Frontispiece Profile of Akhenatcn, early Amarna style, c. 1345 bce. Height 17 cm, width 19.0 em. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London, inv. UC 402.
AKHENATEN
History, fantasy and ancient Egypt
Dominic Montserrat
' * Frao^
London and New York
First published 2000 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
Reprinted 2001
Transferred to Digital Printing 2005
Routledge is an imprint oj the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2000 Dominic Montserrat
Typeset in Baskerville by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Montserrat, Dominic, 1964— Akhenaten : history, fantasy, and ancient Egypt / Dominic Montserrat p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Akhenaten, King of Egypt. 2. Akhenaten, King of Egypt - Legends. 3.
Egypt - History - Eighteenth dynasty, ca. 1570 1320 B. C. 4. Pharaohs - Biography. I. Title
DT87.4 .M64 2000 932'.014'092 - dc21 99-059754
ISBN a-415-18549-1
CONTENTS
List of illustrations vi
Outline chronology viii
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations and conventions xii
Akhenaten in the mirror 1
Histories of Akhenaten 12
The archaeologies of Amarna 55
Protestants, psychoanalysts and Fascists 95
Race and religion 114
Literary Akhenatens 139
Sexualities 168
Epilogue 183
Appendix 185
Notes 189
Bibliography 200
Index 213ILLUSTRATIONS
Plates
Frontispiece: Profile of Akhenalen, early Amarna style, c. 1345 bce ii
Colossus of Akhenaten from the south colonnade of the Gem-pa-
Aten temple at east Karnak 16
Boundary stela A at Tuna el-Gebel, defining the north-western boundary of Akhet-aten 20
Akhenaten, Nefertiti and one of their daughters make offerings
to the Aten 24
The mutilated face of the coffin from tomb 55 in the Valley of
the Kings 27
Faience inlays from pools at Amarna 43
Reconstruction of Akhet-aten from The Illustrated London .News,
15 September 1934, by D. Macpherson 58
Photograph of houses at Amarna, The Illustrated London News, 6
May 1922 77
John Pendlebury and Amarna 80-1
Amarna royal women advertise 'All Roads Lead to Egypt', The
Times, 26 January 1937 84
Cigarette cards of Akhenaten and Tiye issued by John Player
& Sons, 1912 86
1920s beaded evening bag, based on a scene of Akhenaten and Nefertiti distributing gold, from the tomb of Parennefer at
Amarna 87
Unidentified woman at an exhibition of Amarna objects in Manchester, 1931 88
The Mecca Social Club (formerly the Carlton Cinema), Essex
Road, London N1, 1929-30 89
Black Akhenaten and Mohammed 117
Joseph-Albert-Alfred Moindre (1888-1965), Moi'se, pharaons et divinites, 1940s 132
6.1 Clara Siemens, etchings of (a) Akhenaten, Nefertiti and theirdaughters, (b) Akhenaten and Nefertiti in the studio of Djehut-
mose, c. 1922 143 6.2 R. S. George, cover art to the English translation of Dmitri
Merezhkovsky's novel Akhnalon, c. 1927 158
Winifred Brunton (1880-1959), Smenkhkare, c. 1929 171
Limestone trial piece from Amarna with the heads of two rulers 174
Figures
The names of the Aten 15
Akhenaten and Nefertiti about to get into bed together 17
Akhenaten and Tiye offering to Re'-Harakhty 18
Map of ancient Akhet-aten and the area of modern Amarna 22
Akhenaten's parents Amunhotep III (in jW-festival costume) and
Tiye with daughters 32
A royal tutor with four naked princes in his lap, one of them possibly Akhenaten 35
Paintings from the so-called aviary in the north palace at Amarna 46
African and Asiatic enemies of Egypt, from the painted pavement in the 'House of Rejoicing of the Aten' 47
A Coptic saint painted over a relief of Akhenaten and Nefertiti offering to the Aten 51
Drawing of Anubis, from the tomb of Huya at Amarna, Roman period 56
Claude Sicard (1677-1726), sketch of boundary stela A 60
Young Moses reading to Pharaoh's daughter (and Akhenaten?) in an interior with themes taken from Amarna sculpture, from
Sunday Readings for the Young, c. 1894 65
English aristocrats alongside Amarna royals: cartoon by George Morrow from Punch, 28 February 1923 67
Invitation to view an exhibition of Amarna objects in the Wellcome Museum, 1930 75
Columns from tomb 16 and the tomb of Panehesy at Amarna 90
Bookplate of James Henry Breasted, an engraving of the tympanum of the Oriental Institute, Chicago 100
'FIDUS'. Hugo Hoppener (1868-1948), illustrator, alternative religionist and later Nazi sympathiser, often mingled Egyptian elements with nudism in his graphics 110
Tiye, Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their daughters dining 142
Cartoon by George Morrow from Punch, 9 May 1923, at the
height of 'Tutmania' 149
Ankhesenpaaten on the run 161 7.1 Limestone stela from Amarna showing Akhenaten enthroned
with another ruler 169
OUTLINE CHRONOLOGY
All dates before the Macedonian Period are approximate.
Early Dynastic Period Old Kingdom First Intermediate Period Middle Kingdom Second Intermediate Period New Kingdom
Eighteenth Dynasty
1539-
1307
bce
Ahmose
1539-
1525
bce
Amunhotep I
1525-
1504
bce
Tuthmose I
1504-1492
bce
Tuthmose II
1492-
1479
bce
Tuthmose III
1479-
1425
bce
Hatshepsut
1473-
1458
bce
Amunhotep II
1427-
1401
bce
Tuthmose IV
1401-
-1391
bce
Amunhotep III
1391
1353
bce
Akhenaten
1353-
1335
bce
Neferneferuaten
1335-
1333
bce
Smenkhkare'
1333-
-1332
bce
Tutankhamun
1333-
1323
bce
Ay
1323-
1319
bce
Horemheb
1319
1307
bce
Nineteenth Dynasty
1307-
-1196
bce
Twentieth Dynasty
1196-
1070
bce