Aten
Encyclopedia : A : AT : ATE : Aten
- Alternative use: the Aten asteroids, named after 2062 Aten
| Aten in hieroglyphs |
| |
Overview
Aten was the focus of Akhenaten's religion, but viewing Aten as Akhenaten's god is a simplification. Aten is the name given to represent the solar disc. The term Aten was used to designate a disc, and since the sun was a disc, gradually became associated with solar deities. Aten expresses indirectly the life-giving force of light. The full title of Akhenaten's god was The Rahorus who rejoices in the horizon, in his/her Name of the Light which is seen in the sun disc. (This is the title of the god as it appears on the numerous stelae which were placed to mark the boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at Amarna, or "Akhetaten.") This lengthy name was often shortened to Ra-Horus-Aten or just Aten in many texts, but the god Akhenaten had raised to supremacy is considered a synthesis of very ancient ones viewed in a new and different way. Both Ra and Horus characteristics are part of the god, but the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god. In particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic (human) form, but as rays of light extending from the sun's disk. Furthermore, the god's name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles normally given to a Pharaoh, another break with ancient tradition.
The Aten first appears in texts dating to the 12th dynasty, in The Story of Sinuhe. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Herakhty (Ra, who is Horus of the two horizons), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually. The real change is the apparent abandonment of all other gods following the advent of Akhenaten, i.e., the introduction, apparently by Akhenaten, of monotheism. This is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten.
The timing of Akhenaten's existence, together with his apparent, and significant, break from henotheism, has lead some to think he has some connection to the biblical character of Moses, although what that connection is, is a matter of some considerable dispute.
ATON [[http://aton.ttu.edu]] Texas Tech University
Royal Titulary
During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a Royal Titulary (as he was considered to be king of all), with his names drawn in a cartouche. There were 2 forms of this title, the first had the names of other gods, and the second later one which was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself.Early form
Live Re-Horakhti who rejoices in the HorizonIn his name Shu which is the Aten
Later form
Live Re, ruler of the 2 horizons who rejoices in the HorizonIn his name of light which is the Aten
Variant Vocalizations
Egyptologists have also vocalized the name as Aton, Atonu, Itni, Itn, and Adon (possibly from the Hebrew shortening of one of the many names for their God, Adonai).Variant Translations
Because high relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a curved surface (see for example the photograph illustrating this article), the late scholar Hugh Nibley insisted that a more correct translation would be globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk.The three-dimensional spherical shape of the Aten is even more evident when such reliefs are viewed in person, rather than merely in photographs.
Endnotes
Sources
Collier, Mark and Manley, Bill. How to Read Egyptian Heiroglyphs: Revised Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
See also