A Look at the Political Legacy of Amarna

The blog post for this week has been written by Carlein Boers, a political scientist and advisor on international (military) relations from the Netherlands. After watching numerous reruns of the animated classic ‘Asterix and Cleopatra’ from the age of five and Elizabeth Taylor’s ‘Cleopatra’, she developed a life-long interest in ancient history and the Middle East. In the Netherlands, she has previously taken courses on the Amarna era with Egyptologist Huub Pragt and the ‘Huis van Horus’ Association. Carlein is very grateful to Dr. Ken Griffin and Sam Powell of the Egypt Centre, Dr. Chris Naunton, and the British Museum for hosting online lectures and courses during the Corona-lockdown and hopes they will continue to do this for international enthusiasts once we are past the Pandemic.

 

All things Amarna

They might not immediately recognise it in relation to Akhenaten’s reign at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, they might not even associate it with the Amarna Period, but mention Ancient Egypt and most likely people will name an example connected to this peculiar era. Whether it is Queen Nefertiti’s bust, King Tutankhamun’s golden treasure, Nicholas Reeves’ search for the secret tomb of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s assumed monotheism, or the long waiting lines for the recent Tutankhamun exhibition (fig. 1) in London and Paris, Amarna’s legacy is more alive than ever, despite attempts by Akhenaten’s successors to erase his memory and physical remnants from the face of history.

Akhenaten’s political legacy can easily be overlooked amongst all of this splendour, but is fascinating nonetheless. In this blog post, I am going to have a look at Akhenaten’s political changes, the position of the Great Royal Wife, Akhenaten’s mystery successor Smenkhkare, and Amarna’s overall political legacy.

Fig. 1: Statue from the tom of Tutankhamun (photo by Carlein Boers)

Times of political upheaval

The Amarna era spans around thirty years in ancient Egyptian history; a time of political upheaval that the following pharaohs did their upmost to erase from all records, including the King’s Lists. What do I mean by times of political upheaval in  Amarna? It certainly goes beyond transforming Egypt’s religion into an Aten sun-cult. Most Egyptologists now agree that political and societal changes started under Amenhotep III; a wealthy and ambitious man who ruled Egypt for nearly forty years and who started to develop a religious ideological interest in the old solar-cults during his sunset years. He subsequently reached the point where he started to identify himself as the sun god Aten, calling himself ‘Egypt’s Dazzling Sun’. It looks as though at some point during his long reign, Amenhotep III started to feel all-powerful and confident enough, to start reducing the priests’ influence.

At a certain point after the death of his heir-apparent Thutmose, Amenhotep III installed his young son Amenhotep IV as co-regent, possibly giving his son a taste of life as a living sun god. There are a great number of uncertainties of the length and nature of the co-regency, however it is clear that at a certain moment and presumably after his death, Amenhotep III was proclaimed as Aten-the-Father. What happens next in Years 3–5 of Amenhotep IV’s reign is that he changes his name into Akhenaten, adds the name Neferneferuaten as a prefix to the name of his wife Nefertiti as he declares her his Great Royal Wife, introduces a new art-form (in the early years there are statues of both Akhenaten and Nefertiti looking eerily similar with both portrayed with regal and androgynous attributes) (fig. 2). He removes all references to Amun throughout his kingdom, makes the (deceased) Aten(-the-Father) the centre of all worship, and most notably makes a clean break with the Amun-centred power elite by leaving Thebes and setting up court in his new city Akhetaten (modern day Tell el-Amarna). These are the signs of an autocrat making sure that he is in full control of all aspects that give power by side-lining all others from access to political power.

Fig. 2: Colossal statue depicting either Akhenaten or Nefertiti

A number of aspects stand out in the following years. One is the replacement of the worshipping of the traditional gods with a cult-like veneration of the royal family whose images are found all over Amarna where one would normally find images of the old gods. The (Amun) priests’ role and influence are diminished with Akhenaten and later Nefertiti being the sole intermediates for the worship of the Aten; they accept offerings and are the only ones to sacrifice to the Aten. Another exception to the rule relates to the Queen-mother Tiye (fig. 3). Instead of being sent away to a widows’ retreat, there is evidence of her residing in Amarna, conducting foreign politics in her own right, as we have letters addressed to her instead of her son, the king.

Fig. 3: Statuette of Tiye, Neues Museum Berlin (photo by Carlein Boers) 

Lastly, there is an absence of popular dissent and/or revolt against these societal and political changes. This could indicate the agreement of the people with the new rule, yet there exists more than enough evidence that following Akhenaten’s death that his successors went above and beyond to erase the Akhenaten-era from history by elaborate acts of Damnatio Memoriae. To me, this is a strong indication that people under Akhenaten’s rule must have lived in all-consuming fear of a terrifying dictator-King. The newly discovered ‘Golden City’ will hopefully shed some light on what real sentiments were among the (non-elite) population of Egypt.

 

Not your average Great Royal Wife

In my view, one of the remarkable political changes of Akhenaten is the elevation of the power status of his Great Royal Wife Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, incomparable to any  queen before her. In depictions of the royal couple, she can be seen portrayed at the same height as the pharaoh. She can also be seen acting as a pharaoh in her own right; for example, smiting an enemy, making independent offerings to the Aten, or shown in hunting/defeating Seth reminiscent poses (if she is indeed the original owner of several statues of Tutankhamun’s tomb inventory, which we now believe were usurped from the tomb of Nefertiti) (fig. 4). Other remarkable images are those of Akhenaten and Nefertiti overlapping representations and the appearance of androgynous images and statues of the pair showing both male and female physical characteristics.

Fig. 4: Statue from the tomb of Tutankhamun (photo by Carlein Boers)

Around Year 12 we see a number of new events; Egyptologists do not agree on what caused them. We see the death of several members of the inner royal family, the (apparent) disappearance of Nefertiti from monuments and written references, a military defeat in Syria, an indication of a natural disaster such as a pandemic, and a solar eclipse and/or an earthquake. What we also see is Akhenaten promoting at least one of his daughters (Meritaten) as the next Great Royal Wife—which might also indicate the death or disgrace of Nefertiti—the great Durbar-tribute, and an increase of zealous-religious activities by the Pharaoh who fears his upcoming death and wants to consolidate his power and legacy for the next generation.

 

Akhenaton’s mystery succession

What follows next in Akhenaten’s sunset years is shrouded in mystery. Firstly, a recent discovery by Dr Athena van der Perre includes Nefertiti being mentioned in a Year 16 text, showing that in contrast to the longstanding belief of her downfall, Nefertiti is still alive and in favour in Years 12–16. There is also the appearance of two new Kings; an individual called Ankhkheperure-Neferneferuaten succeeded by an individual called Smenkhkare who started a new royal year calculation (the last known mention of Smenkhkare is in Royal Year 3, indicating a new royal era). Remarkably, Smenkhkare’s name exists in a male and female written form, whilst Neferneferuaten is quite similar to a name previously used by Nefertiti. Both kings also share Meritaten with Akhenaten as Great Royal Wife, and there are indications that Smenkhkare also took another royal daughter (Ankhesenpaaten) as his Great Royal Wife as shown on a portrayal now in the Berlin Museum (fig. 5). Both individuals could either be close male relations to Akhenaten as some believe. Egyptologists such as Dr. Nicholas Reeves believes that either one of these kings might in fact be Nefertiti under a new name. Reeves hopes to find proof of this theory by finding the tomb of Nefertiti; Zahi Hawass hopes to disprove the theory by finding her tomb first.

Fig. 5: The stroll in the garden tablet, Neues Museum Berlin (photo by Carlein Boers)

What I believe is that if we follow the pattern of dictators clinging on to power, and who are in the hope of starting their own dynasty for a ‘glorious new golden eternal age’, it is quite possible that in the absence of an undisputed male heir, Akhenaten was seeking ways to consolidate his power in the afterlife by securing his legacy through the female line of his family. We notice in images that Akhenaten (fig. 6) and (supposedly) Nefertiti are looking more similar and stylised as two male kings, looking identical in physical and power characteristics, sometimes even overlapping each other’s image in representations. Akhenaten is Nefertiti, Nefertiti is Akhenaten, both are the physical representation of Aten in both life and the afterlife.

This would explain the need for a new Great Royal Wife to perform the religious and political duties as Nefertiti was given the status of pharaoh; perhaps grooming their daughters to be the female part of a living Aten-Pharaoh. Could it be possible that these changes were again paired with new names; Ankhkheperure-Neferneferuaten as Nefertiti was elevated to the status of pharaoh, and a new name when they both became one ruler living in symbiosis. Could the name Smenkhkare be the name of the morphed-into-one King Akhenaten-Nefertiti? Were they making their case by the argument of the Aten having both male and female aspects, as they already seemed to indicated with the androgynous statues at the start of their rule? It is an interesting thought to entertain, yet unless uncontested physical proof is found to the very least in the form of the tomb and mummy of Nefertiti, these are just the musings of a Dutch political scientist. It is just one example of the great heap of possible theories about Akhenaten’s succession.

Fig. 6: Bust of Akhenaten in the Louvre, Paris (photo by Carlein Boers)

To make sense of it all

In hindsight, I see Akhenaten as a typical dictator with a god-complex, clinging onto power in order to consolidate his power, legacy, afterlife, and future for his own family. Ultimately failing, his demise gives rise to the golden age of the Ramesside kings. This is certainly not unlike other moments we have seen happen throughout history before the fall of a great dynasty followed by the rise of a new ‘golden age’; Julius Caesar with the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Augustan Empire, Henry Tudor VIII before the Elizabethan Golden Age; one can even argue that the fall of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union gave rise to the US, EU, and China.

To me, the most remarkable innovative aspect of the Amarna era is not its supposed monotheism, its beautiful art, nor the existence of the new capital and religious centre Akhetaten/Amarna; it is the way they elevated the royal women to independent forces of power in symbiosis with the male pharaoh. To me, the events that stand out in the Amarna era are the powerful role of Queen-mother Tiye who had her own diplomatic correspondence, the power-attributes of Nefertiti in statues and depictions and the fact that after the death of Tutankhamun, his queen and Akhenaten’s daughter Ankhesenpaaten/Ankhesenamun feels powerful enough in her own right to propose a Hittite prince to become her husband as she ‘will not take a servant as her husband and king’ (known as the Prince Zannanza-affair). After Amarna, it would take dynasties to come before the female part of the ruling royal family were given such a political rule. Perhaps once Nicholas Reeves proves his theory and finds Nefertiti’s tomb, we will finally have more information and answers to the questions about what really happened during this remarkable political and societal era in Ancient Egypt’s history.

 

The author would like to thank Huub Pragt for his critical reading of a draft version of this blog post and the following delightful conversation. Huub is a strong believer in Nicholas Reeves’ theory that Smenkhkare is Nefertiti.

Bibliography

Cooney, Kara, 2018, When women ruled the world: six queens of Egypt. Washington D.C.: National Geographic

Pragt, Huub, 2019, Egypte Ontraadseld - Mysteriën uit de oudheid onder de loep, Zutphen: Uitgeversmaatschappij Walburg Pers.

Reeves, Nicholas 1999. The royal family. In Freed, Rita E., Yvonne Markowitz, and Sue H. D’Auria (eds), Pharaohs of the sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen, 81–95. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, in association with Bulfinch Press; Little, Brown.

Seyfried, Friederike (ed.) 2012. In the light of Amarna: 100 years of the Nefertiti discovery. Petersberg: Imhof.

Tyldesley, Joyce 2006. Chronicle of the queens of Egypt: from early dynastic times to the death of Cleopatra. London: Thames & Hudson.

Van der Perre, Athena 2014. The Year 16 graffito of Akhenaten in Dayr Abū Ḥinnis: a contribution to the study of the later years of Nefertiti. Journal of Egyptian History 7 (1), 67–108.