Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2013-06 - AMORC

The Assessments ofEgyptologists over TimeIt would be interesting to survey the assessments ofAkhenaten over the last 100 years. Egyptologists,writing in the early 1900s, e.g. Arthur Weigall andthe famed James Breasted, were full of praise andadmiration for Akhenaten as a religious visionaryand the world’s first monotheist. Breasted calls him“the first prophet” and “the first individual in humanhistory”, but even he criticised Akhenaten’s methodsas being too harsh when he said “The persecution ofAmun was especially severe”.One of the greatest authorities onEg yptian Religion, Wallis Budge, writing inthe same period, was however less enthusiastic.He once again raised Akhenaten’s ideals, callinghim “…precocious and clever with a mind thatworked quickly, possessing a determined will,very definite religious convictions and a fearlessnature; earnest and sincere in his beliefs”, but accuseshim of “…spiritual arrogance and self-sufficiency, whichmade him oblivious to everything except his own feelingsand emotions.”Yet another highly respected Egyptologist, SirAlan Gardiner, admired Akhenaten’s ideals and couragebut deplored the methods he used to implement hisreligious reforms. Later scholars, with access to muchmore information, namely Cyril Aldred, DonaldRedford and Nicholas Reeves, have also given mixedopinions about Akhenaten, some more condemnatorythan others.The Debate on AkhenatenLet us first look at some of these less than adulatorycomments made about Akhenaten.1. The Negative Position: Far from his monotheismbeing new, it looked more like an attempt tosubstitute one solar god for another. As Pharaoh, hewas the only one in complete union with the supremeDeity, to the extent of limiting the access of all othersto the Deity, except through himself as intermediary.This is as it had been with all past pharaohs. ButAkhenaton differed from them in that he wantedall other doctrines abolished. There was to be nomention of the age-old Egyptian myths and creationstories, no afterlife scenes at Akhetaten, no sacredanimals, no cult statues, no anthropomorphic gods,not even personal amulets.Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their three daughters(ca. 1350 BCE) Neues Museum, Berlin.This demonstrates extreme religious intolerance.There was an absence of concern for the age-oldproblems of evil and suffering, for wrong it seems,no longer existed. There was no doctrine of oppositesin nature and their reconciliation. There were noinjunctions towards living a moral and virtuouslife, and no petitions for spiritual enlightenment,understanding or wisdom. Atenism contained noeschatological hope of resurrection after death, andOsiris, the god of the underworld, was removed andnothing else put in its place.This, above all else, must have caused greatuncertainty and anxiety, and destroyed the hopesof ordinary people in any form of afterlife. In statepolicy Akhenaten has been accused of neglectingthe national interest and of using religion to breakthe political dominance of the Theban priesthood.Finally, it has been alleged that the new religionintroduced distortion and ugliness in art andsculpture, stressing instead, freedom, indolence andsensuality.2. Positive Aspects of Akhenaten’s Theolog y:Akhenaten attempted to drive home the point thatthe sun-disc was not just the abode of the god, butwas the god itself “…who by means of the heat and lightwhich emanates from his body gave life to everything”.And, as stated by Budge in Akhenaten’s cult “…defiedthe heat of the sun and worshipped it as the one eternal,creative, fructifying and life-sustaining force.”© Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC The Rosicrucian Beacon -- June 201313