Story. Biography Amenhotep the fourth abolished the cults of the old gods

And a great reformer. His wife is the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. The reign of this couple fell on the Amarna period. What made Akhenaten and Nefertiti famous for the short period of their reign? Among all the great queens of Egypt, only the name of the most beautiful and revered ruler remained on hearing. Infrequently, the pharaohs allowed their wives to rule, but Nefertiti was not just a wife - she became a queen during her lifetime, whom they prayed for, whose mental abilities were extolled so highly. "Perfect" - that's what her contemporaries called her, extolled her merits and beauty.

Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton)

Akhenaten was not supposed to rule Egypt as he had an older brother. But Thutnos died during the reign of his father, so Amenhotep became the legitimate heir. In the last years of his life, the pharaoh was seriously ill, and the opinion of historians is that the youngest son was co-ruler at that time. However, for how long such a joint rule lasted could not be established.

After the death of his father, Amenhotep becomes pharaoh and begins to rule the country, which by this time has achieved great power and influence. Queen Teie, famous for her prudence and wisdom, helped her son in the early years. She skillfully directed his thoughts in the right direction and gave wise advice.

New religion

During the reign of the pharaoh, the cult of the Sun reached unprecedented heights. The previously not so popular Aten (the sun god) becomes the center of religion. A grandiose temple for the highest deity is being built using new technologies. Aten himself is depicted as a man with the head of a falcon. God was given the status of pharaoh, the border between Amenhotep and the sun was erased. To top it off, he changes his name to Akhenaten, which means "useful to the Aten." All members of the family, as well as the most important dignitaries, were also renamed.

In order to establish a new deity, a new city is being built. First of all, a huge palace was erected for the pharaoh. He did not wait for the completion of construction and moved along with the entire court from Thebes. The temple for the Aten was erected immediately after the palace. Residential quarters and other buildings for residents were built from inexpensive materials, while the palace and temple were made of white stone.

Pharaoh's wives. Nefertiti

Akhenaten's first wife was Nefertiti. They were married before his ascension to the throne. To the question of at what age girls were taken as wives by the pharaohs: they became brides from 12-15 years old. The future husband of Nefertiti was several years older than her. The girl was unusually pretty, her name literally translates as "the beauty has come." This may indicate that the first wife of the pharaoh was not an Egyptian. It has not yet been possible to find confirmation of its foreign origin. The wife supported Akhenaten in everything, she contributed to the elevation of Aten to the rank of the highest deity. On the walls of the temple there are much more of her images than of the pharaoh himself. The wife could not give him a son: during their marriage, she gave birth to six daughters.

Nefertiti raised the son of Akhenaten's sister. He would later become the husband of one of her daughters, Ankhesenpaaten, and rule Egypt under the name of Tutankhamen. The girl will change her name to Ankhesenamun. One of the daughters of the royal solar couple will die in childhood, the other will be given in marriage to her brother. The fate of the rest of the story is unknown.

Nefertiti and Akhenaten appeared everywhere together. Her greatness and significance can be judged by the fact that she was allowed to accompany her husband during the sacrifices. They prayed to her in the temples of the Aten, and all the actions were carried out exclusively in her presence. During her lifetime, she became a symbol of the prosperity of all of Egypt. There are many frescoes and statues of this beautiful woman. On the walls of the Akhenaten Palace there are many joint images of the pharaoh and his wife. They are captured at the moment of the kiss, with children on their knees, there are separate images of daughters. None of the wives of the pharaohs of Egypt was honored with such honors as this person.

Decline of the popularity of Queen Nefertiti

Now no one can say what caused her disappearance from the political arena and the family life of the pharaoh. Probably, after the death of the daughter, the relationship of the spouses to each other changed. Or Akhenaten could not forgive the beauty for the absence of an heir. Evidence of her life after the reign is a statue depicting Nefertiti in old age. Still beautiful, but already broken by years and hardships, the woman froze forever in a tight-fitting dress and light sandals. Undoubtedly, the rejection of her husband broke her, left her imprint on the royal face. The tomb of Nefertiti has not yet been discovered, which may confirm the assumption of her disgrace. Perhaps she outlived her husband, but they did not bury her with honors.

kiya

Queen Nefertiti was replaced by a not so beautiful and majestic Kiya. Presumably, she entered into marriage with the pharaoh in the fifth year of his reign. There is also no reliable information about its origin. One version says that the girl was the wife of Akhenaten's father and after death passed to the young pharaoh. There is no historical mention of her high position at court and any participation in the reign of the pharaoh. It is known that Kiya gave birth to a daughter. This is where the story of the Pharaoh's wife ends. Judging by the fact that her name was removed from the walls of the temple, the woman was disgraced. The burial of this wife of the pharaoh was not found. There are no conjectures and facts about the fate of her daughter either.

Taduhepa

This wife of the pharaoh also went to him by inheritance. The girl came to Egypt from Mitanni at the request of Amenhotep III. He chose her as his bride, but died shortly after her arrival. Akhenaten made Taduhepa his wife. Some scientists and researchers believe that Nefertiti or Kiya had this name before the reign, but no evidence of this theory has been found. A message from her father Tushratta to her future husband has been preserved, in which he negotiates the imminent marriage of his daughter. But this does not confirm the fact that the princess existed as a separate person. Historians also did not find any mention of joint children.

Death of the pharaoh

How Akhenaten died has not yet been established. There are murals depicting an attempt on the pharaoh with the help of poisoning. However, his mummy is required to establish the cause of death. Only a tomb was found in the family vault. There was no body inside, and she herself was practically destroyed. Scholars are still debating whether the man's mummy from tomb KV55 is Akhenaten.

Someone tried to keep it a secret by knocking off the name on the sarcophagus and tearing off the mask. DNA examination established that the body belongs to the close relatives of Tutankhamen. But it could be Smenkhkare, who was also of the same blood as the pharaohs. It is not yet possible to establish the exact origin of the mummy, but archaeologists do not lose hope of finding new tombs and regal bodies.

Rice. 1. Statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten from the Temple of the Aten at Karnak. Cairo Egyptian Museum. Egypt.

The situation at the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep

Even in his youth, Amenhotep IV became co-ruler of his father, who in the last years of his life was seriously ill. At this time, as in the first years of Amenhotep's independent reign, his mother, an intelligent and energetic queen, had a great influence on the conduct of public affairs. teye.

Rice. 2. Tia(Teye) - Akhenaten's mother. Sculpture in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.

At the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep, friendly relations existed with the kings of Mitanni and Babylonia. King Tushratta of Mitanni, asking the new pharaoh to extend the friendship between both courts, advised him to inquire about international affairs from his mother, and he himself asked the dowager queen to influence his son in a favorable sense. Also, the Babylonian king Burna-Buriash II sent a congratulatory letter to Amenhotep in connection with the accession of the latter to the throne, in which he assured the pharaoh of his further friendship. The Hittite king Suppiluliuma I also wrote him a letter in which he complained that he had not received an answer to his first letter and demanded that Amenhotep IV, like his father, be friendly with him and fulfill "brotherly" obligations. However, from the very beginning of his reign, Amenhotep was dissatisfied with Suppiluliuma I and did not even answer his first letter, in which the Hittite king, apparently, congratulated the Egyptian king on his accession to the throne. Apparently, there were serious disagreements between the Hittite kingdom and Egypt, which Suppiluliuma kept silent about in his letter.

Akhenaten's transformations

Reasons for reforms

The reign of Akhenaten was a time of incredible religious reform, which shook all the foundations of the traditional ancient Egyptian society, civilization and culture. The reasons for this reform of Akhenaten, sometimes called the Atonic Revolution, are not entirely clear. The capture by the Egyptian pharaohs of large booty during the wars of conquest in Western Asia and Nubia led to the extraordinary enrichment of the slave-owning aristocracy. The Theban high priesthood was especially enriched. The exorbitant strengthening of the Theban priesthood, closely connected with the old hereditary nobility and with the priesthood of local provincial cults, became dangerous for the royal power.

In addition, the origin of Amenhotep, the son of Queen Teye, who did not belong to the royal house, and, perhaps, even to the Egyptian people in general, according to the exact rules of succession, deprived this pharaoh of any legitimate right to the throne.. His deceased father, having married illegally and bypassing all the specific heirs of the royal blood by this marriage, thereby deprived the support of the legal right of his son. In the eyes of the priestly class, the young king was an illegal ruler, with all the ensuing consequences.

Other researchers suggest that the reform was necessary to create a common religion for closer consolidation of the vast Egyptian state, where each city worshiped its own god, often hostile to the god of another city. Such polytheism prevented the unification of the Egyptian people into a single whole.. (This is also a myth. Note. ed.)

Introduction of the Aten cult

Trying to strengthen his autocratic power, Amenhotep IV, relying on unborn service people, the so-called nemkhu (which meant "orphans", of course, in a figurative sense), opposed the priesthood and, first of all, against the priesthood of the main god Amun-Ra. The strength of the priesthood and the nobility closely associated with it, naturally, was based on religion. To weaken the enemy, it was necessary to deprive him of this ideological influence. At first Amenhotep seemed to tolerate the old order of things; on the first monuments of his reign, he still prays to Amun. Then Amenhotep gradually began to put forward, in contrast to the Theban god Amun, the cult of a previously little-known god Aton (Yati), personifying the solar disk. Having proclaimed himself the high priest of the new god, Amenhotep in the 3rd year of his reign began to build a temple in Thebes in his honor. In the 4th year, the decoration of the walls of the new temple began. Aten was depicted as a man with a falcon's head crowned with a solar circle.

Rice. 3. Akhenaten and Nefertiti with family. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ägyptisches Museum.

At the end of the 4th year of the reign, there is a sharp change in the attitude of the king, on the one hand, to the Aten, on the other, to the old gods. Akhenaten proclaimed himself an absolute deity, an eternal being, saving and leading to eternal death. The solar disk, Aten, was considered a heavenly, natural "icon" of the king himself. Therefore, the very image of Aton also changes. The former image of a man with a falcon's head, crowned with a solar circle, was replaced by a new one - a circle with a solar or royal snake (uraeus) in front and many rays directed downwards with human hands at the ends. But, despite this, the pharaoh, apparently, has not yet broken with the old priesthood. At the end of the same 4th year, after the "accession" of the Aten, the king entrusted the high priest of Amon Mai with the extraction of stone for his (pharaoh's) statue in the quarries of the Eastern Desert.

Founding of a new capital

Apparently, in the 6th year of the reign of Amenhotep IV, the struggle sharply escalates and soon reaches its climax. The pharaoh, together with his court, leaves the hated and hostile Thebes and, 300 km north of this center of worship of Amon-Ra, orders the founding of a new capital - Akhet-Aton (Ah-Yati, "Dawn of the Aten", now the settlement of Tel el-Amarna ). Somewhat earlier, the pharaoh renames himself Akhenaten (Ih-not-Aiti, "Useful for the Aten"). New personal names are also given to members of his family and his dignitaries.

Rice. 4. Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their family (enlarged fragment). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ägyptisches Museum . (At the top in the center is the “Aten disk” with rays (19 rays?!) in the form of hands. Akhenaten is on the left, and one of his daughters is in his arms. Queen Nefertiti is on the right. A little daughter is on her left shoulder, and another daughter is on her knees. Symbolically, the fresco shows the following scheme - 1st level - One Disc, 2nd level - Two figures - the pharaoh and his wife 3rd level - Three daughters, 4th level - Four pillows - 2nd under the buttocks and 2nd under the feet of the pharaoh and the queen.In fact, this is a symbolic image of the first four levels of the pyramid of the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe.Or an analogue of the sacred Tetractys of Pythagoras. This is discussed in detail in our article on the website in the section " Egyptology» — (Fig. 1). Note. ed.)

Until the 8th year of the reign of the pharaoh, the new capital was being intensively rebuilt. A huge palace of Akhenaten was built there, built mostly of white stone. This palace is considered the largest of all civil buildings of antiquity. Suffice it to say that the length of the eastern facade of the official part of the Main Palace was almost 700 m. The walls of the palace were covered with narrative and ornamental paintings, decorated with colored tiles; floors, ceilings, and stairs are colorfully painted; columns with complex capitals are painted and inlaid with colored faience. In addition to the main palace in Akhet-Atone several more palaces were built, smaller in size, but also luxuriously decorated. IN Akhet-Atone the main temple was built Aten, named " House of the Aten". It consisted of two huge stone structures inside a rectangular fence, stretched in length for a distance of 800 m. All this was surrounded by the mansions of royal dignitaries and extensive gardens.

Rice. 5. Plan — Temple of the Aten . Location: Egypt, Tel el-Amarna (on the east bank of the Nile, in 287 km south of Cairo, the capital of ancient Egypt Akhetaten) Years of construction: 14th c. BC. Currently, the temple is almost destroyed. "IN Akhet-Atone the main temple was built Aten, named " House of the Aten". It consisted of two huge stone structures inside a rectangular fence, stretched in length for a distance of 800 m. It is significant to note that on the left side of the plan, in " holy of holies » - Sanctuary ben bena. « Bennu (Ben-Ben)- in Egyptian mythology, a bird is an analogue of a phoenix. According to legend, it is the soul of the sun god Ra. The name is related to the word "veben", meaning "shine". According to legend, Bennu appeared from a fire that burned on a sacred tree in the courtyard of the temple of Ra.. According to another version Bennu escaped from the heart of Osiris. It was depicted as a gray, blue or white heron with a long beak and a crest of two feathers, as well as a yellow wagtail or an eagle with red and gold feathers. There are also images of Bennu in the form of a man with the head of a heron. Bennu personified the resurrection from the dead and the annual floods of the Nile. It symbolized the solar beginning. " Phoenix proclaims the beginning of a new cycle and thus serves " link between the pyramid and the stars of Orion, and more generally, is " soul» Osiris-king. IN " book of the dead” (Chapter 17) asks the question: “ Who is he?.. I am the great Phoenix from Heliopolis... Who is he? He is Osiris...", and this leaves almost no doubt who the Egyptian Phoenix really is." Thus, it turns out that in the Temple of the Aten, Akhenaten and his family worshiped Bennu, who « by birth » from Heliopolis and, accordingly, Osiris! (Note. ed.)».

Persecution of Amun and other old gods

The first known cases of the persecution of the god of the outcast capital - Amon, belong to the 9 - 10 years of the reign of Akhenaten. Shortly before the beginning of the 12th year, the pharaoh declared war not only on Amon, but on all the old gods. Aten was proclaimed the only god, the cult of all other gods was abolished, the temples were closed, and the priests, perhaps, were dispersed. In an effort to erase even the memory of the names of the former gods, Akhenaten ordered them to be destroyed everywhere. The name of Amun, whose priests the pharaoh hated most of all, as well as the names of Mut and Khonsu, were especially carefully erased and scraped off. constituting, together with Amun, the so-called Theban triad . Even the name of the father was not spared by the pharaoh and mutilated him, destroying his constituent part - the name of Amon, or replacing his personal name " Amenhotep»royal name« Nib-maat-Ra". Word " mother" (mut) in the tomb of Tiye he wrote phonetically to avoid spelling with the sign of the kite, which spelled the name of the goddess Mut.

But Aten temples were erected throughout Egypt (Thebes, Akhet-Aton, Gem-Aton, Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis, Fayum). These temples were endowed with large tracts of land, hunting and fishing grounds, livestock, pastures, and were provided with labor. A large staff of priests was established - ministers of the new cult of the pharaoh. They, as can be seen from the monuments of that time, were mainly representatives of the new service nobility.

foreign affairs

Deteriorating relations with major powers

Meanwhile, Egypt's foreign affairs were not going well. Relations with the major states of the Middle East were upset. Akhenaten no longer wanted to send gold there with his father's generosity. He himself needed it, both for finishing new buildings and for distribution to obedient dignitaries. The Babylonian king Burna-Buriash II complained that his Egyptian "brother" repeatedly released the Babylonian ambassadors without reciprocal gifts, and when he sent gold, it turned out to be underweight:

"If you can't be as generous as your father, then come at least half"

Instead of the golden images promised by Amenhotep III to the Mitanni king Tushratta and even shown to his ambassadors, Akhenaten sent gilded wooden ones. King Tushratta of Mitanni writes to Amenhotep IV:

“So, let my brother send me gold, in such a large amount that it would be impossible to calculate ... After all, in the country of my brother there is a lot of gold, as much as land. May the gods arrange for it to be ten times more.”

For his part, Tushratta is ready to render any services to the pharaoh and send all sorts of gifts.

“If my brother desires anything for his house, I will give ten times as much as he demands. My land is his land, my home is his home.

Not feeling the firm hand of the pharaoh, the unbridled representatives of the Egyptian authorities in Syria and Palestine, and the local rulers attacked the Babylonian merchants and robbed their caravans. The daughter of the Babylonian king, who was given in marriage to the pharaoh, Akhenaten insultingly sent to accompany only 5 chariots, while under Amenhotep III the Babylonian princess, his future wife, was accompanied by 3 thousand chariots . In addition, Akhenaten entered into diplomatic relations with Assyria, which also caused dissatisfaction with Babylonia, which retained its claims to supreme power in Assyria, although it had not been exercised for a long time. Burna-Buriash II, in one of his letters, even protested to the pharaoh, but to no avail. After that, Burna-Buriash II broke off the alliance with Egypt and began to focus on the Hittite kingdom, which was hostile to him. And Akhenaten's relationship with the Mitannian king deteriorated so much that, as the king of Byblos Rib-Addi writes to the pharaoh, Tushratta moved his troops to Phoenicia, but retreated due to lack of water.

Anarchy in the Asian dominions of Egypt

However, it is not surprising that Akhenaten cared little about maintaining good neighborly relations with the large kingdoms of the Near East, if he was not too worried even about the danger of losing a significant part of his Syrian possessions. With the assistance of the son of Abdi-Ashirta, Aziru and the prince of Kadesh Aytakama, who betrayed the Egyptian pharaoh king Amurru, the Hittites captured the Amki plain (in the Orontes valley, south of Kadesh). Three loyal vassal princes from neighboring regions opposed them in order to return the lost lands to the pharaoh, but were met by Aitakama at the head of the Hittite army and driven back. All three immediately wrote to the pharaoh about the turmoil and complained about Aitakama. And Aitakama himself, in turn, accused Biriavaza, the ruler of Damascus, who surrounded himself with hapiru detachments, took away his land and devastated the cities.

Seizure of land by king Amurru Aziru

Aziru, meanwhile, continued to expand its holdings in Amurru. For quite a long period, he managed to impersonate the defender of the interests of the pharaoh. He captured Tunip, which by that time had already fallen under the influence of the Mitanni, and a similar action may have been approved by Akhenaten's governor in the province of Amurru. Then Aziru captured the Phoenician and northern Syrian coastal cities up to Ugarit, and killed their kings and appropriated their property. As the Hittites advanced into Nuhashsh, Aziru, in alliance with them, took Niya and killed its king. Realizing his strength and feeling behind his back the support of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, Aziru moved his troops against the residence of the Egyptian governor in Amurru, the city of Simira, laid siege to it, in alliance with the fleet of the city of Arvada, and quickly brought it to a desperate situation. The king of Sidon, Zimrida, also fell away from Egypt, made an alliance with Aziru, and marched on Tire, whose king Abimilki immediately writes to Akhenaten, pleading for support. The Byblos king Rib-Addi also sent letter after letter to the pharaoh asking for help. Akhenaten, in the end, instructed several Egyptian commissioners to familiarize themselves with the position of Simir, but they failed to do anything and the city fell. Aziru killed the local Egyptian governor and, having destroyed the city, got full opportunity to move on Byblos. Rib-Addi, horrified by what had happened, wrote to the pharaoh, informing, in particular, that the Egyptian resident in Kumedi, in northern Palestine, was in danger. But Aziru, who had influential friends at the court of Akhenaten, managed to justify himself before the pharaoh. The latter was reassured by the promises to Azir to pay him the same tribute as the cities he captured, and he takes no action.

Fall of Byblos

The plans of the rebellious kings were so skillfully disguised that the Egyptian residents apparently did not know who were the loyal vassals and who were the hidden rebels. So, Bihuru, the Egyptian governor in Galilee, not understanding the attitude of Byblos, sends his Bedouin mercenaries there, who beat all his defenders. Rib-Addi, whose situation was further complicated by the uprising of the townspeople, caused by the masterful act of the Egyptian resident, travels to Berit, to seek support from the local ruler Ammunira. But, returning to Byblos, he finds the gates there locked, since his brother seized power during his absence, and gave his children to Azir. Ammunira, king of Berith, for some time still pretended to be a friend of Egypt, but, in the end, together with the ruler of Tyre, Abimilki, he joined Azir. And Aziru himself broke off all relations with Akhenaten and already openly went over to the side of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I. Rib-Addi still managed to capture Byblos, and he kept it for some time. But the city, in the end, fell, and Rib-Addi, apparently, was killed.

Civil strife in Palestine

Death and the tomb

The circumstances of Akhenaten's death are unknown. Some researchers believe that he was poisoned, since one of the paintings depicts an attempt on his life.

A few kilometers east of his new capital Akhetaten, he was buried in his tomb, carved by him in the rocks for himself and for the whole family, and where his second daughter Maketaton was already resting. But later his mummy was removed from there, and transferred to the necropolis of the Valley of the Kings in the tomb KV55 (English) Russian. .

The ancient Egyptians destroyed monuments about the era of Akhenaten and confused the references, which made it difficult to identify the discovered mummies. Continuous discussions lasted 100 years, and ended only with a genetic and genealogical examination.

Amarna art

Rice. 6. Bust of Akhenaten in the San Jose Museum.

The years of Akhenaten's reign were accompanied by the breaking of the old canons of art, a new, more naturalistic artistic style was being developed. In Akhenaten, Akhenaten created a favorable climate for the development of the arts of a completely original style, combining dynamics, flexibility of lines and sensuality, which did not coincide at all with the previous monumental canon. This period in the development of Egyptian art was called "Amarna". Amarna art is characterized primarily by realistic images not only of the fauna and flora of Egypt at that time, but also of the ruling persons. Images of the pharaoh and his family are still larger, but they are no longer idealized. Akhenaten has all the signs of an aristocratic degenerate - an effeminate figure, a deformed skull, an excessively heavy lower jaw, a disproportionately large head, and a sagging puffy belly. However, the remains of Akhenaten identified in 2010 do not contain these deformations. The ruler appears not as a conquering warrior or a tamer of wild animals, a hunter, but as a father, a husband. He is often depicted with his daughters on his knees, tenderly hugging his wife, family scenes and scenes of worship and worship of the Aton by the whole family are not uncommon.

A favorite theme of images on reliefs and stelae in the temples and tombs of Akhetaten was the daily life of the king and his family - his wife, the famous Nefertiti (Neferneferuaton), and numerous daughters, their presence before the rays-hands of the Aten, holding out to them the symbols of life and domination. For the first time in Egyptian art, secular images of the king (ankh crosses) and the queen, depicted in a secular and relaxed atmosphere, appear. Amarna art is characterized by excessive realism, at times turning into naturalism. The most striking example of the art of the Amarna period are the sculptural images of Queen Nefertiti, usually attributed to the royal sculptor named Thutmose the Younger, whose name shard was found in a pile of construction debris in his workshop in Akhetaten.

The reason for the creation of this new canon was most likely that while the perfect God was the ideal, then the person was idealized. In traditional Egyptian art, although there was portrait accuracy, a person was depicted as transformed, spiritualized, striving for eternity and God. But if God is a king, then he is now the ideal. This means that it is necessary to depict him as realistically as possible, and the task of the subjects now is to correspond to this new ideal. The Amarna period did not last long (about 20 years), like the reign of Akhenaten himself . After the death of the king, Akhetaton with its temples and workshops was abandoned, since this place itself was considered unclean and cursed by the Egyptians, and the city was covered with desert sands.

Consequences of the Atonist Revolution

However, the new cult met with strong opposition from the priesthood and the discontent of the people, who did not understand the meaning of innovations and were increasingly suffering from the onset of economic decline. After reigning for about 17 (18) years, Akhenaten died and ceded the throne to the ephemeral king Smenkhkare, who was the husband of the eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti - Princess Meritaten and, possibly, the son of the king and one of his younger wives - Queen Kiya. Two years later, the throne passed to the younger brother of Smenkhkare and the husband of Akhenaten's third daughter, Ankhesenpaaten. Under the influence of high-ranking dignitaries (the regents of Aye and Horemheb, future pharaohs) and the priesthood, the young king renounces the heresy of his predecessor, takes the name Tutankhamun and transfers the court to Memphis. Akhetaten was gradually abandoned and began to collapse, and with the beginning of the 19th dynasty it was cursed and turned into a quarry. The name of its creator was also cursed and removed from official documentation, in which Akhenaten was henceforth mentioned only as an "enemy" ("apostate from Amarna"). Akhenaten's buildings were also destroyed in other cities of Egypt; architectural fragments with the king's name and relief images have been found at Memphis, Heliopolis, Athribis, Hermopolis, Assiut, Akhmim, Abydos, Medamud, and Luxor.

Significance of Akhenaten

In the activities of the Great Akhenaten, they saw contempt for the priesthood, "world hypocrisy": the most complex funeral ceremonies, magic, mummification. “He replaces the mysticism of the combination of“ Ba ”and“ Ka ”,” according to the Russian researcher, “with foolish moves. Allows you to portray yourself as obese and with a double chin. Foolish, not wanting deification. Akhenaten sees himself as a divinely inspired prophet of the Sun, a preacher of a new true religion, a high priest of faith in the One God.

“Akhenaton is making a revolution in the minds of the Egyptians. According to the Egyptian (and Jerusalem) priests, his ancestors believed that only they were from God, and the rest were “sons of the devil”. Akhenaten in his reign came to the idea: "God encompasses all creation with His love, the one God over all" ( Aten for Akhenaten is the universal world God . Pharaoh - His chosen one, "beloved son" ).

From the ode of Amenhotep IV :

“Every eye looks at you, Aton on high! But only Akhenaten comprehended and knew You in the whole world.

“Without the Sun, life stops. At His rising comes to life. When You disappear, the earth is enveloped in pitch darkness. Eyes do not see eyes, and mortals sleep in the tomb, wrapped up with their heads. Steal a precious thing from under their head - they will not notice. ( per. I. Yakovleva)»

A COMMENT:

Let's start our research.

Let's combine the image of the fresco shown in Figure 3 with the matrix of the Universe. The result of the combination is shown in Figure 7.

Rice. 7. The entire fresco is located in the area of ​​transition from the Upper World to the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe. The figure shows that the upper edge of the fresco was aligned with the 4th level of the Upper World of the Universe matrix, and the lower edge (horizontal line on the fresco) with the 6th level of the Lower World of the Universe matrix. Center " disc of the Aten » aligned with the top of the pyramid of the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe. Upper beams coming from " disc of the Aten » on the right and on the left, pass through two extreme positions (white circles) on the 3rd level (white arrow with number 1) of the Upper world of the matrix of the Universe. Front edge of the queen's crown Nefertiti(arrows with number 2) is parallel to the right side of the pyramid of the Upper World of the matrix of the Universe. The head of the daughter (mouth) on the lap of the queen was aligned with the extreme right position (dark circle) on the 3rd level of the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe. The daughter's right hand on the Queen's lap aligned with the central position on the 3rd level (arrow with the number 3) of the Lower World of the Universe matrix. The left hand of the daughter's hand (arrow with the number 4) on her hands enaton aligned with the left position on the 2nd level of the Upper World of the matrix of the Universe. Seat Line Angle Akhenaten(arrow with the number 5) is parallel to the left edge of the pyramid of the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe. The outer vertical edges (arrows with the number 6) of the seats of the king and queen were aligned with the extreme positions of the 6th level of the Lower World of the matrix of the Universe. Horizontal arrows (A1 and A2) show the bases of two sacred Tetractys in the Upper and Lower worlds of the matrix of the Universe. Such an exact combination of the main details of the fresco gives us every reason to assert that the matrix of the Universe was “ pattern ”or the basis on which the ancient masters created the image of this fresco. So, the fresco is not just a work of art by ancient masters, but a "Sacred Symbol", pointing to the sacred matrix of the Universe.

Rice. 8. On the right side of the figure is a hieroglyphic entry in the cartouche " Name" of AmenhotepIV, which was given to him at the coronation "Amenhotep, god and ruler of Thebes" to his " reforms ". I will note one important point in writing the transcription of this name. By W. Bajdu(English Egyptologist) it looks, as it is written, in simple Latin letters vertically on the arc arrow to the right of the cartouche. Egyptologists know that the correct pronunciation of Egyptian hieroglyphs lost, but they still use terribly inconvenient form of transcription recording (Adolf Erman), which is no scientist, specialist, person with higher and secondary education " from the side » can't read? To record it, there are not even symbols on the computer keyboard. Here's what the transcription looks like "Name" of AmenhotepIV in accordance with the form accepted today by Egyptologists - Jmn ḥtp [.w] nṯr hq3 W3st - "Amenhotep, god and ruler of Thebes". Now such an excess scientism " looks not only strange, but also points to " corporate isolation ", which interferes, in my opinion, with knowledge the sacred meaning of the greatest science of the ancients about the Divine Universe . In Rus' there is a proverb - Mind is good but two is better". Psychologists know that a look from the outside can reveal something that even a “specialist” cannot see. On the basis of this provision, in particular, the methodology " brainstorming ", which helped to resolve " unsolvable problems » in many areas of science, engineering and technology. Besides, the very idea that the sacred hieroglyphs that you see in the picture were originally created by priests on the basis of the matrix of the Universe and served to describe certain spaces of the matrix of the Universe for the Egyptologists with whom I spoke is so unusual and unknown to them that it caused them a certain amount of confusion. I will not be surprised that the idea that the alphabets of all times and peoples were created on the basis of the matrix of the Universe may be a discovery for linguists in general. However, this is exactly the case. Letters and hieroglyphs were NOT INVENTED - the sages of antiquity created them on the basis of the laws of the sacred basis - the Matrix of the Universe, which was for them - the holy of holies! We talked about this, in particular, in our articles in the section “ Author's articles»: , — , — ., . It is possible that the secret of creating alphabets " originally "was among the priests of ancient Egypt?!

Rice. 9. The figure shows the decoding of the hieroglyphic record Ur-uart-hit-per (Ur-uarthit lane), which is shown in Figure 8 on the left.

Rice. 10. The figure shows a hieroglyphic entry in the matrix of the Universe of the name " winged disc» – Ur-uarthit-per. In area " reception areas » instead of two hieroglyphs - (feather - A), which are moved apart in the figure, the position in the matrix of the Universe of two disks with sacred cobras is shown. The upper disk with cobras corresponds to " disc of the Aten” in Figure 7, and to the right and left of the lower disk, the Egyptian priests drew wings with many feathers. " winged disc» with a disk at the top and a disk with wings below was placed over the entrance to Egyptian temples by command of Ra to protect the temple from everything " unclean ».

Rice. eleven. The figure shows the position of two discs with cobras " winged disc» Ur-uarthita. From a comparison of Figure 7 with Figure 11 it becomes clear that the "Disk of the Aten" is only the upper element of the "Winged Disc" of Ur-uarthit known from antiquity . There is no second disk with cobras on the fresco!? His " reformers»intentionally not shown . From this, in particular, the idea was born monotheism »!? Once the disc worshiped by Akhenaten , « ONE", which means " reformer » Akhenaten worships" one god" - as " Disk of the Aten». And since the disk is ONE and round, then this is the Sun with rays coming from it . Moreover, all the other gods during his reign were " abolished ». We managed to find out this only after combining the fresco with the matrix of the Universe . And one more conclusion from the results of our research. Our earth does not have two suns! And the sacred symbol of Ur-uarthit-per has actually TWO discs! So the “disk of Aten” is NOT a SOLAR DISC!? This is another myth in history and Egyptology that is not true!

Rice. 12. Left and right in cartouches are written in the matrix of the Universe Names of AmenhotepIV given to him at his coronation before the beginning of his " reforms ". Left - " Amon (Amen) is pleased" (option - " Amon Awareness"), on right - "".

Rice. 13. On the left in the cartouche is written in the matrix of the Universe Name of AmenhotepIV during the period of his reforms » (« Akhenaten») — « Exalting the Name of the Aten". On the right, the cartouche is written in the matrix of the Universe Name of AmenhotepIV given to him at his coronation before the beginning of his " reforms » – « Amenhotep god and ruler of Thebes».

Rice. 14. This figure is similar to the previous figure 13, but the image “ Winged Disc» — Ur-uarthit-per. Above is a disk with two uraei (cobras), below is a disk with uraei and wings. This is a complete image. Ur-uarthita – « winged disc».

From the 20th level of the Upper world of the matrix of the Universe, according to the ideas of the priests of ancient Egypt, in the sacred sense, “ Lower Egypt". We talked about this in our work section "Egyptology" - (Figure 13). Also, from the 20th level of the Upper world of the matrix of the Universe, the hieroglyphic record “ name» Amon-Ra- (picture 1). The figure below shows descriptions of the same spaces of the matrix of the Universe from the Vedic point of view and the knowledge of Kabbalah.

Rice. 15. The figure on the left shows the two lower worlds " the tree of the Sephiroth»according to the ideas of the ancient Kabbalists - Iezira And Asia, which occupy the space in the matrix of the Universe " Lower Egypt ”(from the 20th level of the Upper world of the matrix of the Universe). We talked about this in detail in our articles section " Judaism» — (Figure 1 and 2) and . The figure on the right shows an entry in Sanskrit in the matrix of the Universe "Name" Brahma and His radiance JyotiReligions of India» — . In fact, it turns out that the Egyptian god Amon (Amen-Ra) according to his position name» in the matrix of the Universe « identical » Vedic god Brahma, which is co-creator our universe. In the same space there are two Kabbalistic worlds - Iezira And Asia.

Rice. 16. The figure on the right shows an entry in Sanskrit in the matrix of the Universe "Name" Brahma and His radiance Jyoti. We talked about this in detail in our work section " Religions of India» — . On the left side of the figure, there is a Sanskrit entry in the matrix of the Universe “ name» Great « all-devouring time» Lord – Maha Kala Dhama, which " located ' and acts ( destroys everything over time ) in the same space from level 20 The upper world of the matrix of the Universe- V " Lower Egypt", in two Kabbalistic worlds Iezira And Asia, in the world of Brahma who is also mortal. By earthly standards, Brahma's lifetime of 100 divine years corresponds to a period of 311 trillion years. By analogy with the location name» Amon (Amen-Ra) in the same spaces of the matrix of the Universe it turns out, that this Egyptian god is also mortal?!

This concludes our presentation of the results of our research. We believe that we managed to substantiate our point of view, which we spoke about at the beginning of the article - “In fact, as we wrote in the title of our article - Akhenaten or AmenhotepIV did not worship the One God! With the outward apparent polytheism of the ancient religion of Egypt, it was essentially monotheistic. We wrote about this in our work on the site - (Fig. 13). Akhenaten, just the opposite , « lowered the bar of beliefs » from ideas about the One God in the Spiritual World (Upper Egypt) to the level of ideas about the material world(Lower Egypt) ancient priests of Egypt . I - "disk Atona (Yati), did not represent the solar disk »?!»

By the way, this is the 153rd article on the site, and the number 153 is a sacred number . We wrote about this number in our work section “ Christianity» — .

More detailed information about the matrix of the Universe can be obtained by reading the articles on the website in the section " Egyptology" - And .

© Arushanov Sergey Zarmailovich 2012

Application:

The reader is offered an interesting article by Cancer V.I., which contains a lot of interesting details about the life of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton) and his religious reform.

Amenhotep IV - Akhenaten

Rak V.I.

“Amenhotep IV, son of Amenhotep III, grandson of Thutmes IV, who ascended the throne at the behest of Harmachis, and not Amon, daringly challenged the omnipotence of Amon, the king of the gods, and entered into open combat with him. Like the serpent Apophis, he tried to disrupt the world order established by Maat- and the goddess punished him with death.

Amenhotep IV ascended the throne in 1364 (according to another chronology in 1375) BC under the throne name Nefercheprura(“The beautiful existence of Ra”), to which, in the second year of his reign, he added the name Wenra (“The only one belonging to Ra”), thereby declaratively emphasizing his commitment to heliopolis solar god Ra, not the Theban Amn. Not later than the 4th year of his reign, Amenhotep IV married the noble Egyptian Nefertiti, despising the centuries-old tradition of royal marriages: the throne in Egypt was formally transferred through the female line - the husband of the eldest daughter of the previous pharaoh became the pharaoh. Nefertiti was not the daughter of Amenhotep III. (Similar disdain for tradition was shown at one time by Amenhotep III, making his “great wife” the daughter of a provincial priest Tia, future mother of Amenhotep IV.)

In the sixth year of his reign, Amenhotep IV moved the capital from Thebes to the newly built city of Akhetaten ("Aten Sky"), changed his name from Amenhotep ("Amon is pleased") to Akhenaten(“Pleasant Ato-nu”) and, having abolished the cults of Amon first, and then all the other gods, established in Egypt sun worship (atonism ). solar disc - Aten- the pharaoh declared the only god, himself - son of the Aten And " the only one who knew the true god ».

history atonism can be divided into several stages: 1) The time of the "initial solar designations" - from the moment of the accession of Amenhotep IV to the third year of the reign. The pharaoh adds the name Wenra ("The only one belonging to Ra") to his throne name, emphasizing his commitment to the sun as opposed to the main state god Amon . Aten begins to be indirectly referred to as a deity. 2) "Lower solar name" - 3-4 years. reign, Aten, like a god, is revered under the name "May Ra-Khorakhte live, rejoicing in the sky in his name Shu, who is Aten ». amon during this period, he still remains the supreme god of the pantheon, serving him everywhere continues, although construction for the glory of Amun is no longer being carried out, while the temple of Aten is being built in the Karnak temple complex. 3) It's time " early solar cartouches"(Yu. Ya .. Perepelkin -" rings”) until the renaming of the pharaoh to Akhenaten- 4 - 6 years. reign. " Lowercase solar name"Is in cartouches like the names of the pharaoh and his wife. The capital is moved to Akhetaten. However, before the transfer of the capital, Amon still did not lose his ministry, although he was already “inferior” in everything Aten; but the open deposition of Amun was still a long way off. 4) "Early solar cartouches» after the renaming of the pharaoh - until about the twelfth year of the reign. amon deposed, his cult is banned everywhere, statues are destroyed, names are erased from monuments . They are also persecuted wife of Amon Mut and their son Khonsu — gods of the Theban Triad . The cults of all other gods continue to be sent, there is no persecution of them. 5) It's time for "late solar cartouches”- from the twelfth year of the reign until the death of Akhenaten. The sun is revered under the name "Long live Ra, the ruler of unfavorable rejoicing in the sky in his name Pa-father, who came as Aten"- that is, references to the old gods are expelled from the early solar name: Hora(in the name " Horakht") And Shu. The cults of all the old gods are forbidden, sun worship becomes frantic.

The political reason for this coup was the struggle of the pharaoh with the Theban priesthood, which began under Amenhotep III. . However, as M. A. Korostovtsev points out, “the religious coup of Amenhotep IV was, in essence, purely ideological, he did not have deep social roots . Sometimes one has to hear or even read that Amenhotep IV conceived his "reform" as a tool to weaken the influence of the priesthood in the country.

This interpretation is contrary to the facts.. Both before and after Amenhotep IV, the pharaohs often clashed with the priesthood, but none of them ever thought of such measures. Unwanted priests were simply eliminated. Consider the coup of Amenhotep IV as directed mainly against the influence of the priesthood - vulgar sociologization stories".

Worshiped Aten and made sacrifices to him in the courtyards of open temples, prayers were addressed directly to the “disk” itself. Images Aten on the reliefs, the stelae are not associated with cult rituals.

sun worship the temples looked like open courtyards surrounded by a stone fence with long rows of altars on both sides of the entrance. The entrance was usually oriented to the east. (with the exception of the temple "Seeing Aten to rest", the entrance of which was facing west). The most important temples Akhetaten: 1) The Great Temple of the Aten ("House of the Aton in Akhetaten"), which had several components: "The House of Aton's Rejoicing", "Sen Ra of the Great Pharaoh's Wife Nefertiti- she is alive! ”,“ Aton rises ”, etc .; 2) "Court of the Aten" - the personal temple of the pharaoh's family, located in the palace not far from the personal chambers of Amenhotep IV; 3) " Sen Ra» — temples dedicated to Akhenaten's mother Tia and his daughters. The purpose of these temples is unclear. ; 3) "Seeing Aten to rest" - the temple of evening services, where the main priestess was Nefertiti herself.

For Ancient Egyptian atonism characterized by two main features or, more precisely, two religious foundations. The first of these foundations is love for " terrestrial » life. The cult of earthly life, although not directly opposed to the afterlife cult, clearly prevailed over it. . On the Akhetaten stelae, on the wall paintings of the Akhetaton palace - everywhere depicts the love of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, their parental tenderness for their daughters . For the first time in the history of Egypt, a landscape appears in Akhetaton art, the beauty of nature is glorified. Many halls of the palace were painted in a "landscape" style: a path winds along the floor, reed thickets on the side walls, above - the sky over which birds fly.

Belief in an afterlife atonism was not associated with the cult of Osiris . sun worshipers believed that the soul of the deceased spends the day among living people, and at night goes to rest .

The second pillar is the love of "truth". The requirement to “follow only the truth in everything” was most clearly reflected in art: in contrast to the centuries-old traditions of monumentalism and the idealization of the depicted, Akhetaton reliefs, sculptures, murals were emphatically naturalistic and filled with dynamics. Initially, naturalism appeared even in an exaggerated form, but in the period of the "late solar cartouches" the exaggeration disappears. M.E. Mathieu notes on this occasion: “This path of development of art was natural. The new style, with its peculiarities, arose as a declarative declaration of a break with traditions and a visual means of combating the past.. But mastering new art forms was not an easy task for the masters.

From the usual, generations of transmitted compositions, looks, lines, it was necessary to move on to others, often contrary to firmly instilled aesthetic norms. It is not surprising, therefore, that at the first stage of development, in addition to polemical exaggeration, the works are also distinguished by the disproportion of parts of the figures, the sharpness of lines, and the angularity of contours. It is felt that the masters are not sure of the correctness of the creative path. However, the general realistic orientation of art Akhetaten, which found support in the ideology of the court environment, helped the artists overcome both the initial pointedness and some confusion before innovations.

This first attempt in world history to introduce monotheism (monotheism) failed. The temple and state economy under Amenhotep IV - Akhenaten gradually fell into decay; unsuccessfully for the country developed and foreign policy : Egypt lost many territories subject to it. Under these conditions, the priests Old Believers ”, apparently, it was not even necessary to inspire the people with the idea that amon angry with the heretic pharaoh and sends punishment to Egypt : such a thought suggested itself. Sun worship, in fact, lasted only until the end of the reign of Amenhotep IV (1347, according to other chronologies 1350, 1358 BC, when The reforming pharaoh died at the age of 33. ), and even then in many nomes of Egypt the cult of the solar disk was perceived purely formally.

Already the successor of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, moves the capital back to Thebes and begins to restore the Karnak temple complex Amon-Ra, who suffered a lot during the years of sun worship (in particular, a stone was taken from this temple for the needs Akhetatonian construction). Under pharaoh Tutankhamun, successor of Smenkhkare , the heretic pharaoh and his atonism betray "anathema"; Images of the royal couple - Akhenaten and Nefertiti - are widely recognized . However, the traditions of the Akhetaton period were firmly established in art. On later reliefs, statues, etc. the influence of Akhetaten art is clearly traced.

As for Akhenaten himself, he was sickly, suffering from epilepsy. (it was believed that during seizures "the father of the pharaoh - Aten tells his son the truth"), an ugly person with a large swollen belly, short legs, heavy chin . The daughters of Nefertiti and Akhenaten, as well as the pharaoh himself, were depicted with elongated egg-shaped heads, perhaps these physical defects were a direct result of several generations of incestuous marriages in the dynasty.

Anthems survive Aten times sun-worshipping reforms."

5 comments: “Akhenaton or Amenhotep IV did not worship the One God”

It seemed strange to me that Akhenaten was associated with Jerusalem, the construction of which began almost 400 years after the reign of Akhenaten.

Author's response:
Dear Vera. Unfortunately, you did not graft into the commentary the direct text from the article, on the basis of which your question arose - that Akhenaten is connected with Jerusalem? Apparently, your question arose from the descriptive part, which we cited from literary sources in the text of the article: “Akhenaton makes a revolution in the minds of the Egyptians. His ancestors believed, according to the Egyptian (and Jerusalem) priests (by analogy), that only they are from God, and the rest are “sons of the devil.” Akhenaten in his reign came to the idea: “God embraces all creation with His love, the one God over everything” (Aten for Akhenaten is the universal world God. Pharaoh is His chosen one, “beloved son”).

In the "Appendix" we wrote: "Amenhotep IV ascended the throne in 1364 (according to another chronology in 1375) BC. under the throne name of Neferkheprura (“The Beautiful Existence of Ra”), to which, in the second year of his reign, he added the name Wenra (“The Only One Belonging to Ra”), thereby declaratively emphasizing his commitment to the Heliopolitan solar god Ra, and not to the Theban Amon. ... Until his death, he reigned for 17-19 years.
Below is a brief summary of the city of Jerusalem, which is at least 4000 BC and 2000 AD.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - (Jerusalem - Wikipedia - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%E5%F0%F3%F1%E0%EB%E8%EC):
“Jerusalem (Hebrew ירושלים‎ Yerushalaʹ(y)im (audio) (inf.), Arabic القدس‎‎ al-Quds [comm. 1] (audio) (inf.)) is an ancient city in the Middle East. Capital of the State of Israel since 1949; since 1967, Israel has controlled the entire territory of the city. Israeli sovereignty over the eastern part of the city and the status of all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is not recognized by a significant part of the international community. It is a holy city for the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Jerusalem is located on the watershed between the Mediterranean and the Dead Seas in the spurs of the Judean Mountains, at an altitude of 650 - 840 m above sea level, and is one of the oldest cities in the world. The first settlements date back to the 4th millennium BC. e. In the XI century BC. e. the city was occupied by Jews and proclaimed the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and from the 10th century BC. e. - Jewish. In the VI century BC. e. the city was conquered by Babylon, and then came under the rule of the Persian Empire. From the 4th to the 2nd century BC. e. the city successively belonged to the Macedonian Empire, Egypt, the Seleucid State. After the Jewish uprising in the 2nd century BC. e. for some time the Kingdom of Judah was restored, but already in 6 AD. e. in its place was proclaimed the Roman province of Judea. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Jerusalem went to Byzantium. From this moment begins the Christianization of the city. With the capture in 639 by the Arab caliph Umar ibn Khattab, the city begins to acquire a Muslim appearance. In 1099-1187 and 1229-1244 Jerusalem was under the rule of the crusaders, then was captured by Egypt. From 1517 to 1917 it was part of the Ottoman Empire, after which it came under the control of Great Britain.

I heard that there is a work “The Word about the god Ra, Osiris and his son Horus”, found in France, if you are aware, can you help find it ?.
Is there not the same scrupulous study of the geometric scheme of the universe, brought to Rus' by St. Cyril and Methodius. I have no evidence for my proposed scheme. Thank you in advance.

Dear Love. To my regret, at first I will upset you. I am not familiar with the material - "The Word about the god Ra, Osiris and his son Horus", found in France, about which you write. And now I won’t upset you - Cyril and Methodius knew about the matrix of the Universe, and about the secret of building alphabets, with the help of knowledge about the matrix of the Universe. They knew about the alphabet - the "Slavic initial letter", but for some reason they created, alas, the "ersatz" of the Slavic alphabet - the "Church-Slavonic alphabet", with only one purpose - the translation of Christian Scriptures for the Russians ?! God is their judge. You can get acquainted with this issue in more detail in the article on the website section "Author's Articles" - The original form of the Alphabet "Slavic Letter" and its sacred meaning is revealed in the matrix of the Universe (Posted by the author on September 26, 2014 in Author's articles, Ancient Slavs | 6 comments. ).

The seeker of sacred truth, perhaps, will not reject my advice to read the book by Drunvalo Melchizedek The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life
Then much of what is covered with the mystery of the origin of Akhenaten and Nefertiti .. their features of appearance and true belief will become clear ... but only the Sacred Heart is vigilant and if it is closed ... if you are not ready to accept what is not explained by the mind and goes beyond the generally accepted truths, then the mind will deny and reject.

Dear Elena, thank you for your comment.
I am familiar with the works of Drunvalo Melchizedek. Each seeker of truth has his own role in the Divine plan, which even before our birth into the Material World is inscribed by God on "Heaven" and in our souls. Melchisidek drew the attention of the consciousness of a large circle of people to the question of the sacred secrets of the Divine Universe. But to my regret, there are a large number of errors in his works (the seeker can make mistakes and be mistaken - that's why he is the seeker). 1. For example, in the first volume of his work "The ancient secret of the flower of life" in chapter one "Remembering our ancient past" Figure 1.1 is fundamentally wrong. The flower of life is a mystery, but an even greater mystery is the answer to the question - “What is a person, and how is he created by God for the life of a spiritual being (which we all are originally) in the Material world. In the Orthodox catechism, and even then not in every one, the following is written - “The Church Fathers, speaking about the spiritual life of a person, understand that a person is a spirit living in the soul, and the soul lives in the body (in which body it is not specified), the spirit talking to God…. 2 On page p.150 in the “Saving of human consciousness” section “Akhenaton’s life is a bright flash of light”, alas, this article on the site says that it is “A flash of another delusion of people’s consciousness in the vastness of human history from the moment of the creation of OUR Universe - there is still an infinite a number of other Universes that the Heavenly Father creates. (By the way, practically no one knows where this human consciousness is? Similarly, they don’t know where this “Sacred Heart” is, which you write about in your comment? (It is also wrong to say that, “ if it is closed "(this is vulgarism) - there is nothing COMPLETELY closed in a person, OTHERWISE, a person would simply not exist. We are all "AN EMBODIMENT OF THE DIVINE IDEA OF INFINITE PERFECTION". 3 For a number of good reasons, many of the sacred mysteries of the Divine Universe, alas, cannot be to tell “JUST TO EVERYONE” - “Do not throw beads (treasures of knowledge) in front of pigs (ignorance), because they will trample into the mud, and turning around would not tear you to pieces.”
Get acquainted with the works on my website - think about it, look closely - this is not a "product" of my mind - this is a "bead" of Divine knowledge that was given and not just like that, you have to pay for everything in this world - "FEE" IS "SACRIFICE" — THE WHOLE UNIVERSE AND LIFE IN IT IS PRESERVED AND BASED ON THE SACRIFICE FROM THE MOMENT OF ITS CREATION.
Thank you again for your comment. God bless you on your journey and my best wishes.

The course to strengthen royal power by elevating ignoble officials and strengthening the religious role of the monarch, begun pharaoh Amenhotep III, continued his son from marriage with the unborn Teye, Amenhotep IV (reigned in 1365-1349 BC; according to another dating - in 1351-1334 BC). Already in the first years of his reign, the reformed cult of the god Ra - Ra-Harakhte began to advance even more. From 1361 BC e. they began to identify him with the god of the solar disk - Aton. The pharaoh himself became the high priest of this new cult.

Akhenaten is a rebel pharaoh. video film

At first, Aten was honored in the south of Egypt, in Thebes where he is near Karnak a special temple was erected. However, around 1359 BC. e. Amenhotep IV decided to leave this old capital XVIII dynasty and built a new one for himself - in Middle Egypt, near the modern village of Tell el-Amarna, in a place that previously “belonged to neither god nor goddess”, outside any Egyptian district (nome) with its traditional cults. The religious and political transformations of Amenhotep IV were therefore called "Amarna Reform", and this whole period of Egyptian history is called "Amarna".

Religious upheaval of Akhenaten

Statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten from the Temple of the Aten at Karnak

Personality of Pharaoh Akhenaten

No nation has ever needed a strong and efficient ruler as much as Egypt at the time of the death of Amenhotep III. But it fell to his lot to have a young dreamer at the head at this critical time, who, despite the unprecedented greatness of his ideas, could not cope with a situation that required an energetic practitioner and an experienced military leader, in short - a person like. Amenhotep IV, the young and inexperienced son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, was truly powerful and fearless in certain respects, but he was completely unable to understand the real needs of his empire. Having ascended the throne, he immediately faced a very difficult state of affairs.

The conflict between the new forces and tradition, as we have seen, was already felt by his father. He had to direct these antagonistic forces in such a way as to enable a new and more modern trend to definitely manifest itself and at the same time to guard the old ideas in such a way as to avert catastrophe. This problem was a match for an experienced statesman, but Amenhotep IV saw it mainly in an ideological aspect. His mother Tii and wife Nefertiti, possibly of Asiatic descent, and the beloved priest Eie, the husband of his wet nurse, formed his inner circle. Tii and Nefertiti probably had a great influence on him and took a significant part in government affairs, or at least in public ceremonies, for, far surpassing his father in this respect, who showed the same tendency, he constantly appeared in public with his mother and wife. His lofty and far from life aspirations found a warm response in these two of his most influential advisers. So, at a time when Egypt was in urgent need of a firm, skilful administrator, the young king was in close union with a priest and two women, perhaps gifted, but completely incapable of showing the new pharaoh what his empire really needed. Instead of raising the army that Naharin so badly needed, Amenhotep IV delved heart and soul into the ideas of the time, and the philosophic theology of the priests was of greater importance to him than all the provinces of Asia. Deep in thought, he gradually developed ideas and tendencies that made him the most remarkable of all pharaohs and the first person in the history of mankind.

God Akhenaten

The royal position of Egypt had a profound influence not only on the external aspects of life - on the customs and customs of the people, on the rich and prolific art, fraught with new beauties - but also on the ideas of that time. These ideas were predominantly theological, and we must sharply distinguish them from what is meant in our time by the term "modern ideas." Even before the conquests in Asia, the priests made great progress in the interpretation of the gods and reached the stage at which, like the later Greeks, they introduced a certain philosophical meaning into the myths, which they originally, of course, did not have. The understanding of God was naturally suggested by his position or function in myth. So Ptah, the Memphis god of the arts, inspired his priests with a wide range of very specific ideas, on which the thinker of that era of intellectual undertakings, who had not yet developed philosophical terminology, could rely. Ptah was from ancient times the god of architects and craftsmen, to whom he communicated plans and drawings of architectural works and works of applied art. Contemplating this god, the Memphis priest, no matter how little accustomed his mind to abstraction, found a specific path, following which he gradually reached a reasonable, and even, with some restrictions, a philosophical concept of the world. The workshops of the Memphis temple, where, under the guidance of Ptah, magnificent statues, objects of worship and sacrificial offerings were made, are deployed to the whole world, and their lord Ptah grows into the supreme master of the world workshop. Just as he communicates all plans to architects and artisans, so now he does the same in relation to all people, in all spheres of their activity. It becomes the higher intelligence, and all things flow from it. The world and all things dwelt as a thought in his mind, and this thought, like his plans for buildings and works of art, needed only to be uttered in a word in order to take the concrete form of embodied reality. Both gods and men all originated from his mind; everything they do is only the mind of the Deity that creates in them. The priest of Ptah expressed this in a short poem, part of which vaguely and vaguely shows how the people of the era imagined the world:

The great bird is the mind and speech of the gods...
Ptah, from which came the power of reason and speech.
The one that is born from every mind
And from every mouth
All gods, all people, all animals, all reptiles,
Who live thinking and doing
Everything that he (Ptah) wills.
... It (reason) gives rise to every fruitful action.
He is a speech that repeats the thoughts of the mind:
He (mind) gave form to all the gods...
At a time when every divine word
It arose to being from the thought of the mind
And from the command of speech.

Wherever we read the word "mind" in this passage, the Egyptian uses the word "heart" by which he meant "mind" in exactly the same way as the Jews and many other nations often do, and also often ourselves, with this only the difference is that the Egyptian considered the heart and entrails to be the real receptacle of the mind. Although such ideas probably circulated in a very small circle, they were not limited to the priests alone. Iniotef. the court herald of Thutmose III, claims on his tombstone that he owes his success to the leadership of the "heart", which he followed unconditionally; and he adds the popular saying: "That is the divine prophet in every body." "Body" here, as usual, is the designation of the stomach or viscera, the receptacles of the mind. Thus the Egyptians saw the idea of ​​a single guiding mind behind and above all manifested things, including the gods. The effective power by which this mind carried out its plans was the spoken "word," which, no doubt, represents the germs of the later doctrine of the Logos, which arose in Egypt. Early Greek philosophy may also have been based on it.

Similar ideas developed in relation to other great gods of Egypt, but while the kingdom was limited to the Nile valley, the activity of the gods extended only to the possessions of the pharaoh, and the world accessible to the understanding of the priests was limited to these latter. From ancient times, the pharaoh was the heir of the gods and owned two kingdoms along the upper and lower reaches of the river, which they themselves once ruled. Thus, in the myths, the priests did not expand the Egyptian possessions beyond the river valley, but initially this latter extended only from the sea to the first rapids. But in the days of the empire, things changed: God follows wherever his pharaoh's sword leads. The forward movement of the pharaoh's frontier stelae in Nubia and Syria signifies at the same time an expansion of the deity's realm. The king is now called "the one who acquires the world for him (god), who elevated him (pharaoh) to the throne." For the king as well as for the priest, the whole world is only a huge area of ​​the deity. All the wars of the pharaoh are written on the walls of the temples, and even military equipment is imprinted on their doors. The state theological theory was simply that the king receives the world to give to the god, and that he prays for the expansion of his conquests only so that the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe deity increases accordingly.

Thus theological thought came into close contact with political conditions, and theological theory was bound to extend the deity's sphere of power to those areas from which the king received tribute. It is not at all accidental that the idea of ​​a world god arose in Egypt at a time when he received tribute from all the world known at that time. Also, the power of the pharaoh himself exerted, no doubt, a powerful influence on the Egyptian theologians of the era. In the days of myth-making, the gods were looked upon as the pharaohs who ruled the Nile Valley, for myth-makers flourished under the kings who ruled it. Now, living under the pharaohs who ruled the world empire, the priest had before his eyes in a tangible form the idea of ​​world domination and the world concept, anticipating the idea of ​​a world god. For two hundred years he had before him a conquered and organized empire, and from the contemplation of the world ruled by the pharaoh, he gradually passed to the idea of ​​a world god.

Akhenaten is a rebel pharaoh. video film

Until now, we have not yet called this god by name. If we asked the Memphis priests, they would say that this is Ptah, the ancient god of Memphis; the priests of Amun in Thebes would attribute, as something self-evident, the same honor to Amun, the state god; while the high priest of Ra at Heliopolis, based on the fact that the pharaoh was the son of the sun god and heir to his kingdom, would have insisted that Ra should be revered as the supreme god of the entire empire. The obscure deities of the provincial sanctuaries would have found in their priests similar champions of their supremacy, for they were now identified with Ra and claimed his privileges. But historically had the most right, no doubt, Ra. Amon never succeeded in overthrowing him. The introduction of official documents, as in ancient times, contains an appeal to Ra-Garahuti, and the same god rules the world in the folk tales of the era. But not a single ancient deity of Egypt was proclaimed the god of the empire, although in fact the priesthood of Heliopolis achieved the desired honor for their revered sun god Ra. Already under Amenhotep III, the ancient name of the visible sun - "Aton" - began to be used to designate the solar god. So, the pharaoh called the barge, in which he sailed along with Tii on her magnificent lake, "Aton shines." The detachment of the royal bodyguards was called by the name of the new god, and in Heliopolis a chapel was probably dedicated to him. In addition, the sun god was repeatedly designated by contemporaries of Amenhotep III as "one god".

The conflict with traditional tendencies in which the pharaoh was involved was so complex in itself that it would have required the exertion of all the forces of any statesman, even if he did not risk a new step, which had the consequence of a dangerous clash with a powerful priesthood and affected the religious tradition, most conservative force of the time. But it was precisely such a rash step that the young king took without hesitation. Under the name of Aten, Amenhotep IV introduced the veneration of the highest god and did not make any attempt to establish the identity of his new deity with the ancient sun god Ra. Instructing his vizier in the new faith, he told him: "The words of Ra are before you ... my sacred father, who revealed their essence to me ... This was known to me in my heart, exposed before me ...". Thus, he attributes the new faith to Ra as its source, and declares himself to be the conductor of its revelations. The young king immediately assumed the rank of high priest of the new god, with the same title of "Great Clairvoyant" that was worn by the high priest of Ra in Heliopolis. But no matter how obvious the Heliopolitan origin of the new state religion seemed, the latter was not a simple sun worship: the name "Aten" was used instead of the ancient word "god" (nuter), and the new god was clearly distinguished from the material sun. An explanatory phrase was attached to the ancient name of the sun god: "according to his name - the heat that is in the sun (Aton)", and he was also called "the lord of the sun (Aten)". Consequently, the king deified the heat that he found in all manifestations of life. This heat plays as important a role in the new faith as in the early cosmogony of the Greeks. Therefore, as might be expected, God appears to be acting everywhere by means of his rays, and his symbol is a disk, sending down to earth from the sky many divergent rays, ending in arms, each of which holds the sign of life. The king, of course, remained completely ignorant of the physico-chemical aspects of his theory, as well as the early Greeks, who operated with a similar concept; nevertheless, the main idea is strikingly true and, as we shall see, extremely fruitful. The external symbol of the new god became in sharp contradiction with tradition, but it was accessible to the understanding of many peoples that made up the empire, any thoughtful stranger could comprehend it at the first glance, which cannot be said about other traditional symbols of the Egyptian religion.

Religious reform of Akhenaten

The new deity, as well as the ancient gods, over whom he later had to rise, could not do without a temple. At the beginning of his reign, Amenhotep IV sent an expedition to the sandstone quarry at Silsila to obtain the necessary stone, and the chief nobles of the court were charged with supervising the work. Amenhotep located his temple in the garden of Amon, laid out by his father between the Luxor and Karnak temples. It was a huge and majestic building, decorated with multicolored reliefs. Thebes was called the "City of the Radiance of the Aton", and the area of ​​​​the temple - "The Radiance of the Aton the Great"; the very same sanctuary was called "Gem-Aton" - a term that is incomprehensible to us. Although the other gods were not expelled, as in former times, nevertheless the priests of Amon were bound to look with increasing envy at the brilliant exaltation of a god alien to them, an artificial creature of which they knew nothing, except that many of them those riches that originally went entirely to the enrichment of the sanctuary of Amun, were now squandered on the impostor. One of the high priests of Amun under Amenhotep III was at the same time the chief treasurer of the kingdom, and the other, Ptamos, was the grand vizier. The same thing happened in the reign of Hatshepsut, when Khapuseneb was at the same time vizier and high priest of Amun. In addition to these powers, the high priest of Amun was also the head of a priestly organization that covered the whole country.

The fact that the high priest of Amun wielded such great political power might have exacerbated the young king's desire to free himself from his inherited priestly tutelage. His father, apparently, made some attempts to remove the priestly hand, which lay so heavily on the scepter, for he appointed a vizier as successor to Ptamos, who was not at the same time the high priest of Amon. The new vizier Ramos was seduced by the gifts of the young king, and the court slavishly followed his example, supervising, as we have seen, the breaking of the stone for the new temple. The priests of Amon, however, were at that time a rich and powerful corporation. They elevated Thutmose III to the throne, and if the opportunity presented itself, of course, they would not fail to put their protege in the place of the young dreamer who occupied the throne at that time. But Amenhotep IV came from a line of rulers too powerful and glorious to be removed even by the most powerful priesthood in the land; besides, he personally possessed unlimited strength of character, and he was supported in his opposition to Amun by the oldest priestly corporations in Memphis and Heliopolis, who had long envied the usurper, an unknown Theban god, about whom nothing was heard in the north until the beginning of the Middle Kingdom.

The result was a conflict that ended very badly and had the most disastrous consequences for the priesthood of Amun. Thebes became in opposition to the young king, and soon after he completed the construction of a new temple, he decided to take drastic measures. He wanted to break with the priestly corporations and make Aten a single god, not only in his thoughts, but in fact; Amon, on the other hand, was to find himself in a position no better than all the other gods of his fathers revered at that time. Not the "Twilight of the Gods" was drawn to the eyes of the king, but their complete destruction. Since the matter concerned their external and material manifestation and situation, the task did not seem difficult and was completed without delay. The priesthood, including the corporation of Amon, was dispossessed, the official worship of various gods ceased throughout the country, and their names were erased from monuments wherever they could be found. The persecution of Amon was especially fierce. At the same time, the Theban cemetery was not spared: the hated name of Amun was erased in the tombs of the ancestors wherever it was found carved on stone. The endless rows of statues of the nobles of the ancient and glorious days of the empire, located along the walls of the Karnak temple, suffered the same fate: the name of the god was erased everywhere on them. Even the statues of the ancestors of the new pharaoh, including his father, did not meet with a better attitude; on the contrary, since the name of Amenhotep III contained Amon, the young king felt compelled to erase the name of his own father, so that the name of the god would no longer be found written in huge signs in all Theban temples. The magnificent slab placed by his father in his mortuary temple, which contained a list of all the great buildings he erected in honor of Amun, was ruthlessly mutilated and made unreadable. Even the word "gods" was not allowed to appear on any of the ancient monuments, and the walls of the Theban temples were carefully examined in order to destroy the compromising word everywhere. Then something had to be done about the name of the king himself, also Amenhotep (“Amon rests”), which could neither be pronounced nor reproduced on the monuments. It was also, of necessity, rejected, and instead the king took the name "Akhenaton", which means "Spirit of the Aten."

Akhetaten - the new capital of Akhenaten

There were too many ancient associations in Thebes to serve as a suitable residence for such a radical reformer. When he looked out over the western plain beyond the city, he saw on it a row of majestic mortuary temples, the integrity of which he had encroached upon. Now they stood silent and deserted. The high pylons and obelisks of Karnak and Luxor were an unpleasant reminder of all that his ancestors had done for the glory of Amun, and his father's unfinished hall at Luxor, with its magnificent columns of the nave, still without a roof, could hardly evoke a pleasant memory in the soul of a young reformer. As a result, no doubt, a long-planned plan was carried out. The state god Aton was to have his city in each of the three parts of the empire - in Egypt, Asia and Nubia - and the place of the god's stay in Egypt was to become a royal residence. This enterprise required a certain time for its realization, after which the three cities were properly founded. The city of Aten in Nubia was located opposite modern Dulgo at the foot of the third cataracts, hence the center of the Egyptian province. It received the name "Gem-Aton" after the temple of Aten in Thebes. In Syria, the city of Aten is unknown, but undoubtedly Akhenaten did no less for the Aten there than his ancestors did for Amun. In the 6th year of his reign, shortly after he changed his name, the king lived in the city of Aten in Egypt. He built it in a wonderful valley, bounded by rocks, about 160 miles above the Delta and about 800 miles below Thebes. The rocks rise at this point about three miles from the river, forming a semi-circle about five miles in diameter. In a vast plain, surrounded on three sides by rocks, and on the fourth, western, river, Akhenaten founded his new residence and the sacred city of Aten. He named it Akhetaten, "The firmament of the Aten." In modern times the city became known as Tel el-Amarna. In addition to the residence, the entire surrounding area on both sides of the river was declared the property of God. On the rocks on both sides of the river fourteen large steles were carved in living stone with inscriptions defining the boundaries of the sacred area around the city; of these, one is at least 26 feet high. From the inscriptions it appears that the sacred area was, from north to south, about 8 miles wide and more than 12 to 17 miles long, counting from rock to rock. The gift oath of the king is imprinted on the two extreme steles, northern and southern, in the following words: “His Majesty raised his hand to heaven, to the one who created him, to the Aten, saying:“ Here is my oath forever, and here is my testimony forever - this boundary stone (stele). .. I built Akhetaten as a dwelling place for my father... I marked the borders of Akhetaten to the south of it, to the north, to the west and to the east. I will not cross the southern border of Akhetaten, towards the south, and I will not cross the northern border of Akhetaten, towards the north ... He himself created his own border, he set himself an altar in the middle (sacred area), on which I offer sacrifices to him " . The assertion that he will never cross the border of the region, whether northern or southern, eastern or western, is it a simple legal formula by which the owner of the land recognizes that he has no rights to territory beyond its borders, or whether the king fulfilled literally this oath and remained until his death in Akhetaten - we cannot decide this. But the phrase is not found on any other boundary stone known to us. The area thus defined within its boundaries was then legally transferred to the ownership of the Aten by decree of the king himself, which read as follows: Father Aton, endowed with life for ever and ever: be it mountains, or rocks, or swamps... or highlands, or fields, or waters, or cities, or shores, or people, or cattle, or trees, or anything else, created by my father Aton... I did it for Aton, my father, forever and ever.” And on another stele, he says that all this should belong, as a sacrifice, forever and ever to the temple of Aten in Akhetaten. In addition to the sacred area, income from other lands in Egypt and Nubia, and also, probably, in Syria were also donated to the god. The city founded in this way was to become the true capital of the empire, for the king himself declares: “All countries will come here, for the magnificent abode of Akhetaten will be another abode (capital), and I will begin to receive them here, whether they live in the north or in the south, in the west or in the east." The royal architect Bek was sent to the first thresholds for a stone for a new temple, or rather temples, for no less than three sanctuaries were built in the new city: one for the queen mother Tiy and the other for the princess Beketaton ("Aten's maids"), not counting the main (state) temple of the king himself. Around the temples were the palace of the king and the chambers of his nobles, of which one describes the city in the following words: “Akhetaten, excellently attractive, the lord of pleasant ceremonies, rich in possessions, with the gifts of Ra at his center. At the sight of its beauties there is jubilation. He is attractive and beautiful, when you see him, he seems like a ray of heaven. It cannot be measured. When Aten rises above him, he fills him with his rays and embraces (them) the beloved child, the son of eternity, who came from Aton, and offers the land to him who put him on his throne, and gives the land to him who created him. On the day when the temple was completed and could receive the first part of the income due to him, the king proceeded to him in a chariot, accompanied by his four daughters and a rich retinue. They were greeted at the temple with cries of "Welcome." The high altar in the courtyard of the temple was covered with rich offerings, and the storerooms around the courtyard were filled to the brim with income contributed in kind. The king personally took part in the ceremonies, while the queen, "with sisters in both beautiful hands, sweetly called the Aten to rest from labors." But Akhenaten no longer fulfilled the duties of the high priest himself; they were entrusted to him by one of the favorites of Merir (“Beloved of Ra”), who once appeared for this with his friends to the balcony of the palace, on which the king and queen solemnly appeared. At the same time, the king formally elevated him to a high rank, saying: “Here I have appointed you instead of myself as the Great Clairvoyant (high priest) of the Aten in the temple of the Aten in Akhetaton ... lords, in the house of the Aten." Merira showed such fidelity in the management of the temple that the king publicly awarded him "gold" - the usual distinction given to zealous servants of the pharaoh. At the door of one of the temple buildings, the king, the queen and their two daughters presented the happy Merira with an award for fidelity, and the king said to his retinue: “Hang gold around his neck, front and back, and gold on his feet, because he listened to the teachings of the pharaoh regarding every utterance in these magnificent halls, pronounced by the pharaoh in the sanctuary, in the temple of the Aten in Akhetaten. From this it appears that Merira listened attentively to the teachings of the pharaoh concerning the temple ritual, or, as he says, "every utterance in these magnificent halls."

Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family praise the Aten

It becomes more and more obvious that everything that was conceived and accomplished in the new city and that concerned the spread of the religion of the Aten came directly from the king and bore the stamp of his individuality. The king, who without hesitation erased the name of his own father on the monuments in order to destroy Amon, the great opponent of his reform movement, was not one of those who stop halfway, and the people around him, apparently, involuntarily submitted to his irresistible will.

Akhenaten, who understood the ancient politics of the pharaohs well enough, knew that he should keep his party through material rewards, and the main supporters of the movement, like Meryr, enjoyed copious bounties at his hands. So, one of the priests of Aten, who at the same time was in charge of the royal horse named Eye, who was lucky enough to marry the royal nurse, narrates: “He doubles his favors to me with gold and silver,” or else, turning to the king: “How he prospers who listens to your teaching of life! He is satisfied that he constantly sees you!” The commander of the troops Mai, who enjoyed similar favors, boasts of them as follows: “He multiplied his favors to me like sand. I am the head of officials over all the people, my lord exalted me, for I followed his teachings, and I listen constantly to his words. My eyes behold thy beauty every day, O my lord, wise as the Aten, satisfied with the truth. How prosperous is he who listens to your teaching of life!” Although there was undoubtedly a group of people who really sympathized with the ideal aspects of the teachings of the king, nevertheless, from the above words it is clear that the majority was attracted by "bread and fish."

Indeed, only one royal favor was pleasing to them all without exception. The king ordered his workers to carve a grave for each of the favorites in the eastern rocks. Ancient burial customs were not all destroyed by Akhenaten, and a person still needed to be buried in an "eternal house", furnished with everything necessary for the deceased in the other world. But this eternal home was no longer disfigured by the faces of monstrous demons and grotesque monsters that the deceased was supposed to meet in the life to come; and the magic formulas that made it possible to discover and defeat the dark forces of the afterlife, which had previously filled the Theban tombs, were now completely banished. In the sense of destroying the low and repulsive deceit that, by the grace of the perverted imagination of senseless priests, over the unanswered people, the reform of the king turned out to be the most fruitful. The tomb became a memorial to the deceased; the walls of the chapel began to be covered with new natural pictures from the life of the inhabitants of Akhetaten, mainly episodes of the service career of the deceased, and, moreover, preferably when he figured before the king. Because of this, the city of Akhetaten is now better known to us from its tombs than from its ruins. In all the tombs, it is a pleasure for the nobles to repeat, whether in relief or in writing, the close relationship between the king and the Aten. Again and again they depict the king and queen standing together under the disk of the Aten, whose rays, ending in arms, descend and surround the king. The goddess Mut, who from the time of the hoary Thinis era appeared in the form of a kite on all monuments, protectively spreading her wings over the head of the pharaoh, was expelled. The nobles pray for the king to God, saying that "he came from your rays", or that "you created him from your own rays", and everywhere in their prayers are scattered numerous stereotypical formulas of the religion of Aten, replacing the litanies of the ancient orthodox religion, which were now uncomfortable to use. In this way, the nobles tried to show how zealous they were in accepting and assimilating the new teaching of the king. On solemn occasions, instead of the former conditional phrases containing countless references to traditional gods, every nobleman who wanted to enjoy the favor of the king was apparently obliged to reveal his acquaintance with the religion of the Aten and the attitude of the king towards him by abundant quotations of the appropriate content. Even the Syrian vassals were so clever that they made the letters pleasant to read by mentioning in them the supremacy of the new sun god.

Hymns of Akhenaten

The source of the quotations was, in fact, as we have said more than once, the king himself, and some of the study from which they were borrowed and which was so often attributed to him was preserved in the aforementioned tombs. For worship in the temple or for his own prayers, the king composed two hymns in honor of the Aten, which were both carved by the nobles on the walls of the chapels of their tombs. Of all the documents that have survived from the era of this one-of-a-kind upheaval, Akhenaten's hymns are the most interesting; from them we can get an idea of ​​the teachings that the young thinker-pharaoh worked so hard to spread. They are invariably titled: "Glorification of the Aten of King Akhenaten and Queen Nefer-Nefru-Aten." The longest and most perfect of the two hymns deserves notoriety in modern literature. The headings of individual stanzas were added by the translator, who, when translating the anthem into modern language, was given only an accurate rendering of the meaning. Psalm 103 of David reveals a remarkable similarity with our hymn both in meaning and in expression, as a result of which it is interesting to compare the most appropriate parallels from both monuments:

Splendor of the Aten
Your sunrise is beautiful on the horizon
O living Aton, originator of life!
As you rise on the eastern horizon
You fill every country with your beauty.
For you are beautiful, great, brilliant, high above the earth
Your rays embrace all the countries that you have created,
You are Ra, and you have captured them all;
You bind them with your love.
Although you are far away, your rays are on the earth;
Although you are high, but the traces of your feet are day.

Night
When you set on the western horizon of the sky.
The world is in darkness, like a dead man.
They sleep in their dwellings
Their heads are wrapped
Their nostrils are closed, and one does not see the other.
Stolen all the things under their heads
And they don't know it.
Lions come out of their lairs
The snakes sting.
Darkness reigns(?)
Peace in silence.
The one who created them, rested beyond the horizon.
You spread darkness and there is night:
During it, all forest animals roam;
Lions roar for prey
And they ask God for their food.
(Psalm III, vv. 20-21).

day and person
bright land,
When you rise on the horizon
When you shine by day like the Aton.
Darkness is banished
When you send your beams;
Both Countries (Egypt) celebrate daily a holiday,
Awake and on my feet.
For you raised them.
Washing their members, they put on clothes,
Their hands are raised, worshiping your sunrise.
Then all over the world they do the work.
The sun is rising
(And) they gather and lie down in their lairs;
A man goes out to his work
And go to work until the evening.
(Verses 22-23).

Day, animals and plants
The cattle are enjoying the pasture.
Trees and grasses bloom
Birds flutter in the marshes
With raised wings, as a sign of worship to you.
Sheep jump on their feet
Winged creatures fly:
They live when you illuminate them.

day and water
Barges float up and down the stream.
The ways are open when you ascend.
The fish in the river are jumping in front of you
And your rays in the midst of the great sea.
This is the great and spacious sea:
There are reptiles that have no number,
Animals small and large;
There are ships sailing
There is this leviathan, whom
You created to play in it.
(Verses 25–26).

Creation of man
You produce a human fetus in a woman
You create a seed in a man.
You give life to the son in the mother's body.
You lull him to sleep so he won't cry.
Nurse (even) in the womb.
You give breath to revive every creature;
When she leaves the body, ... on her birthday,
You open her mouth to speak.
You meet her needs.

Creation of animals
When a chicken squeaks in an eggshell.
You let him breathe in her to keep him alive.
When you complete it
So that he can crack the egg.
It hatches from an egg
To squeak with all my might;
He runs on his two legs
After he gets out of there.

All creation
They are hidden from us
O you, the only god, no one owns his powers.
You created the earth as you wish
When you were alone
People, all cattle, large and small,
Everything on earth
That walks on its feet;
All that is above
That flies on its wings;
The countries of Syria and Nubia,
The land of Egypt.
You put every man in his place;
You meet his needs.
Everyone has their own property
And his days are numbered.
Their (people) speech is distinguished by adverbs,
As well as their appearance and their coloration,
For you, the divider, have divided the nations.
How many are your works, O Lord!
You have done everything in wisdom;
The earth is full of Your works.
(Verse 24).

Land irrigation
You created the Nile in the Underworld,
You have revealed it at will, to keep the people alive.
O lord of all who are afflicted with weakness,
O lord of every house, rising for it,
O sun of the day, terror of every distant land.
You created (also) their (people's) life.
You showed the Nile in the sky
So that he can fall for them,
Forming streams on mountains like a great sea,
And irrigating their fields between cities.
How marvelous are your designs, O lord of eternity!
The Nile in Heaven is for Strangers
And for the cattle of every country walking on their feet;
But the Nile comes out of the Underworld for Egypt.
Thus, your rays nourish every garden;
When you rise, it lives and grows.
thanks to you.

Seasons
You create the seasons to produce all your creations:
Winter, bringing them freshness,
(And also) and (summer) heat.
You created the distant sky to rise on it,
To see everything you've done.
When you were alone
Rising in his form, like a living Aton,
Ascending, illuminating far around and returning back.

Beauty from light
You create the beauty of form through yourself alone.
Villages, towns and villages,
On the road or on the river -
All eyes see you above them
For you are Aten by day above the earth.

Attitude towards the king
You are in my heart,
There is no one else who knows you
Excluding your son Akhenaten.
You made him aware of your intentions
And in your power.
The world is in your hand
The way you created them (people).
When you rise, they live;
When you enter they die
For you are duration, above your members;
You people live
And their eyes look at your beauty.
Until you come in
All labor is laid aside
When you come to the west;
When you rise, they are made to grow... for the king.
Ever since you established the earth
You raised them for your son
from your loins.
King who lives in truth
Lords of Both Countries, Nefer-khepru-Ra, Uan-Ra,
Son of Ra, who lives in truth, lord of crowns,
Akhenaten, whose life is long;
And for the great royal wife, beloved by him,
Lady of the Two Countries, Nefer-Nefru-Aten, Nefertiti,
Living and prospering forever and ever.

In this hymn the universalism of the empire finds its full expression, the regal singer shifts his gaze from the remote thresholds of the Nubian Nile to the extreme countries of Syria. Such ideas we are not accustomed to ascribe to people who lived about fourteen centuries BC. e. A new spirit has wafted over the dead traditionalism of Egypt. Reading these lines for the first time, you involuntarily feel astonished at the young king, in whose soul such thoughts arose in a similar age. He comprehended the idea of ​​the world lord, as the creator of nature, in which the king saw the discovery of the good intentions of the creator in relation to all his creations, even the most insignificant ones; the birds fluttering in the pale green Nile swamps seemed to him to lift their wings in homage to their creator; and even the fish in the river jumped, praising God. His voice causes flowers to bloom, feeds a chicken and causes a powerful flood of the Nile. The young king called Aten "the father and mother of all that he created," and the goodness of this Father of all things, which he was able to see to some extent, makes us remember Tom. Who called to look at the lilies of the field. The universal providence of God, according to Akhenaten, was expressed in his paternal care, equal for all, regardless of race or nationality. The king pointed out to the proud and self-sufficient Egyptians the all-encompassing goodness of the Father of all mankind, and in listing the countries he even placed Syria and Nubia ahead of Egypt. This side of Akhenaten's mind is particularly remarkable. He is the first prophet in history. While usually the state god was for the pharaohs a triumphant conqueror, crushing the peoples and dragging them, burdened with tribute, ahead of the pharaoh's chariots, Akhenaten saw in him the good Father of all people. For the first time in history, a searching gaze penetrated the great universal truth. On the other hand, the movement as a whole was a return to nature, as a result of the free recognition of the beauty and goodness manifested in it, combined with the consciousness of the mystery spilled in it everywhere. The mystical element inherent in such a religion is clearly expressed in the following lines of the hymn:

How varied are all your works!
They are hidden from us
O you, the only God, whose powers no one owns.

Although Akhenaten thus clearly recognized the power, and also to an extraordinary degree, the goodness of God, nevertheless he did not attribute to his deity higher spiritual and ethical qualities than those that had already been attributed to Amon. The king did not rise in a noticeable way from the idea of ​​the goodness of God to the idea of ​​justice and his demand for this latter from people. Nevertheless, in his "teaching", insofar as it is partially preserved in hymns and inscriptions in the tombs of nobles, there are constant insistent indications of "truth" that we do not find either before or after. The king constantly appends to his name the phrase "living in righteousness"; and that these words were not empty words, is evident from his usage. For him, this meant a simple, unconditional acceptance of everyday life. In his view, everything was true and found its justification in the very fact of its existence. Therefore, his family life was not hidden from the eyes of the people. He drew the greatest joy from his children and appeared with them and with their queen mother on every possible occasion, as if he were the simplest scribe of the temple of the Aten. He was depicted on the monuments among the simple intimate joys of family life, and whenever he appeared to make a sacrifice in the temple, the queen and his daughters from her were invariably next to him. Everything natural was true for him, and he never shied away from witnessing this in practice, no matter how radically he had to deal with tradition in this.

Akhenaten's Time Art

Such a principle was bound to influence the art of the age, in which the tsar was filled with the liveliest interest. Its chief sculptor, Beck, added to his title the words "who was taught by the king himself." Akhenaten inspired the court artists that the chisel and brush should capture what was really seen. The result was a simple and beautiful realism, more acutely perceived than any art before. Artists captured the instantaneous positions of animals: a running dog, a flying game, a wild bull rushing through the swamps; for all this was communion with the "truth" by which Akhenaten lived. The person of the king was not removed from the canon of the new art. The monuments of the era captured what they had never dared to do before - the pharaoh, who did not freeze in the conditional pose required by the tradition of court etiquette. The modeling of the human figure at that time was so plastic that at first glance one might think that this is a work of Greek art. Also, for the first time, they began to understand the complex compositions of sculptural groups. Recently discovered fragments indicate that in the palace courtyard at Akhetaten there was a stone group depicting a king rushing in a chariot after a wounded lion. It was, indeed, a new page in art, now, unfortunately, lost. In a certain respect it is still obscure to us, the strange interpretation of the lower limbs by the artists of Akhenaten is still an unsolved problem, and it is not explained entirely from the mere assumption of an actual abnormality in the structure of the body of the king himself. This is one of those unhealthy symptoms that also show up in politics. It is to this latter that we must now turn if we wish to know how ruinous for the material interests of the state was the forcible break with tradition.

Relief from Amarna, supposedly depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti, c. 1335 BC

The end of Akhenaten and the collapse of the empire

Pharaoh Akhenaten's foreign policy

Completely engrossed in the lofty religion which he called into being, going against the tradition that opposed him with unfailing force, Akhenaten was occupied with so many enterprises and responsible affairs of the most varied nature that he had no time to pay much attention to his Asiatic possessions. As we shall see, he probably did not realize the need for this until it was too late. When Akhenaten came to the throne, his dominion in Asia was immediately recognized by the Hittites and the states of the Euphrates valley. Dushratta of Mitanni wrote to Queen Mother Tia, asking him to influence the new king in the sense of continuing the old friendship that connected him with Akhenaten's father, and he sent a letter of condolence to the young king on the death of his father Amenhotep III, not forgetting at the same time to attach and the usual request for a generous send of gold. Burraburiash from Babylon sent similar assurances of sympathy, but only his travel messenger has come down to us asking the Canaanite kings not to delay him along the way. One of Burraburiash's sons later appeared at Akhenaten's court and married his daughter, on the occasion of which her Babylonian father-in-law sent her a magnificent necklace of more than a thousand precious stones. But such a relationship, as we shall see, did not last long.

Meanwhile, the power of the Hittites in northern Syria was constantly growing, being strengthened by the movement to the south of the peoples who lived behind them. This wonderful nation, which is still the greatest mystery in the study of the Ancient East, at that time arose from the darkness that had enveloped it until then. Remains of the Hittites have been found from the western shores of Asia Minor to the eastern plains of Syria and the Euphrates, and southward to Hamat. They were a people, or rather peoples, not of Semitic origin; their racial identity is still obscure, but they seem to have been distinct from the Indo-Europeans to which the Phrygians belonged and who flooded in after 1200 BC. e. On Egyptian monuments they are depicted without beards, with long hair falling in two large strands behind their ears to their shoulders, but on native monuments they often have a thick beard. On their heads, they most often wore high pointed caps, only slightly curved at the top. According to the climate, they wore heavy woolen fabrics in the form of long, tight-fitting clothes, descending from the shoulders down to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles; the legs were dressed in high boots with curved ends. They possessed a crude, but by no means primitive art, and their extremely interesting monuments of stone are still scattered over the hills of Asia Minor. The Hittites had considerable talent for applied arts, and they produced the aforementioned red-decorated pottery, which spread from the center of production in Cappadocia to the west as far as the Aegean Sea, east through Syria and Palestine to Lachish and south to Gezer. Recall that it reached, perhaps, the last place already around 2000 BC. e. They were masters in the art of writing, and the king always had a personal scribe with him. Their hieroglyphic records are still being parsed, and too little has been done in this direction, so that so far scholars can only understand individual words. They used Babylonian cuneiform for correspondence, and therefore probably had secretaries and translators who knew the Babylonian language and writing. A large number of cuneiform tablets in the Hittite language were found in Boghazkoy. In war they were dangerous opponents. The infantry, which included many foreign mercenaries, was armed with bows and arrows, swords and spears, and often with axes. They fought close and in ranks, very effective in hand-to-hand combat, but their main strength was in their chariots. The chariots themselves were heavier than in Egypt, as they carried three people - a charioteer, an archer and a shield-bearer, while the Egyptian ones dispensed with a third. One of the Hittite kings founded a kingdom outside Aman, which Thutmose III invariably called the Great Hittite, probably thereby distinguishing it from the less significant independent Hittite princes. Its capital was a large fortified city called Hattusas (located in 1907) located on the site of modern Boghazkoy, in the eastern part of Asia Minor. From the time of Thutmose, or a little later, active commercial and other relations began between this kingdom and Egypt. Both reached such proportions that the king of Cyprus was afraid that the excessive proximity between Egypt and the Hittite kingdom (Great Hittite) would shake his own position. When Akhenaten came to the throne, the Hittite king Seplel wrote him a congratulatory letter, and, apparently, he was in the most friendly way towards Egypt. For the first advance hittite incursions, such as those repulsed by Dusratta of Mitanni, he may not really have been responsible. Even after the relocation of Akhenaten to the new capital of Akhetaton, the Hittite embassy appeared with gifts and greetings. Apparently, Akhenaten considered the former relationship no longer desirable, for the king of the Hittites asks why he stopped the correspondence maintained by his father. If Akhenaten understood the situation, then he really had enough reason to break off relations. The Hittite empire at this time advanced to the northern border of Syria and was the most terrible enemy and the greatest Asiatic power that Egypt had ever dealt with. It is not known whether Akhenaten could resist the Asia Minor hordes moving south to Syria at that time, even if he made a serious attempt in this direction, but the latter was not made by him. Immediately after Akhenaten's accession to the throne, the discontented kings, temporarily subdued by his father, resumed their attacks on the loyal vassals of Egypt. One of the latter in a later letter to Akhenaten accurately describes the situation in the following words: “Truly, your father did not undertake campaigns and did not survey the countries of subject princes ... And when you ascended the throne of your ancestors, the sons of Abdashirta seized the land of the King in their hands . They are patronized by the king of Mitanni, and the king of Babylon, and the king of the Hittites. With the assistance of the Egyptian vassals Abdashirta and his son Azir, who headed the Amorite kingdom in the upper reaches of the Orontes, and also the Syrian prince Itakama, who reigned in Kadesh, the Hittites captured the plain of Amki, located on the north side along the lower reaches of the Orontes, between Antiochus and Aman. Three loyal vassal kings from neighboring regions opposed them in order to return the lost lands to the pharaoh, but were met by Itakama at the head of the Hittite troops and driven back. All three immediately wrote to the pharaoh about the turmoil and complained about Itakama. Aziru of the Amorites, meanwhile, approached the Phoenician and North Syrian coastal cities and subjugated them as far as Ugarit, at the mouth of the Orontes, and killed their kings and appropriated their property. But Simira and Byblos resisted, and when the Hittites advanced to Nukhashshi, along the lower reaches of the Orontes, Aziru, in alliance with them, took Nii and killed his king. Tunip was at that time in such a distressed situation that his foremen wrote a pathetic letter to the pharaoh, in which they begged for protection in the following words: “To the king of Egypt, my lord, the inhabitants of Tunip, your servant. May you be well! We fall at the feet of our master. My lord! Tunip, your servant, says the following: “Who could previously sack Tunip without being (then himself) sacked by Manahbiria (Thutmose III)? The gods... of the king of Egypt, my lord, dwell in Tunip. Let our lord ask his elders (is this so). And, however, now we no longer belong to our lord, the king of Egypt ... If his soldiers and his chariots come too late, Aziru will deal with us, as with the city of Nii. If we have to grieve, then the king of Egypt will have to grieve over what Azir has done, for he will turn his hand against our lord. And when Aziru enters Simira, Aziru will do with us what he pleases, in the land of our lord, the king, and our lord will have to mourn for this. Here Tunip, your city, is crying, and its tears are flowing, and there is no help for us. For twenty years we sent (letters) to our lord-king, the king of Egypt, but did not receive (in response) a word, not a single one! Tunip's fears were soon justified: Aziru concentrated his forces against Si-mira and quickly brought her to a desperate situation.

While all this was going on, Rib-Addi, a faithful vassal from Byblos, where the Egyptian temple was located, sent the most urgent letters to the pharaoh, reporting on recent events and asking him to drive the hordes of Azira from Simira, since he knew well that in the event of her fall, his own the city of Byblos is doomed to destruction. But help did not come, and the Syrian kings became more and more bold.

Zimrida falls away from Sidon, enters into an agreement with Aziru and, wanting to take possession of part of the booty, moves to Tire, whose king, Abimilki, immediately writes to Egypt, begging for support. The number of troops that these vassals ask for is extremely insignificant, and if it were not necessary to take into account the Hittite hordes advancing south after them, then their operations would give Egypt very little trouble. Aziru has taken possession of the outer fortifications of Simira, and Rib-Addi continues to call on the pharaoh for help. He adds that he himself suffered five years ago from the enmity of the Amorites, which began, as we have seen, under Amenhotep III. Several Egyptian commissioners were commissioned to acquaint themselves with the position of Simira, but they failed to do anything, and the city eventually fell. Aziru, without hesitation, killed the local Egyptian commissioner and, having destroyed the city, had full opportunity to move on Byblos. Rib-Addi, horrified by what had happened, wrote to the pharaoh informing him that the Egyptian resident at Qumidi, in northern Palestine, was in danger. But the crafty Aziru turned around, relying on his friends at the court of the pharaoh. He writes to Tutu, one of the pharaoh's court officials, who was on his side, and in particular tries to justify himself to the neighboring Egyptian resident Haya. With Machiavellian dexterity and cynicism, he answers in letters to the pharaoh that he cannot appear and personally give explanations at the Egyptian court, as he was ordered, since the Hittites are in Nukhashshi, and he is afraid that Tunip is not strong enough to resist them! What Tunip himself thought about his stay in Nukhashshi, we have already seen. To the demand of the pharaoh to rebuild Simira, which he destroyed - as he claimed, so that it would not fall into the hands of the Hittites - he replies that he is too absorbed in protecting the royal cities in Nukhashshi against the Hittites, but that he will do it within a year. Akhenaten was reassured by the promises to Azir to pay the same tribute that the contribution or the cities he captured. The invariable recognition by the rebellious kings of Egyptian dominion, apparently, instilled in the pharaoh a sense of security, which was not at all justified by the real state of affairs. Akhenaten wrote to Aziru that he was giving him a year of respite, which he asked for, but Aziru forced the Egyptian messenger Hani, who was carrying a royal letter, to turn back from the road, and the letter thus remained undelivered. This points to Akhenaten's astonishing condescension and all his disinclination to resort to the drastic measures of his predecessors. Aziru immediately wrote to the king, expressing his regret that the campaign against the Hittites in the north had deprived him of the pleasure of receiving the pharaoh's ambassador, despite the fact that he hurried home as soon as he heard of his approach! To this was added the usual apology that Simira had not yet been restored.

All this time, Rib-Addi is in the most straitened position in Byblos and sends one messenger after another to the Egyptian court, calling for help against Azir. But the plans of the rebellious kings are so cleverly disguised that the Egyptian residents apparently do not know who are the loyal vassals and who are the underground rebels. So, Bihuru, the Egyptian representative in Galilee, not understanding the attitude of Byblos, sends his Bedouin mercenaries there, who beat all his Sherden defenders. The unfortunate Rib-Addi, as a result of which he found himself at the mercy of his enemies, sent two dispatches, imploring the pharaoh to pay attention to his desperate situation, aggravated by the revolt of the townspeople against him, caused by the masterful act of the Egyptian resident. He had withstood the siege for three years, he was old and bent with disease. Rib-Addi hurries to Beirut for help to the local Egyptian resident, but, returning to Byblos, finds the city gates locked, as his brother seized control during his absence and handed over his children to Azir. But Beirut, which was soon attacked, fell, and Rib-Addi leaves it, returns again to Byblos and, having somehow restored his power in it, keeps the city for some time. Although his enemy Aziru was finally forced to appear at court, nevertheless, help did not come to the desperate Rib-Addi. All the cities of the coast were in the hands of his enemies, and the ships of the enemies dominated the sea, so that supplies and reinforcements could not be delivered to him. His wife and family persuade him to fall away from Egypt and unite with the supporters of Aziru, but nevertheless he remains faithful to the pharaoh and asks to send three hundred soldiers to return Beirut and thus somewhat untie his hands. The Hittites plunder his possessions, and the Khabiri, Bedouin mercenaries of his enemy Aziru, swarm under the walls of the city. Rib-Addi's dispatches to the court soon cease, his city, of course, fell, and he himself was probably killed, like other kings of the seaside cities. Thus perished the last vassal of Egypt in the north.

The same thing happened in the south. where the offensive of the Aramaic Semites, Khabiri. can be compared with the advance of the Hittites in the north. Their hordes appear everywhere and act as mercenaries in the service of the kings. As we have seen. Aziru used them against Rib-Addi in Byblos, but the other side, that is, the loyal vassals, also used them, and the traitor of Itakama wrote to the pharaoh, accusing his vassals of having given the territory of Kadesh and Damascus to the Khabiri. Under the leadership of various adventurers, the Khabiri often become real masters of the situation, and the Palestinian cities, like Megiddo, Ascalon, and Gezer, write to the Pharaoh, asking for protection against them. The last of these cities connected with Ascalon and Lachish against Abdhiba, the Egyptian resident in Jerusalem, who was already at that time a strong Fortification of South Palestine, and a faithful servant hastily sends messengers to Akhenaten, reporting the danger and asking for help against the Khabiri and their leaders. At its very gates, in Ayalon, royal caravans were plundered. “The whole land of the king, which opened hostilities against me, will be lost. he wrote. - Look at the country of Shiri (Seir) to Ginti-Kirmil (Carmel) - its princes are completely lost, and hostile actions against me prevail ... While the ships were at sea, the strong hand of the king held Naharina and Kash, but now the Khabiri occupy the city of the king . Not a single prince remains with my lord-King, they are all crushed ... Let the king take care of his land and ... let him send troops ... For if no army appears this year, all the possessions of my lord-King perish ... If there is no army this year, let the king send an officer to take me and my brothers so that we can die near our lord-king.

Abdhiba, who is well acquainted with Akhenaten's cuneiform scribe, adds to some of his messages a postscript addressed to his friend, from which his genuine sincerity shows through: “To the scribe of my lord-king, Abdhiba, your servant. Convey these words thoroughly to my lord-king: the whole land of my lord-king is nearing destruction. Fleeing in terror from the Khabiri who burned the cities and devastated the fields, many inhabitants of Palestine left the cities and fled to the mountains or sought refuge in Egypt. The official in charge of the refugees said of them: “They were devastated, their cities devastated, and fire was placed (under their grain?) ... Their countries are starving, they live like goats on the mountains ... A few Asiatics, not who knew how to live, came (asking for shelter in the possessions?) of the pharaoh, following the example of your fathers from time immemorial ... And now the pharaoh gives them into your hands to guard the borders. The task of those to whom the last words are addressed was truly hopeless, for the commander Bihuru, sent by Akhenaten to restore order and subjugate the Khabiri, was completely incapable of anything. As we have seen, he failed to understand the Rib Addi case at all and sent his Bedouin mercenaries against him. He advanced north as far as Qumidi, above Galilee, but, as Rib-Addi foresaw, then retreated; he remained for some time in Jerusalem, but then withdrew into Gaza and, in all probability, was finally killed. As in Syria, so in Palestine, the provinces of the pharaoh gradually withdrew completely from Egyptian control, and complete anarchy set in in the south, and the desperate Egyptian party abandoned any further attempt to maintain the authority of the pharaoh, and his supporters, who had escaped death, joined with the enemy. The caravans of the Babylonian king Burraburiash were plundered by the king of Akko and his neighbor-ally, and Burraburiash wrote a letter categorically demanding restitution and punishment for those responsible so that his trade with Egypt would not fall prey to predatory kings. But what he feared happened, and Egyptian rule in Asia came to an end for a time.

Akhenaten's reign in Egypt

The faithful vassals of Akhenaten sent one messenger after another to him, sent special ambassadors, sons and brothers, describing to him the seriousness of the situation, but they either received no answer at all, or a commander was sent with completely insufficient forces, making vain and inept attempts to seize the situation, which only the pharaoh himself could handle with the help of the entire Egyptian army. In the new and magnificent capital of Akhetaten, the sumptuous temple of the Aten resounded with hymns in honor of the new god of the empire at a time when the latter no longer existed. The tribute of the twelfth year of the reign of Akhenaten was received at Akhenaten, as before, and the king, who was carried on a stretcher by eighteen soldiers, went solemnly to receive it. Long habit, and a remnant of the once well-founded fear that the pharaoh might appear in Syria with his army, still caused Akhenaten to receive letters from kings from time to time, assuring him of their loyalty, and this, perhaps, supported in his imagination the illusion that he is still the ruler of Asia. “The storm that broke out over the Asian possessions was less destructive than the one that threatened the fate of the Royal House in Egypt. But Akhenaten was still persistent in spreading the new faith. At his command, temples to the Aten were erected throughout the country. Except the sanctuary of the Aten. built by him primarily in Thebes, three at least in Akhetaten and the Nubian Gem-Aton, the king also erected others in Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis, Hermont and Faiyum. He devoted himself to the development of temple ritual, and the theologising trend was somewhat reflected in the freshness of the hymns in honor of the god. His name was changed and instead of the words "Heat, which is in the Aten", they began to add to it the words "Fire emanating from the Aten" as a defining formula. In the meantime, the upheaval, which had shaken the national foundations, affected the whole country in the most pernicious way. The religion of the Aten neglected the most primordial folk beliefs, especially those concerning the afterlife. The people were taken away from their long-standing patron and friend in the abode of darkness, Osiris, and they were deprived of magical means capable of protecting a person in the afterlife from thousands of enemies. Some have tried to connect Aten with ancient traditions, but he was not a folk god who lived in such and such a tree or stream, and he was too far from the circle of everyday concerns to be relevant to them. The people did not understand anything about the refinement characteristic of the new faith. He only knew that the veneration of the old gods was forbidden and that a deity alien to him was brought in their place, about which he knew nothing and could not find out anything. And, in the end, such a government reform affected popular worship no more than the decree of Theodosius, which expelled the ancient gods of Egypt in the interests of Christianity eighteen centuries after the coup of Akhenaten. Several centuries after the death of Theodosius in Upper Egypt, they still continued to venerate the ancients, the so-called. pagan gods. The limits of one human life are, indeed, too narrow to squeeze into them a change in the customs and original faith of the people. The religion of the Aten lived only in the dreams of the idealist Akhenaten and a small circle of his courtiers; it was never really popular.

Along with the hidden murmuring and opposition among the masses of the population, an incomparably more dangerous force should be noted, namely, the hatred of the ancient priesthood, especially Amon. In Thebes there were eight large temples of this god, which stood empty and abandoned; his vast property, which included cities in Syria and vast lands in Egypt, was apparently confiscated and given to the Aten. It could not but exist, and as the results showed, there really was a powerful priestly party during the entire reign of Akhenaten, which openly or secretly did everything possible to undermine him. Indifference to the Asian possessions and their loss should have set many energetic people against the king and caused indignation among the descendants of the associates of Thutmose III. The memory of what was done in those glorious days was probably strong enough to inflame the hearts of the military and make them look for a leader who would return the lost. Akhenaten, as we have seen, appointed one of his favorites as commander of the army, but his ideal views and lofty desire for peace seem to have been as unpopular as they were incomprehensible among his generals. One of the latter named Horemheb, taking advantage of the royal favor, at the same time sought to enlist the support of the military class and, as we will see later, also entered into the mercy of the priests of Amun, who, of course, were looking for someone who would help them realize their plans. . Akhenaten trampled on the primordial traditions of an entire people in all respects. Thus, both the people and the priestly and military classes alike sought to overthrow the hated dreamer in the palace of the pharaohs, whose thoughts were so obscure to them. To top it off, fate did not give the king a son, and he finally had to look for support in his son-in-law, a nobleman named Smenkhkare, married to his eldest daughter Meritaten, "Beloved of Aton." Akhenaten was probably never physically strong; his narrow face, with the features of an ascetic, bears the features of the worries that weighed so heavily on him. He appointed Smenkhkare as his successor and at the same time made him co-ruler. After that, Akhenaten lived for a very short time and around 1358 BC. e., after a reign of approximately seventeen years, the king died, smitten by the irresistible forces directed against him. In a secluded valley, a few miles east of his city, he was buried in a tomb he had carved into the rocks for himself and his family, and where his second daughter Maketaton had already rested.

Thus disappeared the most remarkable face of early Eastern history. He was subsequently known to his people as "the criminal from Akhetaten"; as for us, however much we may reproach him for the loss of the Asiatic empire, which he allowed to slip from his hands, however much we may condemn the fanaticism with which he pursued his views, even going so far as to desecrate the name of his own father and the ancient monuments, yet we must admit that with him descended into the grave a spirit such as the world had never seen before, a courageous soul who acted fearlessly in defiance of immemorial tradition. Emerging from a long line of traditional and colorless pharaohs, he preached ideas far beyond the understanding of his age. Such people we find seven hundred or eight hundred years later among the Jews. The modern world must correctly evaluate him and, moreover, be able to discern family traits in this man, who at that distant time and under such unfavorable conditions was the first idealist and the first individual in history.

Reign of Tutankhamun

Smenkhkare was completely unsuited for his role, and after an inconspicuous and short-lived reign in Akhetaten, he left the stage, giving way to Tutankhaten ("The living likeness of the Aten"), another son-in-law of Akhenaten, married to his daughter Ankhesenpaaten ("She lives thanks to the Aten") . The priestly party of Amun was constantly growing, and Tutankhaten, having begun to reign in Akhetaten, had to soon compromise in order to maintain his position. He left the city of his father-in-law and moved the court to Thebes, which had not seen the pharaoh for twenty years. Akhetaten somehow survived for some time, supported by the production of colored glass and faience, which flourished there during the reign of Akhenaten. These crafts soon died out, the inhabitants gradually left the city, until, finally, not a single soul was left on its empty streets. The roofs of the houses caved in, the walls sagged and collapsed, the temples, as we shall see, fell victim to the revenge of the Theban party, and the once magnificent residence of the Aten gradually turned into ugly ruins. At present, the latter are known under the name of Tel el-Amarna and still lie in the form that the enemies, time and the priests of Amun left them. It is possible to walk along the ancient streets among the houses, the walls of which are still several feet high, and try to restore from its abandoned dwellings the life of the worshipers of the Aten who once inhabited them. Here, in a low brick room, which served as an archive under the ambassadorial order of Akhenaten, about three hundred letters and dispatches were found in 1885, according to which we restored his relations with the kings and rulers of Asia and the gradual falling away of his possessions there. There were more than sixty dispatches of the unfortunate Biblical king Rib-Addi. According to the modern name of the place, all correspondence is called Amarna letters. All the other cities of the Aten also perished completely, but Gem-Aten in remote Nubia escaped the general fate. After a long time, the local temple of Aten turned into the temple of "Amon, the lord of Gem-Aton", and thanks to this, the ruins of the ancient temple of monotheism still stand in distant Nubia.

Settling in Thebes, Tutankhaton continued to worship Aten and somewhat expanded or, at least, corrected the local temple of Aten, but the priests of Amun forced his permission to resume the veneration of Amun. He had to restore the old holiday calendar of Karnak and Luxor; he himself led the first "feast of Opet", the greatest festival in honor of Amun, and restored the local temples. Circumstances also compelled him to begin restoring the mutilated names of Amun banished from the monuments by Akhenaten, and his restorations are now found as far south as Soleb in Nubia. Tutankhaton was forced to make another serious concession to the priests of Amun: he changed his name to Tutankhamun (“The Living Likeness of Amon”), from which it is clear that he finally ended up entirely in the hands of the priestly party.

The empire he ruled was still significant, stretching from the Nile Delta to the fourth cataracts. The Nubian province under the rule of the governor was finally Egyptianized, and local leaders from the time of Thutmose III began to wear Egyptian clothes. The coup in Egypt did not seriously affect Nubia, and she continued to deliver an annual tribute to the pharaoh's treasury. Tutankhamun also received tribute from the north, as the governor of Kush claimed, Hui - from Syria. Although this is probably somewhat of an exaggeration, given what we know from the Amarna writings; nevertheless, one of Akhenaten's successors gave battle in Asia, and it was almost Tutankhamen. Thus it is possible that he restored pharaonic power enough in Palestine to collect a certain amount of tribute, or at least booty. This fact could then be interpreted in the sense of the annexation of Syria. Tutankhamun soon disappeared from the scene, and he was replaced by another nobleman of Akhenaten, Eye, who was married to his nurse Tia and carved for himself a tomb in Akhetaten, from where the great hymn to Aten, cited above, comes from. He was sufficiently imbued with the ideas of Akhenaten to resist for a short time the priests of Amun and somewhat expand the temple of Aten at Thebes. He abandoned his tomb at Akhetaten and carved another in the Valley of the Kings. He soon needed the latter, for he also did not live long. Apparently, one or two short-lived pretenders seized power either after or before his accession to the throne. Anarchy has set in. Thebes was the victim of robber gangs who entered the royal tombs and, as we now know, robbed the tomb of Thutmose IV saw the East, completely collapsed. The glorious name of the ancestors could no longer help the degenerate descendants to hold on to the patronage, and the XVIII Dynasty slowly came to an end around 1350 BC. e. Manetho placed Horemheb, who restored order and assumed the pharaonic throne, at the end of the 18th Dynasty, but as far as we know, he was not of royal lineage and was not in any way related to the fallen house. His accession to the throne marks the restoration of Amon, the restoration of the old order and the beginning of a new era.

Akhenaten(Amenhotep IV), Egyptian pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty, ruled c. 1365-48 BC e. The son of Amenhotep III and Tiye (Teye), a humble woman, sister of the priest of the god Ra from the city of Heliopolis. He ascended the throne at the age of 15 under the name of Amenhotep (IV) (ancient Egyptian "Amon is pleased"). He was under the strong influence of the queen mother and his tutor - Amenhotep, the son of Hapu. Like his father, in violation of age-old tradition, he married not the eldest daughter of the pharaoh who reigned before him (the Egyptian throne was formally passed down through the female line), but the daughter of one of the nobles, Nefertiti, who later took an active part in his religious transformations.

At the very beginning of his reign, he takes the title of supreme - "the greatest among those who see" - the priest of the god Ra in Heliopolis, thereby emphasizing his commitment to the cult of the sun and especially emphasizing the veneration of the solar disk itself - Aton, whose cult becomes common in Egypt even under Thutmose IV. Gradually, in contrast to other gods, and especially Amon, the main god of the capital Thebes, the cult functions of the Aten expand, in him alone the ideas of the goodness, power and creative power of the solar (from lat. sol - sun) deities are embodied. Finally, the name Akhenaten (ancient Egyptian "Helpful to the Aton"), adopted by the pharaoh, declares a new orientation of his religious policy.

In the 6th year of his reign, Akhenaten transferred the capital of the country from Thebes, the center of the opposition-minded priesthood of Amun, to the city of Akhetaten, founded by him on land not dedicated to any other deity, “great charm, pleasing to the eye with beauty” (ancient Egyptian “Horizon of the Aten”; modern. Tel el-Amarna in Middle Egypt) and vows together with Nefertiti never to leave the capital, declared the sacred abode of the Aton. Despite the fact that on the plates marking the borders of Akhetaten, a number of Egyptian deities are mentioned, headed by Amun, the cult of Amun, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu (the Theban triad of gods) is soon prohibited. OK. 1356 BC e. Aten is finally proclaimed the only god, and by 1353 BC. e. the persecution of the veneration of all other cults begins, the construction of temples stops, the very words “god” and “gods” are eradicated - even Aton is referred to only as “ruler”, his name, like the royal one, is in a cartouche.

In the essentially new religion, a special place is also given to the glorification of the divinity of the pharaoh himself - he is considered the beloved son and co-ruler of Aton, "the only one who knew the true god" and is able to enter into direct communication with the incarnated sun. The years of their “joint” reign are splendidly celebrated in the capital.

The former priesthood in the reign of Akhenaten loses its position, the new priesthood of the Aten and the court elite of the king consist mainly of the service nobility that came out of the bottom (the widespread name of this time is “Akhenaton made me”). Under Akhenaten, completely absorbed in religious reform, there are practically no aggressive campaigns, Egypt’s control over Palestine and Syria is not maintained, ties with Babylonia and other states of the Middle East are weakening, Egypt is losing its main ally in this region - the state of Mitanni and does not oppose the growth of power his future rival in Syria - the Hittite kingdom.

Akhenaten's transformations, to a large extent caused by political goals, carried, however, the stamp of a sincere and even fanatical faith. Numerous temples are built to worship Aten, which are large open courtyards with pylons - from now on, man's prayers ascend to God himself, there are no barriers between them. Aton himself is depicted not in the usual anthropomorphic form, but in the form of a solar disk, the rays of which end in palms with the signs "ankh" - a symbol of life, strength and grace, which he extends to the pharaoh and his wife addressed to him in prayer. The religious reform was reflected in all aspects of Egyptian life: a new image of a person is being formed in art, in the images of the king, Nefertiti and those close to him, mercy and goodness, soft beauty and openness of the soul to the world of emotions are emphasized.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti had 6 daughters, the youngest of whom Ankhesenpaaten became the wife of Tutankhaton (who changed his name to), the eldest - Meritaten - the wife of Semnekhkar, who was declared his co-ruler at the end of the reign of Akhenaten (after the death of the pharaoh, he ruled for about 2 years). The fate of Nefertiti after the appearance of Akhenaten's new wife Kiya, from whom he had one or two sons, is unknown.

Under the young Tutankhaton, the royal court leaves the capital, the cults of all the gods and the positions of the Theban priesthood of Amon are restored. Subsequently, the name of Akhenaten is forgotten and is not even included in the lists of kings who ruled in Egypt.