Great Hymn to the Aten

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Great Hymn to the Aten

The Great Hymn to the Aten was found in the tomb

Southern Tomb 25

Southern Tomb 25 at Amarna was intended for the burial of Ay, who later became Pharaoh, after Tutankhamun. The tomb was never finished, and he later buried in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings, in Thebes ....
of Ay

Ay was the penultimate Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. 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....
, in the rock tombs at Amarna

Amarna

The site of Amarna is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of Minya Governorate, some 58 km south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km north of Luxor....
. It is attributed to Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
Akhenaten

Akhenaten

Akhenaten , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, who died 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheism worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this....
himself, and gives us a glimpse of the artistic outpouring of the Amarna period

Atenism

Atenism is one of the earliest known, well-documented, monotheistic religions, associated with the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under his adopted name, Akhenaten....
.

hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
suggests that Akhenaten considered Aten

Aten

Aten was the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of Ra. He became the deity of the monotheism ? in fact, monism ? religion Atenism of Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaten....
(the disk, orb, sphere, globe of the sun) as the only god

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
, and creator

Creator deity

A creator deity is a deity in a creation myth responsible for the creation of the world .In monotheism, the single God is necessarily also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities....
of the universe, particularly in the verses translated as:

How manifold it is, what thou hast made!

They are hidden from the face (of man).

O sole god, like whom there is no other!

Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,

Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,

Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,

And what is on high, flying with its wings.

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The Great Hymn to the Aten was found in the tomb
Southern Tomb 25

Southern Tomb 25 at Amarna was intended for the burial of Ay, who later became Pharaoh, after Tutankhamun. The tomb was never finished, and he later buried in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings, in Thebes ....
of Ay
Ay

Ay was the penultimate Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. 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....
, in the rock tombs at Amarna
Amarna

The site of Amarna is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of Minya Governorate, some 58 km south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km north of Luxor....
. It is attributed to Pharaoh
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
Akhenaten
Akhenaten

Akhenaten , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, who died 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheism worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this....
himself, and gives us a glimpse of the artistic outpouring of the Amarna period
Atenism

Atenism is one of the earliest known, well-documented, monotheistic religions, associated with the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under his adopted name, Akhenaten....
.

Hymn
The hymn
Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
suggests that Akhenaten considered Aten
Aten

Aten was the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of Ra. He became the deity of the monotheism ? in fact, monism ? religion Atenism of Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaten....
(the disk, orb, sphere, globe of the sun) as the only god
God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
, and creator
Creator deity

A creator deity is a deity in a creation myth responsible for the creation of the world .In monotheism, the single God is necessarily also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities....
of the universe, particularly in the verses translated as:

How manifold it is, what thou hast made!
They are hidden from the face (of man).
O sole god, like whom there is no other!
Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,
Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,
Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,
And what is on high, flying with its wings.

The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt,
Thou settest every man in his place,
Thou suppliest their necessities:
Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned.
Their tongues are separate in speech,
And their natures as well;
Their skins are distinguished,
As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples.
Thou makest a Nile in the underworld,
Thou bringest forth as thou desirest
To maintain the people (of Egypt)
According as thou madest them for thyself,
The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them,
The lord of every land, rising for them,
The Aton of the day, great of majesty.

Analysis
The hymn notes the depth of human sleep, awakening to daylight. Of lands, pastures, animals expressing the joy of warmth of sunlight, and of the growth of plants, and creatures in the daily sustenance of the sun.

The hymn portrays the sun as the giver of all life, plunging the land into darkness and danger during the night, to reawaken to life, daily work and praise with the dawn. There is great emphasis on the diversity and holiness of all living things, who praise the Aten with their every action.

Akhenaten's religious reforms (later regarded heretical and reverted by his successor Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun , Egyptian language was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt , during the period of History of Egypt known as the New Kingdom....
) have been described as the earliest known example of monotheistic
Monotheism

In theology, monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the Neoplatonism concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite....
thought and heralded as a possible indication that the Egyptians were the source of Judeo-Christian thought.. In the Amarna period, Akhenaten elevated his god, the Aten, to a supreme place in the pantheon, and he did conscript his followers to physically erase and expunge the names and images of other gods from monuments. The interpretation of the religion of the Amarna age as true monotheism, however, cannot be sustained in the light of simultaneous worship of other gods. Ma'at (Goddess- embodiment of truth and universal balance) continued to be venerated, both as a concept and in her personification as a goddess; the presentation of her image reached new prominence in the Amarna age. The king and queen also, in some circumstances, were associated with the gods Shu
Shu

Shu may refer to:*Shu * ? , an abbreviation of Sichuan province of the People's Republic of China, as well as the following historical regimes that existed in this region:...
(masculine- god of the area between Earth and Sky and of dry and arid regions) and Tefnut
Tefnut

In Egyptian mythology, Tefnut is a goddess of water and fertility, indeed her name means moist waters . She was created by Atum from his mucus, a mythology that may be related to the alternative translation of her name - spat waters....
(feminine- goddess of Earth and Sky and moisture, capable of manifesting herself in various forms, i.e. rain, hail, floods) respectively. Statuettes of Bes
Bes

Bes was an Egyptian deity worshipped in the later periods of dynastic history as a protector of households and in particular mothers and children....
and other members of the original pantheon have been discovered in the houses at Amarna. The greatest objection to the religion of the Amarna age being true monotheism is the elevation of the king and his queen Nefertiti
Nefertiti

Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for changing Egypt's religion from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion....
(and perhaps, posthumously, Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III

Amenhotep III was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1391 BC-December 1353 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC after his father Thutmose IV died....
) to divine status. The remaining vestiges of the old gods, as well as the "holy trinity" formed by Akhenaten, Nefertiti and the incarnation of the solar light as the Aten, consisted of yet another conventional grouping of gods.

The Hymn has a remarkable similarity to Psalm 104
Psalm 104

Psalm 104 is a poem from the Book of Psalms in the Bible....
, with which it is frequently compared, although there is currently no established link between them.

The "Hymn to the Aten" was set to music by Philip Glass
Philip Glass

Philip Glass is an American music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late-20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public ....
in his opera Akhnaten
Akhnaten (opera)

Akhnaten is an opera in three acts based on the life and religious convictions of the pharaoh Akhenaten , written by the United States minimalism composer Philip Glass in 1983....
.

See also

Atenism
Atenism

Atenism is one of the earliest known, well-documented, monotheistic religions, associated with the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under his adopted name, Akhenaten....

External links