Editing Akhenaten (section)

==Speculative theories==
[[File:Akhenaten trial piece.jpg|thumb|left|Sculptor's trial piece of Akhenaten]]
Akhenaten's status as a religious revolutionary has led to much [[speculative reason|speculation]], ranging from scholarly hypotheses to non-academic [[fringe science|fringe]] theories. Although some believe the religion he introduced was mostly monotheistic, many others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten [[monolatry]],{{sfn|Montserrat|2003|p=36}} as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshiping any but the Aten.

===Akhenaten and monotheism in Abrahamic religions===
The idea that Akhenaten was the pioneer of a monotheistic religion that later became [[Judaism]] has been considered by various scholars.{{sfn|Freud|1939}}{{sfn|Stent|2002|pp=34–38}}{{sfn|Assmann|1997}}{{sfn|Shupak|1995}}{{sfn|Albright|1973}} One of the first to mention this was [[Sigmund Freud]], the founder of [[psychoanalysis]], in his book ''[[Moses and Monotheism]]''.{{sfn|Freud|1939}} Basing his arguments on his belief that the Exodus story was historical, Freud argued that [[Moses]] had been an Atenist priest who was forced to leave Egypt with his followers after Akhenaten's death. Freud argued that Akhenaten was striving to promote monotheism, something that the biblical Moses was able to achieve.{{sfn|Freud|1939}} Following the publication of his book, the concept entered popular consciousness and serious research.{{sfn|Chaney|2006a|pp=62–69}}{{sfn|Chaney|2006b}}

There are strong similarities between Akhenaten's [[Great Hymn to the Aten]] and the [[Book of Psalms|Biblical Psalm]] [[Psalm 104|104]], but there is debate as to relationship implied by this similarity.{{Sfnm|
Hoffmeier|2015|1pp=246–[https://books.google.com/books?id=0jODBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA256 256]|1ps=: "...it seems best to conclude for the present that the "parallels" between Amarna hymns to Aten and Psalm 104 should be attributed to "the common theology" and the "general pattern"..."|
<p>Hoffmeier|2005|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=EVcSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA239 239]|2ps=: "...There has been some debate whether the similarities direct or indirect borrowing... it is unlikely that "the Israelite who composed Psalm 104 borrowed directly from the sublime Egyptian 'Hymn to the Aten'," as Stager has recently claimed."|
<p>Alter|2018|3p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=72FjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 54]|3ps=: "...I think there may be some likelihood, however unprovable, that our psalmist was familiar with at least an intermediate version of Akhenaton's hymn and adopted some elements from it."|
<p>Brown|2014|4p=61–[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cs3RAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 73]|4ps=: "the question of the relationship between Egyptian hymns and the Psalms remains open"}}{{Sfnm|
Assmann|2020|1pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8SCyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 40]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=8SCyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 43]|1ps=: "Verses 20–30 cannot be understood as anything other than a loose and abridged translation of the "Great Hymn":..."|
<p>Day|2014|2pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rtveBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 22]–23|2ps=: "...a significant part of the rest Of Psalm 104 (esp. vv. 20–30) is dependent on... Akhenaten's Hymn to the Sun god Aten... these parallels almost all come in the same order:..."|
<p>Day|2013|3pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=F8LyON8_-j0C&pg=PA223 223]–224|3ps=: "...this dependence is confined to vv. 20–30. Here the evidence is particularly impressive, since we have six parallels with Akhenaten's hymn... occurring in the identical order, with one exception."|
<p>Landes|2011|4pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wdJoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 155], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wdJoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 178]|4ps=: "the hymn to Aten quoted as epigraph to this chapter—replicates the intense religiosity and even the language of the Hebrew Psalm 104. Indeed, most Egyptologists argue that this hymn inspired the psalm...", "...For some, the relationship to Hebraic monotheism seems extremely close, including the nearly verbatim passages in Psalm 104 and the "Hymn to Aten" found in one of the tombs at Akhetaten..."|
<p>Shaw|2004|5p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZR173Wu9uw4C&pg=PA19 19] |5ps=: "An intriguing direct literary (and perhaps religious) link between Egypt and the Bible is Psalm 104, which has strong similarities with a hymn to the Aten"}}

Others have likened some aspects of Akhenaten's relationship with the Aten to the relationship, in Christian tradition, between [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] and God, particularly interpretations that emphasize a more monotheistic interpretation of Atenism than a henotheistic one. [[Donald B. Redford]] has noted that some have viewed Akhenaten as a [[typology (theology)|harbinger of Jesus]]. "After all, Akhenaten did call himself the son of the sole god: 'Thine only son that came forth from thy body'."{{sfn|Redford|1987}} [[James Henry Breasted]] likened him to Jesus,{{sfn|Levenson|1994|p=60}} [[Arthur Weigall]] saw him as a failed precursor of Christ and [[Thomas Mann]] saw him "as right on the way and yet not the right one for the way".{{sfn|Hornung|2001|p=14}}

Although scholars like Brian Fagan (2015) and Robert Alter (2018) have re-opened the debate, in 1997, Redford concluded:
{{blockquote|Before much of the archaeological evidence from Thebes and from Tell el-Amarna became available, wishful thinking sometimes turned Akhenaten into a humane teacher of the true God, a mentor of Moses, a christlike figure, a philosopher before his time. But these imaginary creatures are now fading away as the historical reality gradually emerges. There is little or no evidence to support the notion that Akhenaten was a progenitor of the full-blown monotheism that we find in the Bible. The monotheism of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament had its own separate development—one that began more than half a millennium after the pharaoh's death.{{sfn|Redford|Shanks|Meinhardt|1997}}}}

===Possible illness===

[[File:Hieratic inscription on a pottery fragment. It records year 17 of Akhenaten's reign and reference to wine of the house of Aten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Hieratic inscription on a pottery fragment. It records year 17 of Akhenaten's reign and references wine of the house of Aten. From Amarna, Egypt. Petrie Museum, London.]]
[[File:Limestone trial piece of a king, probably Akhenaten, and a smaller head of uncertain gender. From Amarna, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Limestone trial piece of a king, probably Akhenaten, and a smaller head of uncertain gender. From Amarna, Egypt – 18th Dynasty. Petrie Museum, London.]]

The unconventional portrayals of Akhenaten—different from the traditional athletic norm in the portrayal of pharaohs—have led Egyptologists in the 19th and 20th centuries to suppose that Akhenaten had some kind of genetic abnormality.{{sfn|Takács|Cline|2015|pp=5–6}} Various illnesses have been put forward, with [[adiposogenital dystrophy|Fröhlich's syndrome]] or [[Marfan syndrome]] being mentioned most commonly.{{sfn|Ridley|2019|p=87}}

[[Cyril Aldred]],{{sfn|Aldred|1991}} following up earlier arguments of [[Grafton Elliot Smith]]{{sfn|Smith|1923|pp=83–88}} and [[James Strachey]],{{sfn|Strachey|1939}} suggested that Akhenaten may have had Fröhlich's syndrome on the basis of his long jaw and his feminine appearance. However, this is unlikely, because this disorder results in [[infertility|sterility]] and Akhenaten is known to have fathered numerous children. His children are repeatedly portrayed through years of archaeological and iconographic evidence.{{sfn|Hawass|2010}}

Burridge{{sfn|Burridge|1995}} suggested that Akhenaten may have had Marfan syndrome, which, unlike Fröhlich's, does not result in mental impairment or sterility. People with Marfan syndrome tend towards tallness, with a long, thin face, elongated skull, overgrown ribs, a funnel or pigeon chest, a high curved or slightly cleft palate, and larger pelvis, with enlarged thighs and spindly calves, symptoms that appear in some depictions of Akhenaten.{{sfn|Lorenz|2010}} Marfan syndrome is a dominant characteristic, which means those affected have a 50% chance of passing it on to their children.{{sfn|National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences|2017}} However, DNA tests on Tutankhamun in 2010 proved negative for Marfan syndrome.{{sfn|Schemm|2010}}

By the early 21st century, most Egyptologists argued that Akhenaten's portrayals are not the results of a genetic or medical condition, but rather should be interpreted as stylized portrayals influenced by Atenism.{{sfn|Reeves|2019|pp=154–155}}{{sfn|Montserrat|2003}} Akhenaten was made to look androgynous in artwork as a symbol of the androgyny of the Aten.{{sfn|Montserrat|2003}}