Contradictory biographies like these are part of the process by which a historical figure becomes mythologised. It is still possible to write about even the most sacrosanct heroes and heroines more impartially, and William J. Murnane has shown that this can be done for Akhenaten. Murnane's invaluable source history Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (1995) has the great advantage of being entirely based on the full range of written documentation, but does not offer a narrative history. Readers have to put that together from the documents. A short synthesis pointing out a few facts alongside many problems might therefore be a useful preliminary to my investigation of how the legend surrounding Akhenaten has been formed.
The reign of Akhenaten
The least disputed events of Akhenaten's life and reign can be summed up as follows.4 A younger son of Amunhotep III (reg. c. 1391-1353 bce) and his consort Tiye, he was originally named Amunhotep and may have been born between c. 1385 and 1375 bce.5 There are no textual mentions or pictorial depictions of him which definitely predate Amunhotep Ill's heb-sed or jecZ-festival, a series of celebrations and religious rituals symbolically reinvigorating the pharaoh which started in year 30 of the reign, c. 1361 bce. The first documentary record of the future Akhenaten comes in a brief inscription on a jar which supplied some food product to his father's W-festival. He succeeded Amunhotep III as Amunhotep iy probably on his father's death in c. 1353 bce. The evidence for any extended period of joint rule between Amunhotep III and Akhenaten is circumstantial, or based on art-historical criteria which are so far not generally accepted.6
Temple-building programmes in honour of the Aten, or divinised sun-disc, began early in the new reign, perhaps in the first year. East of the ritual site at Karnak, an extensive temple complex apparently called the Gem-pa-Aten (meaning perhaps 'The-Aten-is-found' or 'He-has-found-the-Aten') was hurriedly built in honour of the sun-god Re'-Harakhty-Aten, here depicted as human-bodied but falcon-headed and wearing an Aten-disc. Akhenaten is shown making different offerings to Re'-Harakhty-Aten in a series of roofless kiosks, instead of the usual scenes where he offers to the numerous gods of the Dual Kingdom of Egypt.7 The name and divine nature of this sun-god are defined in new honorific formulae, replete with theological meanings and puns on the names of gods that
Figure 2.1 The names of the Aten: (a) earlier form in use from about regnal years 3 to 9.
Translation something like 'Re'-Harakhy (lit. Re'-Horus-of-the-twin-horizons), who rcjoices in his name as Shu- (lit. illumination) who-is-from-the-Aten (= sun- disc)'. Akhenaten, in the form of the god Shu, elevates the twin cartouchcs of the Aten, and is flanked by his own titles and those of Nefertiti. Drawing of an alabaster block from Amarna, formerly in the collection of K.R. Lepsius, now in the Agyptisches Museum, Berlin, inv. 2045. Figure 2.1 (b) Later form in use from about regnal years 9 to 17. Translation something like 'Re'-ruler-of-of-the-twin- horizons, who rejoices in the horizon in his name as Re'-the-father-who- returns-as-Aten (= sun-disc)'.
are hard to translate (see Figure 2.1a). The orientation of the Gem-pa-Aten is significant. Its axis is towards the rising sun in the east, rather than to the west like the rest of the Karnak shrine. So Akhenaten's first major building projcct turns its back on the temple of Amun, perhaps anticipating the events later in his reign.
The Karnak monuments have yielded some of the most iconic images of Akhenaten (see Plate 2.1). Apparently showing him with both male and female physical characteristics, they have spawned a host of theories about Akhenaten's sexual biology and orientation. The colossi like the one in Plate 2.1, originally over 4 metres tall, were in fact the appropriate format for showing the ruler as divine, the king appearing in creator-god form. Akhenaten's allegiancc to the Aten is shown by the cartouches of the Aten he wears inscribed on his torso. This
Plate 2.1 Colossus of Akhenaten from the south colonnade of the Gem-pa-Aten temple at east Karnak, as displayed in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, c. 1962, inv. JE 49529.
elegant visual pun of the Aten being written on the pharaoh's body prefigures the idea of Akhenaten as the physical agent for the Aten that becomes so important later in his reign.
On some of the Karnak reliefs, Akhenaten appears with a consort, Nefertiti. Her prominence here anticipates her importance on official monuments throughout Akhenaten's reign. Her name, 'The-radiant-one-has-come', is curious. Other Egyptian names ending in -iti honour important goddesses, such as Bastiti, 'Bast-has-come'. The nefer- element of the name has associations with beauty, completeness and vitality, and becomes a much-used word in the vocabulary of the Aten cult. Although Ncfertiti's name is unusual and her parentage and origins are unknown, there is no evidence that she was a foreigner, as has been suggested (often in support of dubious racial theories). These first images of
Nefertiti at Karnak emphasise her harmonious union with her husband and role as fertile consort. A number of fragmentary scenes from Karnak show the couple about to get into bed (see Figure 2.2). At least six surviving daughters were born to the couple. The eldest three were born by about year 6 or 7 of the reign, c. 1347 bce: Meritaten ('Beloved-by-Aten'), Meketaten ('Protected-by-Aten') and Ankhescnpaaten ('She-lives-through-the-Aten'). Egyptian iconographic codes show offspring as young children in relation to their parents, so these images may not be reliable indicators of the children's ages. Akhenaten and Nefertiti may have had sons too, but Egyptian artistic decorum at this period would prevent them from having the same presence as daughters in official contexts. Other than at Karnak, early artistic representations of Akhenaten and his relatives are conventional (see Figure 2.3), but these soon give way to a modified style reflecting the changc in religious beliefs developed by the king.
Probably in his fourth regnal year, Akhenaten planned to move the capital city away from Thebes to a site in Middle Egypt now known as Amarna. This in itself was not unique: moving the capital city has many other precedents in Egyptian history. While Akhenaten's main motivation for this was probably theological, it is also worth remembering the traditional ambition of pharaohs to be remembered as great builders. This decision to move from Thebes was marked by an elaborate rock-cut inscription, decorated with images of the royal family, and dated to year 5, fourth month of/>mtf-season, day 13 (early in April, c. 1348 bce). Usually known as 'boundary stela K, it is almost at the southern extremity of the new city. The inscription includes a first-person speech by the pharaoh himself, giving some (now rather unclear) information about the political reasons for moving the capital. This is often ascribed to the priesthood of Amun's opposing the king's religious reforms, but the evidence for this is thin, and there is the question of how effectively the priesthood could have challenged the king. Most priests of Amun were royal appointments: even the wealth invested in the Amun temples and nominally controlled by the priests may have remained at the royal disposal.8
Significant reasons for choosing this particular location were the configuration
Figure 2.2 Akhenaten and Nefertiti about to get into bed together. Drawn from talatat- blocks 31/216 and 31/203 from Akhenaten's ninth pylon at east Karnak, reproduced in Trauneeker 1986, figure 11