TimelessReflections on Egypt and Akhenaten - and an Invitation

Gayle Gibson September 2011

Mena House

1869, a hunting lodge for Ismail Pasha

A hotel since 1886First swimming

pool in EgyptGolf course!Great music and

restaurants

Cairo: many historiesmodern lives

Modern times get in your eyes

Over 125 pyramids in

Egypt

Dashur

Meidum

Sakkara : TetiNot all pyramids appear to be great.

Kings and Gods

Khafre 2520 - 2494

Sakkara

• Sakkara is the ancient

necropolis at theplace where the two lands meet.• Memphis was the capital city throughoutmost of the EgyptianhistoryDay 5

SAKKARA

Step Pyramid ofKing Djoser, circa 2650 bce

First large scale stonebuilding in the world

Architect ImhotepRemained a sacred site until the end of

Egyptian civilization.

The Memphite Theology

Through the heart and through the tongue something developed into Atum’s image.

And great and important is Ptahwho gave life to all the gods and their kas as wellthrough his heart and through his tongue. . . . The teeth and the lips in his mouth

pronounced the name of everything . . . So were all the gods born.

Atum, the Creator

The Fayuum

Amenemhet III

1844-1794 bce

Osiris

King of the DeadJudge who guarantees

justice in the next lifeDuring the night, the Sun

god’s body rests in the body of Osiris and arises refreshed and renewed.

He guarantees eternal life to all just souls, rich or poor, powerful or humble.

Tomb of Horemheb

Karanis – Kom AushimFounded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, abandoned circa 500 ce.

Lake Qarun

Wadi el Hitan

Basilosaurus

Seth / Sutekh

The god of the wild, rich deserts: powerful, violent, unpredictable.

Wadi el Rayan

Middle Egypt

Akhetaten (Amarna)

A site that belonged to no god

Far from usual centers of power

Eighteenth Dynasty1570 - 1293

Ahmose I 1570 – 1546Amenhotep I 1551 – 1524Tuthmosis I 1524 – 1518Tuthmosis II 1518 – 1504Hatshepsut 1498 - 1483Tuthmosis III 1504 – 1450Amenhotep II 1453 – 1419Tuthmosis IV 1419 – 1386Amenhotep III 1386 – 1349Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten 1350 –

1334Tutankhamun 1334 - 1325

Heroes (but not gods)

Occupation and The War of Liberation 1663 – 1555

Sekenenre Ta’a II c. 1574

Tuthmosis I

Sekenenre Tao

Tuthmosid Family and Amun-Re

Amun –Re: The Hidden and the

Visible You are the creator, the one who brings forth those who are born,with your mouth, your eyes and your arms

The Nile is seething in its cave waiting to come forth from you.

King of endless time, highest of gods, they see and live by you.

The heavens carry your ba and raise your shining light,

The underworld receives your corpse and shelters your body,

The land bears your image.People rejoice and praise your name.

May you let me see your beauty in the morning

Let your rays spread out over my breast

The Royal

Underworld

KV 34 Tuthmosis III

Theology and Tradition

The Woman King:

Hatshepsut

Thutmosis III

Thutmosis IV – pyramid envy?

Thutmosis IV

Amenhotep III

- Became king at 11 years of age

- Ruled for 38 years

- No major wars

- Tremendous wealth

Massive, continuous building projects

Amenhotep III

The Magnificent

A god among the gods

1391-1353

Kom el Heitan

The largest temple ever builtall in one go, for one god

Amenhotep sa Hapu

Sage and architect

Fear and Sickness?

720 statues of Sakhmet carved.

palace relocatedto Malkata, a site south of Thebes, on the West Bank.

The problem of sons . . .

Crown Prince Djutmose

Amenhotep IVAnother boy-king, with his mother

1353 - 1335

Nefertiti The beautiful woman has come

TheAten

Akhetaten (Amarna)

A site that belonged to no god

Far from usual centers of power

Far from temples of Amun

Far from disease?- An asylum for a mad

teenaged king?

Barry Kemp, C.B.E.

A Ceremonial Capital and a Political Capital

Two boundary stele, North and South to address Thebes and Memphis

As for the western stela, I shall not go past it to the west forever and ever.

As for the north-eastern stela . . . I shall not go past it downstream forever and ever.

The King would have been in his early twenties.

Amarna - Akhetaten

• One generation

The Great Aten Temple

The Religion of Light

The Hymn to the SunYou create millions in your own image, you

the One, . . . All eyes observe you facing them, whilst as the sun of the day you stand over

the earth.. . . You are in my heart,

and there is no other who knows youexcept your son, Akhenaten.

You make him feel your love and care.The world comes into being at your command,

you create everything.When you have dawned, they live,

when you set, they die.

The Royal Family

Amarna princesses

The Waters said to Atum:

Kiss your daughter Order,

Put her to your nose and your heart will live.

Coffin Text 80

Royal chariot rides replace processions of the gods

Innovations

Changes in art, especially in the portrayal of the king and the introduction of scenes of royal domesticity.

Changes in written language to make it conform more closely to the spoken language.

Changes in religion, with a renewed emphasis on the uniqueness of the sungod, and of the king’s relationship with him.

Change in the role of the king’s Great Royal Wife.

Heaven on

Earth?

The Workers’ Village:All neat & tidy . . .?

Lives of the Have-Nots

Jessica Galea & Osteology Team

Workers’ Cemetery

• "the impact of the deaths among the teenagers doesn't have an equivalent in any other place of Egypt, and at no other historic period [... ] By the age of 20, two thirds had died". And again: the size of Egyptians men has "never been found as low during all the history of the country".

Death in High Places

Tombs of the Nobles : Ay

Tomb of Mahu

Nefertiti and Six Daughters

A death in the family

The King’s Wife, His Greatly Beloved, Kiya

Tutankhaten

King Tut’s mother

An unknown princess, full sister of Akhenaten. Kiya?

Brutally murdered?

The Common Enemy

Hittite plague prayersO Stormgod of Hatti, my Lord, and gods of Hatti, Mursilis your servant has sent me, saying . . . “What is this that you have done? You have let loose plague in the interior of the land.And the land of Hatti has been sorely, greatly

oppressed bythe plague. Under my father and under my brother,

there was constant dying. . . Behold, it is twenty years since people have

been dying continually.Will the plague never be eliminated . . .? I cannot overcome the worry from my heart.I cannot over come the anguish in my soul.

Amenhotep sa Hapu and the King

Memories in Josephus

The king conceived a desire to see the gods, as Or, one of his predecessors had done, and he communicated his desire to his namesake, Amenophis, Paapis’ son, who in virtue of his wisdom and knowledge of the future was reputed to be a partaker in the divine nature.

The Namesake replied that he would be able to see the gods if he cleansed the whole land of lepers and other polluted persons . . .

The king was delighted and assembled all those whose bodies were wasted by disease and they numbered 80,000. These he cast into the stone quarries to the east of the Nile, there to work segregated from the other Egyptians. Among them were learned priests . . . Then the wise seer was filled with dread for himself and the king if the outrage should be discovered. . . . He left a full account of it in writing, and took his own life.

Akhenaten

“The First Individual in History” The Criminal

The prayers of Pawah:My wish is to see you, O Lord of persea

trees! May your throat take the north wind, that you may give fullness without eating and drunkenness without drinking.

My wish is to look at you, that my heart might rejoice, O Amun, protector of the poor man; you are the father of the one who has no mother and the husband of the widow.

Pleasant is the utterance of your name: it is like the taste of life; it is like the taste of bread to a child, a loincloth to the naked, like the taste of cucumber in the hot season.

You are like the taste of favour from the ruler, the breeze of freedom to him who was in prison, peace to the troubled man . . .

Come back to us, O Lord of Continuity! You were here before anything had come into being, and you will be here when they are gone. As you have caused me to see the darkness that is yours to give, make light for me so that I can see you. As your ka endures, and as your handsome, beloved face endures, may you come from afar and allow this servant, the scribe Pawah, to see you.

The Heretic’s Fate

Was Nefertiti King ?

Tutankhamun’s Restoration Stele

The country was suffering from a diseaseThe gods no longer cared about this

country.If an army was sent to Syria to expand the

borders of Egypt,it was denied any success.

If one prayed to a god to ask his council, he did not appear at all.

If one prayed to some goddess, she too did not appear at all.

Their hearts themselves had grown tired:They destroyed their creation.

Tutankhamun + Ankhesenamun

Archaeological missions, who often discover new antiquities in the course of their work, are a worry to the regional police. But at the same time the officers assured me that they had no concerns about tourists visiting Amarna and neighbouring sites, and that is the opinion I have formed, too. If you are planning a visit, do come.

Barry Kemp, Summer 2011

Rahotep and Nefret

Meryre and Anuy