Apercu´ of Armana Period Iconographic Representation
of the Egyptian God Aten
The religious symbolism that evolved contemporaneously with the beginning of
a civilized and structured world in Ancient Egypt found its roots in the Egyptian
concern for the afterlife. The pantheon of divinities, derived from the tutelary
gods of each of the various independent city-states along the Nile prior to
unification achieved during the “Old Kingdom” phase (2575 –
2150 BCE), contributed to a vibrant, tangled and complex religious construct
of multifarious interconnected deities and their associated relationships. [1]
Many of these deities had a symbolic and figurative representation in some
animalistic or totemic form, such as bulls and birds [2]. Horus, the falcon-god
protector of the Pharaohs, is embodied as a hawk or falcon. The Pharaohs themselves
were considered divine: they were believed to be the children of the sun-god
Re who had assumed human form [3] and were then incarnated as Horus. As the
living Horus, the Pharaoh/King was “given the land and people of Egypt
to care for during his time on earth. After “death” he simply returned
to dwell eternally with his peers, the gods, while his eldest son became the
new embodiment of Horus on earth.”[4]
Palette of Narmer,
from Hieakonpolis, Dynasy I, c. 3150 – 3125 BCE.
Slate, Height 25”, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Although the Palette of Narmer [5] (an engraved sculptural ritual piece
commemorating King Narmer's unification of Upper and Lower Egypt), has an early
(ca. 3100 BCE) presumed symbolic reference to the sun disk (above right center),
still this representation was only part of the developing mythologies of many
supernatural presences to be worshipped accordingly. This polytheistic proclivity
continued unabated for centuries down through the various phases of Egyptian
history and dynasties.
It wasn't for another fifteen hundred years that there would be an aberration
to totemic and figurative representation and polytheistic worship, that during
the reign of Akhenaten (Pharaoh Amenophis IV, 14th cent. BCE), which occurred
in roughly the same period as the anecdotal Hebrew “Exodus.” The possible
connections between the monotheism of Akhenaten and that of the putative Hebrew
historical background of the same region and approximately the same time period
have not escaped the attention of astute and curious researchers of the ancient
past.
Although there is no definitive archaeological or historical evidence for the
Exodus [6], there are many tantalizing references in extant Egyptology that
can be interpreted in various ways, some even suggesting that Akhenaten and
the Hebrew leader Moses may be one and the same person [7]. Here in this paper,
however, we would like to briefly explore various aspects of the imagery associated
with Akhenaten, and the representation of Aten as a sun-disk.
The period of the rule of King Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti during the
Fourteenth Century BCE is known as today the “Armana Phase” of the
Egyptian ruling dynasties, resulting from the King's construction of a new capital
city he called “Akhetaten” (Horizon of the Aten) at an archeological
site contemporarily known as “Armana.” [8]
During this phase King Akhenaten instituted a radical revision of Egyptian theological
and artistic practices that in our modern era has inspired intense debate regarding
its connotations and symbolism. At the forefront of this revolution was Akhenaten's
simultaneous but paradoxical consolidation and rejection of Egyptian theology's
pantheon of deities into one omnipotent and omniscient god known as “Aten.”
Aten had been previously identified as the physical sun disk that was a home/manifestation
of Egypt's primary deity, Atum-Re. During the reign of Akhenaten, however, the
sun disk itself became identified as having in some aspect of divine qualities,
either as a “god” itself, or as the principle representation of this
universal god Aten. [9]
The artistic manifestations of this new era in Egyptian thought, whether it
was a forced change instituted by the imprimatur of Pharaonic totalitarianism,
or whether simply by an empathy to revising the age-old Egyptian canonical order
are startling, to say the least.
The new art stood in sharp contrast to the representational iconography that
had dominated Egyptian life for over two thousand years. This new art, and the
poems and hymns that accompanied it, expressed the experience of living while
at the same time emphasizing the wondrous creation of Aten and Aten's munificence
toward mankind. This was a major break with the static formal motifs that characterized
Egyptian art of previous centuries concerned primarily with the creation of
eternal realms for the dead and the glorification and preservation of the eternal
divinities of the Pharaohs as god-kings. [10]
Akhenaten and his Family
from Akhetaten
(modern Tell el-Armana), Dynasty 18, 1348-1336/5 BCE. Piece similar to: Painted Limestone relief, 12¼ x 15¼”.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ägyptisches Museum
An excellent example of art from this era would be the Stela of the Royal Family:
“Akhanaten and his Family,” from Akhetaten (modern Tell-el Armana),
a painted limestone in sunken relief. Here Akhanaten and Nefertiti are shown
seated in a homey domestic scene both holding and tending to their children.
The family's androgynous, elongated and sinuous body forms typify the ubiquitous
bodily representation of the era that is such a noticeable and curious difference
from the formal Egyptian style and has been the cause of so much speculation
about the impetus of its origins. (See above photo)
The carving, almost impressionistic in its execution, creates a gestural feeling
of movement that gives life to the piece that previous depictions of Egyptian
royalty lacked. Lines are widened and deepened on curves of the figures that
cast shadows imitative of flattened brush stokes. The remaining space surrounding
the couple includes a pictographic narrative no doubt relating to the piece.
Above the royal couple - creating a triangular formal arrangement that references
the pyramidal monuments of the region and adumbrates Christian iconographical
sculptural and painting arrangements three thousand years later - is the deeply
incised circumference of the sun-disk as an abstract representation of Aten.
Aten's rays, perhaps metaphysically transformed into “arms,” each
ending with a hand/ankh, shine down upon the happy family and caress them with
Aten's benevolence. Unlike that imagery of earlier periods which was hidden
from public view in tombs, stelae such as this appeared as shrines in private
homes. [11] As a paradigm for Akhanaten's subjects, this scene could have been
instruction to the faithful of the ideal relationship to their new deity and
Aten's all-encompassing providence in life.
Conclusion:
What can we make of this sun-disk emblem? Obviously, it combines aspects of
the actual physical sun disk with abstract representations of the deity's perceived
powers. But its connection as an abstract symbol to the early Palette of Narmer
cannot be overlooked. The circle, triangle, and square as elemental gestalt
figures can be transformed into symbols potent with meaning: the triangle's
metamorphosis into the Pyramids at Giza has carried an entire culture’s
theology wrapped up in it. So with the “circle” of the sun - and the
suggestion of its roundabout journeys, its “light” in both a physical
and revelatory sense, and the “warmth” of its life-giving presence
both physically and spiritually.
In a similar fashion, Christian theology of our time has created an abstract
image of the “Son of God” as the homonymic “Sun” of God,
replete with metaphors that echo the same attributes of Aten: an all-encompassing
Divinity that “shines” a benevolence and “warmth” upon humanity
in the “circle” of life.
“You had to have been there,” is a phrase we are fond of uttering
when we find difficulty in verbally expressing a situation we may have been
in, and it is more than apt when applied to any attempts to fathom the Egyptians'
gnosis of their religious framework. After all, we find ourselves struggling
to understand the motives and artistic expressions of recent past generations,
say nothing of a realizing a clear-cut definition of this ambiguous religious
symbolism three and a half millennia past, despite two centuries' study of the
voluminous artifacts from the Egyptian dynastic civilization.
Yet, when we compare earlier likenesses of Egyptian deities in their embodiments
as birds of prey, bulls, and other animalistic images, it appears that Ahkanaten,
with his portrayals of Aten as a faceless, rounded disk, may have finally created
a totally abstract conception of his god, with the core of its ethos non-dependent
upon familiar and naturalistic references. Given the totality of the Egyptian
civilization's abstract mental advancement necessary to create a calendar so
accurate it was remarked upon by the Greek historian Herodotus [12], or to build
monuments like the Pyramids, this really not surprising at all.
Daniel John Bornt
Champaign, Illinois
1 March 2003
References:
[1] Gods and Men, Henry Bamford Parkes, p. 60
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Pharaohs of the Sun, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen, Freed,
Markowitz, and D’Auria, p. 97
[5] Gardner's Art Through the Ages, 11 th ed.
[6] Exodus as History, URL: http://www2.bc.edu/~constas/exodusashistory.html
by Christopher L. Constas, A & S Honors Program, Gasson 102, Boston College,
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
[7] The Mystery and Controversy of the Story of Moses: Was Moses Akhenaten?
URL: http://www.greatdreams.com/moses.htm
[8] Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, 2nd ed., p. 119
[9] Pharaohs of the Sun, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen, Freed, Markowitz,
and D’Auria, pp. 98-99
[10] Ibid. pp. 101-105
[11] Ibid. p. 107
[12] “Egypt According to Herodotus” The World of the Past,
Jacquetta Hawkes, p. 549
