Ancient Egypt, a place more than mysterious and still full of unsolved secrets. The names "Akhenaten" and "Nefertiti" were not mentioned even in legends for almost 30 centuries. They were erased from monuments, statues were destroyed, and the city they created was abandoned and swallowed up by the sands of the desert. Who was Akhenaten?
This pharaoh ruled Egypt from about 1351 - 1334 BC. Most of all, he became famous for his religious reform: Akhenaten became the first and, perhaps, the only reformer pharaoh, his reforms were very tough and large-scale.
By the end of the 15th century BC. e. the powerful caste of Egyptian priests concentrated enormous wealth in their temples. In addition, they were the most educated part of the population: they knew how to predict floods of the Nile, draw up maps of the starry sky and a calendar, and knew how to calculate the areas of geometric shapes. Feeling the power, the priests began to dictate their demands to the royal power.
In an effort to get rid of the power of the priests of Amun, who for centuries dictated their will to the pharaohs, Amenhotep IV started a global, very bold and cunning religious reform - he declared Amun a false god and replaced him with another god - Aten, who was embodied in the solar disk.
The beginning of the new kingdom
The eighteenth dynasty was founded by the ruler of Thebes, Pharaoh Ahmose I (1559-34 BC). Ahmose I united the scattered regions of Egypt, finally expelled the Hyx tribes from Egypt, which were an alliance of Asian tribes and ruled the country for almost a century and a half.
Ahmose restored Egyptian rule over North Nubia. This is how the period began, which in history was called the New Kingdom (1570-1085 BC). The period of the highest prosperity of Egypt was the rule of the XVIII dynasty, it was at the zenith of its glory. Syria, Palestine and other neighboring states were his tributaries. Among the rulers of this dynasty was the first female pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut. but, perhaps, the brightest and most mysterious rulers of this dynasty, and of the entire history of Egypt, were, of course, Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti.
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The mystery of the reign of Akhenaten
In the history of ancient Egypt, already mysterious, there is one special page. This is the era of the reign of Akhenaten - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV. It is difficult to say which events played a decisive role in the formation of his worldview. Perhaps a serious illness suffered in childhood.
Or echoes of a geological catastrophe caused by a volcanic explosion on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is unlikely that the consequences of that distant eruption had a noticeable effect on Egypt. But the incredible stories certainly reached the ears of the impressionable scion of the royal family and shook the faith in the omnipotence of the gods.
It is possible that the mother had the strongest influence on the boy. The queen's brother, the uncle of the future “heretic”, served the god Ra in Heliopolis. And during the coronation of the pharaoh, the place of which, contrary to tradition, was not the temple of Karnak in Thebes, but Hermont - "southern Heliopolis", Amenhotep IV proclaims himself the "First priest of Ra-Horakhti". In the second year of his reign, he adds: "The only one belonging to Ra."
In principle, nothing surprising. From about 2600 BC, Egyptian kings habitually referred to themselves as the sons of the sun and the children of Ra. But there is a small nuance. The new pharaoh carefully avoids the generally accepted cult of Amun. The very invisible Amun who "is Ra's face and Pta's body."
The name Amenhotep - "Amon is happy" is changed to Akhenaten - "useful to Aton." The capital is transferred from Thebes to Akhetaton, where new temples are being erected to worship a god who has neither face nor body. The solar disk, giving radiance to the whole world, is the image of the supreme deity.
Radiance of Aton
From this time, historians begin counting the so-called Amarna period in art and architecture. It is characterized by dynamics and sensuality, flexibility of lines, which is so lacking in the canonical ancient Egyptian culture. The center of political, financial and religious life, following the pharaoh, moves from Thebes to the new capital.
The temples dedicated to the former gods are being closed and desolate. Even their names are carefully erased not only from the stone, but also from memory. The privileged priesthood, suddenly deprived of power, will never forgive Akhenaten for such a blow. Blinded by the radiance of Aton, the pharaoh completely loses sight of the foreign policy situation. As a result, the equilibrium that has been built in the region for centuries is crumbling before our eyes.
In a hurry to get rid of the old nobility and surrounding himself with like-minded people, Akhenaten lost one of the important components of the country's power. Egypt was losing in rivalry with the Hittites, losing allies one after another. Only in the sixteenth year of his reign, the pharaoh introduces troops into Northern Syria, thereby protecting Egypt from the Hittite invasion.
Direct descendant of aliens
Pharaoh's appearance, known from the sculptures, is quite characteristic. The elongated skull, the effeminate figure and the strange cut of the eyes are reminiscent of images of aliens. It is not possible to explain the peculiarities of Akhenaten's anatomy by genetic diseases. A person with such deviations would not have been able to manage the country, or even live to a mature age.
Perhaps, in the appearance of Amenhotep IV, the features of the gods who ruled Egypt before the pharaohs appeared? There were, according to Menephone, two whole dynasties. Then came the dynasty of the demigods and another transitional one. Or Akhenaten really wanted to be like them, and obedient sculptors just "deified" the images of the king. It is very similar to the fact that the rebellious pharaoh considered himself equal among the gods and only Aton respected the highest power.