Atenism and compassion

[jewel]

The philosophy of "do no harm" seems to be the only concept needed in life..........

“The butcher does not relent at the bleating of the lamb; neither is the heart of the cruel moved with distress. But the tears of the compassionate are sweeter than dew-drops, falling from roses on the bosom of spring.”

Amenohis IV aka Akhenaton (“servant of the one, true god”), the Heretic King (1380 ~ 1362 BC) (Egyptian pharaoh, pacifist, banned animal sacrifice and traditional Egyptian religion and instituted a religion based on compassion and monotheism)

[Lisak]

Evidence please Jewel.
And it does annoy me when people use the Greek definition of the name!

[Who2]

It was know that old Amenhophis loved a good lamb stew and was very fond of baby stuffed pigeon.
If the 'great eating stopped at the top of the food chain the World as we know it would soon end....

[Mad Dilys]

Do you get the babies for stuffing pigeons from Jewel and her friends, Doctor?

Come to think of it, very small babies or huge pigeons?

[jewel]

It is possible that Amenhotep 1V was also Moses as he Was overthrown and banished and had an exodus of followers Into the Holy Land. (From genesis of the Grail Kings by Laurence Gardener)
Ahmed Osman, an Egyptian author also surmised this, obviously history doesn't support these theories although aacheological evidence does.

[LivinginLuxor]

OK - Akhenaten had a dream - but it wasn't all compassion and monotheism. For the ordinary Egyptian, the household gods still held sway, as has been shown from the statues discovered at Akhetaten and other places. And almost certainly, he wasn't totally responsible for the rise of Atenism. His father seems to have been an Atenist, in that he called his royal barge (and possibly his palace) The Splendour of Aten. The huge court he built in Luxor temple could have been the precursor of the sun courts of Akhenaten.

Big question - why did Amenhotep III (yes, I hate the Greek version) move from his palaces in Thebes, to Malqata, where he built a huge temple, palace and support buildings for his government? I think it was because the Amun priesthood had become so rich and powerful that they formed a threat to the Pharaoh himself. His son carried Amenhotep's ideas further, even removing the Amun part of his father's name from monuments and temples.

As for being Moses, there is no archaeological evidence that I've found that suggests this - but there have been many books written on the subject by Sigmund Freud, Ahmed Osman and others. Both Queen Tiye and Nefertiti came from the Akhmin area, where there was a large Canaanite community, and with Nefertiti's parents - Yuya and Tiya (definitely foreign names) being high placed in Amenhotep's court, it could be thought that these strong women influenced their husbands.

But, we will never know!

[TIM]

The archaeological evidence brought to light in recent years at Amarna by Barry Kemp's team suggests that the Aten experiment was about anything but compassion. Row upon row of altars for animal sacrifice and - particularly damning - clear evidence of mass malnutrition and rampant child mortality among the human population.

Has anyone else noticed that one of the most prominent features of figurative art of the Amarna period is ranks of people bowing and scraping before Akhenaten and Nefertiti as they pass in their chariot? I haven't noticed anything similar in the iconography of the periods before or after. Has anyone else?

[LivinginLuxor]

To force his revolution on a probably hostile population, his police force (Medjay) and army were totally involved - any parallels with today?