Akhenaten (Amarna period 1353–1336 BCE)

Akhenaten Amarna period

EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION

AKHENATEN'S ROLE IN THE REVOLUTION

• He tried to ban old traditional ways of having a polytheism religion to rather a monotheistic religion, or one that would allow the existence of other gods but Aten would be ranked and worshiped above all other gods

• With the changes of the god's, traditional paintings that depicted the pharaoh conversing with the highest deity were discarded, and new paintings of Aten were made with him facing away from the deity

• Akhenaton is not portrayed face-to-face with his god, as traditional offering practices would dictate.

• The reciprocal dialogues between king and deity were not achievable in Ahenaten's religion, as Aten (the primary deity) had no mouth to speak with

• solar disk in the texts

• These changes greatly effect Egypt and its occupants at the time, as these changes were considered to be very advanced and sophisticated for the century they occured in

• Akhenaten had completely changed the Egyptian way of life with the religious revolution. The new ways had nearly destroyed the rigorous framework of Egypt's traditional ways of worship

• He made Aten,sun disc,center of Egypt’s religious life and reigned, also ordering a new temple to be built in Atens name

• Ahkenaten ordered all artifacts depicting other gods to be eradicated. This meant that many sculptures, carvings and paintings were destroyed

• "Ordinary" people were relocated from Thebes to Amarna. Not allowed to directly worship Aten, only through Ahkenaten

• Akenatens death led to the ruins of his city and the relocation of people from Amarna back to Thebes.

• Statues of him were also dismantled, and the temple he built in the name of Aten was reduced to rubble

WHERE AND WHEN IT TOOK PLACE

• The Religious Revolution of Akhenaten occured in the Amarna period, which roughly took place between 1353–1336 BCE

• Akhenaten was a pharaoh of Egypt who reigned over his country for about 17 years

• He was a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty to the time period of the religion Aten

• Aten was a sun god

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION

• The religious changes Akhenaten made are not explicitly recorded in any texts

• In the fifth year of his reign, he started the dramatic religious changes.

• He changed from the cult of Amun to that of Aten, and for the next 12 years, was known as the "heretic king" who abolished the religious traditions of Egypt

• The time of his reign was later called the Amarna period

• When Akhenaten was crowned Pharaoh he changed his name from AMENHOTEP IV to AKHENATEN.

• Akhenaten was looked upon differently by the people of Egypt. They thought something was wrong with him genetically as the paintings and statues of him and his family were distorted unlike other pharaohs. He had a longer face and small hanging gut, and a bulging head. His wife and eight children had similar distortions

REASONS FOR OUR CHOICE OF THE AKHENATEN REVOLUTION

• Due to the interest in this time era and the practices and beliefs people in this era held

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Live Science, 2014, Purch, viewed 9th of November 2015, http://www.livescience.com/39349-akhenaten.html

• Ancient History Encyclopaedia, 2015, Nushpere, Tsohost, Usercoive, viewed 12th of November 2015, http://www.ancient.eu/Akhenaten/

• Ancient Egypt online, 2010, viewed 16th of November 2015, http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/akhenaten.html

• https://www.academia.edu/5582708/Akhenatens_impact_on_Egyptian_civilization