,
west, or east, she shall be brought here and buried in the City
of the Horizon. If the King’s daughter Merytaton die in any town
of the north, south, west, or east, she shall be brought here
and buried in the City of the Horizon. And the sepulchre of
Mnevis shall be made in the eastern hills and he shall be buried
therein. The tombs of the High Priests and the Divine Fathers
and the priests of the Aton shall be made in the eastern hills,
and they shall be buried therein. The tombs of the officers, and
others, shall be made in the eastern hills, and they shall be
buried therein.
“For as my father Ra-Horakhti Aton liveth ... [the words?] of
the priests, more evil are they than those things which I heard
until the year four, more evil are they than those things which I
have heard in ... more evil are they than those things which King
[Nebmaara[42]] heard, more evil are they than those things which
Menkheperura[43] heard....”
The rest of the inscription is so much broken that only a few
words here and there can be read. They seem to refer to the king’s
further projects,--how he will make ships to sail to and from the
city, how he will build granaries, celebrate festivals, plant
trees, and so on.
The reference to the year four is very interesting, and it would
seem that it was at about that date that the king’s eyes were
opened to the necessity of making war upon the priesthood of Amon.
As we have seen, it was in about the fourth year of his reign that
the great changes in the art took place, and the symbol of the
sun’s rays was introduced into the sculptures. The mention of the
two previous Pharaohs shows that troubles were already brewing
then; but it had remained for the energetic young Akhnaton to bring
matters to a head.
4. THE SECOND FOUNDATION INSCRIPTION.
The inscription recording these events was probably not written
until some months after they had occurred. Just when the engravers
had made an end of their work a second daughter was born to the
king and queen, whom they named Meketaton; and orders were given
that her figure should be added upon the boundary tablet beside
that of her sister, which already appeared there with Akhnaton and
Nefertiti. The king was somewhat distressed that a son had not been
granted to him; for the thought was bitter that, in the event of
his death, all his projects would fall to the ground. He therefore
altered the wording of the inscriptions about to be written on the
other boundary tablets; and, by including his oath in the text,
he added an even greater integrity to the decree. The name of the
second daughter was now inserted in this inscription, which reads:--
Year six, fourth month of the second season, thirteenth day.
On this day the King was in the City of the Horizon of Aton, in
the parti-coloured tent made for his Majesty in the City of the
Horizon, the name of which is “The Aton is well pleased.” And his
Majesty ascended a great chariot of electrum, drawn by a span
of horses, and [he appeared] like Aton when he rises from the
horizon and fills the two lands with his love. And he started
a goodly course to the City of the Horizon, on this the first
occasion, ... to dedicate it as a monument to the Aton, even as
his father Ra-Horakhti Aton had given command.... And he caused
a great sacrifice to be offered.
And his Majesty went southward, and halted on his chariot before
his father Ra-Horakhti Aton, at the [foot of the] south-east
hills, and Aton shone upon him in life and length of days,
invigorating his body every day.
Now this is the oath pronounced by the King:--
“As my father Ra-Horakhti Aton liveth, as my heart is happy in
the Queen and her children--as to whom may it be granted that
the Chief Wife of the King, Nefertiti, living for ever and ever,
grow aged after a multitude of years, in the care of the Pharaoh,
and may it be granted that the King’s daughter Merytaton and the
King’s daughter Meketaton, her children, grow old in the care of
the Chief Wife of the King, their mother....
“This is my oath of truth which it is my desire to pronounce, and
of which I will not say ‘It is false’ eternally for ever.
“The southern boundary-stone which is on the eastern hills. It is
the boundary-stone of the City of the Horizon, namely this one by
which I have made halt. I will not pass beyond it southwards for
ever and ever. Make the south-west boundary-stone opposite it on
the western hills of the City of the Horizon exactly.
“The middle boundary-stone which is on the eastern hills. It is
the boundary-stone of the City of the Horizon by which I have
made halt on the eastern hills of the City of the Horizon. I will
not pass beyond it eastwards for ever and ever. Make the middle
boundary-stone which is to be on the western hills opposite it
exactly.
“The north-eastern boundary-stone by which I have made halt. It
is the northern boundary-stone of the City of the Horizon. I will
not pass beyond it down-stream for ever and ever. Make the north
boundary-stone which is to be on the western hills opposite it
exactly.
“And the City of the Horizon of Aton extends from the south
boundary-stone as far as the north boundary-stone, measured
between boundary-stone and boundary-stone on the eastern, hills
[which measurement] amounts to 6 _ater_,[44] ¾ _khe_, and 4
cubits. Likewise from the south-west boundary-stone to the
north-west boundary-stone on the western hills [the measurement]
amounts to 6 _ater_, ¾ _khe_, and 4 cubits likewise exactly.
“And the area within these four boundary-stones from the eastern
hills to the western hills is the City of the Horizon of Aton
in its proper self. It belongs to my father Ra-Horakhti Aton:
mountains, deserts, meadows, islands, high-ground, low-ground,
land, water, villages, embankments, men, beasts, groves, and all
things which the Aton my father shall bring into existence for
ever and ever.
“I will not neglect this oath which I have made to the Aton my
father for ever and ever; nay, but it shall be set on a tablet
of stone as the south-east boundary, likewise as the north-east
boundary of the City of the Horizon; and it shall be set likewise
on a tablet of stone as the south-west boundary, likewise as the
north-west boundary of the City of the Horizon. It shall not be
erased, it shall not be washed out, it shall not be kicked,
it shall not be struck with stones, its spoiling shall not be
brought about. If it be missing, if it be spoilt, if the tablet
on which it is shall fall, I will renew it again afresh in the
place in which it was.”
5. THE DEPARTURE FROM THEBES.
From the above inscription one sees that Akhnaton had now decided
to include the west bank of the river, opposite to the original
site, in the new domain; and the great boundary tablets are there
to be found as on the eastern side. By the time these decrees were
engraved the Pharaoh was nearly eighteen years of age; and these
developments in his plans are the natural signs of the progress of
his brain towards that of a grown man.
Having laid the foundations of the city, the king probably
returned to Thebes, where he waited as patiently as possible for
his dream to take concrete form. This period of waiting must have
been peculiarly trying to him, for his troubles with the Amon
priesthood must have embittered his days. He seems, however, to
have been extremely devoted to his wife, Nefertiti, who had now
grown, it would seem, into a beautiful young woman of fifteen or
sixteen years of age; and the arrival of the second baby afforded
an interest which meant much to him. One may now picture the king
and queen living, in the seclusion of the palace, a homely, simple
existence, ever dwelling in a happy day-dream upon the future
glories of the new city, and the rising power of the religion of
Aton. Akhnaton’s ill-health, of course, must have caused both
his friends and himself much anxiety; but even this had its
compensations, for those who suffer from epilepsy are by the gods
beloved, and Akhnaton, no doubt, believed the hallucinations due to
his disease to be god-given visions. There must have been a very
considerable amount of business to be worked through in connection
with the building of the city, and he could have had little time to
brood upon what he now considered to be the wrongs inflicted upon
him and his house by the priests of Amon.
So passed the seventh year of his reign without any particular
records to mark it. At Aswan there is a monument which perhaps
dates from about this period. The king’s chief sculptor, Bek,
was there employed in obtaining red granite for the decoration
of the new city; and he caused to be made upon a large rock a
commemorative tablet. On it one sees him before Akhnaton, whose
figure has been erased at a later date; and the altar of the Aton,
above which are the usual sun’s rays, stands beside them. Bek calls
himself “The Chief of the Works in the Red [Granite] Hills, the
assistant whom his Majesty himself taught, Chief of the Sculptors
on the great and mighty monuments of the King in the house of Aton
in the City of the Horizon of Aton.” Here also one sees Men, the
father of Bek, who was also Chief of the Sculptors, presenting an
offering to a statue of Amonhotep III., under whom he had served.
The eighth year of Akhnaton’s reign, and the nineteenth year of
his age, was memorable, for it would seem that he now took up his
permanent residence in the City of the Horizon. On some of the
boundary tablets a repetition of the royal oath is recorded; and,
as this is the last mention of _a visit_ made by Akhnaton to the
new capital, one may suppose that henceforth he was resident there.
The inscription reads:--
This oath (of the sixth year) was repeated in year eight, first
month of the second season, eighth day. The King was in the
City of the Horizon of Aton, and Pharaoh stood mounted on a
great chariot of electrum, inspecting the boundary-stones of the
Aton....
Then follows a list of these boundary-stones, and the inscription
ends with the words:--
And the breadth of the City of the Horizon of Aton is from cliff
to cliff, from the eastern horizon of heaven to the western
horizon of heaven. It shall be for my father Ra-Horakhti Aton,
its hills, its deserts, all its fowl, all its people, all its
cattle, all things which the Aton produces, on which his rays
shine, all things which are in ... the City of the Horizon, they
shall be for the father, the living Aton, unto the temple of
Aton in the City of the Horizon for ever and ever; they are all
offered to his spirit. And may his rays be beauteous when they
receive them.
[Illustration: _Akhnaton and Nefertiti with their three Daughters._]
Thus was the king’s city planned and laid out. The two years
of feverish work had probably produced considerable results, and
already we may picture the city taking form. The royal palace was
perhaps almost finished by now, and the villas of some of the
nobles were habitable. With many a sigh of relief Akhnaton must
have bade farewell to Thebes. A third daughter, who was named
Ankhsenpaaton, had just been born; and one may thus picture the
royal party which sailed down the river as being very distinctly
a family. One sees Akhnaton, a sickly young man of nineteen years
of age, walking to and fro upon the deck of the royal vessel,
with his hand upon the shoulder of his fair young wife, now some
seventeen years old, in whose arms the baby princess is carried.
Toddling beside them are the two other princesses, one somewhat
over two years of age, the other about four years. The queen’s
sister, Nezemmut, records of whose existence soon become apparent,
was perhaps also of the party, having left the court of Mitanni
to be a companion to Nefertiti. Ay and Ty, the foster-parents of
Nefertiti, were doubtless with the royal family now as they sailed
down the river; and several of the nobles who play a part in the
following pages no doubt formed the suite which attended to the
royal commands.
6. THE AGE OF AKHNATON.
We have spoken of the king as being nineteen years old. The story
has now reached a point at which we must pause to consider this
vexed question of Akhnaton’s age. In the above pages it has been
said that the Pharaoh was about eleven years old at his marriage
and accession to the throne; was fifteen when the canons of art
were changed and the symbols of the Aton religion introduced; was
seventeen when the foundations of the new city were laid; and was
nineteen when he took up his residence there. Let us study these
ages in the above order.
[Illustration: _The Head of the Mummy of Thothmes IV., the
grandfather of Akhnaton._]
Firstly, then, as to the king’s marriage. The mummy of Thothmes
IV., the grandfather of Akhnaton, has been shown by Dr Elliot
Smith to be that of a man not more than about twenty-six years of
age. That king was succeeded by his son Amonhotep III., who is
known to have been married to Queen Tiy before the second year
of his reign, and to have been old enough at that time to begin
to hunt big game. It would be difficult to believe that he would
be permitted to join any hunting party, however secure against
accident, before the twelfth year of his age; but, on the other
hand, if he was more than that age, his father would have to have
been less than twelve at _his_ marriage. Thus the only possible
conclusion is that both Thothmes IV. and Amonhotep III. were barely
thirteen when they were married, and very possibly even younger.
This is shown to be a correct conclusion by the fact that the mummy
of Amonhotep III. has been pronounced by Dr Elliot Smith to be
that of a man of forty-five or fifty; and as he reigned thirty-six
years he must have been _at most_ fourteen, and probably some years
younger, at his accession and marriage.
There is not sufficient evidence to show at what ages the previous
Pharaohs of the dynasty had married, but as Akhnaton’s father and
grandfather entered into matrimony at this early age, it would not
be safe to suppose that he himself delayed his marriage till a
later age. Queen Tiy was in all probability married when she was
ten or eleven years old.[45] Akhnaton’s daughter Merytaton, who
was born in the fourth or fifth year of his reign, was, as will
be seen in due course, married before the seventeenth year of the
reign--that is to say, when she was twelve or younger. The Princess
Ankhsenpaaton, who was born in the eighth year, was married, at
latest, two years after Akhnaton’s death--_i.e._, when she was
eleven. Another of Akhnaton’s daughters, Nefernefernaton, who has
not yet appeared, was born in her father’s eleventh year and was
married before the fifteenth, and therefore could only have been
four or five years of age.
Child-marriages such as these are common in Egypt, even at the
present day. Those who have lived on the Nile, and have studied the
national habits, will assuredly fix the probable age of a royal
_mariage de convenance_ at about thirteen years, and will agree
that eleven and twelve are also highly likely ages.
Secondly, as to Akhnaton’s age at the changing of the art. In the
biography of Bakenkhonsu, the High Priest of Amon under Rameses
II., that official tells us that he arrived at the state of manhood
at the age of sixteen, and one may therefore suppose that this was
the recognised legal age at which a man became a responsible agent
in Egypt. Now it has been clearly seen that Akhnaton was under the
regency of his mother during the first years of his reign, and
mention has been made of the inscription at Wady Hammamât, where,
although the new symbol of the religion is shown, Queen Tiy’s name
is placed beside that of her son in an equally honourable position.
She was thus still Queen Regent when the art was changed, and her
son could not yet have come of age--_i.e._, he must then have been
under sixteen.
Thirdly, we have to consider the question of his age when he laid
the foundations of the new city. This was the first decisive action
performed by the king in which his mother has no concern, and of
which she perhaps even disapproved, and it surely marks the period
at which he took the government into his own hands. If, like
Bakenkhonsu, he came of age at sixteen, in the fifth year of his
reign, the founding of the new capital in the following year would
well fit in with the supposition that the abandoning of Thebes
marks the date of the king’s arrival at maturity.
It may be asked how so young a person could conceive that great
dream of the new city dedicated to the Aton. But, after all, he was
seventeen years of age when the idea came to him, nineteen when he
had properly developed the plan, and perhaps as much as twenty when
he took up his residence there. Akhnaton’s greatness, as will be
seen later, dates from the height of his reign in the City of the
Horizon, and not from his early years. Still, when one calls to
mind the infant prodigies, the child preachers who stir an audience
at the age of twelve, one may credit a boy of sixteen or seventeen
with the planning of a new city. Even in the cold Occident such
youthful wiseacres are not rare, and surely they blossom forth less
infrequently in the maturing warmth of the Orient.
IV.
AKHNATON FORMULATES THE RELIGION OF ATON.
“No such grand theology had ever appeared in the world before, so
far as we know; and it is the forerunner of the later monotheist
religions.”--PETRIE: ‘The Religion of Ancient Egypt.’
1. ATON THE TRUE GOD.
Amidst the fair palaces and verdant gardens of the new city,
Akhnaton, now a man of some twenty years, turned his thoughts fully
to the development of his religion. It is necessary, therefore, for
us to glance at the essential features of this the most enlightened
doctrine of the ancient world, and in some degree to make ourselves
acquainted with the creed which the king himself was evolving out
of that worship of Ra-Horakhti Aton in which he had been educated.
Originally the Aton was the actual sun’s disk; but, as has been
said, the god was now called “Heat-which-is-in-Aton,” and Akhnaton,
concentrating his attention on this aspect of the godhead, drew
the eyes of his followers towards a force far more intangible
and distant than the dazzling orb to which they bowed down.
Akhnaton’s conception of God, as we now begin to observe it, was
as the power which created the sun, the energy which penetrated
to this earth in the sun’s heat and caused all things to grow.
At the present day the scientist will tell you that God is the
ultimate source of life, that where natural explanation fails there
God is to be found: He is, in a word, the author of energy, the
primal motive-power of all known things. Akhnaton, centuries upon
centuries before the birth of the scientist, defined God in just
this manner. In an age when men believed, as some do still, that a
deity was but an exaggerated creature of this earth, having a form
built on material lines, this youthful Pharaoh proclaimed God to
be the formless essence, the intelligent germ, the loving force,
which permeated time and space. Let it be clearly understood that
the Aton as conceived by the young Pharaoh was in no sense one of
those old deities which our God ultimately replaced in Egypt. The
Aton is God as we conceive Him. There is no quality attributed by
the king to the Aton which we do not attribute to our God. Like a
flash of blinding light in the night-time the Aton stands out for
a moment amidst the black Egyptian darkness, and disappears once
more,--the first signal to this world of the future religion of the
West. No man whose mind is free from prejudice will fail to see a
far closer resemblance to the teachings of Christ in the religion
of Akhnaton than in that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The faith of
the patriarchs is the lineal ancestor of the Christian faith; but
the creed of Akhnaton is its isolated prototype. One might believe
that Almighty God had for a moment revealed himself to Egypt, and
had been more clearly, though more momentarily, interpreted there
than ever He was in Syria or Palestine before the time of Christ.
2. ATON THE TENDER FATHER OF ALL CREATION.
Amon-Ra and the old gods of Egypt were, for the most part, but
deified mortals, endued with monstrous, though limited, powers, and
still having around them traditions of aggrandised human deeds.
Others, we have seen, had their origin in natural phenomena: the
wind, the Nile, the starry heavens, and the like. All were terrific
or revengeful, if so they had a mind to be, and all were able
to be moved by human emotions. But to Akhnaton, although he had
absolutely no precedent upon which to launch his thoughts, God
was the intangible and yet ever-present Father of mankind, made
manifest in sunshine. The youthful high priest called upon his
subjects to search for their God not in the confusion of battle
or behind the smoke of human sacrifices, but amidst the flowers
and the trees, amidst the wild duck and the fishes. He preached an
enlightened nature-study: in some respects he was, perhaps, the
first apostle of the Simple Life.
He strove to break down conventional thought, and ceaselessly he
urged his people to worship “in truth,” simply, without an excess
of ceremonial. While the elder gods had been apparent in natural
convulsions and in the more awful incidents of life, Akhnaton’s
kindly father could be seen in the little details of existence, in
the growing poppies, in the soft wind which filled the sails of the
ships, in the fish which leapt from the river. Like a greater than
he, Akhnaton taught his disciples to address their maker as their
“Father which art in Heaven.” The Aton was the joy which caused
the young sheep “to dance upon their legs,” and the birds “to
flutter in their marshes.” He was the god of the simple pleasures
of life; and although Akhnaton himself was indeed a man of sorrows,
plenteously acquainted with grief, happiness was the watchword
which he gave to his followers.
Akhnaton did not permit any graven image to be made of the Aton.
The True God, said the king, had no form; and he held to this
opinion throughout his life. The symbol of the religion was
the sun’s disk, from which there extended numerous rays, each
ray ending in a hand; but this symbol was not worshipped. To
Christians, in the same way, the cross is the symbol of their
creed; but the cross itself is not worshipped. Never before had
man conceived a formless deity, a god who was not endowed with the
five human senses. The Hebrew patriarchs believed God to be capable
of walking in a garden in the cool of the evening, to have made
man in his own image, to be possessed of face, form, and hinder
parts. But Akhnaton, stemming with his hand the flood of tradition,
boldly proclaimed God to be a life-giving, intangible essence: the
_heat_ which is in the sun. He was “the living Aton,”--that is to
say, the power which produced and sustained the energy and movement
of the sun. Although he was so often called “the Aton,” he was
more closely defined as “the Master of the Aton.”[46] The flaming
glory of the sun was the most practical symbol of the godhead, and
the warm rays of sunshine constituted the most obvious connection
between heaven and earth; but always Akhnaton attempted to raise
the eyes of the thinkers beyond this visible or understandable
expression of divinity, to strain them upwards in the effort to
discern that which was “behind the veil.” In lighting on a motive
power more remote than the sun, and acting through the sun, the
young Pharaoh may be said to have penetrated as far behind the
eternal barrier as one may ever hope to penetrate this side the
churchyard. But though so remote, the Aton was the tender, loving
Father of all men, ever-present and ever-mindful of his creatures.
There dropped not a sigh from the lips of a babe that the
intangible Aton did not hear; no lamb bleated for its mother but
the remote Aton hastened to soothe it. He was the loving “Father
and Mother of all that He had made,” who “brought up millions by
His bounty.”
The destructive qualities of the sun were never referred to, and
that pitiless orb under which Egypt sweats and groans for the
summer months each year had nothing in common with the gentle
Father conceived by Akhnaton. The Aton was “the Lord of Love.”
He was the tender nurse who “creates the man-child in woman, and
soothes him that he may not weep”; whose love, to use an Egyptian
phrase of exquisite tenderness, “makes the hands to faint.” His
beams were “beauteous with love” as they fell upon His people and
upon His city, “very rich in love.” “Thy love is great and large,”
says one of Akhnaton’s psalms. “Thou fillest the two lands of Egypt
with Thy love;” and another passage runs: “Thy rays encompass the
lands.... Thou bindest them with Thy love.”
Surely never in the history of the world had man conceived a god
who “so loved the world.” One may search the inscriptions in vain
for any reference to a malignant power, to vengeance, to jealousy,
or to hatred. The Hebrew psalmist said of God, “Like as a father
pitieth his children, even so is the Lord merciful”; and Akhnaton,
many a century before those words were written, attributed just
such a nature to the Aton. The Aton was compassionate, was
merciful, was gentle, was tender; He knew not anger, and there
was no wrath in Him. His overflowing love reached down the paths
of life from mankind to the beasts of the field and to the little
flowers themselves. “All flowers blow,” says one of Akhnaton’s
hymns, “and that which grows on the soil thrives at Thy dawning, O
Aton. They drink their fill [of warmth] before Thy face. All cattle
leap upon their feet; the birds that were in the nest fly forth
with joy; their wings which were closed move quickly with praise to
the living Aton.”
One stands amazed as one reads in pompous Egypt of a god who
listens “when the chicken crieth in the egg-shell,” and gives him
life, delighting that he should “chirp with all his might” when
he is hatched forth; who finds pleasure in causing “the birds to
flutter in their marshes, and the sheep to dance upon their feet.”
For the first time in the history of man the real meaning of God,
as we now understand it, had been comprehended; and the idea of a
beneficent Creator who, though remote, spiritual, and impersonal,
could love each one of His creatures, great or small, had been
grasped by this young Pharaoh. God’s unspeakable goodness and
loving-kindness were as clearly interpreted by Akhnaton as ever
they have been by mortal man; and the wonder of it lies in this,
that Akhnaton had absolutely nothing to base his theories upon. He
was, so far as we know, the first man to whom God revealed Himself
as the passionless, all-loving essence of unqualified goodness.
3. ATON WORSHIPPED AT SUNRISE AND SUNSET.
In order to prevent the more ignorant of his disciples from
worshipping the sun itself, Akhnaton seems to have selected the
sunrise and the sunset as the two hours for ceremonial adoration;
for then the light, the beauty, the tenderness, of the celestial
phenomenon could be appreciated, and the awful majesty of the sun
was not in great prominence. Akhnaton attempted to cultivate in
his followers an appreciation of the gentle hues of daybreak and
of evening; and he taught them to believe that the oft-mentioned
“beauties” of the Aton were only to be fully understood at these
times. In the gladness of sunrise and in the hush of the sunset,
the emotions are most apt to be touched and moved; for in Egypt
there is always praise in the heart in the cool opalescence of the
dawn, and in the red dusk there is many and many a dream.
Phrases such as the following may be gleaned from Akhnaton’s hymns:
“Thy rising is beautiful in the horizon of heaven, O living Aton,
who dispensest life; shining from the eastern horizon of heaven,
Thou fillest Egypt with Thy beauty.” “Thy setting is beautiful, O
living Aton, ... who guidest ... all countries that they may make
laudations at Thy dawning and at Thy setting.” “When the Aton rises
all the land is in joy; His rays produce eyes for all that He has
created; and men say, ‘It is life to see Him, there is death in not
seeing Him.’” “When Thou settest alive,[47] O Aton, West and East
give praise to thee.” “Thou settest behind the western horizon;
Thou settest in life and gladness, and every eye rejoices though
they are in darkness after Thou settest.” “When Thou hast risen
they live; when Thou settest they die.”
The ceremonial side of the religion does not seem to have been
complex. The priests, of whom there were very few, offered
sacrifices, consisting mostly of vegetables, fruit, and flowers, to
the Aton, and at these ceremonies the king and his family often
officiated. They then sang psalms and offered prayers, and, with
much sweet music, gave praise to the great Father of joy and love.
The Aton, however, was not thought to delight in these ceremonies
as He did in more natural thanksgivings. Why should God be praised
in set phrases and studied poses when all the fair world was
shouting for the joy of Him? The young calf frisking through the
poppy-covered meadows, the birds singing upon the trees, the clouds
racing across the sky, were the true worshippers of God.
One of the recently discovered sayings of Christ closely parallels
Akhnaton’s utterances. “Ye ask,” it runs, “who are those that draw
us to the kingdom if the kingdom is in heaven? The fowls of the
air, and all the beasts that are under the earth or upon the earth,
and the fishes in the sea, these are they which draw you, and the
kingdom is within you.” The contemplation of nature was more to
Akhnaton than many ceremonies, and his thoughts were more easily
drawn upwards by the rustle of the leaves than by the shaking of
the systrum.
4. THE GOODNESS OF ATON.
In the gardens of the City of the Horizon Akhnaton was surrounded
on all sides by the joyous beauties of nature. Here the birds
sang merrily in the laden trees, here the cool north wind rustled
through the leaves, setting them dancing upon their stems, here
the many-coloured blossoms nodded to their reflections in the
still lakes; and, as he watched the sunlight playing with the blue
shadows, his heart seemed to fill to repletion with gratitude to
God. “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!” was his constant cry.
“The whole land is in joy and holiday because of Thee. They shout
to the height of heaven, they receive joy and gladness when they
see Thee.” How “fair of form” was the formless Aton, how “radiant
of colour”! “All that Thou hast made,” said the king, “leaps before
Thee.” “Thou makest the beauty of form through Thyself alone.”
“Eyes have life at sight of Thy beauty; hearts have health when the
Aton shines.”
As the psalmist sang, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want,” so Akhnaton, in the fulness of his heart, cried, “There is
no poverty for him who hath set Thee in his heart; such an one
cannot say, ‘O, that I had.’” “When Thou bringest life to men’s
hearts by Thy beauty, there is indeed life.” The Aton “gave health
to the eyes by His rays,” and, “bright, great, gleaming, high
above all the earth,” he was “the cause of plenty,”--the very
“food and fatness of Egypt.” To David, several centuries later,
God seemed to be “a strong tower of defence”; and, thinking along
the same lines, Akhnaton called the Aton his “wall of brass of a
million cubits.” The Aton was “the witness of that which pertains
to eternity,” and to those whose thoughts had strayed he was “the
remembrancer of eternity.” He was the “Lord of Fate,” the “Lord
of Fortune,” the “Master of that which is ordained,” the “Origin
of Fate,” the “Chance which gives Life”; and in so describing him
Akhnaton reached a philosophical position which even to-day is
quite unassailable.
Unlike Jehovah, who was described as “great above all other gods,”
the Aton was conceived as being without rivals; and Akhnaton now
never mentions the word “gods.” “The living Aton beside whom there
is no other,” is one of the common phrases; and of Him again it is
written, “Thou art alone, but infinite vitalities are in Thee by
means of which to give life to Thy creatures.”
Unlike Jehovah again, who was not infrequently thought to be a
wrathful god, surrounded by clouds and darkness, and speaking
through the roar of the thunders, the Aton was the “Lord of Peace,”
who could not tolerate battle and strife. Akhnaton was so opposed
to war that he persistently refused to offer an armed resistance
to the subsequent revolts which occurred in his Asiatic dominions.
The Aton was a deity to whose tender heart human bloodshed made no
appeal. In an age of martial glory, when the sword and buckler,
the plumed helmet and the shirt of mail, glittered in every street
and upon every highway, Akhnaton set himself in opposition to all
heroics, and saw God without melodrama.
Above all things the Aton loved truth. Frankness, sincerity,
straightforwardness, honesty, and veracity were qualities not
always to be found in the heart of an Egyptian; and Akhnaton, in
antagonism to the sins of hypocrisy and deception which he saw
around him, always spoke of himself as “living in truth.” “I have
set truth in my inward parts,” says one of his followers, “and
falsehood is my loathing; for I know that the King rejoiceth in
truth.”
5. AKHNATON THE “SON OF GOD” BY TRADITIONAL RIGHT.
It may be understood how the boy longed for truth in all things
when one remembers the thousand exaggerated conventions of Egyptian
life at this time. Court etiquette had developed to a degree
which rendered life to the Pharaoh an endless round of unnatural
poses of mind and body. In the preaching of his doctrine of truth
and simplicity Akhnaton did not fail to call upon his subjects
to regard their Pharaoh not as a celestial god, as had been the
custom, but as a man, though, of course, one of divine origin.
It was usual for the Pharaoh to keep aloof from his people:
Akhnaton was to be found in their midst. The court demanded that
their lord should drive in solitary state through the city:
Akhnaton stood in his chariot with his wife and children, and
allowed the artist to represent him joking therein with his little
daughter. In portraying the Pharaoh the artist was expected to draw
him in some conventional attitude of dignity: Akhnaton insisted
upon being shown in all manner of natural attitudes--now leaning
languidly upon a staff, now nursing his children, and now eating
his dinner. Thus again one sees his objection to heroics, and his
love of naturalness.
[Illustration: _Akhnaton driving with his Wife and Daughter._]
But while he strove for truth and sincerity in this manner he
did not attempt to remove from his mind the belief in which he
had been brought up, that as Pharaoh of Egypt he was himself
partly divine. Not only was he by reason of his religion the
representative, and hence, in a manner of speech, the “son” of
God, but by right of royal descent he was the “son of the Sun.”
The names of the Pharaohs were always surrounded by an oval band,
known as a cartouche, which was the distinguishing mark of a royal
name. Akhnaton wrote the name of the Aton within such an oval,
thus indicating that the Pharaoh’s royal rights were also held
by, and therefore derived from, God Himself. There was thus, as
Christ later taught His disciples to believe, a kingdom of heaven
over which God presided; and although impersonal, intangible, and
incomprehensible, the Aton was the very “King of kings, the only
ruler of princes.” Amon-Ra and other of the old deities had been
called at various times “King of the gods.” Akhnaton, however,
applied to Aton the words “King and God.”
Akhnaton is spoken of as “the unique one of Ra, whose beauties
Aton created,” and as “the beloved son of Aton,” whom “Aton bare.”
Addressing the Aton, his courtiers were wont to say, “Thy rays
are on Thy bright image, the Ruler of Truth (_i.e._, the King),
who proceeded from eternity. Thou givest to him Thy duration and
Thy years; Thou hearkenest to all that is in his heart, because
Thou lovest him. Thou makest him like the Aton, him Thy child, the
King.” “Thou lookest on him, for he proceeded[48] from Thee.”
“Thou hast placed him beside Thee for ever and ever, for he loves
to gaze upon Thee.... Thou hast set him there till the swan shall
turn black and the crow turn white, till the hills rise up to
travel and the deeps rush into the rivers.” “While heaven is,
he shall be.” Some of the Pharaohs had called themselves “the
beautiful child of Amon”; and Akhnaton, borrowing this phrase, was
sometimes spoken of as “the beautiful child of the Aton.”[49]
[Illustration: _Akhnaton and his Wife and Children._]
In his capacity as Pharaoh and “son of God,” Akhnaton demanded
and received a very considerable amount of ceremonial homage; but
he never blinded himself to the fact that he was primarily but a
simple man. He most sincerely wished that his private life should
be a worthy example to his subjects, and he earnestly desired that
it should be observed in all its naturalness and simplicity. He
did his utmost to elevate the position of women and the sanctity
of the family by displaying to the world the ideal conditions of
his own married life. He made a point of caressing his wife in
public, putting his arm around her neck in the sight of all men. As
we have seen, one of his forms of oath was, “As my heart is happy
in the Queen and her children....” He spoke of his wife always as
“Mistress of his happiness, ... at hearing whose voice the King
rejoices.” “Lady of grace” was she, “great of love” and “fair
of face.” Every wish that she expressed, declared Akhnaton, was
executed by him. Even on the most ceremonious occasions the queen
sat beside her husband and held his hand, while their children
frolicked around them; for such things pleased that gentle father
more than the savour of burnt-offerings. It is seldom that the
Pharaoh is represented in the reliefs without his family; and, in
opposition to all tradition, the queen is shown upon the same scale
of size and importance as that of her husband. Akhnaton’s devotion
to his children is very marked, and he taught his disciples to
believe that God was the father, the mother, the nurse, and the
friend of the young. Thus, though “son of God,” Akhnaton
preached the beauty of the human family, and laid stress on the
sanctity of marriage and parenthood.
6. THE CONNECTIONS OF THE ATON WORSHIP WITH OLDER RELIGIONS.
In developing his religion Akhnaton must have come into almost
daily conflict with the priesthoods of the old gods of Egypt;
and even the Heliopolitan Ra-Horakhti, from which his own faith
had been evolved, now fell far short of his ideals. He does not
seem, however, to have yet imposed the worship of the Aton upon
the provinces, nor to have persecuted the various priesthoods.
He hoped, no doubt, that he would be able to persuade the whole
country to his views as soon as those views were thoroughly
matured; and, secure in his new city, he was free to purge his
religion of its faults before declaring all other creeds illegal.
It is probable that the sacred bull, Mnevis, was banished from his
ceremonies at an early date, for no tombs seem to have been made
for these holy creatures, and they are not referred to after the
sixth year of the king’s reign. The priests of Heliopolis would
now have hardly recognised their doctrines in the exalted faith of
the Aton, though here and there some point of close contact might
have been observed. One may also detect slight resemblances to the
Adonis religions of Syria, from whence the Aton had originally
come. Mention has already been made of the worship of Adonis. So
widespread was that deity’s power that it very naturally affected
many other religions. In the Biblical Psalms one finds several
echoes of this old pagan worship, as for example in the lines from
Psalm xix., which read:--
The heavens declare the glory of God....
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And he rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
There is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Here one surely must recognise the youthful Adonis, the bridegroom
of Venus. And similarly in the Heliopolitan worship, at the
commencement of Akhnaton’s reign, the sun, Ra, is referred to in
the following terms: “Thou art beautiful and youthful as Aton
before thy mother Hathor [Venus].”
In Akhnaton’s religion one may still catch a fleeting glimpse of
Adonis. One of the king’s courtiers, named May, held the office of
“Overseer of the House for sending Aton to rest.”[50] Akhnaton’s
queen is mentioned in the tomb of Ay under the peculiar title of
“She who sends the Aton to rest with a sweet voice, and with her
two beautiful hands bearing two systrums.” This “house” was, no
doubt, the temple at which the vesper prayers to the Aton were
said at sunset, and from the above title of the queen it would
seem that she had particular charge of these evening ceremonies.
One cannot contemplate the fact that it was a woman who officiated
at a ceremony which consisted of a lament[51] for the death of
the sun without seeing in it some connection, however faint,
with the story of Venus and Adonis. The lament of Venus for the
death of Adonis--_i.e._, the setting of the sun--was one of the
fundamental ceremonies of the Mediterranean religions. Here again
was a connection with an older religion for Akhnaton to consider
and perhaps to purge away; and one may suppose that all such
derivatives from earlier faiths were gradually eliminated as the
young king developed his creed. Soon not a scrap of superstition
remained in the religion; and one may credit this Pharaoh of three
thousand years ago with as great a freedom from the trammels of
traditional superstition as that of the advanced thinker of to-day.
7. THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH.
“Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes
to behold the sun,” says Holy Writ in words which might have fallen
from the lips of Akhnaton; “but though a man live many years and
rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for
they shall be many.” As Akhnaton had completely revolutionised the
beliefs of the Egyptians as to the nature of God, so he altered
and purged their theories regarding the existence of the soul after
death. According to the old beliefs, as we have seen, the soul of
a man had to pass through awful places up to the judgment throne
of Osiris, where he was weighed in the balances. If he was found
wanting he was devoured by a ferocious monster, but if the scales
turned in his favour he was accepted into the Elysian fields. So
many were the spirits, bogies, and demigods which he was likely to
meet before the goal was reached that he had to know by heart a
tedious string of formulæ, the correct repetition of which, and the
correct making of the related magic, alone ensured his safe passage.
Akhnaton flung all these formulæ into the fire. Djins, bogies,
spirits, monsters, demigods, demons, and Osiris himself with all
his court, were swept into the blaze and reduced to ashes. Akhnaton
believed that when a man died his soul continued to exist as a kind
of astral, immaterial ghost, sometimes resting in the dreamy halls
of heaven, and sometimes visiting, in shadowy form, the haunts
of the earthly life. By some of the inscriptions one is led to
suppose that, as in the fourth article of the Christian faith, so
in the teachings of Akhnaton, the body was thought to take again
after death its “flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to
the perfection of man’s nature.” But just as there is some doubt
and some vagueness in the mind of Christian thinkers as to the
meaning of this article, so in Akhnaton’s doctrine there was some
uncertainty as to whether the body was entirely spiritual or in a
manner material in its hazy existence in the Hills of the West.
The disembodied soul still craved the pleasures of earthly life
and shunned its sorrows; still felt hunger and thirst and enjoyed
a draught of water or a meal of solid food; still warmed itself in
the sunshine or sought coolness in the shadows.
We hear nothing of hell; for Akhnaton, in the tenderness of his
heart, could not bring himself to believe that God would allow
suffering in any of His creatures, however sinful. The inscriptions
seem rather to indicate that there was no future life for the
wicked,--that they were annihilated; though in almost every man one
may suppose that there was enough good to recommend him to the
mercy of a God so loving as the Aton.
The first great wish of the deceased was that he might each day
leave the dim underworld in order to see the light of the sun
upon earth. This had been the prayer of the Egyptians from time
immemorial, and to suit the religion of the Aton its wording alone
was changed. The disciple of Akhnaton asked to be allowed “to go
out from the underworld in the morning to see Aton as he rises.”
He prayed insistently, passionately, in varied language, that his
spirit might “go forth to see the sun’s rays,” that his “two eyes
might be opened to see the sun,” that there might be “no failure
to see it,” that the “vision of the sun’s fair face might never be
lost to him,” that he “might obtain a sight of the beauty of each
recurring sunrise,” and that “the sun’s rays might spread over
his body.” Sometimes it is the Aton whom the soul thus craves to
see; sometimes it is Ra, the sun; but always it seems to be the
actual light and warmth of the sunshine which is so passionately
desired. The abstract conditions of the future life could but be
interpreted in terms of human experience; and in contemplating
that cold, desolate mystery of death, Akhnaton could find no better
means of banishing the gloom than by praying for a continuance of
the blessed light of the day. And the man who prayed that his soul
might see the sunshine but asked that he might still know the joy
of the presence of God, for God was the light of the world.
His second wish was that he might retain the favour of the king and
queen after death, and that his soul might serve their souls in the
palaces of the dead. He asks for “readiness in the presence of the
King” to do his bidding; he prays that he may be admitted into the
palace, “entering it in favour and leaving it in love”; that he may
“attend the King every day”; and that he may “receive honour in the
presence of the King.”
For his mental contentment in the underworld he earnestly desired
that “his name might be remembered and established on earth,” that
there might be “a happy memory of him in the King’s palace,” and
“a continuance of his name in the mouths of the courtiers,” where
he hoped that it “might be welcome.” “May my name thrive in the
tomb-chapel,” he says. “May my name not be to seek in my mansion.
May it be celebrated for ever.” So, too, at the present day the
words _In Memoriam_ are goodly words; and that a man’s memory may
be kept green is a thing very generally desired.
8. THE MATERIAL NEEDS OF THE SOUL.
In order that the soul might have its link with earth, the
worshipper of the Aton prayed that his mummy might remain “firm”
and uncorrupted, that the “flesh might live upon the bones,” and
that his limbs might remain “knit together.” The Egyptians of
other days believed that the body itself would live again at the
resurrection, this being the reason why they attempted so carefully
to preserve it; and Akhnaton does not appear to have altered this
conception of the nature of the material body. So, too, in the
Christian faith it is thought that at the last day the graves will
give up their dead.
The spiritual body retained the form and the individuality of the
material body, and therefore, in a somewhat vague manner, it was
thought that the needs of the soul would not be very dissimilar
from those of the body upon earth. Christ, after His resurrection,
asked for food; and the feasts of Paradise are more than allegory
to many a Christian. Likewise the follower of Akhnaton believed
that material food, or its spiritual equivalent, would be necessary
to the soul’s welfare in the next world. “May I be called by my
name,” says he, “and come at the summons, in order to feed upon the
good things provided upon the temple altar.” It would seem that
through fidelity to the Aton creed he might have the privilege of
partaking of the offerings made at the great ceremonies in the
temple; for, after these sacrifices had been offered, the food,
probably, was distributed to the priests and to those attached to
the tombs, who represented the interests of the dead. Thus the
deceased prays that he may enjoy “a reception of that which has
been offered in the temple”; “a reception of offerings of the
King’s giving in every shrine”; “a drink-offering in the temple of
Aton”; “food deposited on the altar every day”; and “everything
that is offered in the sanctuary of Aton in the City of the
Horizon of Aton.” He further asks that “wine may be poured out” for
him, and that “the children of his house may spill a libation for
him at the entrance of his tomb.”
While life lasted God was very apparent to those who sought Him.
Wherever the sun shone, wherever the great pulse of the earth beat
beneath one, wherever the river flowed or the garden bloomed, there
was God to be found; for God was happiness, was beauty, was love.
But when the cold mists of death had enveloped a man, when there
was no longer any spring-time nor any opening of the blossoms, how
should there be contentment any more? From the depths of his heart
Akhnaton urged his followers to pray God that He might provide this
happiness, though it could only be voiced in very human words. It
was not “sweet perfume” nor “the smell of incense” that the soul
required; but how else could the pleasure of light-heartedness
be worded? They prayed that their “limbs might be provided with
pleasure every day.” In the stagnant air of the tomb they craved
for the touch of the “sweet breeze,” for “the breath of the
pleasant airs of the north wind.” They hoped in shadowy form to be
able to visit the beloved scenes of their lifetime. “May I raise
myself up and forget languor,” prays one. “May I leave and enter
my mansion,” says another. “May my soul not be shut off from that
which it desires. May I walk as I will in the grove that I have
made upon earth. May I drink the water at the edge of my lake every
day without ceasing.” “May water be poured out from my cistern,”
cries a third; “may I receive fruit from my trees.” Incessantly
each man implores God to grant that he may cool his parched lips
with water. “A draught of water at the banks of the river,” is
his desire; “a draught of water at the swirl of the stream.”
While he smells “the scent of the wind” blowing amidst the petals
of “a bouquet of Aton,” and while there runs “a brook of water”
by his side, he need not know the horror of death. And thus, by
receiving “everything good and sweet,” he may hope for “health and
prosperity” in the hills and the valleys of the West; for a “happy
life, provided with pleasure and joy,” for “amusement, merriment,
and delight,” and for a “daily rejoicing” throughout eternity.
It may be argued that this material conception of the life after
death is not equal in purity of tone to the faith of the Aton.
But is it, then, less lofty to believe in a heaven in which there
is joy and laughter, a scent of flowers, and a breath of north
wind, than in one where the streets are paved with gold, and
where there are many mansions? By no religion in the world is
Christianity so closely approached as by the faith of Akhnaton; and
if the Pharaoh’s doctrines as to immortality are not altogether
convincing, neither are the Christian doctrines, as they are
now interpreted, altogether without fault. In the above pages
it has been necessary always to compare Akhnaton’s creed with
Christianity, since there is so much common to the two religions;
but it should be remembered that this comparison must of necessity
be unfavourable to the Pharaoh’s doctrine, revealing as it does
its shortcomings. Let the reader remember that Akhnaton lived some
thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, at an age when
the world was steeped in superstition and sunk in the fogs of
idolatry. Bearing this in mind, he will not fail to see in that
tenderly loving Father whom the boy-Pharaoh worshipped an early
revelation of the God to whom we of the present day bow down; and
once more he will find how true are the words--
“God fulfils Himself in many ways.”
Since writing the above, another point in Akhnaton’s teaching
has become apparent, from the scenes, recently discovered by the
present writer, in the tomb of Rames. There is a scene often
represented upon the walls of tombs of Dynasty XVIII. which seems
to represent human sacrifice. The figure of a man is seen dragged
to the tomb upon a sledge, and Sir Gaston Maspero has pointed out
that this can hardly be anything else than such a sacrifice. This
scene was shown on one of the walls of the tomb of Rames, and
evidently dated from a period previous to Akhnaton’s revolution.
When, however, the young king had formulated his religion of love
he could not tolerate a barbaric and cruel ceremony of this kind.
We thus find that the entire scene is here obliterated, almost
certainly by the king’s agents. The objection to human sacrifice is
closely in accord with his objection to human suffering as recorded
on page 175.
V.
THE TENTH TO THE TWELFTH YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
“One must be moved with involuntary admiration for the young king
who in such an age found such thoughts in his heart.”--BREASTED:
‘History of Egypt.’
1. THE HYMNS OF THE ATON WORSHIPPERS.
In the tombs of rich persons who had lived and died previous to the
time of Akhnaton, a large portion of the walls had been covered
with religious inscriptions; and when at first the nobles of the
City of the Horizon of Aton were planning their sepulchres they
must have been at a loss to know what to substitute for these
forbidden formulæ. Soon, however, it became the custom to write
there short extracts from the hymns which were sung in the temples
of the Aton. In a few cases these inscriptions supply us with a
definite psalm which, although short, seems to be complete. In one
tomb--that of Ay--however, there is a copy of a much more elaborate
hymn; and it would thus seem that there were two main psalms in
use in the temples, a longer and a shorter version of the same
composition.
It was not unusual for the Egyptians to compose hymns in honour of
their gods, and a few such have been preserved to us upon the walls
of the old temples. Like the Hebrew psalms of later date, they are
not always of a very high moral tone. They are often but chants
of victory, dealing in battles, in thunders, and in tempests, and
glorying in the wrath of heaven. The longer hymn to the Aton, which
is here given in full, is quite unlike any of these compositions,
and both in purity of tone and in beauty of style it must rank high
amongst the poems of antiquity.
[52]“Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of heaven,
O living Aton, Beginning of life!
When Thou risest in the eastern horizon of heaven,
Thou fillest every land with Thy beauty;
For Thou are beautiful, great, glittering, high over the earth;
Thy rays, they encompass the lands, even all Thou hast made.
Thou art Ra, and Thou hast carried them all away captive;
Thou bindest them by Thy love.
Though Thou art afar, Thy rays are on earth;
Though Thou art on high, Thy footprints are the day.
When Thou settest in the western horizon of heaven,
The world is in darkness like the dead.
Men sleep in their chambers,
Their heads are wrapped up,
Their nostrils stopped, and none seeth the other.
Stolen are all their things that are under their heads,
While they know it not.
Every lion cometh forth from his den,
All serpents, they sting.
Darkness reigns,
The world is in silence:
He that made them has gone to rest in His horizon.
Bright is the earth, when Thou risest in the horizon,
When Thou shinest as Aton by day.
The darkness is banished
When Thou sendest forth Thy rays;
The two lands [of Egypt] are in daily festivity,
Awake and standing upon their feet,
For Thou hast raised them up.
Their limbs bathed, they take their clothing,
Their arms uplifted in adoration to Thy dawning.
Then in all the world they do their work.
All cattle rest upon the herbage,
All trees and plants flourish;
The birds flutter in their marshes,
Their wings uplifted in adoration to Thee.
All the sheep dance upon their feet,
All winged things fly,
They live when Thou hast shone upon them.
The barques sail up-stream and down-stream alike.
Every highway is open because Thou hast dawned.
The fish in the river leap up before Thee,
And Thy rays are in the midst of the great sea.
Thou art He who createst the man-child in woman,
Who makest seed in man,
Who giveth life to the son in the body of his mother,
Who soothest him that he may not weep,
A nurse [even] in the womb.
Who giveth breath to animate every one that He maketh.
When he cometh forth from the body ...
On the day of his birth,
Thou openest his mouth in speech,
Thou suppliest his necessities.
When the chicken crieth in the egg-shell,
Thou givest him breath therein, to preserve him alive;
When Thou hast perfected him
That he may pierce the egg,
He cometh forth from the egg,
To chirp with all his might;
He runneth about upon his two feet,
When he hath come forth therefrom.
How manifold are all Thy works!
They are hidden from before us,
O Thou sole God, whose powers no other possesseth.
Thou didst create the earth according to Thy desire,
While Thou wast alone:
Men, all cattle large and small,
All that are upon the earth,
That go about upon their feet;
All that are on high,
That fly with their wings.
The countries of Syria and Nubia
The land of Egypt;
Thou settest every man in his place
Thou suppliest their necessities.
Every one has his possessions,
And his days are reckoned.
Their tongues are divers in speech,
Their forms likewise and their skins,
For Thou, divider, hast divided the peoples.
Thou makest the Nile in the nether world,
Thou bringest it at Thy desire, to preserve the people alive.
O Lord of them all, when feebleness is in them,
O Lord of every house, who risest for them,
O sun of day, the fear of every distant land,
Thou makest [also] their life.
Thou hast set a Nile in heaven,
That it may fall for them,
Making floods upon the mountains, like the great sea,
And watering their fields among their towns.
How excellent are Thy designs, O Lord of eternity!
The Nile in heaven is for the strangers,
And for the cattle of every land that go upon their feet;
But the Nile, it cometh from the nether world for Egypt.
Thus Thy rays nourish every garden;
When Thou risest they live, and grow by Thee.
Thou makest the seasons, in order to create all Thy works;
Winter bringeth them coolness,
And the heat [the summer bringeth].
Thou hast made the distant heaven in order to rise therein,
In order to behold all that Thou didst make,
While Thou wast alone,
Rising in Thy form as Living Aton,
Dawning, shining afar off, and returning.
Thou makest the beauty of form through Thyself alone,
Cities, towns, and settlements,
On highway or on river,
All eyes see Thee before them,
For Thou art Aton of the day over the earth.
Thou art in my heart;
There is no other that knoweth Thee,
Save Thy son Akhnaton.
Thou hast made him wise in Thy designs
And in Thy might.
The world is in Thy hand,
Even as Thou hast made them.
When Thou hast risen they live;
When Thou settest they die.
For Thou art duration, beyond mere limbs;
By Thee man liveth,
And their eyes look upon Thy beauty
Until Thou settest.
All labour is laid aside
When Thou settest in the west.
When Thou risest they are made to grow....
Since Thou didst establish the earth,
Thou hast raised them up for Thy son,
Who came forth from Thy limbs,
The King, living in truth, ...
Akhnaton, whose life is long;
[And for] the great royal wife, his beloved,
Mistress of the Two Lands, ... Nefertiti,
Living and flourishing for ever and ever.”
2. THE SIMILARITY OF AKHNATON’S HYMN TO PSALM CIV.
In reading this truly beautiful hymn one cannot fail to be struck
by its similarity to Psalm civ. A parallel will show this most
clearly:--
AKHNATON’S HYMN.
The world is in darkness
like the dead. Every lion
cometh forth from his den;
all serpents sting. Darkness
reigns.
When Thou risest in the
horizon ... the darkness is
banished.... Then in all
the world they do their work.
All trees and plants flourish,
... the birds flutter in their
marshes.... All sheep dance
upon their feet.
The ships sail up-stream and
down-stream alike.... The
fish in the river leap up before
Thee; and Thy rays are in the
midst of the great sea.
How manifold are all Thy
works!... Thou didst create
the earth according to Thy desire,--men,
all cattle, ... all
that are upon the earth....
Thou hast set a Nile in
heaven that it may fall for
them, making floods upon the
mountains ... and watering
their fields. The Nile in
heaven is for the service of
the strangers, and for the
cattle of every land.
Thou makest the seasons....
Thou hast made the
distant heaven in order to
rise therein, ... dawning,
shining afar off, and returning.
The world is in Thy hand,
even as Thou hast made them.
When thou hast risen they live;
when Thou settest they die....
By Thee man liveth.
PSALM CIV.
Thou makest the darkness
and it is night, wherein all
the beasts of the forest do
creep forth. The young lions
roar after their prey; they seek
their meat from God.
The sun riseth, they get them
away, and lay them down in
their dens. Man goeth forth
unto his work, and to his
labour until the evening.
The trees of the Lord are
full of sap, ... wherein the
birds make their nests....
The high hills are a refuge for
the wild goats.
Yonder is the sea, great and
wide, wherein are ... both
small and great beasts. There
go the ships....
O Lord, how manifold are
Thy works! In wisdom hast
Thou made them all. The
earth is full of Thy creatures.
He watereth the hills from
above: the earth is filled with
the fruit of Thy works. He
bringeth forth grass for the
cattle, and green herb for the
service of men.
He appointed the moon for
certain seasons, and the sun
knoweth his going down.
These wait all upon Thee....
When Thou givest them [food]
they gather it; and when Thou
openest Thy hand they are filled
with good. When Thou hidest
Thy face they are troubled:
when Thou takest away their
breath they die.
In face of this remarkable similarity one can hardly doubt that
there is a direct connection between the two compositions; and it
becomes necessary to ask whether both Akhnaton’s hymn and this
Hebrew psalm were derived from a common Syrian source, or whether
Psalm civ. is derived from this Pharaoh’s original poem. Both
views are admissible; but in consideration of Akhnaton’s peculiar
ability and originality there seems considerable likelihood that he
is the author in the first instance of this gem of the Psalter.
When the young Pharaoh composed this hymn he was probably neither
much more nor less than twenty or twenty-one years of age,--a
period of life at which many of the world’s greatest poets have
written some of their fairest poems. One sees that he believed
himself to be the only man to whom God had revealed Himself; and
the fact that he never admits that he was in any way taught to
regard God as he did, but always speaks of himself, and is spoken
of, as the originator and teacher of the faith, indicates that the
ideas expressed in the hymn were entirely his own.
3. MERYRA IS MADE HIGH PRIEST OF ATON.
The religion of the Aton had now assumed shape and symmetry, and
had been firmly established in the new capital as the creed of the
court. Akhnaton was thus able to intrust its administration and
organisation there to one of his nobles who had hearkened to his
teaching, and to turn his attention to other affairs, and more
especially to the conversion of the rest of Egypt. As head of the
state a thousand matters daily claimed his consideration, and his
high principles led him to stray further along the by-paths of
administration than had been the wont of the Pharaohs before him.
His ill-health did not permit him to tax his brain with impunity,
and yet there was never a king of Egypt before or after him whose
mind was so fruitful of thoughts and of schemes. The young king
himself expounded to his followers the doctrines which he wished
them to embrace, and one may suppose that he sat for many an hour
in the halls of his palace, or under the trees in the gardens
beside the Nile, earnestly telling of the beauties of the Aton to
officials and nobles.
No one had accepted the king’s teaching with greater readiness
than a certain Meryra, who seems to have early associated himself
with the movement; and it was to him that Akhnaton now handed
over the office of “High Priest of the Aton in the City of the
Horizon of Aton,” in order to free himself for the great task of
administering his kingdom and converting it to his way of thinking.
Unfortunately we know very little of the career of Meryra, but on
the walls of his tomb in the hills behind the capital there are a
few reliefs which may here be described as illustrating events in
his life and in the life of Akhnaton.
One of these scenes shows us the investiture of Meryra as High
Priest. The king is seen with his wife and one of his daughters
standing at a window of the gaily decorated _loggia_ of the palace.
The sill of the window is massed with bright-coloured cushions,
and over these the royal personages lean forward to address
Meryra and the company assembled in the pillared gallery outside.
The outer surface of the _loggia_ wall is brightly ornamented
either with real or painted garlands of lotus-flowers, and with
the many-coloured patterns usual upon such buildings in ancient
Egypt. Ribbons, fluttering in the breeze, hang from the delicate
lotus-pillars which support the roof, and vie in brilliancy with
the red and blue ostrich-plume fans and standards carried by the
officials.
Leaning from the window, with arm outstretched, Akhnaton bids
Meryra rise from his knees, on to which he had cast himself on
reaching the royal presence. Then solemnly the king addresses his
favoured disciple in the following words:--“Behold, I make thee
High Priest of the Aton for me in the Temple of the Aton in the
City of the Horizon of Aton. I do this for love of thee, and I say
unto thee: O my servant who hearkenest to the teaching, my heart is
satisfied with everything which thou hast done. I give thee this
office, and I say unto thee: thou shalt eat the food of Pharaoh,
thy lord, in the Temple of Aton.”
Immediately the assembled company crowd round Meryra and lift him
shoulder-high, while the new High Priest cries, “Abundant are the
rewards which the Aton knows to give when his heart is pleased.”
The king then presents Meryra with the insignia of his office,
and with various costly gifts, which are taken charge of by the
servants and attendants who stand outside the gallery. Behind these
attendants, at the outskirts of the scene, one observes the chariot
which is to convey the High Priest back to his villa; fan-bearers
who shall run before and behind him; women of the household who
shall beat upon tambourines at the head of the procession, and who
already dance with excitement as they see Meryra hoisted on to his
friend’s shoulder; and still other women who shall make the roadway
rich with flowers.
This is no solemn and occult initiation of an ascetic into the
mystery of the new religion, but rather the elevation of a good
fellow to a popular post of honour. There was no mystery in the
faith of the Aton. Frankness, openness, and sincerity were the
dominant themes of Akhnaton’s teaching,--a worship of God in the
blessed light of the day, the singing of merry psalms in the
open courts of the temple; and the chosen High Priest was more
likely to have been a deep-thinking, clean-lived, honest-hearted,
God-fearing, family man, than an ascetic who had abandoned the
pomps and the vanities of this world. The point at which Akhnaton’s
religion differs most widely from Christianity is here to be
observed: the Pharaoh, while encouraging the Simple Life, did
not preach the mortification of the flesh, but only the control
of the body. The comforts of life, the brilliancy of decoration,
the charms of music, the beauties of painting and sculpture,
the pleasure of good company, the tonic of a bowl of wine, were
all as acceptable to him, in moderation, as to the Preacher in
Ecclesiastes.
4. THE ROYAL FAMILY VISIT THE TEMPLE.
When Meryra had been installed, the king and royal family made
a formal visit to the temple at the time of sunset, and this is
likewise represented in the High Priest’s tomb. For the first time
in the history of Egypt one is permitted to see the Pharaoh as he
drove through the streets of the capital in his chariot. No king
before Akhnaton had allowed an artist to represent him in aught but
celestial poses; but out of his love for truth and reality Akhnaton
had dispensed with this convention, and encouraged the regarding of
himself as a mortal man. On this occasion we see him standing in
his gorgeously decorated chariot, reins and whip in hand, himself
driving the two spirited horses, the coloured ostrich plumes on
whose heads nod and toss as the superb animals prance along. The
queen, also driving her own chariot, follows close behind; and
after her again come the princesses, heading a noble group of
chariots belonging to the court officials and ladies-in-waiting,
these being driven by charioteers. The shining harness, the dancing
red and blue plumes of the horses, the many-coloured robes, the
feathered standards of the nobles, the fluttering ribbons, all go
to make the cavalcade a sight to bring the townspeople running from
their houses. A guard of soldiers, armed with spears, shields,
battle-axes, bows, and clubs, races along on foot in front of the
royal party to clear the road. Here, besides Egyptians, are bearded
Asiatics from the king’s Syrian dominions, befeathered negroes from
the Mazoi tribes of Nubia, and Libyans from the west, wearing the
plaited side-lock of hair hanging from their heads.
The party is seen to be nearing the temple, and Meryra stands
before the gateway ready to greet his lord. Four men kneel near
him holding aloft the coloured ostrich-plume fans, which will be
wafted to and fro above the king’s head when he has alighted from
his chariot; and others kneel, lifting their hands in reverent
salutation. Great bulls, fattened like the prize cattle of modern
times, are led forth, garlands of flowers thrown around their huge
necks, and bouquets of flowers fastened between their horns. These
are attended by grooms, also bearing bunches of flowers. Two groups
of female musicians, clad in flowing robes, wave their arms and
beat upon tambourines.
The temple, which will be described later, is this day garlanded
with flowers, and every altar is heaped high with offerings. Now
the king has entered the building, and a further scene shows the
royal family worshipping at the high altar, which is piled up with
offerings of joints of meat, geese, vegetables, fruit, and flowers,
surmounted by bronze bowls filled with burning oil. Akhnaton and
Nefertiti stand before the altar, each with the right arm raised in
the act of sprinkling the fragrant gums of Araby upon the flames.
The upper part of the king’s body is bare, but from his waist
depends a graceful skirt of fine linen, ornamented with sash-like
ribbons of a red material, which flutter about his bare legs. The
queen’s robe covers the whole of her body, but is so transparent
that one can see her fair form with almost the distinctness of
nudity. A red sash is bound round her waist, and the two ends fall
almost to the ground. Neither of the two wears any jewels; and
the simplicity of the soft, flowing robes, with their bright-red
sashes, is extremely marked. Two little princesses stand behind the
king and queen, each shaking from a systrum a note of praise to
God. Meryra, accompanied by an assistant, stands bowing before the
king, and near by another priest burns some sweet-smelling incense.
Not far away there sits a group of eight blind musicians,--fat
elderly men, who clap their hands and sing to the accompaniment
of a seven-stringed harp, giving praise to the sunlight which
they cannot see, but yet can feel as “the heat which is in Aton”
penetrates into their bones.
In still another series of reliefs we are shown a scene
representing the reward of Meryra by Akhnaton on some occasion
when he had been particularly successful in collecting the yearly
dues of the temple from the estates on the opposite bank of the
river. The ceremony took place in the granary buildings at the edge
of the water. One sees a group of boats moored at the quay, and on
the shore are several cattle-pens filled with lowing cattle. The
granaries are stored with all manner of good things, and Meryra
stands triumphant in front of them as the king addresses him.
“Let the Superintendent of the Treasury of the Jewels take Meryra,”
says Akhnaton, “and hang gold on his neck at the front, and gold
on his feet, because of his obedience to the teaching of Pharaoh;”
and immediately the attendants literally heap the gold collars and
necklaces one above the other upon the High Priest’s neck. Scribes
write down a rapid summary of the events; the attendants and
fan-bearers bow low; and Meryra is conducted back to his village
with music and with dancing, while Akhnaton returns to his palace,
and, no doubt, sinks exhausted on to his cushions.
5. AKHNATON IN HIS PALACE.
The reliefs and paintings upon the tombs often show the Pharaoh
reclining thus, in a languid manner, as though the duties of his
high calling had sapped all the strength from him. Never before had
a Pharaoh been represented to his subjects in such human attitudes.
The privacy of the palace is penetrated in these scenes, and we
see the king, who loved to teach his followers the beauty of
family life, in the midst of his own family. One or two of these
representations must here be described. In one instance the royal
family is shown inside a beautiful pavilion, the roof of which is
supported by wooden pillars painted with many colours and having
capitals carved in high relief to represent wild geese suspended by
their legs, and above them bunches of flowers: just such a grouping
as one might see in some sporting house of the present day. The
pillars are hung with garlands of flowers, and from the ceiling
there droop festoons of flowers and trailing branches of vines. The
roof of the pavilion on the outside is edged by an endless line of
gleaming cobras, probably wrought in bronze.
Inside this fair arbor stand a group of naked girls playing upon
the harp, the lute, and the lyre, and, no doubt, singing to that
accompaniment the artless love-songs of the period. Servants are
shown attending to the jars of wine which stand at the side of the
enclosure. The king is seen leaning back upon the cushions of an
arm-chair, as though tired out and sick at heart. In the fingers
of his left hand he idly dandles a few flowers, while with his
right hand he languidly holds out a delicate bowl in order that the
wine in it may be replenished. This is done by the queen, who is
standing before him, all solicitous for his comfort. She pours the
wine from a vessel, causing it to pass through a strainer before
flowing into the bowl. Three little princesses stand near by: one
of them laden with bouquets of flowers, another holding out some
sweetmeat upon a dish, and a third talking to her father.
In another scene the king and queen are both shown seated upon
comfortable chairs, while a servant waits upon them. The king is
eating a roasted pigeon, holding it in his fingers; and Nefertiti
is represented drinking from a prettily shaped cup. The light,
transparent robes which they wear indicate that this is the midday
meal; but unfortunately the painting is so much damaged that
nothing but the royal figures remains.
6. HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THIS PERIOD OF AKHNATON’S REIGN.
There is very little historical information to be procured for
these years of the king’s reign. When he had been about ten or
eleven years upon the throne, and was some twenty-one years of
age, his fourth daughter, Nefernefernaton, was born. The queen had
presented no son to Akhnaton to succeed him, but he does not seem
in this emergency to have cared to turn to any secondary wives;
and, as far as we can tell, he remained all his life a monogamist,
although this was in direct opposition to all traditional custom.
Steadily during these years the king’s health seems to have grown
more precarious, for almost daily he must have overtaxed his
strength. His brain was so active that he could not submit to be
idle; and even when he reclined amidst the flowers in his garden,
his whole soul was straining upwards in the attempt to pierce the
barrier which lay between him and the God who had caused those
flowers to bloom. The maturity of his creed at this period leads
one to suppose that he had given to it his very life’s force; and
when it is remembered that at the same time his attention was
occupied by the administration of a kingdom which he had twisted
out of all semblance to its former shape, the wonder is that his
brain was at all able to stand the incessant strain. Rare indeed
must have been those idle moments which the artists of the City of
the Horizon attempted to represent.
In the twelfth year of his reign, the tribute of the vassal
kingdoms reached such a high value that a particular record was
made of it, and scenes showing its reception were sculptured in the
tombs of Huya and Meryra II.[53] An inscription beside the scene
in the tomb of Huya reads thus:--
Year twelve, the second month of winter, the eighth day.... The
King ... and the Queen ... living for ever and ever, made a
public appearance on the great palanquin of gold, to receive the
tribute of Syria and Ethiopia, and of the west and the east. All
the countries were collected at one time, and also the islands
in the midst of the sea; bringing offerings to the King when he
was on the great throne of the City of the Horizon of Aton, in
order to receive the imposts of every land and granting them [in
return] the breath of life.
The king and queen are shown seated in the state palanquin side
by side; and although Akhnaton holds the insignia of royalty,
and is evidently very much upon his dignity, the queen’s arm has
found its way around his waist, and there lovingly rests for all
the world to see. The palanquin, probably made of wood entirely
covered with gold foil, is a very imposing structure: a large
double throne, borne aloft by stout poles upon the shoulders of the
court officials. The arm-rests are carved in the form of sphinxes,
which rise above a glistening hedge of cobras, and the throne is
flanked on either side by the figure of a lion carved in the round.
A priest walks in front of the palanquin sending up a cloud of
incense from a censer, and professional mummers dance and skip in
the roadway in advance of the procession. Behind the royal couple
walk the princesses, attended by their nurses and ladies; and on
all sides are arrayed courtiers, officers, soldiers, and servants.
Soon the ground marked out for the ceremony is reached, and the
king and queen betake themselves to a gorgeous little pavilion
which has been erected for them, and here they sit together upon a
double throne, their feet supported upon hassocks. The queen sits
upon Akhnaton’s left, and in the picture her figure is hidden by
that of her husband; but as her right arm is seen to encircle his
waist, and her left hand to hold his left hand, one may suppose
that she is reclining against him, with her royal head upon his
shoulder. Nefertiti was the mother of a family of children, but was
not more than about twenty[54] years of age; and as she is said to
have been extremely beautiful, one may presume that this scene of
conjugal affection was not without its charm. The little princesses
cluster round the throne, one of them holding a young gazelle in
her arms, while another strokes its head.
In front of this pavilion the deputations from the vassal kingdoms
pass by; and in order that the king may not be wearied by their
ceremonious homage, a group of professional wrestlers, boxers,
and fencers is provided for his diversion; while near them some
buffoons and mummers dance and tumble to the accompaniment of
castanets and hand-clapping. The tribute of Syria is brought
by long-robed Asiatics, who cast themselves upon their knees
before the throne with hands uplifted in salutation. Splendid
Syrian horses are led past, and behind them chariots are wheeled
or carried along. Then come groups of slaves, handcuffed, but
not cruelly bound nor maltreated, as was the custom under other
Pharaohs. Bows, spears, shields, daggers, elephant-tusks, and other
objects, are carried past and deposited upon the ground near the
pavilion; while beautiful vases of precious metal or costly stone
are held aloft for the king to admire. Wild animals are led across
the ground by their keepers, and amongst these a tame mountain lion
must have caused something of a sensation. Several nude girls,
selected probably for their beauty, walk past; and one may suppose
that they will find subsequent employment amongst the handmaidens
in the palace.
From the “islands in the midst of the sea” come beautiful vases,
some ornamented with figures in the round. From Libya ostrich
eggs and ostrich feathers are brought. The tribute of Nubia and
the Sudan is carried past by befeathered negroes, and consists
mainly of bars and rings of gold and bags of gold-dust, procured
from the mines in the Eastern Desert. Shields, weapons, tusks, and
skins are also to be seen, and cattle and antelopes are led before
the throne. As the Asiatics had startled the assembly by bringing
with them a lion, so the negroes cause a stir by leading forward a
panther of large size. Finally, male and female slaves, the latter
carrying their babies in baskets upon their backs, are marched past
the pavilion; but here again these slaves are not maltreated. It is
particularly noticeable that the groups of miserable captives which
one sees in all such scenes of other periods, with their arms bound
in agonising positions and their knees giving way under them, are
entirely absent from the representations of Akhnaton’s ceremonies.
Human suffering was a thing hateful to the young Pharaoh who knew
so well the meaning of physical distress; and the tortures of the
prisoners, or the beheading of some rebel, such as would have been
a feature of an occasion of this kind under Amonhotep II., or even,
perhaps, under Amonhotep III., would have been as revolting to
Akhnaton as it would be to us.
7. QUEEN TIY VISITS THE CITY OF THE HORIZON.
Akhnaton had left Thebes, as we have seen, in about the eighth
year of his reign; but his mother, Queen Tiy, seems to have been
unwilling to accompany him, and to have decided to remain in her
palace at the foot of the Theban hills. It is probable that she had
not encouraged her son to create the new capital, and the removal
of the court from Thebes must have been something of a grief to
her, though no doubt she recognised the necessity of the step.
In spite of advancing years she must have sorely missed the pomp
and circumstance of the splendid court over which she had once
presided. Up to the fourth year of her son’s reign she had been
dominant, and the whole known world had bowed the knee to her. The
luxuries of the many kingdoms over which she held sway had been
hers to enjoy; but now, with the king and the nobles gone to the
City of the Horizon, and every penny which could be collected gone
with them, the old queen must have been obliged to live a quiet,
retired life in a palace which was probably falling into rapid
ruin. Her little daughter, Baketaton, appears to have lived with
her; and it may be that some of her other daughters were still with
her, though of them we hear nothing, and it is more probable that
they had already died. It seems likely that she paid occasional
state visits to her son, and permanent accommodation was provided
for her in the City of the Horizon should she at any time desire to
stay there. Her major-domo, an elderly man named Huya, appears to
have lived for part of the year at the new capital, where a tomb
was made for him; and it is from the reliefs on the walls of this
tomb that we obtain the knowledge of one of these state visits made
by the old queen to Akhnaton. There is no evidence to show in what
year the visit which forms the subject of the representations was
made; but as the twelfth year of Akhnaton’s reign is mentioned in
this tomb, it is probable that the visit took place somewhere about
that time.
The queen must now have been between fifty and sixty years of
age,[55] and her daughter Baketaton, born just before the death
of her husband, was probably not much more than twelve years old.
Akhnaton received his mother and sister with apparent joy and
festivity, and the major-domo, Huya, was called upon to organise
many a _fête_ in their honour. Some of them are shown in the
reliefs, where even the conventionalities of the artist have
not been able to hide from us the luxury of the scene. One sees
Akhnaton, his wife Nefertiti, his mother Tiy, his sister Baketaton,
and his two daughters Merytaton and Ankhsenpaaton, seated together
on comfortable cushioned chairs, their feet resting on elaborate
footstools. Akhnaton is clad in a skirt of clinging linen, but the
upper part of his body seems to have been bare. On his forehead
there gleams a small golden serpent, and on his feet there are
elaborate sandals; but with customary simplicity he wears no
jewellery. Queen Nefertiti wears a flowing robe of fine linen, and
on her forehead also there is the royal serpent. Queen Tiy wears
the elaborate wig which was in vogue during the days of the old
_régime_, and upon it there rests an ornamental crown consisting
of a disk, two horns, two tall plumes, and two small serpents,
probably all wrought in gold. A graceful robe of some almost
transparent material falls lightly over her figure. The little
girls appear to be naked.
Around this happy family group there stand graceful tables upon
which food of all kinds is heaped. Here are joints of meat, dishes
of confectionery, vegetables, fruit,[56] bread, cakes of various
kinds, and so on. The tables are massed with lotus-flowers,
according to the charming custom of the ancient Egyptians of all
periods. Beside the tables stand jars of wine and other drinkables,
festooned with ribbons. At the moment selected by the artist for
reproduction, Akhnaton is seen placing his teeth in the neatly
trimmed meat adhering to a large bone which he holds in his hand.
To this day it is the custom in Egypt thus to eat with the hands.
Nefertiti has a small roast duck in her hands at which she daintily
nibbles. Tiy’s morsel cannot now be seen, but as she places it to
her mouth with one hand she presents a portion to her daughter,
Baketaton, with the other. The two little princesses feed by
Nefertiti’s side, and appear to be sharing the meal. Meanwhile Huya
hurries to and fro superintending the banquet, carefully tasting
each dish before it is presented to the royal party. Two string
bands play alternately, the one Egyptian and the other apparently
Syrian. The former consists of four female performers, the first
playing on a harp, the second and third on lutes, and the fourth on
a lyre. The main instrument in the foreign band is a large standing
lyre, about six feet in height, having eight strings, and being
played with both hands. Courtiers clad in elaborate dresses, and
holding ostrich-plume standards, are grouped around the hall in
which the banquet takes place.
Another set of reliefs in the tomb of Huya shows us an evening
entertainment in honour of Queen Tiy. Again the same members of
the royal family are represented, but against the cool night air
more clothes are worn by each person, and the upper part of the
king’s body is now seen to be covered by a mantle of soft linen.
The king, queen, and queen-dowager are all shown drinking from
delicate bowls, probably made of gold. This being an evening
festival, little solid food appears to have been eaten, but there
are three flower-decked tables piled high with fruit. From these
the little princesses, now wearing light garments, help themselves
liberally; and the small Ankhsenpaaton stands upon the footstool of
her mother’s chair, holding on to her skirts with one hand, while
with the other she crams an apricot or some similar fruit into her
mouth. Two string bands make music as before, and again the groups
of courtiers stand about the hall; while Huya hastens to and fro
directing the waiters, who, with napkins thrown over their arms,
replenish the drinking-bowls from the wine-jars. The hall is lit
by several flaming lamps set upon tall stands, near each of which
these jars have been placed.
8. TIY VISITS HER TEMPLE.
One more scene from this state visit is shown. Here we observe
Akhnaton leading his mother affectionately by the hand to a temple
which had been built in her honour, as her private place of
worship, and which was called the “Shade of the Sun.” This temple
appears to have been a building of great beauty and considerable
size. One passed through two great swinging doors fixed between the
usual two pylons, and so entered the main court, which stood open
to the sunlight. A pillared gallery passed along either side of
this court, and between each of the columns there stood statues of
Akhnaton, Amonhotep III., and Queen Tiy. In the middle of the court
rose the altar, to which one mounted by a flight of low steps. At
the far end of the court another set of pylons and swinging doors
led into the inner chambers. Passing through these doors one
entered a small gallery, on either side of which there were again
statues of the Pharaoh and his mother. Beyond stood the sanctuary,
closed by swinging doors; and inside this was the second altar,
flanked by statues of the king and queen-dowager. To right and left
of the sanctuary there were small chapels; and a passage led round
behind the sanctuary to the usual shrines, where more royal statues
were to be seen.
The building seems to have been brilliant with colours; and on
this particular occasion the altars were heaped up with offerings.
Great jars of wine, decked with garlands of flowers and ribbons,
stood in the shadow of the colonnades; and meat, bread, fruit, and
vegetables were piled on delicate stands, ornamented with flowers.
Akhnaton and Tiy were accompanied by the little Princess Baketaton,
Akhnaton’s sister, and her two ladies-in-waiting. Before them
walked the queen’s major-domo, Huya, accompanied by a foreign
official wearing what appears to be Cretan costume.[57] Behind
them walked a noble group of courtiers bearing ostrich-plume fans
and standards; and outside the temple precincts waited a crowd of
policemen, servants, charioteers and grooms in charge of the royal
chariots, fan-bearers, porters, and temple attendants. These people
shout and cheer loyally as the royal party arrives. “The ruler of
the Aton!” they cry. “He shall exist for ever and ever!” “She who
rises in beauty!” “To him on whom the Aton rises!” “She who is
patron of this temple of Aton!” The old queen must have felt as
though she were back once more in the days of her glory; and yet
how different the simplicity of the religious ceremonies to those
of the old priests of Amon-Ra. There was now but a prayer or two
at the altar, a little burning of incense, a little bowing of the
head, and then the procession back to the palace, and the silent
closing of the holy gates.
9. THE DEATH OF QUEEN TIY.
It is possible that Queen Tiy took up her residence at the City
of the Horizon in recognition of the lavish arrangements which
her son had made for her. But whether this is so or not, it
does not seem that she lived very long to enjoy such renewals
of the pomps which she had known in her younger days. Her death
appears to have taken place shortly after these celebrations,
and, probably by her express commands, she was embalmed at Thebes
and carried from her palace up the winding valley to the royal
burying-ground amongst the rugged Theban hills. Akhnaton showed
his affection for her by presenting the furniture for the tomb,
and in the inscriptions on the outer coffin one reads that “he
made it for his mother.” The queen-dowager had evidently expressed
a wish to be buried near her father and mother, Yuaa and Tuau;
for the tomb, which is situated on the east side of the valley,
is within a stone’s-throw of the sepulchre where they lay. It
was entered by a steep flight of steps leading down to a sloping
passage, at the end of which was the large burial chamber, the
walls of which were carefully whitewashed. On passing into this
chamber a great box-like shrine, or outer coffin, was to be found,
occupying the greater part of the room. The door to the shrine
was made of costly cedar of Lebanon covered with gold, and was
fitted with an ornamental bolt. Many of the nails which held the
woodwork together were made of pure gold,--a fact which plainly
shows us the wealth of the royal treasuries at this time. Scenes
were embossed on the panels showing the queen standing under the
rays of the Aton. The shrine itself was also made of cedar, covered
with gold, and on all sides were scenes of the Aton worship. Here
Akhnaton was shown with Tiy, and the life-giving rays of the sun
streamed around their naturally drawn figures. Inside this outer
box the coffin containing the great queen’s mummy was laid. The
usual funeral furniture was placed at the sides of the room: gaily
coloured boxes, alabaster vases, faience toilet-pots, statuettes,
&c. Some of the toilet utensils were made in the form of little
figures of the grotesque god Bes, which indicates that Akhnaton
still tolerated the recognition by other persons of some of the
old gods. In the inscriptions upon the outer coffin he had been
careful to call his father, Amonhotep III., by his second name,
Nebmaara, as often as possible, in order to avoid the writing
of the word Amon, his dislike of everything to do with that god
being profound. He allowed it to be written, however, here and
there, as it seemed right to him that it should appear. Akhnaton’s
prejudice against the old state god is also shown in another
manner. Amon’s consort was the goddess Mut “the Mother,” whose
name is written in hieroglyphs by a sign representing a vulture.
Now when the inscription mentioned the king’s _mother_, Tiy, the
word _mut_, “mother,” had to be written; but in order to avoid a
similarity--even in spelling--to the name of the goddess, Akhnaton
had the word written out phonetically, letter by letter, and
thus dispensed with the use of the vulture sign.[58] Again, in
the name Nebmaara, the meaning of which is “Ra, Lord of Truth,”
the sign _maa_, “truth,” represented the goddess of that name.
Akhnaton’s religion was much concerned with the quality of truth,
which he regarded as one of the greatest necessities to happiness
and well-being; and the fallacy of supposing that there was an
actual deity of truth was particularly apparent to him. He was,
therefore, careful to write the sign _maa_ in letters instead of
with the hieroglyph of the goddess.
When the funeral ceremonies came to an end, when the last prayer
was said and the last cloud of incense had floated to the roof,
the golden door of the shrine was shut and bolted, the outer
doorways were walled up, and an avalanche of stones, let down
from the chippings heaped near by, obliterated all traces of the
entrance. Thus Akhnaton paid his last tribute to his mother and
to the originator, it may be, of the schemes which he had carried
into effect; and his last link with the past was severed. With the
death of this good woman a restraining influence, as kindly as it
was powerful, slipped from his arm, and a new and fiercer chapter
of his short life began.
VI.
THE THIRTEENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
“The episode of the retirement of the king with his whole
court to the new palace and city, ... and the strange life of
religious and artistic propaganda which he led there, ... is
one of the most curious and interesting in the history of the
world.”--BUDGE: ‘History of Egypt.’
1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGION OF ATON.
In the Pharaoh’s hymn to the Aton we read these words--
“Thou didst create the earth according to Thy desire, ...
The countries of Syria and Nubia,
The land of Egypt....”
It is certainly worthy of note that Syria and Nubia are thus named
before Egypt, and seem to take precedence in Akhnaton’s mind. In
the same hymn the following lines occur:--
“The Nile in heaven is for the strangers, ...
But the Nile [itself,] it cometh from the nether world for Egypt.”
Here Akhnaton refers to the rain which falls in Syria to water
the lands of the stranger, and compares it with the river which
irrigates his own country. Thus again his thoughts are first for
Syria and then for Egypt. This is the true imperial spirit: in
the broadness of the Pharaoh’s mind his foreign possessions claim
as much attention as do his own dominions, and demand as much
love. The sentiments are entirely opposed to those of the earlier
kings of this dynasty, who ground down the land of the “miserable”
foreigner and extracted therefrom all its riches, without regard to
aught else.
Akhnaton believed that his God was the Father of all mankind, and
that the Syrian and the Nubian were as much under His protection
as the Egyptian. This is a greater advance in ethics than may be
at once apparent; for the Aton thus becomes the first deity who
was not tribal or not national ever conceived by mortal mind.
This is the Christian’s understanding of God, though not the
Hebrew conception of Jehovah. This is the spirit which sends the
missionary to the uttermost parts of the earth; and it was such
an attitude of mind which now led Akhnaton to build a temple
for the Aton in the heart of Syria, and another far up in the
Sudan.[59] The site of the Syrian temple is now lost, but the
Nubian buildings were recently discovered and seem to have been of
considerable extent.
[Illustration: _An Example of the Friendly Relations between Syria
and Egypt._
A Syrian Soldier named Terura, and his wife, Aariburæ, attended by
an Egyptian servant, who assists him to hold the tube through which
he is drinking wine from a jar. From a tablet found at El Amarna.
(Zeit. Aeg. Spr. xxxvi. 126.)]
At the same time temples were being erected in various parts of
Egypt. At Hermonthis a temple named “Horizon of Aton in Hermonthis”
was built; at Heliopolis there was a temple named “Exaltation of
Ra in Heliopolis,” and also a palace for the king; at Hermopolis
and at Memphis temples were erected; and in the Fayum and the Delta
“Houses” of Aton sprang up. Few real converts, however, seem to
have been made; for the religion was far above the understanding
of the people. In deference to the king’s wishes the Aton was
accepted, but no love was shown for the new form of worship;
and, indeed, not even in the City of the Horizon itself was it
understood.
A certain change was now made by Akhnaton in the name of the
Aton. The words “Heat which is in Aton” did not seem to him to
be very happily chosen. They had been used in the earliest years
of the movement, and had evidently not been coined by Akhnaton
himself. The word “heat” was in spelling very reminiscent of the
name of one of the old gods, and, to the uninitiate, might suggest
some connection. The name of the Aton was therefore changed to
“Effulgence which comes from Aton,” the new words introducing into
the spelling the hieroglyph of Ra, the sun. The exact significance
of the alteration is not known; but one may suppose that the
new words better conveyed the meaning which Akhnaton wished to
imply. Even now it is not easy to find a phrase to express that
vital energy, that first cause of life, which the king so clearly
understood.
The date of this change is somewhat uncertain, though it is
definitely to be placed between the tenth and thirteenth year of
the reign, the probability being that it took place at the end
of the twelfth year, when Akhnaton was about twenty-three years
old. The inscriptions upon the outer coffin, or shrine, of Queen
Tiy show the older form of wording, and the change, therefore,
took place after her death. Now the queen did not die till the
middle or end of the twelfth year, for in the tomb of Huya events
of that year are recorded,[60] and he still holds the office of
steward to the queen, while a letter from Dushratta, mentioning
Tiy, was docketed in the twelfth year. On the other hand, the
new name of the Aton occurs in tombs which, by the number of
Akhnaton’s daughters represented in them, might be thought to have
been constructed earlier than this.[61] Thus there is a slight
discrepancy; but the point of significance is that the change
occurred after the queen’s death, and was thus concurrent with
another change which must here be recorded.
2. AKHNATON OBLITERATES THE NAME OF AMON.
Up till this time it will have been observed that Akhnaton had
behaved with great leniency towards the worshippers of the older
gods, and had not even persecuted the priesthood of Amon-Ra. It
now becomes apparent that this restraint was due to his mother’s
influence, for no sooner was she dead than Akhnaton turned with the
fierceness of a fanatic upon the latter institution. He issued an
order that the name of Amon was to be erased wherever it occurred,
and this order was carried out with such amazing thoroughness that
hardly a single occurrence of the name was overlooked. Although
thousands of inscriptions, accessible to Akhnaton’s agents, are
now known in which the name of Amon occurs, there are but a few
examples in which the god’s name has not been mutilated. His agents
hammered the name out on the walls of the temples throughout Egypt;
they penetrated into the tombs of the dead to erase it from the
texts; they searched through the minute inscriptions upon small
statuettes and figures, obliterating the name therefrom; they
made journeys into the distant deserts to cut out the name from
the rock-scribbles of travellers; they clambered over the cliffs
beside the Nile to erase it from the graffiti; they entered
private houses to rub it from small utensils where it chanced to be
inscribed.
Akhnaton was always thorough in his undertakings, and half-measures
were unknown to him. When it came to the question of his own
father’s name, he seems not to have hesitated to order the
obliteration of the word Amon in it, though one may suppose that
in most cases he painted over it the king’s second name, Nebmaara.
His agents burst their way into the tomb of Queen Tiy and removed
the name Amonhotep from the inscriptions upon the shrine, writing
Nebmaara in red ink over each erasure. Having scratched out the
name even upon one of the queen’s toilet-pots of minute size they
retired from the tomb, building up the wall at the entrance, and
continued their labours elsewhere. The king was now asked whether
his own name, Amonhotep,--which had been used before he adopted the
better known Akhnaton,--was to suffer the same fate, and the answer
seems to have been in the affirmative. Upon the quarry tablet at
Gebel Silsileh[62] the king’s discarded name is thus erased, though
it was not damaged in the tomb of Rames. The names of the various
nobles and officials, male and female, which were compounded with
Amon--Amonhotep, Setamon, Amonemhat, Amonemapt, and so on--were
ruthlessly destroyed; while living persons bearing such names were
often obliged to change them.
In thus mutilating his father’s name Akhnaton did not in any way
intend to disparage his forbears. He was but desirous of utterly
obliterating Amon from the memory of man, in order that the true
God might the better receive acceptance. He was proud of his
descent, and, unlike most of his ancestors, he showed a desire to
honour the memory of his father. We have seen[63] how one of his
artists, Bek, represented the figure of Amonhotep III. upon his
monument at Aswan. Huya, Queen Tiy’s steward, was authorised by
Akhnaton to show that king upon the walls of his tomb;[64] and in
the private temple of Queen Tiy, it will be remembered that there
were statues of Amonhotep III.[65] Likewise, the earlier kings of
the dynasty received unusual recognition. An official named Any
held the office of Steward of the House of Amonhotep II.;[66] and
there is a representation of Akhnaton offering to Aton in “the
House of Thothmes IV. in the City of the Horizon.”[67] Upon his
boundary tablet Akhnaton refers to Amonhotep III. and Thothmes IV.
as being troubled by the priesthood of Amon.
It would seem from the above that there were shrines dedicated to
Akhnaton’s ancestors in the City of the Horizon, each of which had
its steward and its officials; and it is probable that Akhnaton
arranged that a memorial shrine of the same kind should be erected
for himself against his death, for we read of a personage who was
“Second Priest” of the king.[68] It was his desire in this manner
to show the continuity of his descent from the Pharaohs of the
elder days, and to demonstrate his real claim to that title “Son
of the Sun” which had been held by the sovereigns of Egypt ever
since the Fifth Dynasty, and which was of such vital importance
in the new religion. It was in this manner that he claimed descent
from Ra, who was to him the same with Aton; and just as the great
religious teachers of the Hebrews made careful note of their
genealogies in order to prove themselves descended from Adam, and
hence in a manner from God, so Akhnaton thus demonstrated the
continuity of his line in order to show his real right to the
titles “Child of Aton” and “Son of the Sun.”
3. THE GREAT TEMPLE OF ATON.
The City of the Horizon of Aton must now have been a very city
of temples. There were these shrines dedicated to the king’s
ancestors; there was the temple of Queen Tiy; there was a shrine
for the use of Baketaton, the king’s sister; there was the “House
of putting the Aton to Rest,” where Queen Nefertiti officiated; and
there was the great temple of Aton, in which probably were included
other of the buildings named in the inscriptions. The great temple
may here be briefly described, as the reader has so far made the
acquaintance only of the building belonging to Queen Tiy.
The temple was entirely surrounded by a high wall, and in this
respect was not unlike the existing temple of Edfu, which the
visitor to Egypt will assuredly have seen. Inside the area thus
enclosed there were two buildings, the one behind the other,
standing clear of the walls, thus leaving a wide ambulatory around
them. Upon passing through the gates of the enclosing wall there
was seen before one the façade of the first of the two temples,
while to right and left there stood a small lodge or vestry. The
façade of the temple was most imposing. Two great pylons towered
up before one, rising from behind a pillared portico, and between
them stood the gateway with its swinging doors. Up the face of
each pylon shot five tall masts, piercing the blue sky above, and
from the heads of each there fluttered a crimson pennant. Passing
through the gateway one entered an open court, in the midst of
which stood the high altar, up to which a flight of steps ascended.
On either side of this sun-bathed enclosure stood a series of small
chapels or chambers; while in front of one, in the axial line,
there was another gateway leading on into the second court, from
which one passed again into a third court. Passing through yet
another gateway, a fourth division of the temple was reached, this
being a pillared gallery or colonnade where one might rest for a
while in the cool shadow. Then onwards through another gateway into
the fifth court, crossing which one entered the sixth court, where
stood another altar in the full sunshine. A series of some twenty
little chambers passed around the sides of this court, and looking
into the darkness beyond each of their doorways one might discern
the simple tables and stands with which the rooms were furnished.
A final gateway now led one into the seventh and last court, where
again there was an altar, and again a series of chambers surrounded
the open space.
Behind this main temple, and quite separate from it though standing
within the one enclosure, stood the lesser temple, which was
probably the more sacred of the two. It was fronted by a pillared
portico, and before each column stood a statue of Akhnaton, beside
which was a smaller figure of his wife or one of his daughters.
Passing through the gateway, which was so designed that nothing
beyond could be seen, one entered an open court in which stood the
altar, and around the sides of which were small chambers. Here the
temple ended, save for a few chambers of uncertain use, approached
from the ambulatory.
Both buildings were gay with colours, and at festivals there were
numerous stands heaped high with flowers and other offerings,
while red ribbons added their notes of brilliant colour on all
sides. There was nothing gloomy or sombre in this temple of Aton;
and it contrasts strikingly with the buildings in which Amon was
worshipped. There vast halls were lit by minute windows, and
a dim uncertainty hovered around the worshipper. Such temples
lent themselves to mystery, and amidst their gloomy shadows
many a supplicant’s heart beat in terror. Dark stairways led to
subterranean passages, and these passages to black chambers built
in the thickness of the wall, from whence the hollow voice of the
priest throbbed as from mid-air upon the ears of the crouching
congregation. But in Akhnaton’s temple each court was open to the
full blaze of the sunlight.[69] There was, there could be, no
mystery; nor could there be any terror of darkness to loosen the
knees of the worshipper. Akhnaton, true scientist that he was,
had no sympathy for the occult and no interest in spiritualism.
Boldly he looked to God as a child to its father; and having solved
what he deemed to be the riddle of life, there was no place in
his mind for aught but an open, fearless adoration of the Creator
of that vital energy which he saw in all things. Akhnaton was the
sworn enemy of the table-turners of his day, and the tricks of
priestcraft, the stage effects of religiosity, were anathema to his
pure mind.
4. THE BEAUTY OF THE CITY.
The City of the Horizon of Aton was now a place of surpassing
beauty. Eight or nine years of lavish expenditure in money and
skill had transformed the fields and the wilderness into as fair
a city as the world had ever seen. One of the nobles who lived
there, by name May, describes it in these words: “The mighty City
of the Horizon of Aton, great in loveliness, mistress of pleasant
ceremonies, rich in possessions, the offering of the sun being in
her midst. At the sight of her beauty there is rejoicing. She is
lovely and beautiful: when one sees her it is like a glimpse of
heaven.”
[Illustration: _Carved Wooden Chair, the designs partly covered
with gold-leaf._]
There was almost constant music in her streets, and the scent of
flowers was wafted upon every breeze. Besides the temples and
public buildings the city was adorned with numerous palaces, each
standing in fair gardens. One of these mansions,[70] represented in
the tomb of Meryra, seems to have constituted a happy combination
of comfort and simplicity, as may be seen from its pictures. One
entered a walled court, and so passed to the main entrance of
the house. A portico, the roof of which was supported by four
decorative columns festooned with ribbons, sheltered the elaborate
doorway from the sunshine. Passing through this doorway, from the
top of which a row of cobras gleamed down upon one, a pillared
hall was reached; and beyond this the visitor entered the great
dining-hall. Twelve columns supported the ceiling, which was
probably painted with flights of birds; and under a kind of kiosk
in the middle of the hall stood the dining-table and several
comfortable arm-chairs, cushioned in bright colours. Beyond this
hall there was a court, at the back of which were several chambers,
one being a bedroom, as a great cushioned bedstead clearly shows.
The owner’s womenfolk probably occupied another portion of the
building not shown in the representations.
The palace of Ay, Akhnaton’s father-in-law, was a more pretentious
building. It was entered by a fine doorway which led into a court.
A second door gave entrance to the large, pillared dining-hall,
and through this one passed into a court from which bedrooms and
boudoirs led off. In one of these rooms two women, clad in airy
garments, are seen to be dancing with one another, while a man
plays a harp. In another room a girl likewise dances to the strains
of a harp, while a servant dresses the hair of one of the gentlemen
of the household. Other rooms contain lutes, harps, and lyres, as
well as objects of the toilet. A little court is now reached, where
fragrant flowers grow, and tanks of water, sunk in the decorated
pavement, give a sense of coolness to the air. Beyond this are more
apartments, and finally the kitchens are reached. Throughout the
house stand delicate tables upon which jars of wine or dishes of
fruit are to be seen; and cushioned arm-chairs, with footstools
before them, are ready for the weary. Servants are seen passing to
and fro bearing refreshments, or stopping to dust the floor, or
again idly talking in the passages.
Akhnaton’s palace is not very clearly shown in the tomb reliefs or
paintings, but portions of it were found in the modern excavations
on the site[71]. Like all the residential buildings of the
period, it was an airy and light structure made of brick. The
walls, ceilings, and floors were covered with the most beautiful
paintings; and delicate pillars, inlaid with coloured glass and
stone, or covered with realistically painted vines and creepers,
supported the light roofs of its halls. Portions of the pavement
are still preserved, and the visitor to the site of the city may
still see the paintings there depicted. A young calf, frisking
in the sunlight, gallops through a field of red poppies; wild
geese rise from the marshes and beat their way through the reeds,
disturbing the butterflies as they do so; amidst the lotus-flowers
resting upon the rippling water the sinuous fish are seen to
wander. These are but fragments of the paintings which once
delighted the eyes of the Pharaoh, or brought a sigh to the lips of
his queen.
The art of the painter of this period excels in the depiction of
animal and plant life. The winding, tangled stems and leaves of
vines were carefully studied; the rapid motions of animals were
correctly caught; and it has been said that in these things the
artists of Akhnaton were greater than those in any other Oriental
art[72]. Sculpture in the round, too, reached a pitch of excellence
never before known. The statue of Akhnaton illustrated opposite is
the work of one who may rank with Donatello, if not with Cellini.
[Illustration: _Akhnaton._
(From a statuette in the Louvre.)]
It is possible that Auta, the chief sculptor of Queen Tiy,[73] is
the creator of this statue, and perhaps also of the head, probably,
of Akhnaton’s daughter shown opposite next page. In the tomb of
Huya there is a scene representing this artist seated in his studio
giving the final touches to a statue of Princess Baketaton. He sits
upon a low stool, palette in hand, and, as was the custom, colours
the surface of the statue. Unlike the stiff conventional poses of
earlier work, the attitude of the young girl is easy and graceful.
One hand hangs by her side: in the other she holds a pomegranate,
which she is about to raise to her lips. Auta’s assistant stands
beside the figure, and near by two apprentices work upon objects of
less importance, their chisels on a table by their side.
Works such as these which Auta and his companions were turning out
are permanent memorials of the reign of Akhnaton, which will carry
his name through the years until, as he would say, “the swan turns
black and the crow turns white.” There must surely come a time,
and soon, when the art of Egypt will receive more attention; and
one may then hear Akhnaton’s name coupled with that of the Medici
as the patron, if not the teacher, of great masters. It was he
who released them from convention, and bade their hands repeat
what their eyes saw; and it was he who directed those eyes to the
beauties of nature around them. He, and no other, taught them to
look at the world in the spirit of life, to infuse into the cold
stone something of the “effulgence which comes from Aton”; and,
if these few treasures which have survived the utter wreck of the
City of the Horizon have put one’s heart to a happy step, it was
Akhnaton who first set the measure.
5. AKHNATON’S AFFECTION FOR HIS FAMILY.
In about the thirteenth year of the reign a fifth daughter was
born, who was named Neferneferura. This seems to have been the
first daughter born after the changes in the religion recorded
at the beginning of this chapter[74] had taken place; and it is
significant that the name of Aton, of which all the previous
daughters’ names had been compounded, now gives place to Ra.
A sixth daughter seems to have made her appearance somewhat over
a year later, some time during the fourteenth year of the reign.
Again Ra is used in the name instead of Aton, she being called
Setepenra. It is impossible to say what was the meaning of this
slight change in the theological aspect of the religion at this
period, but it seems evident that certain developments in which Ra
figured were now introduced.
[Illustration: _Head of Akhnaton’s Daughter._]
No son was yet forthcoming, and both the king and the queen
must now have suffered six successive disappointments. It may
be mentioned here that the next child born to the unfortunate
couple in the following year proved to be a seventh girl and a
seventh disappointment; and in the remaining two years of the
reign no other child was born, or at any rate was weaned, so that
Akhnaton died sonless. It is strange to picture this lofty-minded
preacher in his home, with his six little girls around him, as
he is shown upon the monuments. No other Pharaoh thus portrayed
himself surrounded by his family; but Akhnaton seems to have
never been happy unless all his children were with him and his
wife by his side. The charm of family life, and the sanctity of
the relationship of husband and wife, parents and children, seems
to have been an important point of doctrine to him. He urged his
nobles, also, to give their attention to their families; and in the
tomb of Panehesy, for example, one may see representations of that
personage sitting with his wife and his three daughters around him.
Akhnaton’s affection for his daughters is now shown to us in
another manner. When Amonhotep III. had asked the King of Mitanni
for one of his daughters to be given in marriage to Akhnaton, the
little Nefertiti was at once dispatched, although she was not yet
old enough to cohabit with her husband. He had no scruples about
sending the child of eight years old to a foreign country, and
seems to have packed her off without a thought. Now, however, we
obtain a glimpse of Akhnaton’s actions under similar circumstances,
and the difference is marked. The King of Babylon, Burraburiash,
wrote to Akhnaton in about the fourteenth or fifteenth year of
the reign, asking for one of the Pharaoh’s daughters as a wife
for his son. Wishing to be on friendly terms with Babylonia,
Akhnaton consented to the union, and selected probably his fourth
daughter, Nefernefernaton, as the future Queen of Babylon. His
eldest daughter subsequently married a noble named Smenkhkara, who
succeeded to the throne after the death of Akhnaton; and his third
daughter was later married to another noble named Tutankhaton, who
usurped the throne, as we shall see in the sequel. The fact that
neither of these daughters was now chosen to marry the Babylonian
prince indicates that they were already betrothed to their future
husbands, and hence this event could not have taken place much
earlier than at the date mentioned above. The second daughter,
Meketaton, was not selected for the reason that she seems to have
been in a precarious state of health. The little princess who was
chosen was born in the tenth year of the reign, and was now not
more than five years of age. Akhnaton, unlike the King of Mitanni,
did not at once send the child to her future home, but arranged
the marriage by proxy, and thus kept his daughter with him for yet
a few years. This is made evident from the fact that in a letter
from Burraburiash to Akhnaton, the Babylonian king states that he
is sending a necklace of over a thousand stones to the “Pharaoh’s
daughter, the wife of his son,” who is thus evidently still
resident in Egypt.
Besides Akhnaton’s six, and presently seven, daughters there were
two other princesses probably in residence at the palace. One of
these, his young sister Baketaton, whom we have seen visiting the
City of the Horizon with her mother, is not again heard of, and
perhaps did not long survive the dowager-queen’s death. The other
was Nezemmut, the sister of Queen Nefertiti, who seems to have
lived in Egypt continuously since the time of the founding of the
new city, when we last saw her.[75] Her portraits are shown in
the tombs of May, Panehesy, and Ay; and she is generally seen to
be accompanied by two female dwarfs, named Para and Reneheh, who
appear to have waddled after her wherever she went. She was still,
no doubt, very young, and these two grotesque attendants were
entrusted with her safety as well as her amusement.
6. AKHNATON’S FRIENDS.
The simple and homely manner in which Akhnaton is represented by
his artists, surrounded by his children, is an indication that
although he demanded much homage from his subjects in his capacity
as their Pharaoh, he but asked for their sympathy and affection in
all other connections. As Pharaoh his person was inapproachable and
his attitude aloof, but as a man he never failed to set an example
of what he considered a man should do; and even upon his throne,
to which one might but advance with bowed head and bended knee,
he displayed his mortal nature to all beholders by joking with
his children or paying fond attention to his wife. So, also, many
of his disciples and courtiers, who so ceremoniously approached
the steps of his throne, were in reality his good friends and
intimates. Akhnaton did not care a snap of the fingers for
aristocratic traditions, and although he demanded the conventional
respect of his subjects, and upheld the less tiresome rules of
court etiquette, many of his closest friends were of peasant
origin, and the hands which now held the jewelled ostrich-plume
standards could as easily grasp the pick or the plough.
May, a high official of the city, speaks of himself in the
following words: “I was a man of low origin both on my father’s
and on my mother’s side, but the King established me.... He caused
me to grow ... by his bounty when I was a man of no property; ...
he gave me food and provisions every day, I who had been one that
begged bread.” Huya, Queen Tiy’s steward, speaks of the king as
selecting his officials from the ranks of the yeomen. Panehesy
tells us that Akhnaton is one “who maketh princes and formeth the
humble,” and he adds: “When I knew not the companionship of princes
I was made an intimate of the King.” But if the Pharaoh raised men
from the ranks, he was also capable of degrading those who offended
against the standards which he had set up. Thus May seems to have
been disgraced and turned out of the city.
The tomb of the police official, Mahu, who was a favourite of the
king, though probably not of exalted origin, has provided us with
some scenes relating to his official work which are of considerable
interest. In one series of these we are shown the capture of some
foreigners, or perhaps Beduin, who may have belonged to some gang
of thieves or anarchists. Mahu has been awakened in the early
hours of a winter morning by the news of the disturbance, and as
he listens to the report a servant blows a small fire into flame,
since the morning air is chilly. He then sends for his chariot and
drives to the scene of the crime, whatever it may be; and soon he
has effected the arrest of some of the culprits. These men are then
conveyed to the Vizir, who, with his staff, receives Mahu with
exclamations of approval. “Examine these men, O Princes,” says the
police officer, “whom the foreigners have instigated.” From these
words it might seem that the prisoners were foreign spies, or even
assassins plotting against the life of the Pharaoh.
Whether from fear of a revolt in Egypt or from mere custom, the
City of the Horizon was closely defended at this time, and there
is a scene in this same tomb in which Akhnaton is shown inspecting
the fortifications. He drives in his chariot with his wife and
his eldest daughter Merytaton; and although the spirited horses
would appear to be difficult to manage, the more so because the
mischievous Merytaton is poking them with a stick, Akhnaton is a
sufficiently good driver to be able to carry on a conversation with
the queen, and to address a few words to Mahu, who runs by the
side of the chariot. In striking contrast to the custom of other
Pharaohs, Akhnaton is accompanied by an unarmed bodyguard of police
as he drives round the defences; and in this we may perhaps see an
indication of his popularity. The fortifications, it may be noted,
consist of blockhouses built at regular intervals, and defended by
wire or rope entanglements.
In several of the tombs there are representations of their
owners receiving rewards from the king for their diligence in
their official works, or for their intelligent acceptance of his
teaching. A high official named Pentu has left us a scene in
which Akhnaton is shown seated in the hall of his palace, while
Pentu stands before him to receive numerous golden collars at the
royal hands in recognition of his services. A part of the palace
is shown, but the scene is much damaged: a small pond or tank
surrounded by flowers is shown in one corner of the enclosure, but
the plan of the various rooms is confused, and is quite subsidiary
to the representation of the hall where the Pharaoh receives the
happy Pentu. Akhnaton seems to have been a good friend, as he was
a stern enemy; and those who assisted him in the difficult tasks
which he had set himself were lavishly rewarded for their pains.
7. AKHNATON’S TROUBLES.
Akhnaton’s health was so very uncertain that he hastened to
construct for himself a tomb in the cliffs behind the City of the
Horizon. He selected as the site of his last resting-place a gaunt
and rugged valley which here cuts into the hills, leading back,
around tumbled rocks and up dry watercourses, to the Arabian desert
beyond. It is
“A savage place!--as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover.”
Here Akhnaton elected to be buried, where hyænas prowled and
jackals wandered, and where the desolate cry of the night-owls
echoed over the rocks. In winter, the cold wind sweeps up this
valley and howls around the rocks; in summer the sun makes of it
a veritable furnace unendurable to man. There is nothing here to
remind one of the God who watches over him, and the tender Aton of
the Pharaoh’s conception would seem to have abandoned this place
to the spirits of evil. There are no flowers where Akhnaton cut
his sepulchre, and no birds sing; for the king believed that his
soul, caught up into the noon of Paradise, would need no more the
delights of earth.
The tomb consisted of a passage descending into the hill, and
leading to a rock-cut hall, the roof of which was supported by
four columns. Here stood the sarcophagus of pink granite in which
the Pharaoh’s mummy would lie. The walls of this hall were covered
with scenes carved in plaster,[76] representing various phases of
the Aton worship. From the passage there led another small chamber
beyond which a further passage was cut, perhaps to lead to a second
hall in which the queen should be buried; but the work was never
finished.
The construction of the tomb was interrupted by the death of
Akhnaton’s second daughter, Meketaton, who had barely lived to see
her ninth birthday. It has already been seen that she seems to have
been ailing for some time, and her death was perhaps no surprise
to her parents. Their grief, however, was none the less acute for
this; and when the body of the little girl had been laid to rest in
one of the chambers of her father’s tomb, the walls were covered
at Akhnaton’s order with scenes representing the grief of the
bereaved family. Here Queen Nefertiti is seen holding in her arms
her lately born seventh daughter, whose name, ending in ... t, is
now lost; while the five other little girls weep with their parents
beside the bier of their dead sister. It is a pathetic picture, and
one which stirs our sympathy for a Pharaoh who, unlike all other
kings of Egypt, could weep for the loss of a daughter.
This was not Akhnaton’s only grief. His doctrines were not being
accepted in Egypt as readily as he had hoped, and he was probably
able to detect a considerable amount of insincerity in the attitude
of those around him. There was hardly a man whom he could trust to
continue in the faith should he himself die; and even as he put the
last touches to his temples and his palaces he was aware that he
had built his house upon the sand. The empire which he had dreamed
of, bound together by the ties of a common worship of Aton, was
fast fading out of sight, and the news which reached him from Syria
was disquieting in the extreme.
At this time the King of Babylon, whose son had married Akhnaton’s
daughter, seems to have been on bad terms with his neighbour,
the King of Mitanni, the father of the Pharaoh’s much-loved Queen
Nefertiti; and Akhnaton came nigh to being drawn into the quarrel.
The Babylonian king had been ill for some time, and in the course
of the international correspondence Nefertiti had never once sent
her condolences to him, apparently because he was a poor friend to
her father. This was much resented, and the King of Babylon at last
sent an insulting letter to Akhnaton, in which he states that he is
sending him the usual present of decorative objects which etiquette
required of him, but that he wishes it to be understood that only a
fraction of the gift is intended for the “mistress of his house,”
_i.e._, Nefertiti, since she had not troubled to ask after his
health.
Shortly after this he wrote another letter to Akhnaton making
various complaints, and stating that his messengers had been robbed
in territory belonging to the Pharaoh, who must therefore make good
their losses. A third letter makes similar complaints, and hints
at future trouble. Meanwhile the King of Mitanni was on none too
friendly terms with Akhnaton, and appears to have detained the
Pharaoh’s envoy, named Mani, thereby causing Akhnaton considerable
anxiety. There was, in fact, a general tendency to disparage
the Egyptian king, which must have been exceedingly galling to
Akhnaton, who had the power to let loose upon Asia an army which
would silence all insult, but did not find such a step consistent
with his principles. In a letter which he wrote to one of the
Syrian princes whose fidelity was doubtful, Akhnaton ends his
despatch with the words: “I am very well, I the sun in the heavens,
and my chariots and soldiers are exceedingly numerous; and from
Upper Egypt even unto Lower Egypt, and from the place where the
sun riseth even unto the place where he setteth, the whole country
is in good cause and content.” Thus we see that Akhnaton knew his
power, and wished that others should know it; and it is therefore
the more surprising that, as we shall presently find, he never
chose to use it.
VII.
THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
“I know, he said, what you like is to look at the mountains,
or to go up among them and kill things. But I like the running
water in a quiet garden, with a rose reflected in it, and the
nightingale singing to it. Listen!”--MIRZA MAHOMED in ‘The Story
of Valeh and Hadijeh.’
1. THE HITTITE INVASION OF SYRIA.
The eastern end of the Mediterranean is bounded on the south by
Egypt and the desert, on the east by Palestine and Syria, and on
the north by Asia Minor, these roughly forming the three sides of
a square. The conquests of the great warrior-Pharaoh Thothmes III.
had carried the Egyptian power as far as the north-east corner of
this formation--that is to say, to the point where Syria meets Asia
Minor. The island of Cyprus is in shape not unlike a hand with
index finger extended; and this finger may be said to be pointing
to the limit of Egyptian conquest, somewhere in the neighbourhood
of the Amanus Mountains. The kingdom of Mitanni, the home of Queen
Nefertiti, was situated on the banks of the Euphrates some distance
inland from these mountains; and as it acted as a buffer state
between the Egyptian possessions in Syria and the unconquered
lands beyond, the Pharaohs had taken care to unite themselves by
marriage, as we have seen, with its rulers. Behind Mitanni to the
north-east, the friendly kingdoms later known as Assyria marked
the limits of the known world; while to the north the hostile
lands of Asia Minor lay in the possession of the Hittites, a
warlike confederacy of peoples, perhaps the ancestors of the modern
Armenians. From these hardy warriors the greatest danger to the
Egyptian Empire in Syria was to be expected; and the statesmen of
Egypt must have cast many an anxious look towards those forbidding
mountains which loomed beyond Mitanni. A southern movement of the
Hittites, indications of which were already very apparent, would
bring them swarming over and around the Amanus Mountains, either
along the eastern and inland route through Mitanni, or along the
western route beside the sea and over the Lebanon, or again, midway
between these two routes, past the great cities of Tunip, Kadesh,
and others, which stood to block the way.
When Akhnaton ascended the throne, Seplel was king of the Hittites,
and was by way of being friendly to Egypt. Some of his people,
however, crossed the frontiers of Mitanni and were repulsed by
Dushratta, the king of that country, who was father-in-law to
Akhnaton. This caused some coldness between Seplel and the Pharaoh;
and although the former sent an embassy to the City of the Horizon,
the correspondence between the two monarchs presently ceased. The
young idealist of Egypt seems to have held warfare in horror; and
the Hittites were so essentially a fighting race that Akhnaton
could have had no friendly feelings towards them. Soon we find
that these Hittites, unable to overflow into the land of Mitanni,
have moved along the eastern route and have seized the land of
Amki, which lay on the sea-coast between the Amanus Mountains and
the Lebanon. This movement might have been stopped by Aziru, an
Amorite prince who ruled the territory between Amki and Mitanni,
and whose duty, as an Egyptian vassal, was to check the southern
incursions of the Hittites. But Aziru, like his father Abdashirta
before him, was a man as ambitious as he was faithless, and his
dealings both with the Hittites and with the Egyptians during the
following years were unscrupulous in the extreme. It was his policy
to play the one nation against the other, and to extend the scope
of his own power at the expense of both.
2. AKHNATON’S CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS TO WARFARE.
Akhnaton’s policy in Syria, when considered from the point of
view of an ordinary man, was of the weakest. Ideals cannot govern
an empire, and those who would apply the doctrine of “peace and
goodwill” to subject races endanger the very principles which they
would teach. While the young Pharaoh was singing his imperial
psalms to the Atom in his growing capital, the princes of Syria
were whistling the revolutionary ditties which presently were to
ring in the ears of the isolated Egyptian garrisons. Little did
they care for that tender Father of Mankind to whom Akhnaton’s thin
finger so earnestly pointed. They knew nothing of monotheism; they
found no satisfaction in One who was the gentle ruler of all men
without distinction of race. A true god to them was a vanquisher
of other gods, a valiant leader in battle, a relentless avenger of
insult. The furious Baal, the bloodthirsty Tishub, the terrible
Ishtar--these were the deities that a man could love. How they
scorned that God of Peace who was called the Only One! How they
laughed at the young Pharaoh who had set aside the sword for the
psalter, who hoped to rule his restless dominions by love alone!
Love! One stands amazed at the reckless idealism, the beautiful
folly, of this Pharaoh who, in an age of turbulence, preached a
religion of peace to seething Syria. Three thousand years later
mankind is still blindly striving after these same ideals in
vain. Nowadays one is familiar with the doctrine: a greater than
Akhnaton has preached it, and has died for it. To-day God is known
to us, and the peace of God is a thing hoped for; but at that
far-off period, thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ,
two or three centuries before the age of David and Solomon, and
many a year before the preaching of Moses, one is utterly surprised
to behold the true light shining forth for a short moment like
the sun through a rift in the clouds, and one knows that it has
come too soon. Mankind, even now not ready, was then most wholly
unprepared, and the price which Egypt paid for the ideals of her
Pharaoh was no less than the complete loss of her dominions.
Akhnaton believed in God, and to him that belief meant a practical
abhorrence of war. Marshalling the material available for the study
of this period of history, one can interpret the events in Syria in
only one way: Akhnaton definitely refused to do battle, believing
that a resort to arms was an offence to God. Whether fortune or
misfortune, gain or loss, was to be his lot, he would hold to his
principles, and would not return to the old gods of battle.
It must be remembered that at this time the empire was the personal
property of the Pharaoh, as every kingdom was of its king. Nobody
ever considered a possession as belonging to the nation which had
laid hands upon it, but only to that nation’s king. It mattered
very little to the Syrian peoples whether their owner was an
Egyptian or a Syrian, though perhaps they preferred to be possessed
by one of their own race. Akhnaton was thus doing his will with his
own property. He was refusing to fight for his own possessions; he
was acting literally upon the Christian principle of giving the
cloak to him who had stolen the coat. Patriotism was a sentiment
unknown to the world: devotion to the king’s personal interest was
all that actuated loyalty in the subject, and the monarch himself
had but his own interests to consider. Thus Akhnaton cannot be
accused of ruining his country by his refusal to go to war. He was
entitled to do what he liked with his own personal property, and
if he sacrificed his possessions to his principles, the sacrifice
was made upon God’s high altar, and the loss would be felt by him
alone. Such a loss, it is true, would probably break his heart; for
he loved Syria dearly, and he had had such great hopes of uniting
the empire by the tie of a common religion. But for good or ill, he
was determined to stand aloof from the struggles upon which Syria
was now entering.
3. THE FAITHLESSNESS OF AZIRU.
While Aziru, the Amorite, schemed on the borders of Asia Minor, a
Syrian prince named Itakama suddenly set up an independent kingdom
at Kadesh and joined hands with the Hittites, thus cutting off
the loyal city of Tunip, the friendly kingdom of Mitanni, and the
territory of the faithless Aziru from direct intercourse with the
Lebanon and Egypt’s remaining possessions in Palestine and Syria.
Three loyal vassal kings, perhaps assisted by Dushratta of Mitanni,
attacked the rebels, but were repulsed by Itakama and his Hittite
allies.
Aziru at once turned the situation to his own advantage. Hemmed in
between the Hittites on the north and this new kingdom of Kadesh
on the south, he collected his armies and marched down the Orontes
to the Mediterranean coast, capturing the cities near the mouth of
that river and adding them to his possessions. Should the Hittites
ask him to give an account of these proceedings, he could reply
that he was, as it were, the advance-guard of the Hittite invasion
of Syria, and was preparing the road for them. Should Itakama
question him, he could say that he was, with friendly hands,
linking the Hittites with Kadesh. And should Akhnaton call upon him
for an explanation, he could answer that he was securing the land
for the Egyptians against the Hittite advance.
No doubt Aziru preferred to keep his peace with the Hittites the
most secure, for it was obvious that they were the rising people;
but at the same time he did not yet dare to show any hostility
to Egypt, whose armies might at any moment be launched across
the Mediterranean. Unable to hold a position of independence,
he now thought it most prudent to allow the northmen to swarm
southwards through his dominions, from Amki over and around the
Lebanon to Kadesh, where their ally Itakama dwelt. In return for
this assistance he seems to have been allowed a free hand in the
forwarding of his own interests, and we now find him turning his
attention to the sea-coast cities of Simyra and Byblos, which
nestled at the western foot of the Lebanon. Here, however, he
received a check, and failed to obtain a footing. He therefore
marched eastwards to the city of Niy, which he captured, slaying
its king; and both to the Hittites and to the Egyptians he seems to
have pretended that he had taken this step in their interests.
On hearing of the fall of this city the governor of Tunip wrote a
pathetic appeal to Akhnaton, asking for help; for he was now quite
isolated, and he knew that Aziru was a free-lance who cared not a
jot for any but his own welfare.
“To the King of Egypt, my lord,” runs the letter. “The
inhabitants of Tunip, thy servant. May it be well with thee, and
at the feet of our lord we fall. My lord, Tunip, thy servant,
speaks, saying: Who formerly could have plundered Tunip without
being plundered by Thothmes III.? The gods ... of the King of
Egypt, my lord, dwell in Tunip. May our lord ask his old men [if
it be not so.] Now, however, we belong no more to our lord, the
King of Egypt.... If his soldiers and chariots come too late,
Aziru will make us like the city of Niy. If, however, we have
to mourn, then the King of Egypt will mourn over these things
which Aziru has done, for he will turn his hand against our lord.
And when Aziru enters Simyra Aziru will do to us as he pleases,
in the territory of our lord the King, and on account of these
things our lord will have to lament. And now Tunip, thy city,
weeps, and her tears are flowing, and there is no help for us.
For twenty years we have been sending to our lord the King, the
King of Egypt, but there has not come to us a word--no, not one.”
Several points become apparent from this letter. One sees that in
the more distant cities of Syria the significance of Akhnaton’s
new religion was not understood. The governor of Tunip refers
to the old gods of Egypt worshipped in that town, and he knows
not, or cannot be brought to believe, that Akhnaton has become
a monotheist. One sees that the memory of the terrible Thothmes
III. and his victorious armies was still in men’s minds, and was
probably one of the main causes of the long-continued peace in
Syria. Akhnaton’s father, Amonhotep III., had not concerned himself
greatly with regard to his foreign dominions, and, as the people
of Tunip had been asking for assistance for twenty years, it would
seem that the danger which now beset them was already feared before
that Pharaoh’s death.
[Illustration: _Letter from Ribaddi to the King of Egypt, reporting
the progress of the rebellion under Aziru._
(British Museum, No. 29,801.)]
How, one asks, could Akhnaton read such a letter as this, and yet
refuse to send a relieving army to Syria? Byblos and Simyra were
still loyally holding out; and troops disembarked at these ports
could speedily be marched inland to Tunip, could crush Hakama at
Kadesh, and could frighten Aziru into giving real assistance to
Dushratta and other loyal kings in holding the Hittites back behind
the Amanus Mountains. But this was Akhnaton’s Gethsemane, if one
may say so with reverence; and like that greater Teacher who,
thirteen hundred years later, was to preach the self-same doctrine
of personal sacrifice, one may suppose that the Pharaoh suffered a
very Agony as he realised that his principles were leading him to
the loss of all his dearest possessions. His restless generals
in Egypt, eager to march into Syria, must have brought every
argument to bear upon him; but the boy would not now turn back.
“Put up thy sword into his place,” he seems to have said; “for all
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
4. THE FIGHTING IN SYRIA BECOMES GENERAL.
At this time the King of Byblos was one named Ribaddi, a fine old
soldier who was loyal to Egypt in his every thought and deed. He
wrote to Akhnaton urging him to send troops to relieve the garrison
of Simyra, upon which Aziru was again pressing close; for if Simyra
fell, he knew that Byblos could not for long hold out. Presently
we find that Zimrida, the king of the neighbouring port of Sidon,
has opened his gates to Aziru, and has marched with him against
Tyre. Abimilki, the King of Tyre, at once wrote to Akhnaton asking
for assistance; but on receiving no reply he, too, appears to have
thrown in his lot with Aziru. Ribaddi was now quite isolated at
Byblos; and from the beleaguered city he wrote to the Pharaoh
telling him that “Simyra is like a bird in a snare.” Akhnaton made
no reply; and in a short time Ribaddi wrote again, saying, “Simyra,
your fortress, is now in the power of the Khabiri.”
These Khabiri were the Beduin from behind Palestine, who were
being used as mercenaries by Aziru, and who themselves were making
small conquest in the south on their own behalf. Thus the southern
cities of Megiddo, Askalon, Gezer, and others, write to the Pharaoh
asking for aid against them. Exasperated, however, by Akhnaton’s
inaction, Askalon and Gezer, together with the city of Lachish,
threw off the Egyptian yoke and attacked Jerusalem, which was still
loyal to Egypt, being held by an officer named Abdkhiba. This loyal
soldier at once sent a despatch to Akhnaton, part of which read as
follows:--
The King’s whole land, which has begun hostilities with me, will
be lost. Behold the territory of Seir, as far as Carmel, its
princes are wholly lost; and hostility prevails against me....
As long as ships were upon the sea the strong arm of the King
occupied Naharin and Kash, but now the Khabiri are occupying
the King’s cities. There remains not one prince to my lord, the
King; every one is ruined.... Let the King take care of his land,
and ... let him send troops.... For if no troops come in this
year, the whole territory of my lord the King will perish.... If
there are no troops in this year, let the King send his officer
to fetch me and my brothers, that we may die with our lord, the
King.
To this letter the writer added a postscript addressed to
Akhnaton’s secretary, with whom he was evidently acquainted. “Bring
these words plainly before my lord the King,” runs this pathetic
appeal. “The whole land of my lord, the King, is going to ruin.”
The letters sent to Akhnaton from the few princes who remained
loyal form a collection which even now moves the reader. To
Akhnaton they must have been so many sword-thrusts, and one may
picture him praying passionately for strength to set them aside.
Soon it would seem that the secretaries hardly troubled to show
them to him; and ultimately they were so effectually pigeon-holed
that they have only recently been discovered. The Pharaoh
permitted himself to answer some of them, and seems to have asked
questions as to the state of affairs; but never does he offer any
encouragement. Lapaya, one of the princes of the south, who had
evidently received a communication from Akhnaton in which his
fidelity was questioned, wrote saying that if the Pharaoh ordered
him to drive a sword of bronze into his heart he would do so. It is
a commentary upon the veracity of the Oriental that in subsequent
letters this prince is stated to have attacked Megiddo, and
ultimately to have been slain while fighting against the Egyptian
loyalists.
Addudaian, a king of some unknown city of south Judea, acknowledges
the receipt of a letter from Akhnaton in which he was asked to
remain loyal; and he complains, in reply, of the loss of various
possessions. Dagantakala, the king of another city, writes
imploring the Pharaoh to rescue him from the Khabiri. Ninur, a
queen of a part of Judea, who calls herself Akhnaton’s handmaid,
entreats the Pharaoh to save her, and records the capture of one of
her cities by the Khabiri.
And so the letters run on, each telling of some disaster to the
Egyptian cause, and each voicing the bitter complaint of those who
were being sacrificed to the principles of a king who had grasped
the meaning of civilisation too soon.
5. AZIRU AND RIBADDI FIGHT TO A FINISH.
Meanwhile Ribaddi was holding Byblos valiantly against Aziru’s
armies, and many were the despatches which he sent to Akhnaton
asking for assistance against Aziru. Nothing could have been easier
than the despatch of a few hundred men across the Mediterranean
to the beleaguered port, and the number which Ribaddi asks for is
absurdly small. Akhnaton, however, would not send a single man, but
instead wrote a letter of gentle rebuke to Aziru, telling him to
come to the City of the Horizon to explain his conduct. Aziru wrote
at once to one of Akhnaton’s courtiers who was his friend, telling
him to speak to the Pharaoh and to set matters right.
He explained that he could not leave Syria at that time, for he
must remain to defend Tunip against the Hittites. The reader,
who has seen the letter written by the governor of Tunip asking
for help against Aziru, will realise the perfidy of this Amorite,
who was now, no doubt, preparing to capture Tunip for the sake of
its riches, and, having done so, would tell Akhnaton that he had
entered it to hold it against the Hittites.
Akhnaton then wrote to Aziru insisting that he should rebuild the
city of Simyra, which he had destroyed; but Aziru again replied
that he was too busy in defending Egyptian interests against the
inroads of the Hittites to give his attention to this matter for
at least a year. To this Akhnaton sent a mild reply; but Aziru,
fearing that the letter might contain some matter which it would be
better for him not to hear, contrived to evade the messenger, and
the despatch was brought back to Egypt. He wrote to the Pharaoh,
however, saying that he would see to it that the cities captured by
him should continue to pay tribute as usual to Egypt.
The tribute seems to have reached the City of the Horizon in
correct manner until the last years of the reign,[77] though
probably it was much less in quantity than had been customary.
There was general confusion in Syria, as we have seen; but, as in
the case of the struggle between Aziru and Ribaddi, where both
professed their loyalty to Egypt, so, in all the chaos, there was
a make-believe fidelity to the Pharaoh. The tribute was thus paid
each year by a large number of cities, and it was probably not
till the seventeenth and last year of Akhnaton’s reign that this
pretence of loyalty was altogether discarded.
In desperate straits at Byblos, Ribaddi made a perilous journey
to the neighbouring city of Beyrût in order to attempt to
collect reinforcements. No sooner had he left, however, than an
insurrection occurred at Byblos, and Ribaddi paid for his loyalty
to Egypt by losing the support of his own subjects. Presently
Beyrût surrendered to Aziru, and Ribaddi was forced to fly. After
many an adventure the stout old king managed to regain control of
Byblos, and to set about the further defence of the city.
Meanwhile Aziru had paid a rapid visit to Egypt, partly to justify
his conduct and partly, no doubt, to ascertain the condition of
affairs on the Nile. With Oriental cunning he managed to satisfy
Akhnaton that his intentions were not hostile to Egypt, and so
returned to the Lebanon. Ribaddi, hearing of this, at once sent
his son to the City of the Horizon to expose Aziru’s perfidy and
to plead for assistance against him. At the same time he wrote to
Akhnaton a pathetic account of his misfortunes. Four members of
his family had been taken prisoners; his brother was constantly
conspiring against him; old age and disease pressed heavily upon
him. All his possessions had been taken from him, all his lands
devastated; he had been reduced by famine and the privations of a
long siege to a state of utter destitution, and he could not much
longer hold out. “The gods of Byblos,” he writes, “are angry with
me and sore displeased; for I have sinned against the gods, and
therefore I do not come before my lord the King.” Was his sin, one
wonders, the adoption for a while of Akhnaton’s faith? To this
communication Akhnaton seems to have made no reply.
6. AKHNATON CONTINUES TO REFUSE TO SEND HELP.
The messengers who arrived at the City of the Horizon of Aton,
dusty and travel-stained, to deliver the many letters asking for
help, must have despaired indeed when they observed the manner
in which the news was received. Hateful to these hardy soldiers
of the empire were the fine quays at which their galleys moored;
hateful the fair villas and shaded avenues of the city; and thrice
hateful the rolling hymns to the Aton which came to them from
the temple halls as they hurried to the Pharaoh’s palace. The
townspeople smiled at their haste in this city of dreams; the court
officials delayed the delivery of their letters, scoffing at the
idea of urgency in the affairs of Asia; and finally these wretched
documents, written--if ever letters were so written--with blood
and with tears, were pigeon-holed in the city archives and utterly
forgotten save by Akhnaton himself. Instead of the brave music of
the drums and bugles of the relieving army which these messengers
had hoped to muster, there rang in their maddened ears only the
ceaseless chants of the priestly ceremonies and the pattering
love-songs of private festivals. Newly come from the sweat and the
labour of the road, their brains still racked with the horror of
war and yet burning with the vast hopes of empire, they looked with
scorn at the luxury of Egypt’s new capital, and heard with disgust
the dainty tales of the flowers. The lean, sad-eyed Pharaoh, with
his crooked head and his stooping shoulders, would speak only of
his God; and, clad in simple clothes unrelieved by a single jewel,
there was nothing martial in his appearance to give them hope. From
the beleaguered cities which they had so lately left there came to
them the bitter cry for succour; and it was not possible to drown
that cry in words of peace, nor in the jangle of the systrum or
the warbling of the pipes. Who, thought the waiting messengers,
could resist that piteous call: “Thy city weeps, and her tears are
flowing”? Who could sit idle in the City of the Horizon when the
proud empire, won with the blood of the noblest soldiers of the
great Thothmes, was breaking up before their eyes? What mattered
all the philosophies in the world, and all the gods in heaven, when
Egypt’s great dominions were being wrested from her? The splendid
Lebanon, the white kingdoms of the sea, Askalon and Ashdod, Tyre
and Sidon, Simyra and Byblos, the hills of Jerusalem, Kadesh and
the great Orontes, the fair Jordan, Tunip, Aleppo, the distant
Euphrates.... What counted a creed against these? God? The truth?
The only god was He of the Battles, who had led Egypt into Syria;
the only truth the doctrine of the sword, which had held her there
for so many years.
Looking back across these thirty-two centuries, can one yet say
whether the Pharaoh was in the right, or whether his soldiers were
the better minded? On the one hand there is culture, refinement,
love, thought, prayer, goodwill, and peace; on the other hand,
power, might, health, hardihood, bravery, and struggle. One knows
that Akhnaton’s theories were the more civilised, the more ideal;
but is there not a pulse which stirs in sympathy with those who
were holding the citadels of Asia? We can give our approval to the
ideals of the young king, but we cannot see his empire fall without
bitterly blaming him for the disaster. Yet in passing judgment,
in calling the boy to account for the loss of Syria, there is the
consciousness that above our tribunal sits a judge to whom war
must assuredly be abhorrent, and in whose eyes the struggle of
the nations must utterly lack its drama. Thus, even now, Akhnaton
eludes our criticism, and but raises once more that eternal
question which as yet has no answer.
7. AKHNATON’S HEALTH GIVES WAY.
It is possible that the Pharaoh now realised his position, and one
may suppose that he tried as best he could to pacify the turbulent
princes by all the arts of diplomacy. It does not seem, however,
that he yet fully appreciated the catastrophe which was now almost
inevitable--the complete loss of Syria. He could not bring himself
to believe that the princes of that country would play him false;
and he could have had no idea that he was being so entirely fooled
by such men as Aziru. But when at last the tribute ceased to come
in regularly, then, too late, he knew that disaster was upon him.
The thoughts which now must have held sway in his mind could not
have failed to carry him down the dark steps of depression to the
very pit of despair, and one may picture him daily cast prone upon
the floor before the high altar of the Aton, and nightly tossing
sleepless upon his royal bed. It seems that he had placed great
reliance upon a certain official, named Bikhuru, who was acting as
Egyptian commissioner in Palestine; but now it is probable that he
received news of that unfortunate personage’s flight, and later of
his murder.[78] Then came the report that Byblos had fallen, and
one is led to suppose that that truly noble soldier Ribaddi did
not survive the fall of the city which he had so tenaciously held.
The news of the surrender of other important Egyptian strongholds
followed rapidly, and still there came the pathetic appeal for help
from the minor posts which yet held out.
Akhnaton was now about twenty-eight years of age, and already the
cares of the whole world seemed to rest upon his shoulders. Lean
and lank was his body; his face was thin and lined with worry; and
in his eye one might, perhaps, have seen that hunted look which
comes to those who are dogged by disaster. It is probable that he
now suffered acutely from the distressing malady to which he was a
victim, and there must have been times when he felt himself upon
the verge of madness. His misshapen skull came nigh to bursting
with the full thoughts of his aching brain, and the sad knowledge
that he had failed must have pressed upon his mind like some
unrelenting finger. The invocations to the Aton which rang in his
head made confusion with the cry of Syria. Now he listened to
the voices of his choirs lauding the sweetness of life; and now,
breaking in upon the chant, did he not hear the solemn voices of
his fathers calling to him from the Hills of the West to give
account of his stewardship? Could he then find solace in trees and
in flowers? Could he cry “Peace” when there was red tumult in his
brain?
His moods at this time must have given cause for the greatest
alarm, and his behaviour was, no doubt, sufficiently erratic
to render even those nobles who had so blindly followed him
mistrustful of their leader. In a frenzy of zeal in the adoration
of the Aton, Akhnaton now gave orders that the name of all other
gods should suffer the same fate as that of Amon, and should be
erased from every inscription throughout the land. This order was
never fully carried out; but one may still see in the temples
of Karnak, Medinet Habu, and elsewhere, and upon many lesser
monuments, the chisel marks which have partially blurred out the
names of Ptah, Hathor, and other deities, and have obliterated the
offending word “gods.”
The consternation which this action must have caused was almost
sufficient to bring about a revolution in the provinces, where
the old gods were still dearly loved by the people. The erasing
of the name of Amon had been, after all, a direct war upon a
certain priesthood, and did not very materially affect any other
localities than that of Thebes. But the suppression of the numerous
priesthoods of the many deities who held sway throughout Egypt
threw into disorder the whole country, and struck at the heart
not of one but of a hundred cities. Was the kindly old artificer
Ptah, with his hammer and his chisel, to be tumbled into empty
space? Was the beautiful, the gracious Hathor--the Venus of the
Nile--to be thrown down from her celestial seat? Was it possible to
banish Khnum, the goat-headed potter who lived in the caves of the
Cataract, from the life of the city of Elephantine; the mysterious
jackal Wepwat from the hearts of the men of Abydos; or the ancient
crocodile Sebek from the ships and the fields of Ombos? Every town
had its local god, and every god its priesthood; and surely the
Pharaoh was mad who attempted to make war upon these legions of
heaven. This Aton, whom the king called upon them to worship, was
so remote, so infinitely above their heads. Aton did not sit with
them at their hearth-side to watch the kettle boil; Aton did not
play a sweet-toned flute amongst the reeds of the river; Aton did
not bring a fairy gift to the new-born babe. Where was the sacred
tree in whose branches one might hope to see him seated?--where
was the eddy of the Nile in which he loved to bathe?--and where
was the rock at whose foot one might place, as a fond offering, a
bowl of milk? The people loved their old gods, whose simple ways,
kind hearts, and quick tempers made them understandable to mortal
minds. But a god who reigned alone in solitary isolation, who, more
remote even than the Jehovah of the Hebrews, rode not upon the
clouds nor moved upon the wings of the wind, was hardly a deity to
whom they could open their hearts. True, the sunrise and the sunset
were the visible signs of the godhead; but let the reader ask any
modern Egyptian peasant whether there is aught to stir the pulses
in these two great phenomena, and he will realise that the glory
of the skies could not have appealed particularly to the lesser
subjects of Akhnaton, who, moreover, were not permitted to bow the
knee to the flaming orb itself. When the Christian religion took
hold of these peasants, and presented for their acceptance the same
idea of a remote though loving and considerate God, it was only by
the elevation of saints and devils, angels and powers of darkness,
almost to the rank of demigods, that the faith prospered. But
Akhnaton allowed no such tampering with the primary doctrine, and
St George and all the saints would have suffered the erasure of
their very names.
8. AKHNATON’S LAST DAYS AND DEATH.
The troubles which Akhnaton by such actions gathered around
himself, while disturbing to his adherents, must have given some
degree of pleasure to those nobles who saw in the king’s downfall
the only hope of Egypt. Horemheb, the commander-in-chief of the
inactive armies, could now begin to prepare himself against the
time when he should lead a force into Syria to restore Egyptian
prestige. Tutankhaton, betrothed to Akhnaton’s third daughter,
could dream of the days when he would make himself Pharaoh, and
carry the court back to glorious Thebes. Even Meryra, the High
Priest of Aton, seems to have allowed his thoughts to drift away
from the City of the Horizon wherein the sun of Egypt’s glory
had set, for it does not seem that he ever made use of the tomb
there prepared for him. These last stages of Akhnaton’s life must
thus have been embittered by a doubt of the sincerity of his
closest friends, and by the knowledge that, in spite of all their
protestations, he had failed to plant “the truth” in their hearts.
The queen had borne him no son to succeed to the throne, and there
appeared to be nobody to whom he could impart what he felt to
be his last instructions. There can be no question that he was
still greatly loved by those who surrounded his person, but there
were few who hoped that his religion, so disastrous to Egypt,
would survive him. In this extremity Akhnaton turned to a certain
noble, probably not of royal blood, whose name seems to have been
Smenkhkara, though some have read it Saakara.[79] Nothing is known
regarding his previous career, but one may suppose that he appeared
to Akhnaton to be the least unreliable of his followers. To him
the king imparted his instructions, revealing all that words could
draw from his teeming brain. The little Princess Merytaton, now
but twelve years of age, was called from her games, and with pomp
and ceremony was married to this Smenkhkara, thus making him the
legitimate heir to the throne, Merytaton being the eldest daughter
and sole heiress of the Pharaoh.
Feeling that his days were numbered, Akhnaton then associated
Smenkhkara upon the throne with him as co-ruler, and was thus able
to familiarise the people with their future lord. In later years,
after Akhnaton’s death, Smenkhkara was wont to write after his name
the words “beloved of Akhnaton,” as though to indicate that his
claim to the throne was due to Akhnaton’s affection for him, as
well as to the rights derived from his wife.
But what mattered the securing of the succession to the throne when
that throne had been shaken to its very foundations, and now seemed
to be upon the verge of utter wreck? Akhnaton could no longer stave
off the impending crash, and from all sides there gathered the
forces which were to overwhelm him. His government was chaotic. The
plotting and scheming of the priests of Amon showed signs of coming
to a successful issue. The anger of the priesthoods of the other
gods of Egypt hung over the palace like some menacing storm-cloud.
The soldiers, eager to march upon Syria as in the days of the great
Thothmes III., chafed at their enforced idleness, and watched with
increasing restlessness the wreck of the empire.
Now through the streets of the city there passed the weary
messengers of Asia hurrying to the palace, no longer bearing the
appeals of kings and generals for support, but announcing the fall
of the last cities of Syria and the slaughter of the last left of
their rulers. The scattered remnants of the garrisons staggered
back to the Nile at the heels of these messengers, pursued to
the very frontiers of Egypt by the triumphant Asiatics. From the
north the Hittites poured into Syria; from the south the Khabiri
swarmed over the land. As the curtain is rung down on the turbulent
scene, one catches a glimpse of the wily Aziru, his hands still
stained with the blood of Ribaddi and of many another loyal prince,
snatching at this city and trampling on that. At last he has cast
aside his mask, and with the tribute which had been promised to
Egypt he now, no doubt, placates the ascending Hittites, whose
suzerainty alone he admits.
The tribute having ceased, the Egyptian treasury soon stood empty,
for the government of the country was too confused to permit of the
proper gathering of the taxes, and the working of the gold-mines
could not be organised. Much had been expended on the building of
the City of the Horizon, and now the king knew not where to turn
for money. In the space of a few years Egypt had been reduced from
a world power to the position of a petty state, from the richest
country known to man to the humiliating condition of a bankrupt
kingdom.
Surely one may picture Akhnaton now in his last hours, his jaw
fallen, his sunken eyes widely staring, as the full realisation of
the utter failure of all his hopes came to him. He had sacrificed
Syria to his principles; but the sacrifice was of no avail, since
his doctrines had not taken root even in Egypt. He knew now that
the religion of the Aton would not outlive him, that the knowledge
of the love of God was not yet to be made known to the world. Even
at this moment the psalms of the Aton were beating upon his ears,
the hymns to the God who had forsaken him were drifting into his
palace with the scent of the flowers; and the birds which he loved
were singing as merrily in the luxuriant gardens as ever they sang
when they had inspired a line in the king’s great poem. But upon
him now there had fallen the blackness of despair, and already the
darkness of coming death was closing around him. The misery of
failure must have ground him down as beneath the very mountains of
the west themselves, and the weight of the knowledge of all that he
had lost could not be borne by his enfeebled frame.
History tells us only that, simultaneously with the fall of his
empire, Akhnaton died; and the doctors who have examined his body
report that death may well have been due to some form of stroke or
fit. But in the imagination there seems to ring across the years a
cry of complete despair, and one can picture the emaciated figure
of this “beautiful child of the Aton” fall forward upon the painted
palace-floor and lie still amidst the red poppies and the dainty
butterflies there depicted.
VIII.
THE FALL OF THE RELIGION OF AKHNATON.
“Thus disappeared the most remarkable figure in early Oriental
history.... There died with him such a spirit as the world had
never seen before.”--BREASTED: ‘History of Egypt.’
1. THE BURIAL OF AKHNATON.
The body of Akhnaton was embalmed in the city which he had founded;
and while these mortal parts of the great idealist were undergoing
the lengthy process of mummification, the new Pharaoh Smenkhkara
made a feeble attempt to retain the spirit of his predecessor in
the new _régime_. Practically nothing is known of his brief reign,
but it is apparent from subsequent events that he entirely failed
to carry on the work of Akhnaton, and the period of his sovereignty
is marked by a general tendency to abandon the religion of the
Aton. Smenkhkara had dated the first year of his reign from the
day of his accession as co-ruler with Akhnaton, and thus it is
that there are no inscriptions found which record his first year,
although there are many references to his second year. The main
event must have occurred some three months after the commencement
of his sole reign, when the body of Akhnaton was carried in solemn
state through the streets of the city and across the desert to the
tomb which had been made for him in the distant cliffs.
[Illustration: _Death Mask of Akhnaton._]
The mummy had been wrapped, as was usual, in endless strips of
linen; and amongst these there was placed upon the royal breast a
necklace of gold, and over the face an ornament cut in flat gold
foil representing a vulture with wings outstretched--a Pharaonic
symbol of divine protection. In many burials of this dynasty a
vulture such as this was placed upon the mummy; and representations
of an exactly similar ornament are shown in the tombs of Sennefer
and others at Thebes. It is somewhat surprising that the body
of Akhnaton, who was so averse to all old customs, should thus
have this royal talisman upon it; and it would seem that some of
the strict rules of the Aton worshipper had already been relaxed
by his successor. Akhnaton had retained but three of the ancient
divine symbols, so far as one can tell from the reliefs and
paintings--namely, the uræus or cobra, the sphinx, and the hawk,
which were often used as ornaments. But one may ask whether the
vulture had really been dispensed with by him. It is true that
he banned the vulture-hieroglyph in the inscriptions, as we have
already seen on the outer coffin of Queen Tiy;[80] but his reason
for so doing was that by such a hieroglyph the name of the goddess
Mut was called to mind, and that goddess, being the consort of
Amon, was not to be tolerated. The vulture which was laid upon
the mummy, however, had nothing to do with Mut, nor had it any
likeness to the hieroglyph. It was originally a representation of
the presiding genius of Upper Egypt, and corresponded to the uræus,
which primarily represented the power of Lower Egypt. It is true,
again, that it was the custom for the Pharaohs to be shown in the
sculptures and paintings with this vulture hovering in protection
over their heads, and that Akhnaton seems to have dispensed with
such a symbol. But this was perhaps due to the fact that the disk
and rays, symbolic of Aton, had taken its place above the royal
figure. There is no reason, after all, to suppose that this form
of vulture was absolutely banned, since the uræus and the hawk
were retained;[81] and though, as will presently be seen, it will
be natural to think that it was placed on Akhnaton’s mummy at his
successor’s suggestion, there is nothing to show that Akhnaton
himself did not desire it to be laid there.
Over the linen bandages on the body there were placed ribbons of
gold foil encircling the mummy--probably around the shoulders, the
middle, and the knees,--joined to other ribbons running the length
of the body at the back and front. These ribbons were inscribed
with Akhnaton’s name and titles, and thus recorded for all time the
identity of the mummy to which they adhered. Money being somehow
found, the body was wrapped in sheets of pure gold, sufficiently
thin to be flexible, and was placed in a splendid coffin, designed
in the usual form of a recumbent figure, and inlaid in a dazzling
manner with rare stones and coloured glass. Down the front of this
coffin ran a simple inscription, the hieroglyphs of which were
also inlaid. It read: “The beautiful prince, The Chosen One of
Ra, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, living in Truth, Lord of
the Two Lands, Akhnaton, the beautiful child of the living Aton,
whose name shall live for ever and ever.”[82] There is one curious
feature about this inscription. When Akhnaton made the outer coffin
for his mother, in or about the twelfth year of his reign, he was
particularly careful not to use the hieroglyph representing the
goddess Maat when writing the word _maat_, “truth.” But this sign
is employed now upon his own coffin; and one can only presume,
therefore, that the coffin was made after Akhnaton’s death, and
that the new Pharaoh Smenkhkara had not the same objection to the
representation of the goddess as had his predecessor. We may now
better understand the presence of the vulture symbol also; for
it is obvious that before Akhnaton’s funeral had taken place his
strict _régime_ had been relaxed.
The royal mummy was now carried to its tomb and there deposited,
together with such funeral furniture and offerings as were
considered necessary. The four alabaster canopic jars, always
conspicuous in an Egyptian burial, were here not wanting. The
stopper of each jar was exquisitely carved to represent the head
of Akhnaton, wearing the usual male wig of the period, and having
the royal cobra upon the forehead. From these heads one sees that
the art of Akhnaton was modified immediately after his death, and
its more pronounced characteristics were already being toned down.
This slackening in the rules which Akhnaton had made shows us how
entirely dependent the movement had been upon its leader; and we
realise the more clearly how strong a character was his. Ere even
the king’s burial had taken place the death of his religion was
assured.
2. THE COURT RETURNS TO THEBES.
Smenkhkara died, or was deposed, about a year after Akhnaton’s
death. He was succeeded by another noble, Tutankhaton,[83] who, in
order to legitimise his accession, obtained in marriage Akhnaton’s
second daughter Ankhsenpaaton, a girl barely twelve years old. Thus
Smenkhkara’s wife, Merytaton, became a dowager-queen at the age
of thirteen or so, and her little sister took her place upon the
throne.
By this time the priests of Amon had begun to hold up their heads
once more, and to scheme for the downfall of Aton with renewed
energy. Pressure was soon brought to bear on Tutankhaton, and he
had not been upon the throne more than a year or so when he was
persuaded to consider the abandonment of the City of the Horizon
and his return to Thebes. He did not yet turn entirely from the
religion of the Aton, but attempted to take a middle course between
the two factions, giving full licence both to the worshippers of
the Aton and to those of Amon. Horemheb, the commander-in-chief
of the idle army, seems to have been one of the leaders of the
reactionary movement. He did not concern himself so much with the
religious aspect of the question: there was as much to be said on
the one side as on the other. But it was he who knocked at the
doors of the heart of Egypt and urged the nation to awake to the
danger in Asia. For him there were no scruples as to warfare, and
the doctrine of the sword found favour in his sight. An expedition
was fitted out, and the reigning Pharaoh was persuaded to lead it.
Thus we read that Horemheb was “the companion of his Lord upon
the battlefield on that day of the slaying of the Asiatics.”[84]
Akhnaton had dreamed of the universal peace which still is a
far-off wraith to mankind; but Horemheb was a practical man in
whom that dream would have been but weakness which was such mighty
strength in the dead king.
The new Pharaoh now changed his name from Tutankhaton to
Tutankhamon, and, to the sound of martial music, returned to
Thebes. The City of the Horizon was left to its fate, and it was
not long before the palaces and the villas became the home of the
jackals and the owls, while the temples were partly pulled down to
provide stone for other works. However much the reigning Pharaoh
differed in views from Akhnaton, it would not have been possible
to leave the royal body lying in sight of this wreck of all the
hopes that had been his. Akhnaton, moreover, was Tutankhamon’s
father-in-law, and it was only through the rights of Akhnaton’s
daughter that the Pharaoh held the throne. His memory was still
regarded with reverence by many of his late followers, and there
could be no question of leaving his body in the deserted city. It
was therefore carried to Thebes in its coffin, together with the
four canopic jars, and was placed, for want of a proper sepulchre,
in the tomb of Queen Tiy, which had been reopened for the purpose.
Tutankhamon showed the trend of his policy by both restoring the
temple of the Aton at Karnak and at the same time repairing the
damage done by Akhnaton to the works of Amon. The style of art
which he favoured was a modified form of Akhnaton’s method, and the
influence of his movement is still apparent in the new king’s work.
He did not reign long enough, however, to display much originality,
and after a few years he disappears, almost unnoticed, from the
stage. On his death the question of inviting Horemheb to fill the
vacant throne must have been seriously considered, but there was
another candidate in the field. This was Akhnaton’s father-in-law,
Ay, who had been one of the most important nobles in the group of
courtiers at the City of the Horizon. It was he who had sheltered
Queen Nefertiti before she had passed into Akhnaton’s palace, and
it was in his tomb that the great hymn to the Aton was inscribed.
He had been loudest in the praises of the preacher king and of his
doctrines, and he still retained the title “Father-in-law” as his
most cherished designation.
Religious feeling at this time was running high, for the partisans
of Amon and those of Aton seem still to have been struggling
for the supremacy, and Ay appeared to have been regarded as the
most likely man to bridge the gulf between the two factions. A
favourite of Akhnaton, and still tolerant of all that was connected
with the late movement, he was not averse to the cult of Amon,
and by conciliating both parties he managed to obtain the throne
for himself. His power, however, did not last for long, and as
the priests of Amon regained the confidence of the nation at the
expense of the worshippers of the Aton, so the prestige of Ay
declined. His past relationship to Akhnaton, which even as king
be carefully recorded within his cartouche, now told against him
rather than for him, and about eight years after the death of
Akhnaton he disappeared like his predecessors.
3. THE REIGN OF HOREMHEB.
There was now no question who should succeed. All eyes were turned
to Horemheb, who had already almost as much power as the Pharaoh.
The commander-in-chief at once ascended the throne, and was
received by the populace with the utmost rejoicings. At this time
there was living at Thebes the Princess Nezemmut, the sister of
Akhnaton’s Queen Nefertiti, and hence the daughter of Dushratta,
King of Mitanni. Owing to previous inter-marriages between the
royal house of Egypt and that of Mitanni, both Nefertiti and
Nezemmut were descendants of Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Nezemmut had come to Egypt early in the reign of Akhnaton, and
later had perhaps married some Egyptian nobleman; but she was now
a widow, and had recently been appointed to the post of “Divine
Consort,”--that is to say, High Priestess--of Amon. As she was
probably the younger sister of Nefertiti, she may have been about
six years of age when Nefertiti was married to Akhnaton at the
age of eight. Hence she would have been about twenty-three at his
death, and would now be just over thirty.
To this princess, as representing both the rights of the old line
of Pharaohs and those of the god Amon, without the now condemning
close relationship to Akhnaton which characterised the other
existing royal princesses, Horemheb was at once married. The
religion of the Aton was now fast disappearing. In a tomb dating
from the third year of Horemheb’s reign, the words “Ra whose
body is Aton” occur; but this is the last mention of the Aton,
and henceforth Amon-Ra is unquestionably supreme. A certain
Pa-atonemheb, who had been one of Akhnaton’s favourites, was at
about this time appointed High Priest of Ra-Horakhti at Heliopolis,
and thus the last traces of the religion of the Aton were merged
into the Heliopolitan theology, from which that religion at the
beginning had emanated.
[Illustration: _The Temple at Luxor._]
The neglected shrines of the old gods once more echoed with
the chants of the priests throughout the whole land of Egypt.
Inscriptions tell us that Horemheb “restored the temples from
the pools of the Delta marshes to Nubia. He fashioned a hundred
images ... with all splendid and costly stones. He established for
them daily offerings every day. All the vessels of their temples
were wrought of silver and gold. He equipped them with priests
and with ritual priests, and with the choicest of the army. He
transferred to them lands and cattle, supplied with all necessary
equipment.” By these gifts to the neglected gods Horemheb was
striving to bring Egypt back to its natural condition; and with a
strong hand he was guiding the country from chaos to order, from
fantastic Utopia to the solid old Egypt of the past. He was, in
fact, the preacher of sanity, the very apostle of the Normal.
He led his armies into the Sudan, and returned with a procession
of captive chieftains roped before him. He had none of Akhnaton’s
qualms regarding human suffering, and these unfortunate prisoners
are seen to have their arms bound in the most cruel manner. Finding
the country to be lawless he drafted a number of stern laws, and
with sound justice administered his kingdom. Knowing that Syria
could not long remain quiet, he organised the Egyptian troops,
and so prepared them that, but a few years after his death, the
soldiers of the reigning Pharaoh were swarming once more over the
lands which Akhnaton had lost.
4. THE PERSECUTION OF AKHNATON’S MEMORY.
The priests of Amon-Ra had now begun openly to denounce Akhnaton as
a villain and a heretic, and as they restored the name of their god
where it had been erased, so they hammered out the name and figure
of Akhnaton wherever they saw it. Presently they pulled down the
Aton temple at Karnak, and used the blocks of stone in the building
of a pylon for Amon-Ra. Soon it was felt that Akhnaton’s body
could no longer lie in state, together with that of Queen Tiy, in
the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. The sepulchre was therefore
opened once more and the name “Akhnaton” was everywhere erased from
the inscriptions, as was his figure from the scenes upon the shrine
of Queen Tiy. The mummy was lifted from its coffin and the royal
name was cut out of the gold ribbons which passed round it, both
at the back and the front. It was then replaced in the coffin, and
from this the name was also erased.
The question may be asked why it was that the body was not torn to
pieces and scattered to the four winds, since the king was now
so fiercely hated. The Egyptians, however, entertained a peculiar
reverence for the bodies of their dead, and it would have been a
sacrilege to destroy the mummy even of this heretic. No thought
could be entertained of breaking up the body upon which the divine
touch of kingship had fallen: that would have been against all the
sentiments which we know the Egyptians to have held. The cutting
out of the name of the mummy was sufficient punishment: for thereby
the soul of the king was debarred from all the benefits of the
earthly prayers of his descendants, and became a nameless outcast,
wandering unrecognised and unpitied through the vast underworld.
It was the name “Akhnaton” which was hated so fiercely; and one
may perhaps suppose that the priests would have been willing to
substitute the king’s earlier name, Amonhotep, upon the mummy had
they been pressed to do so. His name and figure as Amonhotep IV. is
not damaged upon the monuments; but only the representations of him
after the adoption of the name Akhnaton have been attacked.
The tomb, polluted by the presence of the heretic, was no longer
fit for Tiy to rest in; and the body of the queen was therefore
carried elsewhere, perhaps to the sepulchre of her husband
Amonhotep III. The shrine, or outer coffin, in which her mummy had
lain was pulled to pieces, and an attempt was made to carry it out
of the tomb to its owner’s new resting-place, but this arduous
task was presently abandoned, and one portion of the shrine was
left in the passage, while the rest remained in sections in the
burial-chamber. Some of the queen’s toilet utensils which had been
buried with her were also left, probably by mistake. The body of
Akhnaton, his name taken from him, was now the sole occupant of
the tomb. The coffin in which it lay rested upon a four-legged
bier some two feet or so from the ground, and in a niche in the
wall above it stood the four canopic jars. And thus, with a curse,
the priests left their great enemy. The entrance of the tomb was
blocked with stones, and sealed with the seal of the necropolis;
and all traces of its mouth were hidden by rocks and _débris_.
The priests would not now permit the name of Akhnaton to pass
a man’s lips, and by the end of the reign of Horemheb, the
unfortunate boy was spoken of in official documents as “that
criminal.” Not forty years had passed since Akhnaton’s death, yet
the priesthood of Amon was as powerful as it had ever been at any
period of its existence. There were still living men who had been
old enough at the time of the Aton power to grasp its doctrines;
and those same eyes which had looked upon the fair City of the
Horizon might now disturb the creatures of the desert in the ruined
courts where the grave boy-Pharaoh had presided so lately. These
men joined their voices to that crowd of priests who, not daring
to allow the word Akhnaton to form itself upon their lips, poured
curses upon the excommunicated and nameless “criminal.” Through
starry space their execrations passed, searching out the wretched
ghost of the boy, and banning him, as they supposed, even in the
dim uncertainties of the Lands of Death. Over the hills of the
west, up the stairs of the moon, and down into the caverns under
the world, the poor twittering shadow was hunted and chased by the
relentless magic of the men whom he had tried to reform. There
was no place for his memory upon earth, and in the under-world
the priests denied him a stone upon which to lay his head. It
is not easy now to realise the full meaning to the Egyptians
of the excommunication of a soul: cut off from the comforts of
human prayers; hungry, forlorn, and wholly desolate; forced at
last to whine upon the outskirts of villages, to snivel upon the
dung-heaps, to rake with shadowy fingers amidst the refuse of mean
streets for fragments of decayed food with which to allay the pangs
of hunger caused by the absence of funeral-offerings. To such a
pitiful fate the priests of Amon consigned “the first individual in
history”; and as an outcast amongst outcasts, a whimpering shadow
in a place of shadows, the men of Thebes bade us leave the great
idealist, doomed to the horrors of a life which will not end, to
the misery of a death that brings no oblivion.
5. THE FINDING OF THE BODY OF AKHNATON.
Thus, sheathed in gold, the nameless body lay, while the fortunes
of Egypt rose and fell and the centuries slid by. A greater
teacher than Akhnaton arose and preached that peace which the
Pharaoh had foreshadowed, and soon all Egypt rang with the new
gospel. Then came the religion of Muhammed, and the days of the
sword returned. So the years passed, and many a wise man lived his
life and disappeared; but the first of the wise men of history lay
undiscovered in the heart of the Theban hills.
Now it happened that there was a fissure in the rocks in which the
sepulchre was cut, and during the rains of each season a certain
amount of moisture managed to penetrate into the chamber. This
gradually rotted the legs of the bier upon which Akhnaton’s body
lay, and at last there came a time when the two legs at the head
of the coffin gave way and precipitated the royal body on to the
ground. The bandages around the mummy had already fallen almost to
powder, and this jerk sent the golden vulture which was resting
upon the king’s face on to his forehead, where it lay with the tail
and claws resting over the left eye-socket of the skull. Presently
the two remaining legs of the bier collapsed, and the whole
coffin fell to the ground, the lid being partly jerked off, thus
revealing the king’s head at one end and his feet at the other,
from all of which the flesh had rotted away.
In January 1907 the excavations in the Valley of the Tombs of the
Kings which were being conducted by Mr Theodore Davis, of Newport,
Rhode Island, U.S.A., on behalf of the Egyptian Government, brought
to light the doorway of the tomb, and it was not long before an
entrance was effected. A rough stairway led down into the hillside,
bringing the excavators[85] to the mouth of the passage, which was
entirely blocked by the wall which the priests had built after they
had entered the tomb to erase Akhnaton’s name. Beyond this wall
the passage was found to be nearly choked with the _débris_ of the
three earlier walls, the first of which had been built after Queen
Tiy had been buried here, the second after Akhnaton’s agents had
entered the tomb to erase the name of Amon, and the third after
Akhnaton’s body had been laid beside that of his mother. On top
of this heap of stones lay the side of the funeral shrine of the
queen which the priests had abandoned after attempting to carry it
out with her mummy. In the burial-chamber beyond, the remaining
portions of this shrine were found. Upon these one saw the figures
of Akhnaton and his mother worshipping beneath the rays of the
Aton. The inscriptions showed the erasure of the name of Amonhotep
III., and the substitution in red ink of that king’s second name,
Nebmaara; and one observed that at a later date the name and
figures of Akhnaton had been hammered out.
At one side lay the coffin of Akhnaton, as it had fallen from the
bier. The name of Akhnaton upon the coffin had been erased, but
was still readable; and the gold ribbons from which his name had
been cut out still encircled the body, back and front. The golden
vulture lay as has been described above, and the necklace still
rested on the breast, while the whole decaying body was found to be
wrapped in sheets of gold. In a recess above this coffin stood the
canopic jars, and in another part of the tomb Queen Tiy’s toilet
utensils were found, from one of which the name of Amonhotep III.
had been erased.
The bones, when examined by Dr Elliot Smith, F.R.S., were found
to be those of a young man of not more than about twenty-eight
years of age,--that is to say, the age at which Akhnaton has been
shown in the above pages to have died. The skull was pronounced
to be that of a man who suffered from epileptic fits, and who
was probably subject to hallucinations. Curiously enough, the
idiosyncrasies of this misshapen skull are precisely those which
Lombroso has stated to be so usual in a religious reformer. The
face had crumbled away, but the lower jaw was intact; and when this
was placed in position one could see at once the great resemblance
to the well-known portraits of Akhnaton which had survived the
wreck of his city.
There could thus be no doubt that the mummy of this wonderful
Pharaoh had at last been found; but since Akhnaton had always been
thought, though without particular reason, to have been a much
older man, the identity was questioned. It was suggested that the
body was perhaps that of Smenkhkara, the successor of Akhnaton,
which by some error had managed to be placed in Akhnaton’s coffin.
But how, then, did the gold ribbons inscribed with Akhnaton’s
name manage to be placed around the body? And apart from the
extreme improbability that the mummy which was thus labelled with
Akhnaton’s name, and which lay in his coffin, should be that of any
other king but Akhnaton, one may ask in this case how it is that
the body has the well-known physical characteristics of the great
heretic if it be that of Smenkhkara, who was not related to the
king?
It has been stated that the presence of the vulture upon the body
is against the identification with Akhnaton. This has already been
shown to be capable of explanation; but it may here be noted that
if Smenkhkara would not have placed the vulture upon Akhnaton’s
body, then by the same token the mummy is not likely to be that of
Smenkhkara, and there is certainly no other prince of this period
with whom to identify the body. In conclusion, it may be added
that of all the royal mummies now known there is not one which
can be so clearly shown to belong to the Pharaoh with whom it has
been identified as this mummy can be shown to belong to Akhnaton.
The body was lying in a coffin inscribed with Akhnaton’s name; it
was bound round with ribbons inscribed with his name; it had the
physical characteristics of the portraits of Akhnaton; it had the
idiosyncrasies of a religious reformer such as he was; it was that
of a man of Akhnaton’s age as deduced from the monuments; it lay
in the tomb of Akhnaton’s mother; those who had erased the names
must have thought it to be Akhnaton’s body, unless one supposes an
utter chaos of cross-purposes in their actions; and finally, there
is nobody else who, with any degree of probability, it could be.
Thus one may say that, without the vaguest shadow of a doubt, the
body of this the most remarkable figure of early Oriental history
has been brought to light; and with this assurance we may close
this sketch of his life, which has been written partly for the
purpose of thus explaining the significance of Mr Davis’s great
discovery, and partly to introduce the general reader to one of
the most interesting characters ever known. In this brief outline
it has only been possible to touch upon the main characteristics
which the few remaining inscriptions and monuments seem to reveal;
but to the most casual reader it will be apparent that there
stands before him a personality of surprising vigour and amazing
originality, and one deserving of careful study. In an age of
superstition, and in a land where the grossest polytheism reigned
absolutely supreme, Akhnaton evolved a monotheistic religion
second only to Christianity itself in purity of tone. He was the
first human being to understand rightly the meaning of divinity.
When the world reverberated with the noise of war, he preached
the first known doctrine of peace; when the glory of martial pomp
swelled the hearts of his subjects, he deliberately turned his back
upon heroics. He was the first man to preach simplicity, honesty,
frankness, and sincerity; and he preached it from a throne. He was
the first Pharaoh to be a humanitarian; the first man in whose
heart there was no trace of barbarism. He has given us an example
three thousand years ago which might be followed at the present
day: an example of what a husband and a father should be, of what
an honest man should do, of what a poet should feel, of what a
preacher should teach, of what an artist should strive for, of what
a scientist should believe, of what a philosopher should think.
Like other great teachers he sacrificed all to his principles, and
thus his life plainly shows--alas!--the impracticability of his
doctrines; yet there can be no question that his ideals will hold
good “till the swan turns black and the crow turns white, till the
hills rise up to travel, and the deeps rush into the rivers.”
[Illustration: MAP OF AKHETATON, THE CITY OF THE HORIZON OF ATON.
(TEL EL AMARNA)
SURVEY DEP. CAIRO 1909 (151) _FROM THE CAIRO SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL._
NOTE: Of the Boundary Stelae only those lettered A, B, F, J, K, M,
N, P, Q, R, S, U, V and X, still remain. The position of these is
shown upon the Map.]
INDEX.
Aahmes I., 7
Abdkhiba, governor of Jerusalem, appeal of, to Akhnaton for help,
236
Adonis, connection of, with Aton, 15, 37, 49, 136 _et seq._
Akhnaton, personality of, 2
--ancestors of, 7 _et seq._
--birth of, 42 _et seq._
--change of name from Amonhotep to, 45 note, 91 _et seq._
--marriage of, 53
--accession of, 58 _et seq._
--first years of the reign of, 62 _et seq._
--new city founded by, 88 _et seq._
--site of the city selected by, 92 _et seq._
--foundation ceremonies performed by, 94 _et seq._
--departure of, from Thebes, 105 _et seq._
--age of, 110 _et seq._
--religion of Aton formulated by, 115 _et seq._
--tenth to twelfth years of the reign of, 149 _et seq._
--similarity of the hymn of, to Psalm civ., 155 _et seq._
--representations of, in his palace, 167 _et seq._
--historical events of tenth to twelfth years of the reign of,
169 _et seq._
--thirteenth to fifteenth years of the reign of, 189 _et seq._
--name of Amon obliterated by, 193 _et seq._
--affection of, for his family, 208 _et seq._
--friends of, 213 _et seq._
--troubles of, 217 _et seq._
--last two years of the reign of, 223 _et seq._
--conscientious objections of, to warfare, 226 _et seq._
--health of, gives way, 246 _et seq._
--last days and death of, 252
--fall of the religion of, 258 _et seq._
--burial of, 258
--body of, brought to Thebes, 266
--persecution of the memory of, 272 _et seq._
--finding of the body of, 276 _et seq._
--ideals of, 283
Amon or Amon-Ra, worship of, 12
--priesthood of, 20, 45 _et seq._, 77
--break with the priesthood of, 88 _et seq._
--Akhnaton obliterates the name of, 193 _et seq._
--restoration of the worship of, 272 _et seq._
Amonhotep I., 7
Amonhotep II., 10
Amonhotep III., “the Magnificent,” 11, 13, 28, 33 _et seq._, 49, 54
--death of, 57, 111
--second name of, 186, 187, 195
Amonhotep IV.: see Akhnaton
Amonhotep-son-of-Hapu, the “wise man,” 33
Animal worship, 18 _et seq._
Ankhsenpaaton, third daughter of Akhnaton, birth of, 109
--marriage of, 112, 264
Apis, the sacred bull, worship of, 16, 87
Apiy, letter to Akhnaton from, 85
Art, the new style of, 68 _et seq._, 101
Aswan, commemoration tablet at, 107
--statue of Amonhotep III. at, _ib._
Aton, the name, 37, 92 and note
--rise of, 45 _et seq._
--development of the religion of, 76 _et seq._
--nature of the religion of, 84 _et seq._
--founding of new city for the worship of, 88 _et seq._
--religion of, formulated, 115 _et seq._
--connections of the worship of, with older religions,
135 _et seq._
--hymns of the worshippers of, 149 _et seq._
--Meryra made high priest of, 158 _et seq._
--development of the religion of, 189 _et seq._
--great temple of, 198 _et seq._
--City of the Horizon of, 202 _et seq._
--downfall of the religion of, 264 _et seq._
Auta, Queen Tiy’s chief sculptor, 75, 207
Ay, foster-parent of Queen Nefertiti, 57, 109
--palace of, 204
--accession of, to the throne, 268
--death of, _ib._
Aziru, the Amorite prince, unscrupulous dealings of, 226,
230 _et seq._
Baketaton, sister of Akhnaton, 178, 212
Bek, art taught to, by Akhnaton, 76
--sculptures of, at Aswan, 107, 196
Canopic jars, the, in Akhnaton’s tomb, 263, 279
Child-marriages, frequency of, in Egypt, 112
Christianity, comparison of Akhnaton’s faith with, 143 _et seq._
“City of the Brightness of Aton,” new name of, given to Thebes, 65
City of the Horizon of Aton, founding of, 90 _et seq._
--Akhnaton’s residence at, 107
--gardens of, 127
--inscriptions on the sepulchres at, 149 _et seq._
--Queen Tiy’s visit to, 176 _et seq._
--Queen Tiy’s residence and death at, 184 _et seq._
--shrines and temples in, 196 _et seq._
--beauty of, 202 _et seq._
--Akhnaton’s tomb near, 207 _et seq._
--abandonment of, by the court, 264
--removal of Akhnaton’s body from, 266
--desolate condition of, 275
Delta, “House” of Aton in the, 191
Demigods and Spirits, worship of, 18 _et seq._
Domestic life of Akhnaton, reliefs and paintings on tombs showing
the, 167 _et seq._
Dushratta, King of Mitanni, marriage of Nefertiti, daughter of, to
Prince Amonhotep (Akhnaton), 56
--marriage of Nezemmut, daughter of, to Horemheb, 269
“Effulgence which comes from Aton,” name of Aton changed to, 192
Fayum, “House” of Aton in the, 191
Gebel Silsileh, tablets at the quarries of, 63
--the name Amonhotep erased at, 195
Gods of Egypt, the, 11 _et seq._
--Akhnaton orders the erasure of the names of, in inscriptions, 249
Goodness of Aton, the, 127 _et seq._
Hathor, worship of, 16
Hatshepsut, Queen, 8
Heliopolis, temple of Aton at, 191
Hermonthis, temple of Aton at, 191
Hermopolis, temple of Aton at, 191
Hittite invasion of Syria, the, 223 _et seq._
Horakhti Aton, erection of temple at Karnak to, 63, 68, 89
--restoration of the temple to, 267
--destruction of the temple to, 272
Horemheb, tomb of, 67 and note, 84, 86, 265 note
--presence of, with the troops in Asia, 265
--accession of, to the throne, 268
--marriage of, 269
--reign of, 270 _et seq._
Horus, the hawk god, worship of, 15, 16
Huya, scenes sculptured on the tomb of, 170 _et seq._, 177, 207
Isis, worship of, 15
Karnak, temple to Horakhti Aton at, 63 _et seq._, 68, 89
--temples and shrines at, 63, 84
--restoration of the Aton temple at, 267
--destruction of the Aton temple at, 272
Khnum, the ram-headed deity, worship of, 16
Khonsu, the god of the moon, worship of, 13
Kirgipa or Gilukhipa, wife of Amonhotep III., 39, 51, 55
“Lord of the Breath of Sweetness,” Akhnaton’s name of, 61
Mahu, scenes on the tomb of, 215 _et seq._
Meketaton, second daughter of Akhnaton, birth of, 101
--death of, 219
Memphis, temple of Aton at, 191
Meryra, appointment of, as high priest of Aton, 158 _et seq._
--scenes sculptured on the tomb of, 159 _et seq._, 203
Merytaton, first daughter of Akhnaton, birth of, 83
--marriage of, 112, 211, 254
Min or Min-Ra, worship of, 12, 27
Mnevis, the sacred bull, worship of, 135
Mut, the consort of Amon, worship of, 13, 187, 260
Mutemua, wife of Thothmes IV., 23 _et seq._, 28
Nebmaara, second name of Amonhotep III., 186, 187, 195, 279
Nefernefernaton fourth daughter of Akhnaton, birth of, 112, 169
--marriage of, 112, 211
Neferneferura, fifth daughter of Akhnaton, birth of, 208
Nefertiti (Tadukhipa), marriage of Prince Amonhotep (Akhnaton) to,
55, 210
--birth of the first daughter of, 83
--second daughter of, 101, 106
--third daughter of, 109
--fourth daughter of, 112, 169
--fifth daughter of, 208
--sixth and seventh daughters of, 209
Nezemmut, sister of Queen Nefertiti, 109, 212
--marriage of, to Horemheb, King of Egypt, 269
Nubia, imperial regard of Akhnaton for, 189 _et seq._
--temple of Aton in, 191
Osiris, god of the dead, worship of, 20
Palace of Akhnaton, description of the, 205 _et seq._
Psalm civ., similarity of Akhnaton’s hymn to, 155 _et seq._
Ptah, the Vulcan of Egypt, worship of, 16, 21, 85
Ra or Ra-Horakhti, the sun-god, worship of, 12, 14, 21, 45 _et seq._,
51, 58, 59, 64, 70, 86, 92
Rames, Vizir of Upper Egypt, tomb of, 66, 68, 81, 84, 148
Ribaddi, King of Byblos, appeals of, to Akhnaton for help, 235, 239,
242
--death of, 247
Set, the worship of, 16
Setepenra, sixth daughter of Akhnaton, birth of, 209
“Shade of the Sun,” the, Queen Tiy’s private temple called,
182 _et seq._
--statues in, 182, 196
Smenkhkara, Akhnaton’s successor to the throne, 211, 253
--marriage of, 254
--association of, with Akhnaton, as co-ruler, _ib._
--accession of, as sole ruler, 258
--death of, 264
“Son of God,” Akhnaton the, by traditional right, 130 _et seq._
“Son of the Sun,” the title of, held by the Pharaohs, 14, 71, 74,
131, 197
Soul, spiritual needs of the, after death, 138 _et seq._
--material needs of the, 143 _et seq._
--the excommunication of a, 276
Sunrise and sunset, worship of Aton at, 124 _et seq._
Syria, imperial regard of Akhnaton for, 189 _et seq._
--temple of Aton in, 191
--Hittite invasion of, 223 _et seq._
--Akhnaton’s policy in, 226 _et seq._
--the fighting in, becomes general, 235 _et seq._
Tadukhipa: see Nefertiti
Temple of Aton, description of the great, 198 _et seq._
Tender Father of all Creation, Aton as the, 118 _et seq._
Thebes, discoveries in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings near, 4,
278 _et seq._
--booty brought by Thothmes III. to, 8
--the deities of, 12 _et seq._
--the court at, 35
--the royal palace at, 36, 43 _et seq._
--new name of “City of the Brightness of Aton” given to, 65
--departure of the court from, 105 _et seq._
--Queen Tiy’s continued residence at, 176
--Queen Tiy’s tomb at, 185
--return of the court to, 264 _et seq._
--body of Akhnaton brought to, 266
--finding of Akhnaton’s body at, 277 _et seq._
Thothmes I., 8
Thothmes II., 8
Thothmes III., 8 _et seq._
Thothmes IV., 10 _et seq._, 13, 21 _et seq._, 110
Tiy, Queen, birth and childhood of, 26
--marriage of, 29 _et seq._, 112
--children of, 39, 43, 54
--death of the parents of, 40
--birth of Amonhotep or Akhnaton, son of, 43 _et seq._
--the power of, 49 _et seq._
--death of the consort of, 57
--visit of, to the City of the Horizon, 176 _et seq._
--visit of, to her temple, 182 _et seq._
--death of, 184
--tomb of, 185 _et seq._
--Akhnaton’s body placed in the tomb of, 266, 282
--body of, removed, 274
Tribal gods, names of, 12 _et seq._
True God, Aton as the, 115 _et seq._
Tuau, wife of Yuaa, Priest of the god Min, 26 _et seq._, 30, 32
--death and burial of, 40
Tunip, letter to Akhnaton from the governor of, 232
Tutankhaton, the throne usurped by, 211, 252, 264
--marriage of, 264
--name of, changed to Tutankhamon, 266
--return of, to Thebes, _ib._
--death of, 267
Ty, foster-parent of Queen Nefertiti, 57, 109
Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, the, discoveries in, 4,
278 _et seq._
--burial of Yuaa and Tuau in, 40
Vulture, representation of a, used in burials, 187, 259 _et seq._,
279, 281
Wady Hammamât, inscriptions near the quarries of, 76, 113
Warfare, Akhnaton’s conscientious scruples to, 226 _et seq._
Worship of Aton at sunrise and sunset, 124 _et seq._
Yuaa, Priest of the god Min, birth of, 25
--marriage of Tiy, the daughter of, to Amonhotep III., 29
--personality of, 32
--death and burial of, 40
THE END.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Breasted: A History of Egypt.
[2] N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of El Amarna. 5 vols.
[3] Now out of print.
[4] Published by the Chicago University, 1906.
[5] As will be recorded at the end of this volume, the body of
Akhnaton was discovered by Mr Theodore M. Davis at Thebes early in
1907; but at the time of writing (1908) the results have not been
published in book form, though various articles have appeared.
[6] The writer has to thank the editors of ‘The Quarterly Review,’
‘Blackwood’s Magazine,’ and ‘The Century Magazine,’ for permitting
him to embody in this volume certain portions of articles
contributed by him to the pages of those journals.
[7] Page 110.
[8] Page 100.
[9] The sphinx tablet.
[10] Of Thothmes III. at Karnak, of Aahmes I. at Abydos, and of
Senusert III. at Amada.
[11] These ages are discussed on pages 111 and 178 (note).
[12] Petrie, History, ii. p. 183. The portrait upon which he bases
this statement, however, may be that of Akhnaton (fig. 115, p.
182). The mouth and chin are extremely like those of Yuaa, as seen
in his mummy; but again they both have a close resemblance to the
head of Amonhotep III. (_idem_, fig. 120, p. 188). Of course, such
evidence is extremely frail, and must not be too much relied upon.
[13] Breasted, Records, ii. 865, note h.
[14] He took the name Akhnaton in about the sixth year of his reign.
[15] His statue is at Turin. See also Erman, ‘Life in Ancient
Egypt,’ p. 297.
[16] Page 39.
[17] Recently discovered by the present writer whilst repairing
this tomb.
[18] His mummy is that of a man of not more than fifty.
[19] The wise man Amonhotep-son-of-Hapu was steward of Princess
Setamon’s estate, but this may have been previous to her mention in
her grandparents’ tomb.
[20] Page 111.
[21] Page 56.
[22] It is usual for Egyptian girls to become mothers at about the
age of thirteen, though sometimes earlier. They often continue to
bear children at intervals of about two years, over a period of
thirty years or so. Fifteen children is thus the usual number of a
family, but half these generally die in babyhood.
[23] Maspero.
[24] Scarabs of the early period are sometimes inscribed
_Neb-nef-nezem_, which has this meaning.
[25] The date of this work is not exactly known, but as it was
certainly finished before the king founded his new city, it must
have been commenced immediately upon his accession.
[26] The word _benben_, “shrine,” has the hieroglyph of an obelisk
at the end of it, which has led to some mistranslations. Perhaps
the temple was built somewhat on the plan of that at Abusêr, where
an obelisk stood in an open court.
[27] It is possible that “found” is a mistranslation.
[28] Thus corresponding to the Silsileh quarry tablet, where Amon
is worshipped.
[29] This tomb of Horemheb seems to have been begun and finished in
the early years of Akhnaton’s reign, to have been left alone during
the remainder of the reign, and to have received the addition
of doorposts (see note on p. 265) after the death of Akhnaton.
Fragments of the tomb are now divided between Leiden, Bologna,
Vienna, Alexandria, and Cairo; and it would seem that all except
those in the Cairo museum (the doorposts) are from the earlier
period. The titles on the Cairo fragments are far more elaborate
than those on the others. See Breasted, Records, iii. 1 ff.
[30] We know from the “Palermo stone” that the kingdom of Lower
Egypt was much more ancient than that of Upper Egypt.
[31] In later times the name of Tiy and the Pharaoh’s second name
were erased, but the name Amonhotep was not damaged. The facsimile
copy here given was made on the spot by the present writer in
correction of a previous copy made by Golénischeff. It is published
in his ‘Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts’ (Blackwood).
[32] Meaning the god.
[33] Griffith: Kahun Papyri. Text, p. 91.
[34] Is there a distant connection between Mnevis and the Minoan
bull of Crete? See p. 183.
[35] The god is sometimes called “Aton” simply, and sometimes _Pa
Aton_, “the Aton”; just as we speak of “Christ” or “the Christ,”
and of “Lord” or “the Lord,” this latter being the actual meaning
of “Aton.”
[36] The translation here given is based upon that published by
Davies in Amarna V.; but the year cannot be the fourth, as there
stated as probable, since in the above-mentioned letter dated
in year 5 the king is still called Amonhotep, whereas in this
inscription he is called Akhnaton.
[37] The day is not certain; perhaps it is day 4.
[38] For the sake of brevity it is often called “the City of the
Horizon,” simply, in this volume.
[39] Mediterranean people.
[40] This has reference to the rays which come from the Aton.
[41] This seems to have been a temple.
[42] The second name of Amonhotep III., Akhnaton’s father.
[43] The second name of Thothmes IV., Akhnaton’s grandfather.
[44] The _ater_ corresponds to the Greek _schoinos_, and the _khe_
is the _schoenium_ of 100 cubits, 40 _khe_ making one _ater_.
[45] See note on p. 178.
[46] Davies, Amarna, I. 45.
[47] The idea is that the Aton does not die as dies the sunlight.
[48] Probably by royal descent is meant.
[49] In Egyptian this title reads _Pa shera nefer en pa Aton_. In
the tomb of a certain Amonhotep, at El Assasîf, temp. Amonhotep
III., the deceased Amonhotep I. is called _Pa shera nefer en Amon_.
[50] So Prof. Breasted translates the Egyptian _sehetep_, though it
would be possible to give it other interpretations.
[51] Cf. such expressions as “When thou settest they die,” and
others used in Akhnaton’s hymns.
[52] Professor Breasted’s translation.
[53] In the tomb of Huya the scene is dated in the twelfth year,
as here recorded, and there are four daughters shown, which is the
number one is led by other evidence to suppose were then alive. The
scene in the tomb of Meryra II. has precisely the same date, but
six daughters are shown, and there is evidence to show that that
number is not to be looked for previous to the fifteenth year of
the reign, the first daughter being born in about the fifth year,
the second in the seventh, the third in the ninth, the fourth
in the eleventh, the fifth in the thirteenth, and the sixth in
the fifteenth year, in all probability. Thus the scene in Meryra
II. may perhaps represent no particular reception of the tribute
of any one year, but the artist may have had in mind the great
tribute of the twelfth year while representing the occurrence in
the fifteenth or sixteenth year, at which date his work was taking
place. Or again the date in this latter tomb may be a misreading or
miswriting. The scene described above is that represented in the
tomb of Meryra, as it is more elaborate than the other; but the
inscription is that found in the tomb of Huya.
[54] Her first child, it will be remembered, was born when she was
about thirteen.
[55] It is probable, as has been stated on p. 111, that she was
married to Amonhotep III. in about her tenth year, and was thus
about forty-six when he died. She could not have been much more,
for her daughter Baketaton must have been born but a year or so
before Amonhotep’s death, and it is improbable that she would bear
children after forty-five, if as late as that.
[56] It is to be noticed that there are pomegranates amongst the
fruit, which indicates that the visit was made during the summer,
as do the light costumes also.
[57] Davies: Amarna, iii. 8, note 1.
[58] This is to be observed also in some other inscriptions of the
period.
[59] Breasted: History of Egypt, p. 364.
[60] Page 177.
[61] It is usual to date the tombs roughly by the number of
daughters shown, presuming that the artist represented all the
children living at the time. But though this gives us the lowest
possible year, it does not always give us the highest, for
daughters are obviously sometimes omitted when the available space
was cramped.
[62] Page 63.
[63] Page 107.
[64] Davies: El Amarna, iii., Pl. xviii.
[65] Page 182.
[66] Davies: El Amarna.
[67] Wilkinson: Modern Egypt, ii. 69.
[68] Davies: El Amarna.
[69] It is probable that there was some likeness between Akhnaton’s
temples and those dedicated to the sun in early days, as, for
example that at Abusêr.
[70] Perhaps this is a part of the royal palace.
[71] Petrie: El Amarna.
[72] Petrie: History of Egypt, ii. 219.
[73] Page 75.
[74] Page 192.
[75] She probably married some Egyptian noble, and her future
career is recorded on p. 269.
[76] The plaster has now fallen off, and little of the original
decoration remains. The tomb is seldom visited by tourists, being
seven miles back from the river; but it is in charge of the
Government custodian.
[77] The reception of the tribute recorded in the tomb of Meryra
II. (see page 170), although dated in the twelfth year of the
reign, may represent a later event, since six daughters are shown
in the scene; and it is not likely that the sixth daughter was born
before the fifteenth year. Perhaps the date is a misreading or
miswriting, influenced by that given in the tomb of Huya.
[78] Breasted: History, p. 388.
[79] It is doubtful whether the second sign is _menkh_ or _ȧa͑_,
they being somewhat alike.
[80] Page 187.
[81] The scarab, another symbol from older times, seems to have
been retained, for a gold heart-scarab is said to have been found
in Akhnaton’s tomb.--Petrie: History of Egypt, ii. 220.
[82] In Egyptian: Ḥeq nefer, Ra͑ setept, Seten bati, A͑nkh em
Mȧa͑t, Neb taui, Akhnaton, Pa sherȧ nefer en Pa Aton a͑nkh, enti
ȧuf a͑nkhu ren ḥeḥ zet. This was all that was written upon the
coffin.
[83] Probably he is to be identified with Tutu, a well-known noble
of this period--the words _ankhaton_, “Living in Aton,” being added
to make the name more majestic.
[84] See note on page 67. This inscription is found on the
doorposts of the tomb of Horemheb, which, by the greatly increased
titles, were set up some time after the rest of the tomb was
finished, and thus probably in the reign of Tutankhaton. A fragment
of gold-leaf has recently been found showing this king in his
chariot charging Asiatic enemies. The present writer recently found
part of a shrine of his in the desert on the road to the gold
mines. See ‘Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts’ (Blackwood).
[85] The present writer assisted at the opening of this tomb.
A full account of the find will be published by Mr Davis, and
therefore only a brief description, already published with Mr
Davis’s permission in article form, must be given here.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained: for example,
burial-chamber, burial chamber; underworld, under-world; intrust;
unbiassed; engrained.
Pg xi: ‘ART OF AKHNATION’ replaced by ‘ART OF AKHNATON’.
Pg xii: ‘MAP OF AKHHETATON’ replaced by ‘MAP OF AKHETATON’.
Pg 158: ‘who seens to have’ replaced by ‘who seems to have’.
Pg 178: ‘elaborate footsools’ replaced by ‘elaborate footstools’.
Pg 205: ‘the light rooves’ replaced by ‘the light roofs’.
Pg 236: ‘the Egptian yoke’ replaced by ‘the Egyptian yoke’.
Pg 262 Footnote [82]: ‘In Egytian’ replaced by ‘In Egyptian’.
Index.
Dushratta: ‘marriage of Nesemmut’ replaced by ‘marriage of Nezemmut’.
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