Editing Akhenaten (section)

=== Implementation and development ===

The implementation of Atenism can be traced through gradual changes in the [[Aten#Iconography|Aten's iconography]], and Egyptologist [[Donald B. Redford]] divided its development into three stages—earliest, intermediate, and final—in his studies of Akhenaten and Atenism. The earliest stage was associated with a growing number of depictions of the sun disc, though the disc is still seen resting on the head of the falcon-headed sun god [[Ra|Ra-Horakhty]], as the god was traditionally represented.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|pp=33, 35}} The god was only "unique but not exclusive".{{sfn|Hornung|2001|p=48}} The intermediate stage was marked by the elevation of the Aten above other gods and the appearance of [[cartouche]]s around his inscribed name—cartouches traditionally indicating that the enclosed text is a royal name. The final stage had the Aten represented as a sun disc with sunrays like long arms terminating in human hands and the introduction of a new [[epithet]] for the god: "the great living Disc which is in jubilee, lord of heaven and earth".{{sfn|Redford|1976|pp=53–56}}
[[File:Alabaster Akhenaten relief Cairo.jpg|thumb|263x263px|[[Alabaster]] relief depicting Akhenaten under the rays of the Aten. He wears a tall crown topped with rams horns, a solar disc, and two tall feathers. Displayed in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.]]
In the early years of his reign, Amenhotep IV lived at Thebes, the old capital city, and permitted worship of Egypt's traditional deities to continue. However, some signs already pointed to the growing importance of the Aten. For example, inscriptions in the Theban [[TT188|tomb of Parennefer]] from the early rule of Amenhotep IV state that "one measures the payments to every (other) god with a level measure, but for the Aten one measures so that it overflows," indicating a more favorable attitude to the cult of Aten than the other gods.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|p=48}} Additionally, near the [[Temple of Karnak]], Amun-Ra's great cult center, Amenhotep IV erected several massive buildings including temples to the Aten. The new Aten temples had no roof and the god was thus worshipped in the sunlight, under the open sky, rather than in dark temple enclosures as had been the previous custom.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|pp=72–73}}{{sfn|Ridley|2019|p=43}} The Theban buildings were later dismantled by his successors and used as infill for new constructions in the Temple of Karnak; when they were later dismantled by archaeologists, some 36,000 decorated blocks from the original Aten building here were revealed that preserve many elements of the original relief scenes and inscriptions.{{sfn|David|1998|p=125}}

One of the most important turning points in the early reign of Amenhotep IV is a speech given by the pharaoh at the beginning of his second regnal year. A copy of the speech survives on one of the [[pylon (architecture)|pylons]] at the [[Karnak|Karnak Temple Complex]] near Thebes. Speaking to the royal court, scribes or the people, Amenhotep IV said that the gods were ineffective and had ceased their movements, and that their temples had collapsed. The pharaoh contrasted this with the only remaining god, the sun disc Aten, who continued to move and exist forever. Some Egyptologists, such as [[Donald B. Redford]], compared this speech to a proclamation or manifesto, which foreshadowed and explained the pharaoh's later religious reforms centered around the Aten.{{sfn|Aldred|1991|pp=261–262}}{{sfn|Hoffmeier|2015|pp=160–161}}{{sfn|Redford|2013|p=14}} In his speech, Akhenaten said:
{{blockquote|The temples of the gods fallen to ruin, their bodies do not endure. Since the time of the ancestors, it is the wise man that knows these things. Behold, I, the king, am speaking so that I might inform you concerning the appearances of the gods. I know their temples, and I am versed in the writings, specifically, the inventory of their primeval bodies. And I have watched as they [the gods] have ceased their appearances, one after the other. All of them have stopped, except the god who gave birth to himself. And no one knows the mystery of how he performs his tasks. This god goes where he pleases and no one else knows his going. I approach him, the things which he has made. How exalted they are.{{sfn|Perry|2019|loc=03:59}}}}
[[File:Akhenaten as a Sphinx (Kestner Museum).jpg|thumb|left|Akhenaten depicted as a [[sphinx]] at [[Amarna]]]]

In Year Five of his reign, Amenhotep IV took decisive steps to establish the Aten as the sole god of Egypt. The pharaoh "disbanded the priesthoods of all the other gods{{nbsp}}... and diverted the income from these [other] cults to support the Aten." {{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} To emphasize his complete allegiance to the Aten, the king officially changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten ({{langx|egy|[[wikt:ꜣḫ-n-jtn|ꜣḫ-n-jtn]]|links=no}}, meaning "Effective for the Aten").{{sfn|David|1998|p=125}} Meanwhile, the Aten was becoming a king itself. Artists started to depict him with the trappings of pharaohs, placing his name in [[cartouche]]s—a rare, but not unique occurrence, as the names of Ra-Horakhty and Amun-Ra had also been found enclosed in cartouches—and wearing a [[uraeus]], a symbol of kingship.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|pp=34–36, 54}} The Aten may also have been the subject of Akhenaten's royal [[Sed festival]] early in the pharaoh's reign.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|pp=39, 42, 54}} With Aten becoming a sole deity, Akhenaten started to proclaim himself as the only intermediary between Aten and his people, and the subject of their personal worship and attention{{sfn|Hornung|2001|pp=55–57}}—a feature not unheard of in Egyptian history, with [[Fifth Dynasty]] pharaohs such as [[Nyuserre Ini]] proclaiming to be sole intermediaries between the people and the gods [[Osiris]] and [[Ra]].{{sfn|Bárta|Dulíková|2015|pp=41, 43}}

[[File:Inscribed limestone fragment showing early Aten cartouches, "the Living Ra Horakhty". Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Inscribed limestone fragment showing early Aten cartouches, "the Living Ra Horakhty". Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. Petrie Museum, London.]]
[[File:Fragment of a stela, showing parts of 3 late cartouches of Aten. There is a rare intermediate form of god's name. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|left|Fragment of a stela, showing parts of three late cartouches of Aten. There is a rare intermediate form of god's name. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. Petrie Museum, London.]]
[[File:Limestone fragment column showing reeds and an early Aten cartouche. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Limestone fragment column showing reeds and an early Aten cartouche. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London]]
By Year Nine of his reign, Akhenaten declared that Aten was not merely the supreme god, but the only worshipable god. He ordered the defacing of Amun's temples throughout Egypt and, in a number of instances, inscriptions of the plural 'gods' were also removed.{{sfn|Ridley|2019|p=188}}{{sfn|Hart|2000|pp=42–46}} This emphasized the changes encouraged by the new regime, which included a ban on [[Cult image|images]], with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten, who by then was evidently considered not merely a sun god, but rather a universal deity. All life on Earth depended on the Aten and the visible sunlight.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|pp=55, 84}}{{sfn|Najovits|2004|p=125}} Representations of the Aten were always accompanied with a sort of hieroglyphic footnote, stating that the representation of the sun as all-encompassing creator was to be taken as just that: a representation of something that, by its very nature as something transcending creation, cannot be fully or adequately represented by any one part of that creation.{{sfn|Ridley|2019|pp=211–213}} Aten's name was also written differently starting as early as Year Eight or as late as Year Fourteen, according to some historians.{{sfn|Ridley|2019|pp=28, 173–174}} From "Living [[Ra#Relationship to other gods|Re-Horakhty]], who rejoices in the horizon in his name [[Shu (Egyptian god)|Shu]]-[[Ra|Re]] who is in Aten", the god's name changed to "Living Re, ruler of the horizon, who rejoices in his name of Re the father who has returned as Aten", removing the Aten's connection to Re-Horakhty and Shu, two other solar deities.{{sfn|Dodson|2009|p=38}} The Aten thus became an amalgamation that incorporated the attributes and beliefs around Re-Horakhty, universal sun god, and Shu, god of the sky and manifestation of the sunlight.{{sfn|Najovits|2004|pp=123–124}}

[[File:Siliceous limestone fragment of a statue. There are late Aten cartouches on the draped right shoulder. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Siliceous limestone fragment of a statue. There are late Aten cartouches on the draped right shoulder. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. Petrie Museum, London.]]
[[File:Throwstick - Pharaoh exhibit - Cleveland Museum of Art (27764952560).jpg|thumb|A "blue faience" magical throwstick belonging to Akhenaten found at Amarna.]]
Akhenaten's Atenist beliefs are best distilled in the [[Great Hymn to the Aten]].{{sfn|Najovits|2004|p=128}} The hymn was discovered in the tomb of [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]], one of Akhenaten's successors, though Egyptologists believe that it could have been composed by Akhenaten himself.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|p=52}}{{sfn|Ridley|2019|pp=129, 133}} The hymn celebrates the sun and daylight and recounts the dangers that abound when the sun sets. It tells of the Aten as a sole god and the creator of all life, who recreates life every day at sunrise, and on whom everything on Earth depends, including the natural world, people's lives, and even trade and commerce.{{sfn|Ridley|2019|p=128}} In one passage, the hymn declares: "O Sole God beside whom there is none! You made the earth as you wished, you alone."{{sfn|Najovits|2004|p=131}} The hymn also states that Akhenaten is the only intermediary between the god and Egyptians, and the only one who can understand the Aten: "You are in my heart, and there is none who knows you except your son."{{sfn|Ridley|2019|pp=128–129}}