Conception Development

Phil Santoro

Professor Neiberg

March 14th, 2016

Final Paper #1

Conception Development

It is simply remarkable that there is an immeasurable amount of artifacts and works of literature that have been uncovered over the period of the last hundred years that we the people of humanity are analyzing and interpreting for the means of understanding humanity in the past, present, and even the future. In this case I will analyze a sacred song known as a hymn, which is renowned for being the earliest known example of monotheistic thought from 14th century B.C.E. The hymn captures the strong influence of religion during this time while under the rule of King Akhenaten who re-invented what it means to live and believe. After extensive examination of this work “The Great Hymn to the Aten” it reveals it’s functions and role as a creation myth:  that without King Akhenaten, no one will be able to survive for he “gives him breath within to sustain him”.  Without King Akhenaten the sun would not rise, nor the plants would grow without his presence for he is the creator of life and the focus of a new religious regime.  

Akhenaten was a singular pharaoh who wanted all the Egyptians to view him as a supreme being much like a deity. He was an intellectual and philosophical revolutionary who had the power and wealth to indulge his ideas. He tried to change the Egyptian people to a concept of godhead, which was both monotheistic and abstract. Throughout the hymn there is more than one allusion to the Aten as a sole creator god, as early as the second line proclaims the god to be “O living Aten, creator of life”. To illuminate the intended meaning of the creation, the hymn also describes human beings, animals and plants as being the created subjects of the Aten’s kingdom. The hymn further goes on to address the Aten “you made the earth as you wished alone” and asks the Aten to “behold what you made”.  The Great Hymn to the Aten presents the Aten as a lone god, functioning without the input of other gods like when its said “’O sole god besides you there is none”; Akhenaten actually forbade the worship of other gods, which was a radical departure from centuries of Egyptian religious practice.

Analyses of this poem are divided between those considering it as a work of literature, and those considering its political and socio-religious intentions, in this case I will remain un-biases and focus on its context as a creation myth. Like for example in right from the beginning we can see that the Aten, who created himself, completely holds the life of the world in his subordination, that he daily renews the creation of which he is "the father and the mother". Aten as the divine parent of the king and the Aten as a nurturing ‘mother’ figure are some of the themes which may be highlighted by analysis of this text. Atenism focuses on life and the living as opposed to death. The hymn portrays the sun as the giver of all life, plunging the land into darkness and danger during the night, to reawaken to life, daily work and praise with the dawn. The first stanza Akhenaten states that the sun took its throne in heaven and that is when life began. Then Akhenaten goes on to explain the majesty and compassion of the sun to all. Stanzas one and two reveal that the Aten is primarily a life god. When he rises, the world lives; when he sets, darkness, danger, and death prevail. Significantly, stanza one echoes that the Aten envelops and subdues all lands. It also mentions the god’s far-near paradox that he is distant, but his rays are on earth.