Akhenaten: Radical Success Or Dismal Failure?
Michael Serravalle
1st response paper
9-17-2011
History 121- Professor Byczkiewicz
First Response Paper: Akhenaten and the Hymn of Aten
Akhenaten; Radical success or dismal failure? Formerly known as Amenhotep the IV, he grew up in the most powerful family on earth. His father Amenhotep III died leaving a reign of peace and prosperity in the hands of his son. His son was a King of radical change. He changed many customary ideas of ancient Egypt like art for example. Akhenaten celebrated the vibrancy of the real world and taught his people how to make art in this fashion. Another radical idea of his was the religious revolution he imposed. In the second year of his reign Akhenaten abandoned the traditions of polytheism and only praised …show more content…
With these newfound religious ideas came new beginnings. Again throwing away Egyptian traditions he decided to build a completely different capitol city and abandon Thebes. This idea began the construction of Amarna or horizon of the sun which was built in a desolate land about 200 miles north of Thebes. Akhenaten’s justification for doing so was to escape the influences of the high priests. In the capitol he built the temple of Aten, a very open space that was built to embrace and spread the rays of Aten. In this new settlement he again defies ancient traditions and marries a commoner, Nefertiti. Together they ruled almost equally. Within his regime to further embrace Aten he created the hymn of Aten which praises the sun as the creator of the natural world. This hymn had an overall general message which is life comes from the sun god and is distributed equally. Suddenly, Nefertiti vanished out of existence and historians today still don’t know what became of her. Along with this his mother died as well as one of his daughters sending him into a downward spiral of persecution. Akhenaten went so far as to blame all the gods besides Aten for his
1st response paper
9-17-2011
History 121- Professor Byczkiewicz
First Response Paper: Akhenaten and the Hymn of Aten
Akhenaten; Radical success or dismal failure? Formerly known as Amenhotep the IV, he grew up in the most powerful family on earth. His father Amenhotep III died leaving a reign of peace and prosperity in the hands of his son. His son was a King of radical change. He changed many customary ideas of ancient Egypt like art for example. Akhenaten celebrated the vibrancy of the real world and taught his people how to make art in this fashion. Another radical idea of his was the religious revolution he imposed. In the second year of his reign Akhenaten abandoned the traditions of polytheism and only praised …show more content…
With these newfound religious ideas came new beginnings. Again throwing away Egyptian traditions he decided to build a completely different capitol city and abandon Thebes. This idea began the construction of Amarna or horizon of the sun which was built in a desolate land about 200 miles north of Thebes. Akhenaten’s justification for doing so was to escape the influences of the high priests. In the capitol he built the temple of Aten, a very open space that was built to embrace and spread the rays of Aten. In this new settlement he again defies ancient traditions and marries a commoner, Nefertiti. Together they ruled almost equally. Within his regime to further embrace Aten he created the hymn of Aten which praises the sun as the creator of the natural world. This hymn had an overall general message which is life comes from the sun god and is distributed equally. Suddenly, Nefertiti vanished out of existence and historians today still don’t know what became of her. Along with this his mother died as well as one of his daughters sending him into a downward spiral of persecution. Akhenaten went so far as to blame all the gods besides Aten for his