Comments on: Akhenaten and Akhetaten

Akhenaten and Akhetaten

Kattullus — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:55:59 -0800

Akhetaten (a.k.a. Amarna) was the city built by Pharaoh Akhenaten, famous for his monotheistic beliefs and his queen, Nefertiti and son, Tutankhamun. The Amarna Letters has translations of correspondence sent to the Akhenaten, but a trove of it was found at the Amarna site. During his reign a distinctive style of art rose to prominence, only to vanish after his death. The Boston MFA has 40 objects from the era in its collection. Perhaps the most famous of the cultural artifacts of Akhenaten is the Great Hymn to Aten (hieroglyphics, four different English translations: 1, 2, 3, 4). This poem was set to music by Philip Glass for his opera Akhnaten (information about the opera). Some see direct parallels between The Great Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104. Though it was billed as a new beginning, like many utopias, Amarna was no haven for the regular folk who lived there.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:57:15 -0800

My interest for Akhenaten was sparked by me somewhat randomly purchasing Glass's Akhnaten one day and loving it. It remains my favorite of his works.

By: barnacles

barnacles — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:40:46 -0800

Fascinating stuff! The late-reign art styles are really amazing. We don't typically imagine 3500-year old art as being that naturalistic.

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:45:36 -0800

Have always gotten a uncanny valley feel from Akhenaten busts. He really does seem otherworldly, and in not the friendliest of ways. Vampiric, almost.

By: Mephisto

Mephisto — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:21:39 -0800

This is a great post. Thank you.

By: Bora Horza Gobuchul

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:06:56 -0800

Awesome, Kattullus. Favorited so I can come back for more. I've been interested in Akhetaten for the longest time - not only because of his visage, heritage, marriage to Nefertiti and disappearance from Egyptian chronology, but for the intriguing possibility that he was one of the sources for the Biblical persona of Moses: a man of royal blood (or the inheritor of royal title), an introducer of monotheism, scourge of idolatry (including the imposition of a ban on graven images); strongly associated with building temples, treasure houses and granaries in Egypt; the sole intercessor between the one god and his people; reined during a terrible outbreak of plague and pestilence; and ritually banished from his kingdom.

By: ao4047

ao4047 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:16:58 -0800

The Chicago Art Institute had an exhibition of this and it was absolutely stunning.

By: thomas j wise

thomas j wise — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:36:27 -0800

Excellent stuff! See also Naguib Mahfouz's short novel Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth.

By: BinGregory

BinGregory — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:52:46 -0800

By: librarylis

librarylis — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:21:01 -0800

There's just something about Egyptian pharaohs--especially Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamen--that fires the imagination. Their lives were unique, and their deaths have provided fodder for the creative for centuries. Nice to see, also, that there has been work investigating the lives of ordinary people during the time period.

By: empath

empath — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:43:24 -0800

The Lost City of the Pharaohs.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:24:06 -0800

I love Glass, never even heard of the opera, and look forward to checking it out. I have always been curious about Akhenaten's determination to shift Egypt to a monotheistic-ish system of belief. What is the cultural context that led to the event? Is monotheism natively Egyptian, or did Akhenaten's new faith grow from the ideas developed outside the Nile's watershed? What do we know about this, and what can we know? Pharonic Egypt's history is so incredibly much longer than all of our other historic periods. I have found it very difficult to find any information about questions like this from general-interest publications, as there is sooo much Egyptian history to cover that exploring or even acknowledging the imperial economic and military interactions of the Pharonic states with the rest of the fertile crescent and beyond generally gets short shrift. Help us, MeFite Egyptologists!

By: snofoam

snofoam — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:29:47 -0800

and, of course, julian cope also has a song about akhenaten.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:34:28 -0800

I'm always a sucker for bisexual, androgynous, religiously CRAZY pharoahs.

By: infini

infini — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:39:26 -0800

i recommend some fluffy bedtime reading for egyptology aficionados, Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody mysteries set in late nineteenth and early twentieth century egypt Agatha Christie did a very nice one set in ancient egypt as well i could go on and on but i'm just happy this post has been posted :)

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:56:52 -0800

Oh hey, on further actual *reading* of the links: the Armarna Letters are totally awesome. As a gift, I send you three mines of beautiful lapis lazuli and five teams of horses for five wooden chariots. I wanted five teams of horses for Chrismukkwannzaah, and all I got was a stick with a bell on it. Also: The Boston MFA collection of Egyptian artifacts is pretty swell, but really, the Met in NY is really the best. I can tell you right now from looking at the site that most of the mentioned artifacts are currently in storage while parts of the museum are under construction. So, don't go rushing over here to try and see a dwarf holding a jar because he's holding that jar in a closet somewhere.

By: DiscourseMarker

DiscourseMarker — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:06:05 -0800

Agatha Christie also wrote a play specifically about Akhnaton.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:16:07 -0800

Great post, and I was especially struck by the last link, which reminded me of the terrible toll the construction of St. Petersburg took on the poor devils who were shanghaied to work on it.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:09:12 -0800

┌(ಠ_ಠ)┘

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:07:24 -0800

I have loved this period since I was a child and came across a copy of a rather overheated novel about it -- well-researched, though. Sometimes I still sit and think about Ankhesenamun. Whatever happened to her? I tried to get into Philip Glass's opera, but I just kept hearing the same four notes over and over.

By: alexwoods

alexwoods — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:19:21 -0800

Great post! I think my interest started with Moses and Monotheism, but I also love the opera. I think it's the best Glass opera by a long shot.

By: Guy_Inamonkeysuit

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:23:27 -0800

He was probably insane, certainly as defined by his own culture. A megalomaniac at the least. I personally find the Old Kingdom more interesting, historically (especially the IIIrd Dynasty, when it all really started happening for Egypt), but there is no denying the fascination that Akhenaten holds on historians and history buffs. He was probably assassinated by the old-school priesthood disenfranchised by his single-handed creation of the Sun God. Those fuckers weren't tolerant, and they were powerful. He should have known better, but hey -- he was a God King.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:14:30 -0800

(Insert obligatory "look upon my works ye mighty" here) Nifty post.

By: robotot

robotot — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:41:03 -0800

Check out Dorothy Porter's poetic novel "Akhenaten". It's an interesting journal style book of poetry from the pharoah's point of view.