Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation

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1 University Press Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 13 items for: keywords : Tutankhamun Sunset DOI: /cairo/ There are many things that are not yet clear in the reign of different kings in Egypt, like the royal titles of vizier Paramessu, wherein there is not enough evidence whether he took the royal title only on the death of Horemheb or in advance of that. The short reign of Rameses I and the accession of his son, Sethy I, marked a new era with royal family not apparently linked to the now discredited Eighteenth Dynasty line. But with Akhenaten's reign, the royal family increased visibility, and even expanded under the new dynasty. Under Akhenaten, royal princes started to be represented in temples by virtue of their status as the king's offspring alone. Figures of Tutankhamun and Nefertiti are among the most iconic images in the world, but Akhenaten's belief and activities are the most powerful because it can provoke a level of passion. Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Item type: book DOI: /cairo/ This study, drawing on the latest research, tells the story of the decline and fall of the pharaoh Akhenaten's religious revolution in the fourteenth century BC. Beginning at the regime's high-point in his Year 12, it traces the subsequent collapse that saw the deaths of many of the king's loved ones, his attempts to guarantee the revolution through co-rulers, and the last frenzied assault on the god Amun. The book then outlines the events of the subsequent five decades that saw the extinction of the royal line, Page 1 of 6

2 an attempt to place a foreigner on Egypt's throne, and the accession of three army officers in turn. Among its conclusions are that the mother of Tutankhamun was none other than Nefertiti, and that the queen was joint-pharaoh in turn with both her husband Akhenaten and her son. As such, she was herself instrumental in beginning the return to orthodoxy, undoing her erstwhile husband's life-work before her own mysterious disappearance. Amarna Sunrise: Egypt from Golden Age to Age of Heresy Published in print: 2014 Published Online: September 2015 ISBN: eisbn: Item type: book DOI: /cairo/ The latter part of the fifteenth century BC saw Egypt's political power reach its zenith, with an empire that stretched from beyond the Euphrates in the north to much of what is now Sudan in the south. The wealth that flowed into Egypt allowed its kings to commission some of the most stupendous temples of all time, some of the greatest dedicated to Amun-Re, King of the Gods. Yet a century later these temples lay derelict, the god's images, names, and titles all erased in an orgy of iconoclasm by Akhenaten, the devotee of a single sun-god. This book traces the history of Egypt from the death of the great warrior-king Thutmose III to the high point of Akhenaten's reign, when the known world brought gifts to his newly-built capital city of Amarna, in particular looking at the way in which the cult of the sun became increasingly important to even orthodox kings, culminating in the transformation of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, into a solar deity in his own right. Pathology Manniche Lise in The Akhenaten Colossi of Karnak Published in print: 2010 Published Online: ISBN: eisbn: DOI: /cairo/ In the 1998 writing of Marc Gabolde, Karnak colossi are described as the most unrealistic example of the art of the Amarna period and there are reasons which are stated in this chapter. Also, the problem in identifying a pathological condition due to lack of comparison is stated in this chapter. In connection with this, the members of the medical profession have found the case of Akhenaten irresistible and have often Page 2 of 6

3 been quoted by Egyptologists. Problems in medicine history and the analysis of their case have been one of the main focuses in this chapter. Different interpretations and representations of mummies that helped in giving clearer identity to a medical history are presented as well. These different studies started because of the suspected abnormalities of Tutankhamun. The Living Age of Amun DOI: /cairo/ A stela brings us to the untold world of the Egyptian, but some of these stelae are too damaged to read in our present time. A duplicate of a stela set up in the Karnak complex shows figures when Tutankhamun is offering to Amun and Mut, with Ankhesenamun standing behind him. Below that figure is a thirty-line inscription stating that Tutankhamun restored everything that was ruined, to be a monument for ever and ever and suppressed wrongdoing throughout the Two Lands. Given the placement of the stela, and the known destruction of Amuns's names and images by Akhenaten, the next section of the stela is unsurprisingly focused on the king's resolution to do everything possible to benefit Amun by creating a new cult image, building on what survived from before Akhenaten's time. The stela continues, emphasizing the king's munificence toward the newly restored temples and their gods. The Zananzash Affair DOI: /cairo/ After Tutankhamun's death, the queen wanted a husband to make him the successor of Tutankhamun's throne. She wrote to Shuppiluliumash to beg him to give her one of his sons, and promised to make him a king of Egypt. Shuppiluliumash wondered whether the letter was some kind of Page 3 of 6

4 trick to deliver a Hittite prince into Egyptian hands and then to turn him into a hostage. With a doubt on the back of his mind, Shuppiluliumash sent one of their princes, Zananzash, as a response to the Egyptian queen's request. But Zananzash died without knowing the real cause of his death, and they do not even know where his death occurred. In the legal view of Hittie, Zananzash was assassinated by opposition who were against with the idea of an Egyptian court in handling the throne to a foreigner. God's Father to God DOI: /cairo/ Ay is one of the prominent figures of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. He appears in the records of Akhenaten's reign. His tomb at Amarna gives him the title Fan Bearer on the Right Hand of the King, but the most widely used in his titles is the God's Father and this title makes him unique at the courts of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. At Amarna he seems to have been known simply as The God's Father par excellence based on the three ostraca that refer to orders being given by this sotitled individual. This title is not just a contraction of the priestly title of God's Father of [GOD], but rather a version of a title that goes back to the Old Kingdom. One bearer of this title was Tutankhamuns's tutor, Sennedjem. The Hawk in Festival DOI: /cairo/ In the reign of Tutankhamun, Horemheb's career appears on the scene. Some wondered whether he might have previously served Akhenaten under another name because of the four constructional phases seen in Horemheb's tomb which suggests that there may be some stages of Page 4 of 6

5 promotion. In his restoration in the Upper Colonnade of the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-bahari, Horemheb calls Thutmose III as the father of his fathers, but whether this might indicate a remote claim to royal blood, or just a view of the inherent unity of the monarchial succession is still uncertain. Although evidence of Horemheb's long Coronation Inscription is on the rear of a Turin statue, text in this statue opens with his royal title in which is described as beloved of Horus of Hutnesu. This describes that Horemheb was born with divine protection, which was recognized as a special since childhood, and destined for kingship. Aten Alone James K. Hoffmeier in Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism Published in print: 2015 Published Online: March 2015 ISBN: eisbn: Publisher: Oxford University Press DOI: / acprof:oso/ This chapter traces how Aten emerged as Akhenaten s sole god. Akhenaten built temples of talatat blocks throughout Egypt, including at Heliopolis and Memphis, and as far south as Nubia and apparently north to Sinai, to judge from talatat blocks discovered at Tell el-borg by this author. At this site, textual evidence was found for Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, and the little known royal figure Ankh-Kheperure. These remains just beyond the northeastern border of Egypt, represent the north-most remains of an Aten temple. Meanwhile, as Akhenaten was engaged in a massive building program for Aten, other temples were cut off, abandoned, and closed. The Influence of Atenism in Egypt and the Bible? James K. Hoffmeier in Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism Published in print: 2015 Published Online: March 2015 ISBN: eisbn: Publisher: Oxford University Press DOI: / acprof:oso/ This chapter concludes the book by examining whether there were any direct or indirect influences of Atenism on the Hebrews, who according to the biblical tradition were likely in Egypt during Akhenaten s reign. A comparative analysis between Psalm 104 and the Great Aten Hymn suggests that there was no direct connection between them. The axial movement theory held that religions evolved toward monotheism, with Page 5 of 6

6 breakthroughs occurring in 7th 5th centuries B.C. in different parts of the world. Atenism in the 14th century B.C. shows the inadequacy of this popular theory, which many scholars have applied to Israelite religion. By way of analogy with Atenism, it is suggested that there is no reason to reject the notion of Mosaic monotheism in the century after Akhenaten. Atenism died with Akhenaten, as the reign of Tutankhamun demonstrates. Page 6 of 6