Explain the Religious Reforms of Akhenaten During the Amarna Period and Analyse Their Impact on Egyptian Society Essay Example
For centuries, the god Amun served as the pre-eminent god in New Kingdom Egypt, and his priests enjoyed privileges and power. However, Akhenaten revolutionised religious life with his adoption of the cult of Aten and the introduction of monotheism to Egypt. Along with this religious change came many others, Akhenaten changed Egypt’s foreign policy, art and architecture.
The Ancient Egyptians regarded the Sun as a powerful life source. Along with the flooding of the Nile, it produced their crops and insured their livelihood. During the Old Kingdom, the sun god Ra, became the dominant god in the Egyptian pantheon and great temples were erected in his honour, also during this time many other powerful gods were fused with Ra, for example Atum (the creator of the universe) gradually evolved to Ra-Atum, and in the New Kingdom, Ra and Amun were combined to create Amun-Ra. Thanks in large part to this commingling of gods; the Sun was worshipped by the Egyptians in many forms, such as the sun-disc and Khepri – the scarab beetle.
Towards the end of Amenhotep III’s reign, the cult of many gods as well as that of his own deified self were increasingly solarised. Amenhotep attempted to keep a balanced visualisation of all the gods, however it was clear he favoured Amun. This preference greatly influenced his successor, Amenhotep IV, who was to find a radical and imperialistic solution to the issue of unity and plurality.
Amenhotep IV began his reign with a massive building project at Karnak, the centre of the cult of Amun. It is believed by archaeologist Jacobus Van Dijk, that these temples were “situated to the east of the Amun precinct and orientated to the east – that is, to the place of sunrise”. Surprisingly, these temples were not dedicated to Amun, but to a new form of the sun-god whose official name was ‘The living one, Ra-horus of the horizon who rejoices in the horizion in his identity of light which is in sun-disc’ which was most basically simplified to ‘the
The Ancient Egyptians regarded the Sun as a powerful life source. Along with the flooding of the Nile, it produced their crops and insured their livelihood. During the Old Kingdom, the sun god Ra, became the dominant god in the Egyptian pantheon and great temples were erected in his honour, also during this time many other powerful gods were fused with Ra, for example Atum (the creator of the universe) gradually evolved to Ra-Atum, and in the New Kingdom, Ra and Amun were combined to create Amun-Ra. Thanks in large part to this commingling of gods; the Sun was worshipped by the Egyptians in many forms, such as the sun-disc and Khepri – the scarab beetle.
Towards the end of Amenhotep III’s reign, the cult of many gods as well as that of his own deified self were increasingly solarised. Amenhotep attempted to keep a balanced visualisation of all the gods, however it was clear he favoured Amun. This preference greatly influenced his successor, Amenhotep IV, who was to find a radical and imperialistic solution to the issue of unity and plurality.
Amenhotep IV began his reign with a massive building project at Karnak, the centre of the cult of Amun. It is believed by archaeologist Jacobus Van Dijk, that these temples were “situated to the east of the Amun precinct and orientated to the east – that is, to the place of sunrise”. Surprisingly, these temples were not dedicated to Amun, but to a new form of the sun-god whose official name was ‘The living one, Ra-horus of the horizon who rejoices in the horizion in his identity of light which is in sun-disc’ which was most basically simplified to ‘the