There were other edifices built by Amenhotep
III, including chapels to Montu and Mut, indicat-
ing his love for Amen and his dedication to the
temple complex. Every king wanted to honor
Amen, Mut, or Khonsu at this place above all
other places. Even Amenhotep IV, on his acces-
sion, had found a single obelisk in a workshed,
neglected for 25 years, since the death of
Thutmose III, and had it decorated and dedicated
to Ra-Harakhty. In addition, he continued work
on the two pylons erected but not completed by
his father, Amenhotep III.
His Impact and LegacyWhat Akhenaten did may not have been a revolu-
tionary change, nor was it some new revelation in
religion. Musicians and poets may have been
influenced by Akhenaten’s contemplations during
the Akhetaten period; certainly Egypt had a his-
tory of philosophical and artistic responses to
national political developments. The society was
not nearly as static as some early scholars had
contended.
Indeed, powerful movements have always
affected the social, architectural, and artistic life of
a society. Take the impact of Akhenaten’s Great
Hymn to Aten. Some compare it to Psalm 104 in the
Bible. There are similarities in structure and style.
But the significance of Akhenaten’s hymns must be
in the known drama of his transformation, that is,
whereas Ra, the Almighty God, was identified with
the sun, Akhenaten reaches for a new solarization
based on a common ground of religious experimen-
tation started in the Middle Kingdom.
It is excessive to speak of Akhenaten as creat-
ing monotheism. Amenhotep IV chose to worship
the visible aspects of the sun, whereas Ra, repre-
sented by the more invisible power of the sun, had
been seen as the Almighty much longer.
The Words of the Philosopher
So what is meant by these words from the tomb
of Ay, where Akhenaten says of Aten:
“How great are your deeds,
Though hidden from sight,
Only God beside whom there is none other!”Or when he says,“You alone, shining in your form of living
Aten,
Risen, radiant, distant, near.
You made millions of forms from yourself
alone.”
Or when we read,
“You are in my heart,
There is no other who knows you,
Only your son, Neferkheperaru, unique one
of Ra,
Whom you have taught your ways and your
might.”Few scholars would make the claim today that
Akhenaten was the “father of monotheism.” The
fact is that there is no such person, male or
female. The originality of Akhenaten must be
found in the turning of the rays of the sun into a
physical reality. He gave the world a creator who
had physical hands that reached within the range
of humanity. Indeed, he had Aten’s name placed
in ashenu, cartouche, like that of earthly kings.
The image was easy to understand, and he did
not have to rely on a trained clergy to teach
people about the everyday fact of the sun disk
and its rays. It could be seen with a person’s own
eyes. Accordingly, Aten provided humans with an
immediate appreciation of the divine, in contrast
to Amen, who was hidden.The Last Years of His Reign
In the last 3 years of his reign, Akhenaten
seemed to have had a coregency with
Neferneferuaten Smenkhare, who may have ruled
alone for an extra 2 years. Nevertheless, the last
days at Akhetaten are confused in the literature
because of contradictory evidence. For example,
there is a scene in the tomb of Merire showing the
image of Akhenaten, Smenkare, and Meritaten
together, yet there is almost nothing about the life
or the reign of Smenkare. The town of Akhetaten
was abandoned when Tutankhamen took over the
throne from Smenkhare. The body of Smenkare,
who died at 20, was found in a tomb in the Valley32 Akhenaten