10: Excursus: The Amarna Period
Exam 1 Tuesday Feb. 18 in class
Exam format:
10 Multiple Choice
10 Short answer
10 Identifications
Dominic Montserrat,
Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and
Ancient Egypt (Routledge 2000)
Philip Glass, Akhnaten:
An Opera in Three Acts
Personal piety
Votive offerings
Statues
New Kingdom, 18th dynasty (c. 1550-1295 BCE)
From Thebes (in south)
God Amun of Thebes
Amun-Re
High Priest of Amun
Amun and the king
Amunhotep ("Amun is satisfied)
Amunhotep III
Sun gods
Divinity of King
Tiye
Amunhotep IV
c. 1350 BCE
Aten
Amunhotep IV becomes Akhenaten
AKH-EN-ATEN
"The effective spirit of Aten"
Move from Thebes:
New capital Akhetaten
("Horizon of Aten) or Tell el Amarna
Hence "Amarna Period"
Aten titles change: no more reference to other gods
Closure of temples of other gods
Erasing of images and names of other gods
Abstract image of Aten
Ankh
Akhenaten and family
Nefertiti
daughters
Artistic styles
Akhenaten, Nefertiti,Aten as triad
NOT monotheistic("one-god")?
Akhenaten
-
as father and mother figure?
-
as fertility figure?
compare to Nile god figure
Hymn to the Aten
Lack of funerary/afterlife provision
Canopic jars, Shabti figures
but no articulated afterlife beliefs
Survivals of old religion
Success of Akhenaten's reforms?
Restoration of old religion
Back to Thebes, Amun