Atenism

Last updated
Limestone relief at Amarna depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their children adoring Aten, c. 1372-1355 BC La salle dAkhenaton (1356-1340 av J.C.) (Musee du Caire) (2076972086).jpg
Limestone relief at Amarna depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their children adoring Aten, c.1372–1355 BC

Atenism, also known as the Aten religion, [1] the Amarna religion, [2] and the Amarna heresy, was a religion in ancient Egypt. It was founded by Akhenaten, a pharaoh who ruled the New Kingdom under the Eighteenth Dynasty. [3] The religion is described as monotheistic or monolatristic, although some Egyptologists argue that it was actually henotheistic. [4] Atenism was centred on the cult of Aten, a god depicted as the disc of the Sun. Aten was originally an aspect of Ra, Egypt's traditional solar deity, though he was later asserted by Akhenaten as being the superior of all deities. [5] In the 14th century BC, Atenism was Egypt's state religion for around 20 years, and Akhenaten met the worship of other gods with persecution; he closed many traditional temples, instead commissioning the construction of Atenist temples, and also suppressed religious traditionalists. However, subsequent pharaohs toppled the movement in the aftermath of Akhenaten's death, thereby restoring Egyptian civilization's traditional polytheistic religion. Large-scale efforts were then undertaken to remove from Egypt and Egyptian records any presence or mention of Akhenaten, Atenist temples, and assertions of a uniquely supreme god.

Contents

History of Aten before Akhenaten

The word Aten (Ancient Egyptian : jtn ), meaning "circle", "disc", and later "sun disc", is first found in the 24th century BC Abusir Papyri, discovered in the mortuary temple of the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai. [6] Aten, the god of Atenism, first appears as a god in texts dating to the Twelfth Dynasty, in the Story of Sinuhe . [7] During the Middle Kingdom, Aten "as the sun disk...was merely one aspect of the sun god Re." [5] It was a relatively obscure sun god; without the Atenist period, it would barely have figured in Egyptian history. Although there are indications that it was becoming slightly more important during the eighteenth dynasty, notably Amenhotep III's naming of his royal barge as Spirit of the Aten, it was Amenhotep IV who introduced the Atenist revolution in a series of steps culminating in the official installment of the Aten as Egypt's sole god. Although each line of kings prior to the reign of Akhenaten [5] had previously adopted one deity as the royal patron and supreme state god, there had never been an attempt to exclude other deities, and the multitude of gods had always been tolerated and worshipped. During the reign of Thutmose IV, it was identified as a distinct solar god, and his son Amenhotep III established and promoted a separate cult for the Aten. However, there is no evidence that Amenhotep III neglected the other gods or attempted to promote the Aten as an exclusive deity.[ citation needed ]

Atenist Egypt

Amenhotep IV initially introduced Atenism in the fifth year of his reign (1348/1346 BC), raising Aten to the status of supreme god, initially permitting continued worship of the traditional gods. [8] Later Akhenaten forbade the worship of other gods, a radical departure from the centuries of Egyptian religious practice. [9] [10] To emphasise the change, Aten's name was written in the cartouche form normally reserved for Pharaohs, an innovation of Atenism. The religious reformation appears to coincide with the proclamation of a Sed festival, a sort of royal jubilee intended to reinforce the Pharaoh's divine powers of kingship. Traditionally held in the thirtieth year of the Pharaoh's reign, it possibly was a festival in honour of Amenhotep III. Some Egyptologists think that he had a coregency with Amenhotep IV of 2–12 years.

The name of god Amun was erased, probably during the Amarna era of Akhenaten. Detail of stela of Djeserka, a doorkeeper of the Amun temple at Thebes. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London The name of god Amun was erased, probably during Amarna era of Akhenaten. Detail of stela of Djeserka, a doorkeeper of the Amun temple at Thebes. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg
The name of god Amun was erased, probably during the Amarna era of Akhenaten. Detail of stela of Djeserka, a doorkeeper of the Amun temple at Thebes. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
Hieroglyphs on the backpillar of Amenhotep III's statue. There are 2 places where Akhenaten's agents erased the name Amun, later restored on a deeper surface. The British Museum, London Hieroglyphs on the backpillar of Amenhotep III's statue. There are 2 places where Akhenaten's agents erased the name Amun, later restored on a deeper surface. The British Museum, London.jpg
Hieroglyphs on the backpillar of Amenhotep III's statue. There are 2 places where Akhenaten's agents erased the name Amun, later restored on a deeper surface. The British Museum, London

The fifth year is believed to mark the beginning of Amenhotep IV's construction of a new capital, Akhetaten (Horizon of the Aten), at the site known today as Amarna. Evidence appears on three of the boundary stelae used to mark the boundaries of this new capital. Then, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten (Spirit of the Aten) as evidence of his new worship. The date given for the event has been estimated to fall around January 2 of that year. In the seventh year of his reign (1346/1344 BC), the capital was moved from Thebes to Akhetaten, but construction of the city seems to have continued for two more years. In shifting his court from the traditional ceremonial centres, he was signalling a dramatic transformation in the focus of religious and political power.

The move separated the Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and from the traditional centres of worship, but his decree had deeper religious significance too. Taken in conjunction with his name change, it is possible that the move to Amarna was also meant as a signal of Akhenaten's symbolic death and rebirth. It may also have coincided with the death of his father and the end of the coregency. In addition to constructing a new capital in honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive temple complexes in ancient Egypt, including one at Karnak and one at Thebes, close to the old temple of Amun.

Detail of funerary stela of Amenemhat. The name of God Amun was erased by Akhenaten's agents. Limestone, painted. From Egypt, early 18th Dynasty. The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Detail of funerary stela of Amenemhat. The name of God Amun was erased by Akhenaten's agents. Limestone, painted. From Egypt, early 18thh Dynasty. The Burrell Collection, Glasgow.jpg
Detail of funerary stela of Amenemhat. The name of God Amun was erased by Akhenaten's agents. Limestone, painted. From Egypt, early 18th Dynasty. The Burrell Collection, Glasgow

In the ninth year of his reign (1344/1342 BC), Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion, declaring Aten not merely the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon but the only God of Egypt, with himself as the sole intermediary between the Aten and the Egyptian people. Key features of Atenism included a ban on idols and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten. Aten was addressed by Akhenaten in prayers, such as the Great Hymn to the Aten : "O sole God beside whom there is none". Aten's name is also written differently after the ninth year of the Pharaoh's rule to emphasise the radicalism of the new regime. Aten, instead of being written with the symbol of a rayed solar disc, now became spelled phonetically.

The details of Atenist theology are still unclear. The exclusion of all but one god and the prohibition of idols was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition, but some scholars see Akhenaten as a practitioner of monolatry or henotheism rather than monotheism, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods. He simply refrained from worshipping any but Aten. These reforms were later reversed by his successor Pharaoh Tutankhamen. [9] [11]

Some historians argue that only Akhenaten and Nefertiti could worship Aten directly. [10]

Contrast with traditional Egyptian religion

Akhenaten carried out a radical program of religious reform. For about twenty years, he largely supplanted the age-old beliefs and practices of the Egyptian state religion, and deposed its religious hierarchy, headed by the powerful priesthood of Amun at Thebes. For fifteen centuries, the Egyptians had worshiped an extended family of gods and goddesses, each of which had its own elaborate system of priests, temples, shrines and rituals. A key feature of the cults was the veneration of images and statues of the gods, which were worshipped in the dark confines of the temples.

The pinnacle of the religious hierarchy was the Pharaoh, both king and living god. The administration of the Egyptian kingdom was thus inextricably bound up with and largely controlled by the power and influence of the priests and scribes. Akhenaten's reforms cut away both the philosophical and economic bases of priestly power, abolishing the cults of all other deities and, with them, the large and lucrative industry of sacrifices and tributes that the priests controlled.

At the same time, he strengthened the role of the Pharaoh. Dominic Montserrat, analyzing the various versions of the hymns to the Aten, argues that all versions of the hymns focus on the king; he suggests that the real innovation is to redefine the relationship of god and king in a way that benefited Akhenaten, quoting a statement of Egyptologist John Baines: "Amarna religion was a religion of god and king, or even of king first and then god". [12] [13]

Initially, Akhenaten presented Aten to the Egyptian people as a variant of the familiar supreme deity Amun-Ra (itself the result of an earlier rise to prominence of the cult of Amun, resulting in Amun becoming merged with the sun god Ra), in an attempt to put his ideas in a familiar religious context. 'Aten' is the name given to the solar disc, and the god's full title on boundary steles of the new capital was "Ra-Horus, who rejoices in the horizon in his name of the light which is in the sun disc".

However, in the ninth year of his reign, Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion by declaring Aten not merely the supreme god but the only god, and Akhenaten as the son of Aten was the only intermediary between the Aten and his people. [14] He ordered the defacing of Amun's temples throughout Egypt. Key features of Atenism included a ban on idols and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc in which the rays, commonly depicted as ending in hands, appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten. Later still, even this was done away with. [15] [16]

Amarna art

Relief depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti with three of their daughters under the rays of Aten. Relief depicting Akhenaton and Nefertiti with three of their daughters under the rays of Aton 01 (cropped).jpg
Relief depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti with three of their daughters under the rays of Aten.

Styles of art that flourished during the brief period are markedly different from other Egyptian art. They bear a variety of affectations, from elongated heads to protruding stomachs, exaggerated ugliness, and the beauty of Nefertiti. Significantly, for the only time in the history of Egyptian royal art, Akhenaten's family was depicted in a decidedly naturalistic manner. It is clearly shown displaying affection.

Images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti usually depict the Aten prominently above that pair, with the hands of the Aten closest to each offering Ankhs. Unusually for New Kingdom art, the Pharaoh and his wife are depicted as approximately equal in size, with Nefertiti's image used to decorate the lesser Aten temple at Amarna. That may suggest that she also had a prominent official role in Aten worship.

Artistic representations of Akhenaten usually give him an unusual appearance, with slender limbs, a protruding belly and wide hips. Other leading figures of the Amarna period, both royal and otherwise, are also shown with some of these features, suggesting a possible religious connotation, especially as some sources suggest that private representations of Akhenaten, as opposed to official art, show him as quite normal. It is also suggested by Brier [17] that the family suffered from Marfan's syndrome, which is known to cause elongated features, which may explain Akhenaten's appearance.

Decline

Aten Aten.svg
Aten

The collapse of Atenism began during Akhenaten's late reign when a major plague spread across the ancient Near East. This pandemic appears to have claimed the lives of numerous royal family members and high-ranking officials, possibly contributing to the decline of Akhenaten's government. The events of this period are not well known due to the paucity and fragmentary nature of surviving sources. According to the most likely scenario, the widespread deaths due to the plague caused Akhenaten to appoint two co-regents in quick succession: Smenkhkare and Neferneferuaten. The origin of both is not attested, though it has been speculated that Smenkhkare was a younger brother of Akhenaten, whereas Neferneferuaten was in fact, Queen Nefertiti. Smenkhkare died after a short reign, eventually leaving Neferneferuaten as the acting regent of Egypt. [18]

Though Akhenaten's last years saw possibly the most aggressive repression of Amun and, less likely, other gods, his death quickly resulted in the resurgence of the old cults. Neferneferuaten appears to have attempted to reach some accommodation with the Amun priesthood, while still preserving a less exclusive form of Atenism. [19] After a few years, however, Neferneferuaten disappeared, and her successor Tutankhaten (with Akhenaten's old vizier, Ay, as regent) changed his name to Tutankhamun in the third year of his reign (c. 1330 BC), restored power to the Amun priesthood, and moved the capital away from Akhetaten, perhaps to Memphis, or, less likely, Thebes. [19]

The following two decades saw Atenism's terminal decline. Most of the temples that Akhenaten had built from talatat blocks, including the temple at Thebes, were disassembled, reused as a source of building materials and decorations for other temples, and inscriptions to Aten were defaced. Though Akhetaten was not fully abandoned, and the local Aten temple continued to function, most residents left over time. After Ay's short rule as pharaoh in his own right following Tutankhamun's death, his general, Horemheb, a non-royal, came to power. He ordered a purge of the Amarna Period rulers, removing Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Neferneferuaten, Tutankhamun, and Ay from the official lists of Pharaohs, and destroying their monuments, including most remaining Aten temples. [20] Nevertheless, the Aten temple in Akhetaten was still in use during Horemheb's first years, suggesting that the purge was not universal, perhaps leaving some small pockets of Atenism in Egypt. [21]

Though this marked the de facto end of Atenism, the revolutionary cult left some lasting impact on ancient Egyptian religion. For example, some changes in funerary rites during the Amarna Period remained in place under Horemheb and his successors. [22]

Because of the monolatristic or monotheistic character of Atenism, a link to Judaism (or other monotheistic religions) has been suggested by various writers. For example, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud assumed Akhenaten to be the pioneer of monotheistic religion and Moses as Akhenaten's follower in his book Moses and Monotheism .

The modern Druze regard their religion as being descended from and influenced by older monotheistic and mystic movements, including Atenism. [23] In particular, they attribute the Tawhid's first public declaration to Akhenaten. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tutankhamun</span> Pharaoh of ancient Egypt (18th Dynasty)

Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled c. 1332 – 1323 BC during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he was likely a son of Akhenaten, thought to be the KV55 mummy. His mother was identified through DNA testing as The Younger Lady buried in KV35; she was a full sister of her husband.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aten</span> Ancient Egyptian god

Aten also Aton, Atonu, or Itn was the focus of Atenism, the religious system formally established in ancient Egypt by the late Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Exact dating for the 18th dynasty is contested, though a general date range places the dynasty in the years 1550 to 1292 B.C.E. The worship of Aten and the coinciding rule of Akhenaten are major identifying characteristics of a period within the 18th dynasty referred to as the Amarna Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akhenaten</span> 18th Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh

Akhenaten, also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth year of his reign, he was known as Amenhotep IV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nefertiti</span> Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten

Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centered on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history. After her husband's death, some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as the female king known by the throne name, Neferneferuaten and before the ascension of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. If Nefertiti did rule as Pharaoh, her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiye</span> Queen consort of Egypt

Tiye was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. In 2010, DNA analysis confirmed her as the mummy known as "The Elder Lady" found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) in 1898.

Monolatry is the belief in the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity. The term monolatry was perhaps first used by Julius Wellhausen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smenkhkare</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Smenkhkare was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of unknown background who lived and ruled during the Amarna Period of the 18th Dynasty. Smenkhkare was husband to Meritaten, the daughter of his likely co-regent, Akhenaten. Since the Amarna period was subject to a large-scale condemnation of memory by later Pharaohs, very little can be said of Smenkhkare with certainty, and he has hence been subject to immense speculation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiya</span> Queen consort of Egypt

Kiya was one of the wives of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and her actions and roles are poorly documented in the historical record, in contrast to those of Akhenaten's 'Great royal wife', Nefertiti. Her unusual name suggests that she may originally have been a Mitanni princess. Surviving evidence demonstrates that Kiya was an important figure at Akhenaten's court during the middle years of his reign, when she had a daughter with him. She disappears from history a few years before her royal husband's death. In previous years, she was thought to be mother of Tutankhamun, but recent DNA evidence suggests this is unlikely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ay (pharaoh)</span> Egyptian pharaoh of the late 18th Dynasty (14th century BCE)

Ay was the penultimate pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 18th Dynasty. He held the throne of Egypt for a brief four-year period in the late 14th century BC. Prior to his rule, he was a close advisor to two, and perhaps three, other pharaohs of the dynasty. It is speculated that he was the power behind the throne during child ruler Tutankhamun's reign. His prenomenKheperkheperure means "Everlasting are the Manifestations of Ra", while his nomenAy it-netjer reads as "Ay, Father of the God". Records and monuments that can be clearly attributed to Ay are rare, both because his reign was short and because his successor, Horemheb, instigated a campaign of damnatio memoriae against him and the other pharaohs associated with the unpopular Amarna Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meritaten</span> Great Royal Wife, Kings Daughter

Meritaten, also spelled Merytaten, Meritaton or Meryetaten, was an ancient Egyptian royal woman of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means "She who is beloved of Aten"; Aten being the sun-deity whom her father, Pharaoh Akhenaten, worshipped. She held several titles, performing official roles for her father and becoming the Great Royal Wife to Pharaoh Smenkhkare, who may have been a brother or son of Akhenaten. Meritaten also may have served as pharaoh in her own right under the name Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ankhesenamun</span> Royal Wife of Tutankhamun

Ankhesenamun was a queen who lived during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Born Ankhesenpaaten, she was the third of six known daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti. She became the Great Royal Wife of Tutankhamun. The change in her name reflects the changes in ancient Egyptian religion during her lifetime after her father's death. Her youth is well documented in the ancient reliefs and paintings of the reign of her parents.

The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten in what is now Amarna. It was marked by the reign of Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in order to reflect the dramatic change of Egypt's polytheistic religion into one where the sun disc Aten was worshipped over all other gods. The Egyptian pantheon was restored under Akhenaten's successor, Tutankhamun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amarna art</span> Ancient Egyptian artistic period

Amarna art, or the Amarna style, is a style adopted in the Amarna Period during and just after the reign of Akhenaten in the late Eighteenth Dynasty, during the New Kingdom. Whereas Ancient Egyptian art was famously slow to change, the Amarna style was a significant and sudden break from its predecessors both in the style of depictions, especially of people, and the subject matter. The artistic shift appears to be related to the king's religious reforms centering on the monotheistic or monolatric worship of the Aten, the disc of the Sun, as giver of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meketaten</span> Daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti

Meketaten was the second of six daughters born to the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti. She likely lived between Year 4 and Year 14 of Akhenaten's reign. Although little is known about her, she is frequently depicted with her sisters accompanying her royal parents in the first two-thirds of the Amarna Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neferneferuaten Tasherit</span> Kings Daughter

Neferneferuaten Tasherit or Neferneferuaten the younger was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 18th Dynasty and the fourth daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti.

Ankhkheperure-Merit-Neferkheperure/Waenre/Aten Neferneferuaten was a name used to refer to a female king who reigned toward the end of the Amarna Period during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Her gender is confirmed by feminine traces occasionally found in the name and by the epithet Akhet-en-hyes, incorporated into one version of her nomen cartouche. She is distinguished from the king Smenkhkare who used the same throne name, Ankhkheperure, by the presence of epithets in both cartouches. She is suggested to have been either Smenkhkare's wife, Meritaten or, his predecessor's widow, Nefertiti. If this person is Nefertiti ruling as sole king, it has been theorized by Egyptologist and archaeologist Zahi Hawass that her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.

Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. With the 11th Dynasty, Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Montu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt</span> Dynasty of Egypt from c. 1550 to 1292 BCE

The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty spanned the period from 1550/1549 to 1292 BC. This dynasty is also known as the Thutmoside Dynasty) for the four pharaohs named Thutmose.

The Amarna Era includes the reigns of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun and Ay. The period is named after the capital city established by Akhenaten, son of Amenhotep III. Akhenaten started his reign as Amenhotep IV, but changed his name when he discarded all other religions and declared the Aten or sun disc as the only god. He closed all the temples of the other Gods and removed their names from the monuments. Smenkhkare, then Tutankhamun, succeeded Akhenaten. Discarding Akhenten's religious beliefs, Tutankhamun returned to the traditional gods. He died young and was succeeded by Ay. Many kings did their best to remove all traces of the period from the records. The Amarna art is very distinctive: the royal family was portrayed with extended heads, long necks and narrow chests. They had skinny limbs, but heavy hips and thighs, with a marked stomach.

<i>A God Against the Gods</i> Book by Allen Drury

A God Against the Gods is a 1976 historical novel by political novelist Allen Drury, which chronicles ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten's attempt to establish a new religion in Egypt. It is told in a series of monologues by the various characters.

References

  1. Dodson 2016, p. 204, Cairo; New York City.
  2. Assmann 2004, p. 180, Leiden; Boston.
  3. Ridley 2019, Cairo; New York.
  4. Darnell, J. C., & Manassa, C. (2007). Tutankhamun's Armies: Battle and conquest during ancient Egypt's Late Eighteenth Dynasty. John Wiley & Sons.
  5. 1 2 3 David (1998), p. 124.
  6. Redford 1976, p. 47, Alexandria, Virginia; Cairo.
  7. Petrie, William Matthew Flinders (2013), "The Adventures of Sanehat", Egyptian Tales, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 97–142, doi:10.1017/cbo9781107325203.005, ISBN   978-1-107-32520-3 , retrieved 2021-03-09
  8. David (1998), p. 125.
  9. 1 2 Brewer, Douglas j.; Emily Teeter (22 February 2007). Egypt and the Egyptians (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 105. ISBN   978-0-521-85150-3.
  10. 1 2 Hart, George (2005). The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses (2nd ed.). Routledge. p.  39. ISBN   978-0-415-34495-1.
  11. Simson Najovits, Egypt, the Trunk of the Tree. A Modern Survey of an Ancient Land, II, New York, 2004, pp. 132-136.
  12. Montserrat, Dominic (2002). Akhenaten: History, fantasy and ancient Egypt. Routledge. p. 40. ISBN   978-0415301862.
  13. Baines, John (1998). "The Dawn of the Amarna Age". In O'Connor, David; Cline, Eric (eds.). Amenhotep III: Perspectives on his reign. University of Michigan Press. p. 281.
  14. Reeves, Nicholas (2005). Akhenaton: Egypt's false prophet. Thames & Hudson. p. 146. ISBN   0-500-28552-7.
  15. Brewer, Douglas J.; Teeter, Emily (22 February 2007). Egypt and the Egyptians (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 105. ISBN   978-0-521-85150-3.
  16. Najovits, Simson (2004). Egypt, the Trunk of the Tree. A modern survey of an ancient land. Vol. II. New York, NY. pp.  132-136.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. Brier, Bob. The Murder of Tutankhamen.[ full citation needed ]
  18. Dodson (2016), pp. 143–146.
  19. 1 2 Dodson (2016), pp. 144–146.
  20. Dodson (2016), pp. 146–150.
  21. Dodson (2016), p. 150.
  22. Dodson (2016), p. 151.
  23. Obeid & Ubayd (2006), p. 96.
  24. Obeid & Ubayd (2006), pp. 96, 139.
  25. "Akhnaton - Play by Agatha Christie". www.agathachristie.com. Retrieved 2022-10-13.

Sources

Further reading