The Mysterious World of Akhenaten

The blog post for this week is written by Marlene McGairl, an Egypt Centre volunteer for over twenty years.

Amenhotep IV, son of Amenhotep III and Tiye, ruled Egypt in the Eighteenth Dynasty. He was a mysterious person known as the “Heretic”. He was strange in his activities and his appearance. Depictions of him in sculpture show him in a hideous, exaggerate style, with long, sharp features and curious feminine characteristics–large hips and bosom (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Statue of Akhenaten in Luxor Museum

In year 5, he changed his name to Akhenaten and began abolishing the cult of Amun. For political and religious reasons he gave pre-eminence to the cult and worship of the sun-disc, Aten. He founded Akhetaten, the present day Tell el-Amarna. Here, together with his wife Nefertiti and six daughters, he celebrated the cult of the Aten. A new aspect of the Aten is shown with the rays of the sun, each ending in hands which give life to the King (fig. 2). He called himself the First Prophet of Re-Horakhty. After this, he unleashed a violent offensive against most of the gods of Egypt, especially Amun, the “Hidden One”, and his associated deities. He dispatched teams of workmen to disfigure the statues of deities and to hammer out and erase every mention of the word “god” in the plural.

Fig. 2: The royal family offering to the Aten

Akhenaten was fond of his family, with the “Window of Appearance” being a common motif in which the King, Nefertiti, and sometimes their daughters show themselves to the populace and distribute gold rings to deserving favourites below. The beautiful relief in the tomb of Meryre at Amarna depicts the royal family riding in their chariots (fig. 3). Incidentally, from the time of Amenhotep III, customs decreed that only princesses were to be given prominence. It was rare to find even a mention of the prince who was to become Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. For the moment there was only one god: “Sole Lord, taking capture of all lands every day. As one, beholding those that walk therein”.

Fig. 3: The royal family in their chariots at Amarna

The objects examined this week related to the reigns of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten. Two of them have already been highlighted in this blog and so only require a brief comment. W154 is a fragment of sandstone, originally part of a statue depicting Akhenaten carrying an offering tray. VAD29 is a turquoise blue faience ring bezel with the name of Akhenaten, which was excavated by the EES at Amarna. The earliest object (W230c) we examined contained part of the name Nebmaatre (Amenhotep III), which has a beautiful blue faience paste set within a white matrix (fig. 4). We discussed possible uses for this object, without coming to any conclusion. While it is slightly curved at the back, the curvature does not seem to suggest that it was part of a kohl tube, like other known examples. We know the object was purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome in 1924 from the collection of Richard Bethell, who featured in week 1 of this course. However, the object can perhaps be traced further back to the collection of the Reverend William MacGregor on account of the number (1465) written on the side.

Fig. 4: Faience inlay with the cartouche of Amenhotep III (W230c)

W960 is three fragments of an amphora glued together, which have a wine docket inscribed upon them in hieratic. The inscription apparently reads as “Year 12, (sweet) wine of the house [i.e. estate] of … of the Western River, vineyard supervisor…” (fig. 5). It is likely that this object was excavated by the EES at Amarna, although it has not been linked to the find slips thus far. It is interesting that this wine was produced in year 12 of Akhenaten’s reign since we know that he celebrated his great “Durbar”. During this time, many foreign dignitaries visited Egypt, with copious amounts of wine clearly being drunk. In fact, many wine dockets dating to year 12 are known from Amarna (Wahlberg 2011).

Fig. 5: Wine docket dating to year 12 (W960)

The final object for discussion was the second of four broad collars in the collection, all of which were purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome in 1923 from the collection of Ellinor Frances Berens. In week one of this course, we examined the first of these collars, W11. These collars were allegedly found at Amarna during the 1880s, when the royal tombs were looted by locals. W8 consists of five rows of multi-coloured beads of different types, ending at the front with hanging amulets. The forms derived from flowers (rosettes, cornflowers, lotus-seed vessels, nasturtium seeds); from the animal world (fish baboon, heart, eye); the divine (goddesses holding papyrus sceptres, Bes, and Taweret); and inanimate objects (feather, fan, drop beads, bulla-vessel). Bosse Griffiths (2001, 29) noted that the careful selection of amulets suggests strongly that the collars were destined for the burial of a girl, possibly a princess. To judge from their shape, they lie best in a half circle, as if to be lain on top of the breast of a mummy.

Fig. 6: Broad collar (W8)

Bibliography:

Bosse-Griffiths, K. (2001) ‘Bead collars with Amarna amulets in the Wellcome Collection of the University College, Swansea’. In Amarna Studies and other Selected Papers, ed. J. G. Griffiths. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 27–30.

Redford, D. B. (1984) Akhenaten: The heretic king. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Reeves, N. (2001) Akhenaten: Egypt’s false prophet. London: Thames & Hudson.

Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge (1924) Catalogue of Egyptian, Greek, Roman & Babylonian antiquities, etc., comprising first and second day’s sale the collection of Egyptian antiquities, formed by the Hon. R. Bethell, third day’s sale the property of Captain Anthony Hamilton ..., part of the collection formed by the late Gustave Natorp, an Egyptian bronze solar boat for processional use, the collection formed by the late Joseph Offord, the property of H. Edwin, a bronze head of Athena wearing helmet, the property of Edward F. Elton and other properties; which will be sold by auction by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge ... on Monday, 15th of December, 1924, and two following days. London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge.

Wahlberg, E.-L. (2012) The wine jars speak. A text study. MA Thesis, Uppsala. Available at: http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:528049/FULLTEXT01.pdf.