Aton has a rather ancient origin, but for a long time played a secondary role.
His cult intensified in the era of Amenhotep III, when they began to depict him as a man with a falcon's head - just like Ra.
Actually, at first, Aton was just the hypostasis of the god Ra. However, under the successor of this pharaoh - Amenhotep IV, a real "atonistic revolution" took place.
The world's first monotheism
To begin with, Amenhotep IV presented the subjects of Aten as, again, the hypostasis of Amun-Ra - the supreme deity, well known to the people. At first, the worship of all the other gods continued; but the position of Aton grew more and more.
In parallel, Amenhotep, who took the name Akhenaten, was building a new city, which was to become the religious center of the new religion. The city was named Akhetaton, which means "Aton's sky." Then Akhenaten issued decrees that radically changed the attitude of the state towards religion:
- The worship of any gods except Aten was completely forbidden;
- The Egyptians were ordered to destroy all statues and sculptures, including those depicting Aton;
- The only official image of the only god - Aton was the image of the solar disk with rays that symbolized the "spirit of Aton" descending to the earth;
- The use of the word "gods" (in the plural), as well as words similar to the names of gods, was strictly prohibited (for example, the word "mother" was similar in spelling and pronunciation to the name of the goddess Mut, therefore it was prohibited); Temples of a new type were built - flooded with sunlight (former Egyptian temples were shaded);
- Each subject of Akhenaten was obliged to wear an ankh cross on his chest, symbolizing eternal life.
As you can see, Akhenaten created the world's first monotheistic religion. And we also see that it was very similar to Christianity, down to the smallest attributes (cross, "crushing idols", reverence for the "spirit of God"). Apparently, the Old Testament prophet Moses, who was in Egyptian captivity, who lived approximately in the era of Akhenaten's reign, was imbued with this new religion and taught the "chosen people" to it.
Promotional video:
Image of Aton.
If the first books of the “holy scriptures” operate with the word “elohim” (“gods”) and various “names of God” (in fact, the names of many gods of the early Hebrew religion), then from now on Moses “suddenly” establishes monotheism and introduces a new name for God - Adonai (apparently, this same Aton).
There is a god, but there are no myths
It is noteworthy that along with the abolition of the images of the gods, even of Aton, the pharaoh also abolished mythology. The new deity did not have any biography, how he created the world was not explained. It was only said that Akhenaten, stretching out his hands to the solar disk, felt warmth - and illumination descended on him: “the spirit of Aten” (solar heat) is present in all that exists, penetrates everywhere and spiritualizes everything.