Tutankhamen: Amenism, Atenism and Egyptian Monotheism
()
About this ebook
Read more from E.A. Wallis Budge
The Book of the Cave of Treasures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kebra Nagast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEgyptian Magic (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rosetta Stone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading): The Papyrus of Ani Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of the Bee Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Amulets and Superstitions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBabylonian Life and History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of the Cave of Treasures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTutankhamen: Amenism, Atenism and Egyptian Monotheism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Babylonian Legends of Creation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Liturgy of Funerary Offerings: The Egyptian Texts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOsiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tutankhamen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBabylonian Life and History (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Tutankhamen
Related ebooks
Tutankhamen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTutankhamen: Amenism, Atenism and Egyptian Monotheism/with Hieroglyphic Texts of Hymns to Amen and Aten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoses and Akhenaten: The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gods of the Egyptians, Volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tutankhamen: Amenism, Atenism, and Egyptian Monotheism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ancient Egyptian Bok of the Duat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt: The Secret Lineage of the Patriarch Joseph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ancient Fragments Containing What Remains of the Writings of Sanchoniatho, Berossus, Abydenus, Megasthenes, and Manetho Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Literature of Ancient Egypt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Literature of the Ancient Egyptians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Amarna Sunrise: Egypt from Golden Age to Age of Heresy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LEGENDS - 11 Myths from Ancient Egypt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTutankhamen: Amenism, Atenism and Egyptian Monotheism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManetho: History of Egypt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ancient Egyptian Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Egypt of the Hebrews and Herodotos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus in the House of the Pharaohs: The Essene Revelations on the Historical Jesus Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Akhenaten, the Nephilim God King Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Babylonian Legends Of Creation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Egyptian Ideas of the Afterlife Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOsiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Vol. 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Budge's Egypt: A Classic 19th-Century Travel Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hieroglyphic Vocabulary to the Book of the Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the Egyptian Gods: Hieroglyphic Texts and Translations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Ancient History For You
Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"America is the True Old World" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Histories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Secrets of the Freemasons: The Truth Behind the World's Most Mysterious Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of the Jews Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kybalion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Visionary: The Mysterious Origins of Human Consciousness (The Definitive Edition of Supernatural) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Complete Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stolen Legacy: The Egyptian Origins of Western Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Know Much About the Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaul: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/524 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Survive in Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gods of Eden: Egypt's Lost Legacy and the Genesis of Civilization Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future---Updated With a New Epilogue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders on Maps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alexander the Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moses and Monotheism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Tutankhamen
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Tutankhamen - E.A. Wallis Budge
TUTANKHAMEN
AMENISM, ATENISM AND EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM
by E.A.W. Budge
Harmakis Edizioni
Division S.E.A. Servizi Editoriali Avanzati,
Registered office in Via Del Mocarini, 11 - 52025 Montevarchi (AR) ITALY
Headquarters the same aforementioned.
Editorial Director: Paola Agnolucci
www.harmakisedizioni.org
ISBN: 9788885519862
This is a collection of essays and translations by E.A.W. Budge about the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt, particularly Amenhotep IV, who attempted to impose a monotheistic religion on the Egyptians, and Tutankhamen, who led a counter-reformation. This slim book appears to have been pieced together from existing material, shortly after the sensational discovery of Tutankhamen’s intact tomb. If you are looking for a lengthy biography of ‘King Tut’, or an inventory of the riches of his tomb you will be disappointed. Most of this book is about Amenhotep IV, particularly his abortive attempt to negate thousands of years of Egyptian polythesism, and replace it with a monotheistic religion. This is a fascinating subject for students of the history of religion, and Budge offers a set of key source documents on the topic, as well as some insightful analysis.
NOTES
The kings of the XVIIIth dynasty reigned about 230 years, i.e., from about B.C. 1580 to 1350; their names are as follows:
Aahmes 1580, reigned about 22 years.
Amenhetep I, about 1558-7, reigned about 10 years.
Thothmes I, about 1546, reigned about 30 years.
Thothmes II, about 1500, reigned about 3 years.
Hatshepsut, Thothmes III about 1500 to 1447.
Amenhetep II, about 1448, reigned about 26 years.
Thothmes IV, about 1420, reigned about 8 years.
Amenhetep III, about 1412, reigned 36 years.
Amenhetep IV, about 1376, reigned 17 years.
Sakara, Tutankhamen, Ai reigned 8-12 years.
Heremheb, about 1350, reigned 34 years.
PREFACE
THE announcement made early in December, 1922, of the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in Western Thebes by the late Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Howard Carter sent a thrill of wonder and expectation through all the civilized peoples on the earth. In the accounts of the contents of the Tomb, which were published with admirable promptness and fullness in The Times, we read of bodies of chariots, chairs of state, gilded couches, royal apparel, boxes of trinkets and food and cosmetics and toilet requisites, large bitumenized wooden statues, alabaster vessels of hitherto unknown shapes and beauty, and countless other objects, until the mind reeled in its attempts to imagine the sight that met the eyes of the two discoverers when they entered the two outer chambers. Those who have seen the smaller objects and have enjoyed the privilege of examining them have been amazed at their exquisite beauty and finish; and there is no doubt that the importance of the find,
from an artistic point of view, can be expressed in words only with difficulty. It is easy to believe Sarwat Pasha when he says none of the accounts published have really done justice to the finds,
which, however, is not surprising, since their beauty is unique and indescribable (Times, Jan. 18, 1923, P. 9).
All the writers who have described and discussed the discovery have, quite rightly, lost no opportunity of proclaiming the great value and importance of Lord Carnarvon’s find
as illustrating the arts and crafts that were practised in the city of Aakhut-Aten under its founder, the famous Atenite king, Amenhetep IV. But some of them have been led astray by their eagerness to do ample justice to the great discovery, and have introduced into their eulogies statements of a historical character which are incorrect. Some have declared that the information derived from the find
makes necessary the rewriting and recasting of the history of the XVIIIth dynasty, but there is no foundation for this statement, for the authorized accounts of the Tomb of Tutankhamen and its contents include no new historical facts. Lord Carnarvon may have obtained from the tomb information that would amplify our knowledge of the reign of Tutankhamen, but if he did so he did not publish it. As matters stand we know no more now about the reign of this king than we did before Lord Carnarvon made his phenomenal discovery. Other writers have tried to make out that Tutankhamen was one of the greatest of the kings of Egypt, but this is not the case. When he came to the throne he professed the same religion as his wife, that is to say, the cult of Aten, the Solar Disk, or Atenism, and for a short time he continued to do so. But he soon realized that Atenism had failed, and then he substituted the name of Amen for Aten in his own name and that of his wife, and became a fervent follower of Amen and a worshipper of the old gods of his country. The fame of Tutankhamen really rests on the fact that he restored the national worship of Amen, and made the Atenites to relinquish their hold upon the revenues of this god. Other writers again have tried to show that Tutankhamen was the Pharaoh of the Exodus,
and also that it was his wife Ankh-s-en-pa-Aten (or Amen) who took Moses out of his ark of bulrushes and brought him up. But there was more than one Exodus, and Tutankhamen was not King of Egypt when any of them took place. And strange views have been promulgated even about some of the articles of furniture that Lord Carnarvon found in the tomb. Thus the funerary couch or bier with legs made in the form of a strange beast has been declared to be of Mesopotamian origin; but such is not the case. The beast represented is the composite monster called Ammit,
i.e. Eater of the Dead,
and she is found in the Judgment Scene in all the great papyri containing the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead. About her component parts there is no doubt, for in the Papyrus of Hunefer it is written, Her fore-part is crocodile, her hindquarters are hippopotamus, her middle part lion (or cat)
. The Mesopotamians knew of no such beast, and the couch or bier could only have been made in Egypt, where the existence of Ammit was believed in and the fear of her was great.
Some of the writers on Lord Carnarvon’s discoveries discussed not only the Tomb of Tutankhamen, but the religious revolution which seems to have been inaugurated by Amenhetep III, at the instance of his wife Queen Ti, and was certainly carried on with increasing vigour by their son, Amenhetep IV, who believed that he was an incarnation of Aten, the god of the Solar Disk. Their discussions gave many people an entirely false idea of the character of Amenhetep IV, and of the nature of the cult of Aten. This king was described as a reformer, an individualist, and an idealist and a pacifist; but he was a reformer who initiated no permanent reform, an individualist who diverted the revenues of the gods of his country to his own uses, an idealist who followed the cult of the material, and a pacifist who lost Egypt’s Asiatic Empire. His Teaching
proclaimed the oneness
of Aten, which has been compared to the monotheism of Christian nations; but for centuries before his time the priesthoods of Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis and Thebes had proclaimed this self-same oneness to be the chief attribute of their gods. This Teaching
was said to inculcate a religion and morality superior to any doctrine found in the Old Testament, and some enthusiasts would have us believe that in spiritual conceptions and sublime precepts it surpassed Christ’s teaching as set forth in the Gospels. Practically all that we know of the Teaching
of Amenhetep IV is found in a short hymn, which is attributed to the king himself, and in a longer hymn, which is found in the Tomb of Ai, his disciple and successor, at Tall al-’Amarnah. The language and phrasing of these works are very interesting, for they show a just appreciation of the benefits that man and beast alike derive from the creative and fructifying influence of the heat and light of the sun. But I cannot find in them a single expression that contains any spiritual teaching, or any exhortation to purity of life, or any word of consciousness of sin, or any evidence of belief in a resurrection and a life beyond the grave. It is of course possible that all the religious works of the Atenites, except these hymns, have perished, but the fact remains that it is upon these two hymns, and the extracts from them which are found in the tombs of officials at Tall al-’Amarnah, that modem writers have founded their views and statements about the highly spiritual character of the religion and morality of the Atenites. Whilst discussing these and similar matters here with Lord Carnarvon about the middle of last December, he suggested that I should put together, in a small book, the known facts about the reign of Tutankhamen, and add two or three chapters on the cults of Amen, Aten, and Egyptian Monotheism, which had been so completely misrepresented. He was particularly anxious that translations of some of the hymns to Amen and Aten should be given, and that the most important of them should be accompanied by the original hieroglyphic texts, so that those who cared to go into the matter might have the means of forming their own conclusions about the character of the hymns to Aten, and deciding whether it was spiritual or material. In the following pages I have tried to carry out his suggestion, and in the circumstances perhaps it will not be out of place to say a few words about his labours in the field of Egyptian Archaeology.
In the winter of 1907-08, Lord Carnarvon carried out a series of comprehensive excavations at Drah abu’l Nakkah and in the Valley of Der al-Bahari in Western Thebes. In these, as in all his subsequent excavations, he was assisted by Mr. Howard Carter, formerly Inspector in the Service of Antiquities of Egypt. This gentleman possessed very special qualifications for the work that he undertook for Lord Carnarvon, namely, a good knowledge of colloquial Arabic, great experience in dealing with the natives and the antica
dealers in the country, skill in the practical work of excavation, and keen interest in Egyptian Archaeology. At Der al-Bahari, Lord Carnarvon discovered two important ostraka inscribed with texts, the one dealing with the deeds of King Kames, and the other containing a portion of a new version of the Precepts of Ptah-hetep. In 1908-09 he discovered the tomb of Tetaki, and a tomb of the XXVth dynasty containing the coffins of nine persons. In 1910-11 he discovered an unfinished temple of Hatshepsut, a ruined temple of Rameses IV, a cemetery of the XIIthdynasty, and a number of early burials. A full account of what he did at Thebes will be found in his Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes (1907-11), Oxford, 1912. This book is illustrated by eighty fine folio plates, and is one of the fullest accounts hitherto published of archaeological work done in Egypt.