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Analysis of Akhenaten

Analysis of Akhenaten

The way this article is written, its almost as a story is being told with commentary of Egyptian scholars. This format makes it more interesting, and gives the article a larger scale. The whole idea that Akhenaten would go against the old Egyptian customs is intriguing. The article says that it is quite possible that he may have been the first person to attempt monotheism. I can imagine how angry the populous and high members of society were. It was a great idea, but it was done too early and too fast. This radical change was most probably the reason for his downfall.

The article goes on to discuss the events from Akhenaten’s first day as pharaoh to the end of his lineage, where someone outside the family, a strong general named Horemheb takes the place of pharaoh. Horemheb goes to great lengths to destroy Akhenaten’s name from history, along with his descendents. This course of action leads me to believe that Akhenaten’s views where so different from tradition, that they were considered dangerous.

Akhenaten could not have been a good leader. Although he single handedly raised the level of artistry and temple building, it was not enough to prevent him from being targeted by the surrounding officials. The article mentions correspondences from Tushratta, a king of the Mesopotamian state of Mitanni. Who writes about how Akhenaten sends him gold plated wooden statues instead of the pure gold ones. It seems that Akhenaten only concentrated himself on building temples for Aten, the god he chose above all. His neglect to affairs outside Egypt is a terrible decision and probably left Egypt defenseless from outside attacks. When he decided to elevate Aten to the level of the only god he definitely must have angered the priests of the other gods. At one point out of a fit of anger, Akhenaten tries to destroy the images and statues of the other gods. These types of decision would have definitely angered Egypt’s higher officials and cause tension between the pharaoh and the people around him.

At one point the Egyptologist theorize that a plague must have struck to account for all the deaths surrounding the royal family. This is indeed conceivable since most of the population of Amarna sprung up in a short amount of time....

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Category:   Egyptian

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