The accession of
Amenhotep III's son, Amenhotep IV (later known as Akhenaten,
c. 1350 - 1334), ushered in a revolutionary period in Egyptian history. Often called the
Amarna Interlude, it saw the seat of government moved to the new, short-lived capital of
Akhetaten (known today as el-Amarna, hence the name of the period), the introduction of a
new artistic style, and the ditching of the old polytheistic form of worship in favour of
the monotheistic worship of the Aten (the sun's disc).
Although the reign started normally enough, with Akhenaten being crowned at Karnak and
taking the daughter of the vizier, Ay, as his wife, it soon became clear that the new
pharaoh was more of a thinker than his predecessors. Amenhotep had recognised the growing
power of the priesthood of Amun (the chief god of the old order), and had taken measures
to curb it. Akhenaten saw this too, but took it much further. The Aten, which would become
the only god worshipped by Akhenaten, had been worshipped since the Old Kingdom, but had
always been part of the sun god. What Akhenaten did was to remove it from its previous
position and set it up as something to be worshipped on its own.Nevertheless, there were early attempts at
coexistence between the old and the new - there was a temple to the Aten built by the king
next to the temple of Amun at Karnak, but it became quickly clear that polytheism and
monotheism could not exist together, with the result that the cult of Amun was proscribed
and its temples closed.
Akhenaten designed his new religion in a way that served to enhance his power. Instead of
the priests being the go-betweens between the normal people and the gods, Akhenaten made
it clear that he was the only one who had access to the Aten. It would appear, however,
that despite his attempts to introduce the Aten worship throughout his realm, this met
with only limited success, the upper echelons of society being the only ones to embrace it
wholeheartedly (or at least to appear to - what they really thought of all this innovation
is unknown). Even in his new capital of Akhetaten, the place where the power of the Aten
was supposed to be all-pervasive, excavations have shown that the ordinary people
continued to identify with the gods of old.
As Akhenaten became ever more wrapped up in his new religion, so the administration of
Egypt started to suffer. The main culprits for this were the vizier Ay (perhaps
Akhenaten's father-in-law) and the head of the army, Horemheb (Ay's son-in-law), both of
whom would become pharaoh in the coming years.
With the new religion and the new capital
came a new artistic style, almost certainly started by the unusual physical
characteristics possessed by the king himself (in some carvings, it is hard to tell him
apart from his wife), probably as the result of some sort of a disease.
One person who managed to avoid the
grotesque excesses of Amarna art was Akhenaten's Queen, Nefertiti. Some historians believe
her to have been allocated more power than was traditionally allowed, since she is
depicted in some carvings smiting the enemies of Egypt, a privilege normally only reserved
for a pharaoh. Whatever the truth about this, she died in about year 12 of the reign, and
1 of Akhenaten's daughters became Chief Royal Wife.
It remains a mystery exactly what happened
to Akhenaten's body after his death. It is highly probable that he was interred at
Akhetaten, where his tomb was smashed by the vengeful masses when orthodoxy returned to
Egypt. It is unlikely that those who still remained loyal to his memory would have allowed
his body to be desecrated along with his former capital, so it might well have been moved
back to Thebes or the Valley of the Kings. However, unless new evidence turns up, we will
probably never know the truth.
Akhenaten was followed on the throne by his younger brother Smenkhare (c.
1336 - 1334), but the latter died within months of his accession, the bulk of his reign
being made up of a co-regency with Akhenaten. There are indications that he wanted to
return to the old orthodoxy, but had little time in which to accomplish this. It does
seem, however, that he returned the Egyptian capital to Memphis.
Smenkhare was probably buried in KV55,
where a coffin with all the cartouches hacked out was discovered in 1907. The mummy inside
was initially thought to have belonged to a woman, but people then decided that it was
Akhenaten. Recent forensic examination has, however, suggested that the mummy did indeed
belong to Smenkhare.
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