An Analysis of the Famous Statue of Akhenaton.

Akhenaton was the first pharaoh to introduce the concept of monotheism, the worshipping of only one god, as opposed to polytheism, the worshipping of many gods. The people of Egypt had usually depicted gods in either animal or human form in their paintings and sculptures in order to help give them a physical form that they could worship. However, under Akhenaton's new ideas, the only god was Aton, which was represented with the form of a sun disk. Artwork also changed in sync with this change in religion. The statue of Akhenaton incorporated these new changes, and the statue itself acts like a symbol for Akhenaton's revolutionary ideas.

The statue has many interesting and defining characteristics. The statue of Akhenaton is made of sandstone and is approximately 13 feet high. Upon seeing it for the first time, the first thing that becomes apparent is that one of the arms is broken off. Aside from this, the statue has almost perfect symmetry. Because of the position of the hands, it can be safely assumed that both arms mirrored each other. The statue has good balance. It does not vary much in width. The headdress is almost twice has tall as the face, and the headdress surrounds the entire face, almost acting like a frame for it. This gives importance and draws focus towards the face. This is significant because the entire statue, especially the face, uses many feminine characteristics. In this statue of Akhenaton, the thighs are wide, the hips are narrow, the face is elongated and narrow, the lips are large, the arms and fingers are narrow and long, and there are breasts. The face is also important because it is looking straight ahead. This makes any person want to stare right back at it. Again, this helps to bring focus to the unusual characteristics used in the statue.

There are a limited number of explanations as to why the statue of Akhenaton uses these feminine characteristics. One is that Akhenaton was deformed from some disease. According to Gardner's Art