Who is this god, the Aten, who will be at the centre of the religion that Akhenaten will try to impose?

 

In fact, it is not really a new god because we find mention of his name in the pyramid texts of 1000 years earlier.

 

Originally, the Aten represents one of the common names designating the sun derived from a verbal root meaning "to be distant". It was probably pronounced something like "yati(n)". Over time, the final "n" has been lost.

 

The Aten

It is not really considered especially as a divinity but simply the disc in motion.

 

We saw that under the reign of Akhenaten's father, AmenhotepIII, the god Amun was considered more and more as a manifestation of the sun in the form of Amun-Ra. Well, now it is considered that, as the Aten, the sun disc visible everywhere and by everyone, he fulfils his celestial circumnavigation and by this fact, encompasses the whole universe with his power.

 

Throughout the 18th Dynasty, this universal power of the sun is placed in parallel with royal power, which is considered more and more as universal. There is a kind of return to the Old Kingdom, a kind of religious neo-heliopolitanism and from the reign of Thutmosis IV (a reign pivital for numerous things) a political will to return to the total monarchical power of more ancient times.

 

We see the relationship between the Aten and the king become progressively stronger and stronger. Thus, when Amenhotep III leaves his palace, it is the Aten which rises on the horizon, when he marches into foreign lands, it is the Aten who traverses the sky and a vizier described himself as "he who contemplates the disc in his horizon" i.e. the king in his palace.

 

This ascent of the Aten under Amenhotep III is also evident from the name "the Aten is resplendent", given to one of the palaces and to the royal parade boat. An Egyptian army corps took the name of the Aten.

 

We also witness a multiplication of the colossal statues in the effigy of the king. These colossi represent a materialisation of the divine body of the king. and are the subject of a cult. They also multiply under Akhenaten, in conformity with his perception of his function.

 

We can see, therefore, that the Aten had a strong presence at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III. It is important to note that the solar devotion of this sovereign is very different to that which will be Akhenaten's. The king continues to partake in the great diurnal and nocturnal voyage of the sun and aids him in his matinal rebirth after having vanquished his enemies in the underworld, notably the serpent Apophis.