year of his reign; but his mother, Queen Tiy, seems to have been
unwilling to accompany him, and to have decided to remain in her
palace at the foot of the Theban hills. It is probable that she had
not encouraged her son to create the new capital, and the removal
of the court from Thebes must have been something of a grief to
her, though no doubt she recognised the necessity of the step.
In spite of advancing years she must have sorely missed the pomp
and circumstance of the splendid court over which she had once
presided. Up to the fourth year of her son’s reign she had been
dominant, and the whole known world had bowed the knee to her. The
luxuries of the many kingdoms over which she held sway had been
hers to enjoy; but now, with the king and the nobles gone to the
City of the Horizon, and every penny which could be collected gone
with them, the old queen must have been obliged to live a quiet,
retired life in a palace which was probably falling into rapid
ruin. Her little daughter, Baketaton, appears to have lived with
her; and it may be that some of her other daughters were still with
her, though of them we hear nothing, and it is more probable that
they had already died. It seems likely that she paid occasional
state visits to her son, and permanent accommodation was provided
for her in the City of the Horizon should she at any time desire to
stay there. Her major-domo, an elderly man named Huya, appears to
have lived for part of the year at the new capital, where a tomb
was made for him; and it is from the reliefs on the walls of this
tomb that we obtain the knowledge of one of these state visits made
by the old queen to Akhnaton. There is no evidence to show in what
year the visit which forms the subject of the representations was
made; but as the twelfth year of Akhnaton’s reign is mentioned in
this tomb, it is probable that the visit took place somewhere about
that time.
The queen must now have been between fifty and sixty years of
age,[55] and her daughter Baketaton, born just before the death
of her husband, was probably not much more than twelve years old.
Akhnaton received his mother and sister with apparent joy and
festivity, and the major-domo, Huya, was called upon to organise
many a _fête_ in their honour. Some of them are shown in the
reliefs, where even the conventionalities of the artist have
not been able to hide from us the luxury of the scene. One sees
Akhnaton, his wife Nefertiti, his mother Tiy, his sister Baketaton,
and his two daughters Merytaton and Ankhsenpaaton, seated together
on comfortable cushioned chairs, their feet resting on elaborate
footstools. Akhnaton is clad in a skirt of clinging linen, but the
upper part of his body seems to have been bare. On his forehead
there gleams a small golden serpent, and on his feet there are
elaborate sandals; but with customary simplicity he wears no
jewellery. Queen Nefertiti wears a flowing robe of fine linen, and
on her forehead also there is the royal serpent. Queen Tiy wears
the elaborate wig which was in vogue during the days of the old
_régime_, and upon it there rests an ornamental crown consisting
of a disk, two horns, two tall plumes, and two small serpents,
probably all wrought in gold. A graceful robe of some almost
transparent material falls lightly over her figure. The little
girls appear to be naked.
Around this happy family group there stand graceful tables upon
which food of all kinds is heaped. Here are joints of meat, dishes
of confectionery, vegetables, fruit,[56] bread, cakes of various
kinds, and so on. The tables are massed with lotus-flowers,
according to the charming custom of the ancient Egyptians of all
periods. Beside the tables stand jars of wine and other drinkables,
festooned with ribbons. At the moment selected by the artist for
reproduction, Akhnaton is seen placing his teeth in the neatly
trimmed meat adhering to a large bone which he holds in his hand.
To this day it is the custom in Egypt thus to eat with the hands.
Nefertiti has a small roast duck in her hands at which she daintily
nibbles. Tiy’s morsel cannot now be seen, but as she places it to
her mouth with one hand she presents a portion to her daughter,
Baketaton, with the other. The two little princesses feed by
Nefertiti’s side, and appear to be sharing the meal. Meanwhile Huya
hurries to and fro superintending the banquet, carefully tasting
each dish before it is presented to the royal party. Two string
bands play alternately, the one Egyptian and the other apparently
Syrian. The former consists of four female performers, the first
playing on a harp, the second and third on lutes, and the fourth on
a lyre. The main instrument in the foreign band is a large standing
lyre, about six feet in height, having eight strings, and being
played with both hands. Courtiers clad in elaborate dresses, and
holding ostrich-plume standards, are grouped around the hall in
which the banquet takes place.
Another set of reliefs in the tomb of Huya shows us an evening
entertainment in honour of Queen Tiy. Again the same members of
the royal family are represented, but against the cool night air
more clothes are worn by each person, and the upper part of the
king’s body is now seen to be covered by a mantle of soft linen.
The king, queen, and queen-dowager are all shown drinking from
delicate bowls, probably made of gold. This being an evening
festival, little solid food appears to have been eaten, but there
are three flower-decked tables piled high with fruit. From these
the little princesses, now wearing light garments, help themselves
liberally; and the small Ankhsenpaaton stands upon the footstool of
her mother’s chair, holding on to her skirts with one hand, while
with the other she crams an apricot or some similar fruit into her
mouth. Two string bands make music as before, and again the groups
of courtiers stand about the hall; while Huya hastens to and fro
directing the waiters, who, with napkins thrown over their arms,
replenish the drinking-bowls from the wine-jars. The hall is lit
by several flaming lamps set upon tall stands, near each of which
these jars have been placed.
8. TIY VISITS HER TEMPLE.
One more scene from this state visit is shown. Here we observe
Akhnaton leading his mother affectionately by the hand to a temple
which had been built in her honour, as her private place of
worship, and which was called the “Shade of the Sun.” This temple
appears to have been a building of great beauty and considerable
size. One passed through two great swinging doors fixed between the
usual two pylons, and so entered the main court, which stood open
to the sunlight. A pillared gallery passed along either side of
this court, and between each of the columns there stood statues of
Akhnaton, Amonhotep III., and Queen Tiy. In the middle of the court
rose the altar, to which one mounted by a flight of low steps. At
the far end of the court another set of pylons and swinging doors
led into the inner chambers. Passing through these doors one
entered a small gallery, on either side of which there were again
statues of the Pharaoh and his mother. Beyond stood the sanctuary,
closed by swinging doors; and inside this was the second altar,
flanked by statues of the king and queen-dowager. To right and left
of the sanctuary there were small chapels; and a passage led round
behind the sanctuary to the usual shrines, where more royal statues
were to be seen.
The building seems to have been brilliant with colours; and on
this particular occasion the altars were heaped up with offerings.
Great jars of wine, decked with garlands of flowers and ribbons,
stood in the shadow of the colonnades; and meat, bread, fruit, and
vegetables were piled on delicate stands, ornamented with flowers.
Akhnaton and Tiy were accompanied by the little Princess Baketaton,
Akhnaton’s sister, and her two ladies-in-waiting. Before them
walked the queen’s major-domo, Huya, accompanied by a foreign
official wearing what appears to be Cretan costume.[57] Behind
them walked a noble group of courtiers bearing ostrich-plume fans
and standards; and outside the temple precincts waited a crowd of
policemen, servants, charioteers and grooms in charge of the royal
chariots, fan-bearers, porters, and temple attendants. These people
shout and cheer loyally as the royal party arrives. “The ruler of
the Aton!” they cry. “He shall exist for ever and ever!” “She who
rises in beauty!” “To him on whom the Aton rises!” “She who is
patron of this temple of Aton!” The old queen must have felt as
though she were back once more in the days of her glory; and yet
how different the simplicity of the religious ceremonies to those
of the old priests of Amon-Ra. There was now but a prayer or two
at the altar, a little burning of incense, a little bowing of the
head, and then the procession back to the palace, and the silent
closing of the holy gates.
9. THE DEATH OF QUEEN TIY.
It is possible that Queen Tiy took up her residence at the City
of the Horizon in recognition of the lavish arrangements which
her son had made for her. But whether this is so or not, it
does not seem that she lived very long to enjoy such renewals
of the pomps which she had known in her younger days. Her death
appears to have taken place shortly after these celebrations,
and, probably by her express commands, she was embalmed at Thebes
and carried from her palace up the winding valley to the royal
burying-ground amongst the rugged Theban hills. Akhnaton showed
his affection for her by presenting the furniture for the tomb,
and in the inscriptions on the outer coffin one reads that “he
made it for his mother.” The queen-dowager had evidently expressed
a wish to be buried near her father and mother, Yuaa and Tuau;
for the tomb, which is situated on the east side of the valley,
is within a stone’s-throw of the sepulchre where they lay. It
was entered by a steep flight of steps leading down to a sloping
passage, at the end of which was the large burial chamber, the
walls of which were carefully whitewashed. On passing into this
chamber a great box-like shrine, or outer coffin, was to be found,
occupying the greater part of the room. The door to the shrine
was made of costly cedar of Lebanon covered with gold, and was
fitted with an ornamental bolt. Many of the nails which held the
woodwork together were made of pure gold,--a fact which plainly
shows us the wealth of the royal treasuries at this time. Scenes
were embossed on the panels showing the queen standing under the
rays of the Aton. The shrine itself was also made of cedar, covered
with gold, and on all sides were scenes of the Aton worship. Here
Akhnaton was shown with Tiy, and the life-giving rays of the sun
streamed around their naturally drawn figures. Inside this outer
box the coffin containing the great queen’s mummy was laid. The
usual funeral furniture was placed at the sides of the room: gaily
coloured boxes, alabaster vases, faience toilet-pots, statuettes,
&c. Some of the toilet utensils were made in the form of little
figures of the grotesque god Bes, which indicates that Akhnaton
still tolerated the recognition by other persons of some of the
old gods. In the inscriptions upon the outer coffin he had been
careful to call his father, Amonhotep III., by his second name,
Nebmaara, as often as possible, in order to avoid the writing
of the word Amon, his dislike of everything to do with that god
being profound. He allowed it to be written, however, here and
there, as it seemed right to him that it should appear. Akhnaton’s
prejudice against the old state god is also shown in another
manner. Amon’s consort was the goddess Mut “the Mother,” whose
name is written in hieroglyphs by a sign representing a vulture.
Now when the inscription mentioned the king’s _mother_, Tiy, the
word _mut_, “mother,” had to be written; but in order to avoid a
similarity--even in spelling--to the name of the goddess, Akhnaton
had the word written out phonetically, letter by letter, and
thus dispensed with the use of the vulture sign.[58] Again, in
the name Nebmaara, the meaning of which is “Ra, Lord of Truth,”
the sign _maa_, “truth,” represented the goddess of that name.
Akhnaton’s religion was much concerned with the quality of truth,
which he regarded as one of the greatest necessities to happiness
and well-being; and the fallacy of supposing that there was an
actual deity of truth was particularly apparent to him. He was,
therefore, careful to write the sign _maa_ in letters instead of
with the hieroglyph of the goddess.
When the funeral ceremonies came to an end, when the last prayer
was said and the last cloud of incense had floated to the roof,
the golden door of the shrine was shut and bolted, the outer
doorways were walled up, and an avalanche of stones, let down
from the chippings heaped near by, obliterated all traces of the
entrance. Thus Akhnaton paid his last tribute to his mother and
to the originator, it may be, of the schemes which he had carried
into effect; and his last link with the past was severed. With the
death of this good woman a restraining influence, as kindly as it
was powerful, slipped from his arm, and a new and fiercer chapter
of his short life began.
VI.
THE THIRTEENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
“The episode of the retirement of the king with his whole
court to the new palace and city, ... and the strange life of
religious and artistic propaganda which he led there, ... is
one of the most curious and interesting in the history of the
world.”--BUDGE: ‘History of Egypt.’
1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGION OF ATON.
In the Pharaoh’s hymn to the Aton we read these words--
“Thou didst create the earth according to Thy desire, ...
The countries of Syria and Nubia,
The land of Egypt....”
It is certainly worthy of note that Syria and Nubia are thus named
before Egypt, and seem to take precedence in Akhnaton’s mind. In
the same hymn the following lines occur:--
“The Nile in heaven is for the strangers, ...
But the Nile [itself,] it cometh from the nether world for Egypt.”
Here Akhnaton refers to the rain which falls in Syria to water
the lands of the stranger, and compares it with the river which
irrigates his own country. Thus again his thoughts are first for
Syria and then for Egypt. This is the true imperial spirit: in
the broadness of the Pharaoh’s mind his foreign possessions claim
as much attention as do his own dominions, and demand as much
love. The sentiments are entirely opposed to those of the earlier
kings of this dynasty, who ground down the land of the “miserable”
foreigner and extracted therefrom all its riches, without regard to
aught else.
Akhnaton believed that his God was the Father of all mankind, and
that the Syrian and the Nubian were as much under His protection
as the Egyptian. This is a greater advance in ethics than may be
at once apparent; for the Aton thus becomes the first deity who
was not tribal or not national ever conceived by mortal mind.
This is the Christian’s understanding of God, though not the
Hebrew conception of Jehovah. This is the spirit which sends the
missionary to the uttermost parts of the earth; and it was such
an attitude of mind which now led Akhnaton to build a temple
for the Aton in the heart of Syria, and another far up in the
Sudan.[59] The site of the Syrian temple is now lost, but the
Nubian buildings were recently discovered and seem to have been of
considerable extent.
[Illustration: _An Example of the Friendly Relations between Syria
and Egypt._
A Syrian Soldier named Terura, and his wife, Aariburæ, attended by
an Egyptian servant, who assists him to hold the tube through which
he is drinking wine from a jar. From a tablet found at El Amarna.
(Zeit. Aeg. Spr. xxxvi. 126.)]
At the same time temples were being erected in various parts of
Egypt. At Hermonthis a temple named “Horizon of Aton in Hermonthis”
was built; at Heliopolis there was a temple named “Exaltation of
Ra in Heliopolis,” and also a palace for the king; at Hermopolis
and at Memphis temples were erected; and in the Fayum and the Delta
“Houses” of Aton sprang up. Few real converts, however, seem to
have been made; for the religion was far above the understanding
of the people. In deference to the king’s wishes the Aton was
accepted, but no love was shown for the new form of worship;
and, indeed, not even in the City of the Horizon itself was it
understood.
A certain change was now made by Akhnaton in the name of the
Aton. The words “Heat which is in Aton” did not seem to him to
be very happily chosen. They had been used in the earliest years
of the movement, and had evidently not been coined by Akhnaton
himself. The word “heat” was in spelling very reminiscent of the
name of one of the old gods, and, to the uninitiate, might suggest
some connection. The name of the Aton was therefore changed to
“Effulgence which comes from Aton,” the new words introducing into
the spelling the hieroglyph of Ra, the sun. The exact significance
of the alteration is not known; but one may suppose that the
new words better conveyed the meaning which Akhnaton wished to
imply. Even now it is not easy to find a phrase to express that
vital energy, that first cause of life, which the king so clearly
understood.
The date of this change is somewhat uncertain, though it is
definitely to be placed between the tenth and thirteenth year of
the reign, the probability being that it took place at the end
of the twelfth year, when Akhnaton was about twenty-three years
old. The inscriptions upon the outer coffin, or shrine, of Queen
Tiy show the older form of wording, and the change, therefore,
took place after her death. Now the queen did not die till the
middle or end of the twelfth year, for in the tomb of Huya events
of that year are recorded,[60] and he still holds the office of
steward to the queen, while a letter from Dushratta, mentioning
Tiy, was docketed in the twelfth year. On the other hand, the
new name of the Aton occurs in tombs which, by the number of
Akhnaton’s daughters represented in them, might be thought to have
been constructed earlier than this.[61] Thus there is a slight
discrepancy; but the point of significance is that the change
occurred after the queen’s death, and was thus concurrent with
another change which must here be recorded.
2. AKHNATON OBLITERATES THE NAME OF AMON.
Up till this time it will have been observed that Akhnaton had
behaved with great leniency towards the worshippers of the older
gods, and had not even persecuted the priesthood of Amon-Ra. It
now becomes apparent that this restraint was due to his mother’s
influence, for no sooner was she dead than Akhnaton turned with the
fierceness of a fanatic upon the latter institution. He issued an
order that the name of Amon was to be erased wherever it occurred,
and this order was carried out with such amazing thoroughness that
hardly a single occurrence of the name was overlooked. Although
thousands of inscriptions, accessible to Akhnaton’s agents, are
now known in which the name of Amon occurs, there are but a few
examples in which the god’s name has not been mutilated. His agents
hammered the name out on the walls of the temples throughout Egypt;
they penetrated into the tombs of the dead to erase it from the
texts; they searched through the minute inscriptions upon small
statuettes and figures, obliterating the name therefrom; they
made journeys into the distant deserts to cut out the name from
the rock-scribbles of travellers; they clambered over the cliffs
beside the Nile to erase it from the graffiti; they entered
private houses to rub it from small utensils where it chanced to be
inscribed.
Akhnaton was always thorough in his undertakings, and half-measures
were unknown to him. When it came to the question of his own
father’s name, he seems not to have hesitated to order the
obliteration of the word Amon in it, though one may suppose that
in most cases he painted over it the king’s second name, Nebmaara.
His agents burst their way into the tomb of Queen Tiy and removed
the name Amonhotep from the inscriptions upon the shrine, writing
Nebmaara in red ink over each erasure. Having scratched out the
name even upon one of the queen’s toilet-pots of minute size they
retired from the tomb, building up the wall at the entrance, and
continued their labours elsewhere. The king was now asked whether
his own name, Amonhotep,--which had been used before he adopted the
better known Akhnaton,--was to suffer the same fate, and the answer
seems to have been in the affirmative. Upon the quarry tablet at
Gebel Silsileh[62] the king’s discarded name is thus erased, though
it was not damaged in the tomb of Rames. The names of the various
nobles and officials, male and female, which were compounded with
Amon--Amonhotep, Setamon, Amonemhat, Amonemapt, and so on--were
ruthlessly destroyed; while living persons bearing such names were
often obliged to change them.
In thus mutilating his father’s name Akhnaton did not in any way
intend to disparage his forbears. He was but desirous of utterly
obliterating Amon from the memory of man, in order that the true
God might the better receive acceptance. He was proud of his
descent, and, unlike most of his ancestors, he showed a desire to
honour the memory of his father. We have seen[63] how one of his
artists, Bek, represented the figure of Amonhotep III. upon his
monument at Aswan. Huya, Queen Tiy’s steward, was authorised by
Akhnaton to show that king upon the walls of his tomb;[64] and in
the private temple of Queen Tiy, it will be remembered that there
were statues of Amonhotep III.[65] Likewise, the earlier kings of
the dynasty received unusual recognition. An official named Any
held the office of Steward of the House of Amonhotep II.;[66] and
there is a representation of Akhnaton offering to Aton in “the
House of Thothmes IV. in the City of the Horizon.”[67] Upon his
boundary tablet Akhnaton refers to Amonhotep III. and Thothmes IV.
as being troubled by the priesthood of Amon.
It would seem from the above that there were shrines dedicated to
Akhnaton’s ancestors in the City of the Horizon, each of which had
its steward and its officials; and it is probable that Akhnaton
arranged that a memorial shrine of the same kind should be erected
for himself against his death, for we read of a personage who was
“Second Priest” of the king.[68] It was his desire in this manner
to show the continuity of his descent from the Pharaohs of the
elder days, and to demonstrate his real claim to that title “Son
of the Sun” which had been held by the sovereigns of Egypt ever
since the Fifth Dynasty, and which was of such vital importance
in the new religion. It was in this manner that he claimed descent
from Ra, who was to him the same with Aton; and just as the great
religious teachers of the Hebrews made careful note of their
genealogies in order to prove themselves descended from Adam, and
hence in a manner from God, so Akhnaton thus demonstrated the
continuity of his line in order to show his real right to the
titles “Child of Aton” and “Son of the Sun.”
3. THE GREAT TEMPLE OF ATON.
The City of the Horizon of Aton must now have been a very city
of temples. There were these shrines dedicated to the king’s
ancestors; there was the temple of Queen Tiy; there was a shrine
for the use of Baketaton, the king’s sister; there was the “House
of putting the Aton to Rest,” where Queen Nefertiti officiated; and
there was the great temple of Aton, in which probably were included
other of the buildings named in the inscriptions. The great temple
may here be briefly described, as the reader has so far made the
acquaintance only of the building belonging to Queen Tiy.