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AKHENATEN

(Egyp. ʾkh-n-ỉtn)

Egyptian king of the 18th Dynasty noted primarily for his religious reforms. The second son of Amenhotep III and his great wife Tiye, Akhenaten came to the throne upon his father’s sudden death and ruled for 17 years (1379-1362 b.c.). Akhenaten’s principal wife was Nefertiti, who played a prominent role at the court. A lesser wife, Kiya, and six daughters also are known from reliefs.

Ascending the throne as Amenhotep (Amenophis) IV, the new king initially resided in Thebes, where his father reigned in his later years, and completed work on two pylons at Karnak begun by Amenhotep III. However, Akhenaten early evidenced a singular preference for a solar deity — the Aten — symbolized by a sun disk with hands extending downward. Akhenaten built four temples to the Aten at Thebes, one of which, the Gempaaten, served as a locale for an unusual sed festival in the king’s third year. During this period Akhenaten systematically eliminated the names of traditional gods from reliefs and instituted a revolutionary art style to depict himself and the royal family. The king appears with a long neck and nose, a gaunt face, prominent breasts, and large buttocks. Whether these features realistically portray the king’s features, perhaps indicating a genetic disorder, or whether the style was intended to set the king apart from normal human experience remains debated. But the Amarna style challenged the traditional Egyptian conventions of art.

Akhenaten moved his official residence in year 5 from Thebes to a site he personally selected to honor the Aten. The new capital, Akhetaten (“horizon which the sun disk has chosen”) was replete with temples for the Aten, ceremonial and personal palaces for the king, quarters for artisans and workers, and tombs for high governmental officials. The king’s tomb was prepared in a remote wadi E of the city. Today known as Tell el-Amarna, Akhetaten served as Egypt’s capital for 12 years and has yielded a cache of royal correspondence written in Akkadian. The Amarna Letters provide vivid detail of the southern Levant in the 14th century.

The Amarna tombs contain the “Hymn to the Aten,” a poetic piece extolling the Aten as creator and sustainer of the universe. Scholars have noted similarities between this hymn and Ps. 104. Akhenaten is closely linked to the Aten in the hymn, appearing as the earthly counterpart to the great sun disk — giver of life and provider of maat. Whether or not Akhenaten’s sweeping innovations should be described as monotheism, henotheism, or some other term again is debatable. But Akhenaten’s break with traditional Egyptian religion marked him as a heretic in later generations.

Bibliography. C. Aldred, Akhenaten, King of Egypt (New York, 1988); B. J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt (New York, 1989); D. B. Redford, Akhenaten, The Heretic King (Princeton, 1984).

Thomas V. Brisco

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

AKHENATEN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)