Internal Developments: The Amarna Revolution Flashcards
1
Q
Jan Assman on the Amarna Revolution
Historian Perspectives
A
“The new religion (Atenism) was not promoted, it was imposed. Tradition was not questioned, it was persecuted and forbidden.”
2
Q
Persecution of Amun-Re
Religion
A
- Refused to follow the established religious policy of worshipping Amun as the state deity
- Completely withdrew funds from the Amun cult, thereby attempting to destroy it, a few years after becoming pharaoh
- Ordered the removal of the names of other gods and goddesses wherever they appeared, e.g. chiselling out the names of other gods and even the plural form of the word “god” from monuments and shrines
3
Q
Theories for why Akhenaten enacted the Amarna revolution
Political
A
To shift power away from the Amun cult.
- During Amenhotep III’s reign, a large share of wealth flowing into Egypt was given to the Amun priesthood, allowing the Amun cult to amass immense political power
- J. Breasted argued that the Amun cult may have had enough power to challenge the pharaoh himself
- Akhenaten may have tried to offset its power and increase his authority as pharaoh by establishing a new solar deity and priesthood independent of the Amun-Re cult, and moving the capital from Thebes (the spiritual centre of the Amun cult)
Jan Assman proposed that Atenism was part of “New Solar Theology”, although Akhenaten’s religion radically diverged from the mainstream
4
Q
Kingship during the Amarna period
Political + military
A
- Akhenaten often represented the army in art of his period
- Akhetaten was an armed camp
- Akhenaten’s state barge and temples depict scenes of him slaughtering the enemies of Egypt, echoing the image of the Warrior Pharaoh
- Heraldic motifs of the king and queen show enemy captives
- Akhenaten did not accompany his army in campaigns, but would send his lieutenants instead. In a campaign in Akita, 145 Kushites were taken captive and some were impaled on stakes. Akhenaten’s foreign policy must have been very effective, as a number of passages claim that there were no rebels in his time
5
Q
Akhetaten (city)
Political + cultural
A
- Built as a new capital for Egypt
- Buildings constructed in the Amarna period replaced roofed temples and darkened inner sanctuaries (characteristic of Amun temples) with huge open courts and allowed sunrays to reach every corner of the temple
- Akhetaten palace was decorated with brightly painted plant and animal motifs
- Buildings were constructed using talatat (blocks of a half-cubit length), allowing them to be built quickly
6
Q
Promotion/imposition of the Aten
Religion
A
- One of Akhenaten’s first official acts as pharaoh was to build a temple to the Aten in the Karnak temple complex at Thebes, only a few hundred metres from the Amun temple. This caused great affront to the Amun priests
- In Year 5 of his reign, Akhenaten founded a new city, Akhetaten, and made it the new capital of Egypt.
- During this time, he also declared Amun to be a public enemy of all Egyptians and ordered the name of Amun, as well as those of other gods and goddesses, to be obliterated wherever they appeared
- By Year 6, the plural “gods” was never seen again in the reign of Akhenaten, and the Egyptian religion had become officially monotheistic
7
Q
Changes to afterlife beliefs
Religion
A
- Akhenaten reformed traditional eschatological beliefs from the Osirian concept of a pleasant afterlife in Aaru, the Field of Reeds, to that of another vantage point from which the deceased could worship the Aten
- This retraction of eschatological comfort is likely to have contributed to the unpopularity of Atenism among the common people, who found the new religion harsh and unrelatable for the poor and downtrodden
8
Q
Economy during the Amarna Period
Economy
A
- Despite internal upheaval within Egypt, foreign relations were maintained
- Foreign rulers who had been subdued by previous pharaohs continued to send tributes from Kush, Syria-Palestine, and the Aegean
