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Akhnaton (play)
Encyclopedia
Akhnaton is a play by Agatha Christie
. It was written in 1937, around the same time she was writing Death on the Nile
. It is set in Ancient Egypt
, and followed the exploits of the Egyptian Pharaoh
Akhnaton
, his wife Nefertiti
and his successor Tutankhaton (who would take the name Tutankhamun
when he became Pharaoh). In writing the play, Christie was assisted by the eminent Egyptologist, Stephen Glanville
, who was a friend of both her and her husband, Max Mallowan
.
In her 1977 autobiography
, Christie confessed that she never thought that the play would be produced but that she simply enjoyed writing plays or writing something different from that which she was used to. There is no record of any serious attempt to get the play staged once it had been written, but Charles Osborne
, in his book The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie puts forward the theory that the publishers thought it not commercial, and was not what the public expected of Agatha Christie, who was seen at the time as purely a writer of Crime Fiction.
In May 1972, Christie came across the manuscript, and sent it to her publisher in view of the interest in ancient Egypt prompted by the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition which ran at the British Museum
from March 30 until September 30 of that year, although she admitted that it would be an expensive production to stage. She made minor revisions to her 1937 manuscript and asked that it be published; however there were still major differences between events in the play and what was then known of this time in Egyptian history (such as Akhnaton now being known to have a second wife called Kiya
). The play was published by Collins
in May 1973
.
Although it has been used by some amateur groups and repertory
theatres, the play is now out of print and seldom performed. Aside from the commercial issues of the subject matter, the play requires eleven scene changes and over twenty speaking parts.
in the City of No Amon (Thebes
): A delegation of Syrians
arrive at the palace bringing the shrine of the goddess Ishtar
of Nineveh
with them in hope that it cures Pharaoh Amenhotep of his illness. The audience is introduced to the High Priest of Amon, Meriptah, and a young soldier Horemheb
. Meriptah is loyal to himself, his polytheistic
religion of Amon, his country and his Pharaoh, somewhat in that order, whereas Horemheb is a simpler though more honourable man for having equal loyalty to his country and his Pharaoh and through him his religion. Queen Tiye
(called Tyi in the play) greets the delegation together with her son, Akhnaton, who is described as a “fragile-looking boy with intelligent eyes”. He stays behind and meets Horemheb. Akhnaton is revealed to the audience as an artist, poet and mystic who believes in a world where all men are free and fighting will end through love. He also recognises the goodness in Horemheb, asks for and receives his allegiance. As the scene ends, Meriptah reveals that the Amenhotep has died and that Akhnaton is now Pharaoh.
Scene 2 – A Room in the Palace (Three years later): Tyi is regent
of Egypt until Akhnaton comes of age. The young man shows little interest in ruling as his father had done and antagonises Meriptah. It is revealed that it was Tyi who instilled in Akhnaton a dislike of the religion of Amon and a reverence of Ra
when he was a child. In conversation with another priest, Ay
, Akhnaton realises his destiny and that he is the son of Ra. He gives orders that his barge be prepared for a voyage down the Nile
to a spot where he will build a new city to the glory of Ra. Nefertiti
is introduced. She and her husband Akhnaton have a genuine love for each other and their only child, a daughter. Tyi warns Nefertiti that she must persuade her husband not to oppose the cult of Amon to any great degree, knowing the danger that such a move would present to him, but she is too loyal to her husband to go against his wishes. Nefertiti’s calculating sister, Nezzemut asks her dwarf servant, Para, for a vision of the future through sand divining. Para foretells that Horemheb will one day be Pharaoh and that she will be his Queen.
Scene 3 – A bank of the Nile, 300 miles below Thebes (A month later): On his royal barge, Akhnaton decides on the spot for his new city of Horizon (at the site of modern-day Amarna
).
Scene 2 – The King’s Pavilion in the City of Horizon (six months later): Akhnaton is revealed as the sculptor of the famous bust of Nefertiti (see right). They now have five daughters. Tyi is no longer regent and Akhnaton rules in his own right. Nefertiti dislikes Horemheb, thinking that he dislikes her but Akhnaton’s love for the soldier and belief in him is as great as ever. Horemheb himself is worried at the signs of dissent that he sees in Egypt but Akhnaton brushes these worries aside, obsessed with the perfection of the beauty of his new city. Tyi arrives, old and ill. She is deeply concerned about the feelings of the people and particularly the way in which Akhnaton’s tax-gatherers rob them of their money. Horemheb is an ally of her worries and promises to watch over Akhnaton. Tyi misses nothing and warns Horemheb to be careful of Nezzemut. Akhnaton receives foreign tributes but declines to impress them with the grandeur they expect. Tyi is scornful that they will see this as a sign of weakness. She recognises Ptahmose in the crowd and tries to warn her son of the spies in his midst but dies before she can do so.
Scene 3 – Horemheb’s apartments in the city of Horizon (a year later): Tutankhaton is a good friend of Horemheb and takes instruction from him in the soldier’s arts. Two Syrian emissaries arrive to speak with Horemheb. Meriptah has smuggled himself into Horizon and speaks with Tutankhaton and Horemheb, attempting to sow discord over the new religion. News is brought of rebellion in the vassal states of Egypt and riots within its cities. Akhnaton is convinced that the religion is Amon is to blame and issues decrees to wipe all trace of him from Egypt – even from the tombs of the dead. His supporters are just as horrified as his enemies but Akhnaton is determined.
and is determined to obliterate all trace of all gods except Ra from Egypt. This persuades Horemheb that Nezzemut is right and that Akhnaton has lost his sanity.
Scene 2 – A Street in No Amon (six months later): Horemheb and Meriptah hear the people as they mourn the dead who have lost their lives through famine, plague and attack from outside. Horemheb is determined that Egypt will rise again.
Scene 3 – A room in the High Priest’s House (the same day): Meriptah, Horemheb, Tutankhaton and Nezzemut plan Akhnaton’s overthrow. Horemheb obtains a promise that Akhnaton’s life will be spared and that he will be allowed to live with honour for the rest of his life in Horizon. However Meriptah and Nezzemut plan separately: Tutankhaton will be allowed to love for only a couple of years before he dies and Nezzemut can rule and Akhnaton must die as Horemheb still has a love for the Pharaoh. Nezzemut will arrange for his death but tells Meriptah that Nefertiti – who she truly loves – must be unharmed.
Scene 4 – A Room in the Palace of the city of Horizon (a month later): One tragedy after another falls on Akhnaton as he hears of further rebellions across Egypt, as Horemheb tells him that he no longer supports him, that his son-in-law Tutankhaton has turned against him and that the supposedly finished cult of Amon has risen again. He falls into a hysterical fever at these events prompting Nezzemut to suggest that Para make one of his famous brews (i.e. poison) to calm him. Nefertiti feeds the brew to Akhnaton and is about to drink some herself when a horrified Nezzemut stops her. Nefertiti realises that she has been betrayed and has been tricked into poisoning her husband. Horemheb arrives and is distraught at the events he has caused. Akhnaton dies and Nefertiti herself drinks the brew…
. The religion of Amon is to be restored to Egypt.
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
. It was written in 1937, around the same time she was writing Death on the Nile
Death on the Nile
Death on the Nile is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 1, 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.The book...
. It is set in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, and followed the exploits of the Egyptian Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
Akhnaton
Akhenaten
Akhenaten also spelled Echnaton,Ikhnaton,and Khuenaten;meaning "living spirit of Aten") known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC...
, his wife Nefertiti
Nefertiti
Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only...
and his successor Tutankhaton (who would take the name Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
when he became Pharaoh). In writing the play, Christie was assisted by the eminent Egyptologist, Stephen Glanville
Stephen Glanville
Stephen Ranulph Kingdon Glanville, MBE was an English historian and egyptologist.-Biography:S R K Glanville was born in Westminster, London, the eldest son of Stephen James Glanville and Nannie Elizabeth . He was first cousin to Frank Kingdon-Ward the explorer and botanist and also related to...
, who was a friend of both her and her husband, Max Mallowan
Max Mallowan
Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, CBE was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history, and the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie.-Life and work:...
.
In her 1977 autobiography
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
An Autobiography is the title of the recollections of crime writer Agatha Christie published posthumously by Collins in the UK and by Dodd, Mead & Company in the US in November 1977, almost two years after the writer’s death in January 1976. The UK edition retailed at £7.95 and the US edition at...
, Christie confessed that she never thought that the play would be produced but that she simply enjoyed writing plays or writing something different from that which she was used to. There is no record of any serious attempt to get the play staged once it had been written, but Charles Osborne
Charles Osborne (music writer)
Charles Thomas Osborne, born 24 November 1927 in Brisbane, Australia, is a journalist, critic, poet and novelist, and a recognised authority on opera. He was assistant editor of The London Magazine from 1958 until 1966, literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 until 1986,...
, in his book The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie puts forward the theory that the publishers thought it not commercial, and was not what the public expected of Agatha Christie, who was seen at the time as purely a writer of Crime Fiction.
In May 1972, Christie came across the manuscript, and sent it to her publisher in view of the interest in ancient Egypt prompted by the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition which ran at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
from March 30 until September 30 of that year, although she admitted that it would be an expensive production to stage. She made minor revisions to her 1937 manuscript and asked that it be published; however there were still major differences between events in the play and what was then known of this time in Egyptian history (such as Akhnaton now being known to have a second wife called Kiya
Kiya
Kiya was one of the wives of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and her actions and roles are poorly documented in the historical record, in contrast to those of Akhenaten's first royal wife, Nefertiti. Her unusual name suggests that she may originally have been a Mitanni...
). The play was published by Collins
William Collins (publisher)
William Collins was a Scottish schoolmaster and publisher.Collins was born near Glasgow in 1789. In 1819 he set up a publishing business, initially selling religious books. He produced the first Collins dictionary in 1824, when he also obtained a licence to publish the Bible...
in May 1973
1973 in literature
The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
.
Although it has been used by some amateur groups and repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
theatres, the play is now out of print and seldom performed. Aside from the commercial issues of the subject matter, the play requires eleven scene changes and over twenty speaking parts.
Act One
Scene 1 – The Great Courtyard of the Royal Palace of Amenhotep IIIAmenhotep III
Amenhotep III also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC after his father Thutmose IV died...
in the City of No Amon (Thebes
Thebes, Egypt
Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...
): A delegation of Syrians
Demographics of Syria
Syrians today are an overall indigenous Levantine people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history...
arrive at the palace bringing the shrine of the goddess Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
with them in hope that it cures Pharaoh Amenhotep of his illness. The audience is introduced to the High Priest of Amon, Meriptah, and a young soldier Horemheb
Horemheb
Horemheb was the last Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty from either 1319 BC to late 1292 BC, or 1306 to late 1292 BC although he was not related to the preceding royal family and is believed to have been of common birth.Before he became pharaoh, Horemheb was the commander in chief...
. Meriptah is loyal to himself, his polytheistic
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
religion of Amon, his country and his Pharaoh, somewhat in that order, whereas Horemheb is a simpler though more honourable man for having equal loyalty to his country and his Pharaoh and through him his religion. Queen Tiye
Tiye
Tiye was the daughter of Yuya and Tjuyu . She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III....
(called Tyi in the play) greets the delegation together with her son, Akhnaton, who is described as a “fragile-looking boy with intelligent eyes”. He stays behind and meets Horemheb. Akhnaton is revealed to the audience as an artist, poet and mystic who believes in a world where all men are free and fighting will end through love. He also recognises the goodness in Horemheb, asks for and receives his allegiance. As the scene ends, Meriptah reveals that the Amenhotep has died and that Akhnaton is now Pharaoh.
Scene 2 – A Room in the Palace (Three years later): Tyi is regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of Egypt until Akhnaton comes of age. The young man shows little interest in ruling as his father had done and antagonises Meriptah. It is revealed that it was Tyi who instilled in Akhnaton a dislike of the religion of Amon and a reverence of Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
when he was a child. In conversation with another priest, Ay
Ay
Ay was the penultimate Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty. He held the throne of Egypt for a brief four-year period , although he was a close advisor to two and perhaps three of the pharaohs who ruled before him and was the power behind the throne during Tutankhamun's reign...
, Akhnaton realises his destiny and that he is the son of Ra. He gives orders that his barge be prepared for a voyage down the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
to a spot where he will build a new city to the glory of Ra. Nefertiti
Nefertiti
Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only...
is introduced. She and her husband Akhnaton have a genuine love for each other and their only child, a daughter. Tyi warns Nefertiti that she must persuade her husband not to oppose the cult of Amon to any great degree, knowing the danger that such a move would present to him, but she is too loyal to her husband to go against his wishes. Nefertiti’s calculating sister, Nezzemut asks her dwarf servant, Para, for a vision of the future through sand divining. Para foretells that Horemheb will one day be Pharaoh and that she will be his Queen.
Scene 3 – A bank of the Nile, 300 miles below Thebes (A month later): On his royal barge, Akhnaton decides on the spot for his new city of Horizon (at the site of modern-day Amarna
Amarna
Amarna is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city newly–established and built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty , and abandoned shortly afterwards...
).
Act Two
Scene 1 – A bank of the Nile in the City of No Amon (eight years later): The populace of the old city are revealed as being angry with the changes that Akhnaton has brought to their country with his attack on the old religion. Meriptah overhears their complaints as he waits for an acolyte, Ptahmose to arrive from Horizon with news of events there. Ptahmose reveals that Tutankhaton is betrothed to Akhnaton’s second daughter, Horemheb is now commander of the armies of Egypt and that Ptahmose has an ally in the cunning Nezzemut. Meriptah’s plan is the restoration of the old religion and his own power and riches.Scene 3 – Horemheb’s apartments in the city of Horizon (a year later): Tutankhaton is a good friend of Horemheb and takes instruction from him in the soldier’s arts. Two Syrian emissaries arrive to speak with Horemheb. Meriptah has smuggled himself into Horizon and speaks with Tutankhaton and Horemheb, attempting to sow discord over the new religion. News is brought of rebellion in the vassal states of Egypt and riots within its cities. Akhnaton is convinced that the religion is Amon is to blame and issues decrees to wipe all trace of him from Egypt – even from the tombs of the dead. His supporters are just as horrified as his enemies but Akhnaton is determined.
Act Three
Scene 1 – The King’s Pavilion (three years later): Akhnaton is weak and ill, but still believing in the goodness of men, he is still deaf to the pleas of Horemheb who begs to be allowed to deal with the insurrectionists across Egypt and its provinces. Nezzemut tries to convince Horemheb that the Pharaoh is mad. Horemheb, for the best motives, tries to persuade Akhnaton to allow Tutankhaton to rule with him. Akhnaton is now set on a course of monotheismMonotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
and is determined to obliterate all trace of all gods except Ra from Egypt. This persuades Horemheb that Nezzemut is right and that Akhnaton has lost his sanity.
Scene 2 – A Street in No Amon (six months later): Horemheb and Meriptah hear the people as they mourn the dead who have lost their lives through famine, plague and attack from outside. Horemheb is determined that Egypt will rise again.
Scene 3 – A room in the High Priest’s House (the same day): Meriptah, Horemheb, Tutankhaton and Nezzemut plan Akhnaton’s overthrow. Horemheb obtains a promise that Akhnaton’s life will be spared and that he will be allowed to live with honour for the rest of his life in Horizon. However Meriptah and Nezzemut plan separately: Tutankhaton will be allowed to love for only a couple of years before he dies and Nezzemut can rule and Akhnaton must die as Horemheb still has a love for the Pharaoh. Nezzemut will arrange for his death but tells Meriptah that Nefertiti – who she truly loves – must be unharmed.
Scene 4 – A Room in the Palace of the city of Horizon (a month later): One tragedy after another falls on Akhnaton as he hears of further rebellions across Egypt, as Horemheb tells him that he no longer supports him, that his son-in-law Tutankhaton has turned against him and that the supposedly finished cult of Amon has risen again. He falls into a hysterical fever at these events prompting Nezzemut to suggest that Para make one of his famous brews (i.e. poison) to calm him. Nefertiti feeds the brew to Akhnaton and is about to drink some herself when a horrified Nezzemut stops her. Nefertiti realises that she has been betrayed and has been tricked into poisoning her husband. Horemheb arrives and is distraught at the events he has caused. Akhnaton dies and Nefertiti herself drinks the brew…
Epilogue
A Captain reads out a proclamation to a group of stonemasonsStonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
. The religion of Amon is to be restored to Egypt.
Publication history
- UK by CollinsWilliam Collins (publisher)William Collins was a Scottish schoolmaster and publisher.Collins was born near Glasgow in 1789. In 1819 he set up a publishing business, initially selling religious books. He produced the first Collins dictionary in 1824, when he also obtained a licence to publish the Bible...
, London, May 1973. ISBN 0-00-211038-5. 157 pages - US by Dodd, Mead and CompanyDodd, Mead and CompanyDodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...
1973. ISBN 0-396-06822-7. 157 pages - HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
; Facsimile edition (Reissue) (29 Oct 2009)