AKHNATON OF EGYPT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18761, 15 January 1923, Page 8

AKHNATON OF EGYPT

THE FIRST IDEALIST. A STORY OF THE PAST. The cables have told ns of the discovery of the tomb of Tut-ankh-amen, at Luxor, and of the wonderful collection of ancient objects of art that are being unearthed in connection with the find. The discovery, however, is of even greater interest than tlio more richness and intrinsic value of the contents of the tomb might suggest, for the Pharaoh Tut-ankh-amen was one of the later monarchs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, a period in which Egypt attained to a power and magnificence such as she never knew before, nor has known since; and a period noted, above all else, for the appearance upon the world’s stage of one who, if not the most important, is certainly the most amazing figure in the long, long annals of Egyptian history'. This was the Pharaoh Amenophis IV, afterwards to be known as Aklmaton, the father-in-law of the Pharaoh whoso tomb has now been found, the first of all founders of religious doctrines, and a man whoso “religious revolution marks the first point in the study of advanced human thought.” Mr Arthur

AVcigall, lately Inspector-general of Antiquities to the Egyptian Government. and one of the greatest of living Egyptologists, has published a volume on the life and times of this Pharaoh, and a new edition, lately issued, gives us a mass of interesting information which is singularly apt to the occasion of the important discovery just announced. Mr Weigall was himself fortunate enough to find in January, 1907, in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, a mummy which is now generally accepted as being that of Aklmaton himself, and we may imagine with what exultant interest he will regard this latest discovery of the tomb of that Pharaoh who was so closely associated with Aklmaton and who married his little daughter. The Eighteenth Dynasty of the Pharaohs of Egypt began in the year 1580, 8.0., and was founded by Atmose I. This was about

12C0 years after the building of the great Pyramids near modern. Cairo, and some 2000 years after the first recorded history of tho Nile Valley. Many centuries were to pass before the “glory that was Greece” was to be born, and over a milennium before the first beginnings of the “grandeur that was Romo” struggled into existence on tho Italian Peninsula. Akhnaton, tho great, great grandson of the magnificent Thutmosis 111., who raised the prestige of Egypt to its highest pinnacle, was the tenth Pharaoh of the Dynasty, and ascended the throne in n.c. 1375. Ho reigned for 17 years, and died at the comparatively early ago of 30. By a stroke of that great good fortune which sometimes attends the labours of devoted inquirers into the past, we have been enabled to collate

an almost complete biography of Akhnation. Dim and obscure as are the shapes of most of those who preceded and followed him, he stands revealed to us most marvellously. It is probably true to say that wo know more of his life—certainly more of the intimate details of his life—than we do of that of Shakespeare. RIVAL ‘RELIGIOUS CULTS. When Akbnaton came to the throne Thebes was, and had been for many centuries, the capital city of the kingdom. And at ihebcs, as el Aw here in Egypt, the worship of Anion or Amen, or Amen-Ra, as the god' was variously known, was the orthodox religion of the people. Other gods there were, of course —a myriad others, indeed. But Amen stood above them all, and especially at Thebes. At Heliopolis, however, there was a cult which gave great worship to a deity called Ra-Horakhti, also known as Atum, and considerable friction arose during the reigns of Akhnaton’s immediate predecessors between the two priest-

hoods. It is necessary to remember this, for it was the Aton—which was most probably the same as, or at least of common origin with, Atum —to whom Akhnaton later on transferred his allegiance, and who became tho “One,” the “Father,” of his singular and fascinating system of theology. “Apart from the question of religion,” says Mr Weigall, “the priesthood of Amon had obtained such power and wealth that it was a very serious menace to the dignity of the throne.” It may therefore have been this friction that first caused the Pharaohs more favourable to regard the cult of RaHorakhli, or Atum, and which operated more or less insensibly in Akhnaton’s mind; or it may be, as is again suggested by Mr Weigall, that his mother, longing for a son, and, as the result of prayers to Amon, blessed only with daughters, had interceded in turn with Atum, and been awarded with an heir, and had then vowed tho latter in sendee to the more complaisant deity. Whatever the cause there is no doubt that Akhnaton, or Amonophis as ho then was called, ascended the throne with a distinct prejudice against the cult, of Amon, and a corresponding bias in favour of that of. Atum, or Aton. THE FIRST MONOTHEIST.

The bias became a passion, and eventually an obsession. The monarch changed his name, eliminating the offensive syllables, and replacing them by the favoured name of the God; he caused the onco-sacred symbol of the Tboban deity to be removed from all monuments and sepulchres, not oven respecting the sanctity of his father’s sarcophagus, and he framed a ritual and ordained the necessary services to Aton throughout the land. But here is the most remarkable feature of this most remarkable fanatic’s conversion, or apostocy. Born at a time when war was the chief diversion and delight of tho age, he offered his people a religion of peace and not of tho sword; brought up to a heritage of pomp and power, lie,preached simplicity .and homely affection. Fourteen hundred years before Christ, and eight hundred before Buddha, lie to some extent anticipated the tenets of both. A veritable lover of peace, he exalted the claims of love and tho delights of wisdom. And, more extraordinary still, out of the welter of deities (hat swarmed in tho heavenly hierarchy of his forbears, ho struck all gods but one, “the Anton,” and him, alone, tho divine essence and father of all, he worshipped. llis was the first conception of monotheism thaD tho world had known; and not until many centuries had passed was there another. Indeed, it is not at all improbable, knowing what wo know now, that the monotheism of tho Jews may have been founded on that of Akhnaton. A VANISHED CITY.

Some few years after his accession Akhnaton, wearied and worried by the not unnatural opposition to his new religion which the priests of the Old at Thebes manifested, and determined to find a place whore he could—like tho Pilgrim Fathers—worship' his god in freedom and peace, decided to leave Thebes .and build another city for himself. This eventually he did at El Amarna, upon the eastern bank of tho Nile, about 160 miles above the spot where Cairo stands to-day. , He called his new capital “The City of the Horizon of Aton,” and a mighty and beautiful place he made of it. Fortunately some of tho boundary tablets have been preserved, and from them we know how groat wore its marvels and how extensive its boundaries. But tho City of the Horizon itself has vanished for ever, and the lizard and the jackal are the only inhabitants of (hose few mounds

whioli were its mighty walls. The Pharaoh did not live long to enjoy its beauties or its peace. He was born before his age—if, indeed, his ago is yet. His gospel of pence failed; his enemies invaded the kingdom, and, refusing to have recourse to the sword, he saw his realm diminished and ravaged. “History tells us only (hat simultaneously with the fall of his empire, Akhuaton died .... but in the imagination there seems to ring across the ears a cry of compile despair, and one can picture the emaciated figure of this beautiful child of Aton fall forward upon the painted palace door, and lie still amidst

tho roil poppies ami the dainty butterflies there depicted.” It. only remains to add tiat with him perished the religion ho had originated. His immediate successor, Smenkhkara. who had married Ahhnaton's eldest daughter, reigned hut. a year, and made but little effort in that time to carry on his predecessor’s aims. And then came TVI.-inkhaton, who rejoined the ancient faith, and went out to battle with his country’s enemies. He succeeded largely in restoring order and its ancient glory to Egypt; he changed his name to Tutankhamen. abandoned “The City of the Horizon,” and returned to Thebes. He it is whoso tomb has now been found, and under his reign, and that of his successors, the cult of Amon regained its oldtime sway. The Priests of Thebes declared Akhnaton to ho accurst and heretic, and his titles and the symbols of the Aton were removed from every monument that could bo found.