The rule of Egypt fell to the aged vizier Eye, who had been a counselor
and friend of Akhenaton. After four years Eye was succeeded by Horemhab
(_ca._ 1340-1310 B.C.), an energetic ruler who sought to restore Egypt's
fortunes abroad and erase the memory of the Amarna revolt at home. As a
young general, Horemhab had espoused the cause of Akhenaton, but as a
Pharaoh he sought to obliterate the records of the Amarna kings with as
great enthusiasm as Akhenaton had sought to eliminate the name of Amon.
Later orthodox king lists omit the names of Akhenaton, Smenkhkare,
Tutankhamon, and Eye, placing the name of Horemhab immediately after
Amenhotep III.
Although the Amon priests of Thebes seemed to be more firmly entrenched
than ever after the accession of Horemhab, the calendar could not be
pushed back completely. Egyptian art and literature retained some of the
naturalism of the Amarna movement. There were effects in the religious
world, too, for although Atonism was not pure monotheism, it exhibited
tendencies in that direction which persisted in the Egyptian thought.
God is frequently addressed in the singular, although under different
names, in the hymns of the later periods of Egyptian history.
X
AMARNA AND THE BIBLE
The Amarna texts make it clear that the inhabitants of Canaan during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B.C. had a high degree of culture.
While most people were probably illiterate, each community had its
professional scribes who could write in at least one foreign language.
Akkadian cuneiform, and not Canaanite, was the language of diplomatic
correspondence between the city states of Canaan and the Egyptian court.