Western Civilization

Akhenaten’s attempt at religious change failed. It went

too far in asking Egyptians to ignore their traditional ways

and beliefs, especially since they saw the destruction of

the old gods as subversive of the very cosmic order on

which Egypt’s survival and continuing prosperity

depended. At the same time, Akhenaten’s preoccupation

with religion caused him to ignore foreign affairs and led

to the loss of both Syria and Canaan. Akhenaten’s changes

were soon undone after his death by those who influenced

his successor, the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun (toot-ahng-

KAH-muhn) (1347–1338 B.C.E.). Tutankhamun returned

the government to Thebes and restored the old gods. The

Aten experiment had failed to take hold, and the Eight-

eenth Dynasty itself came to an end in 1333B.C.E.

The Nineteenth Dynasty managed to restore Egyp-

tian power one more time. Under Ramesses (RAM-uh-

seez) II (ca. 1279–1213B.C.E.), the Egyptians regained

control of Canaan but were unable to reestablish the

borders of their earlier empire. New invasions in the

thirteenth centuryB.C.E. by the “Sea Peoples,” as the

Egyptians called them, destroyed Egyptian power in Ca-

naan and drove the Egyptians back within their old

frontiers. The days of Egyptian empire were ended, and

the New Kingdom itself expired with the end of the

Twentieth Dynasty in 1069B.C.E. For the next thou-

sand years, despite periodic revivals of strength, Egypt

was dominated by Libyans, Nubians, Persians, and

finally Macedonians after the conquest of Alexander

the Great (see Chapter 4). In the first centuryB.C.E.,

Egypt became a province in Rome’s mighty empire.

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt: Family and

Marriage

Ancient Egyptians had a very positive attitude toward

daily life on earth and followed the advice of the wisdom

literature, which suggested that people marry young and

establish a home and family (see the box on p. 23).

Akhenaten’sHymn to Aten

Amenhotep IV, more commonly known as Akhenaten,

created a religious upheaval in Egypt by introducing the

worship of Aten, god of the sun disk, as the chief god.

Akhenaten’s reverence for Aten is evident in this hymn.

Hymn to Aten

Your rays suckle every meadow.

When you rise, they live, they grow for you.

You make the seasons in order to rear all that you

have made,

The winter to cool them,

And the heat that they may taste you.

You have made the distant sky in order to rise therein,

In order to see all that you do make.

While you were alone,

Rising in your form as the living Aten,

Appearing, shining, withdrawing or approaching,

You made millions of forms of yourself alone.

Cities, towns, fields, road, and river—

Every eye beholds you over against them,

For you are the Aten of the day over the earth....

The world came into being by your hand,

According as you have made them.

When you have risen they live,

When you set they die.

You are lifetime your own self,

For one lives only through you.

Eyes are fixed on beauty until you set.

All work is laid aside when you set in the west.

But when you rise again,

Everything is made to flourish for the king....

Since you did found the earth

And raise them up for your son,

Who came forth from your body: the King of Upper

and Lower Egypt,... Akh-en-Aten,... and the

Chief Wife of the King... Nefert-iti, living and

youthful forever and ever.

Q What does Akhenaten’sHymn to Atentell you

about the religion of the Egyptians and Akhenaten’s

attempt to change it? Why did so many Egyptians

oppose the basic premise of the hymn?

Source: Pritchard, James;Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament–Third Edition with Supplement.ª1950, 1955, 1969, renewed 1978 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted

by permission of Princeton University Press.

Egyptian Civilization: “The Gift of the Nile” 21

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