Once When I Was A Kid I Asked My Parents If We Could Vacation In "Ancient Egypt" (by Panic! At the Disco)
Y'all life is very monotonous right now and while I fully understand the importance of the situation I am BORED and UNINTERESTED in most of life atm (except for of course when the Anxiety strikes and I cant not think about things,)(actually, lies, I did hyper-fixate on She Ra for like 4 days so also that). So here I am and I'm gonna talk about something that interests me because why the heck not.
TODAY's topic of discussion, as with the last, is of a historical nature. Unlike the last, I do not have a degree in this historical area so take what I say with a grain of salt. I will say straight out that there are SO MANY theories on this one and I'm mostly just gonna go with the ones I'm most interested in, but please recognize that what I say is not necessarily The Answer to all of the questions about this topic. If you're interested in other parts of the subject or have different opinions, side with different theories, etc., I'd truly love to hear about them! But for now, I wanna tell you about the period of Egyptian history called the Amarna Period.
This period is a pretty popular one- though there are depressingly few really good documentaries on it- but it is still unknown enough for enough people that I personally had no real knowledge or interest in it until a couple of years ago (not that I am a necessarily the best gauge of what is "well-known" or not). It's famous in large part because one of the rulers is one of the most well-known Egyptian women of all time- Nefertiti. It is also famous because the Pharaoh, Akhenaten (previously named Amenhotep IV) took Egyptian religion, art, and the literal capital to a place no other Pharaoh did before or after. I think one of the things that intrigue people the most about all of that is that it was so hated by the pharaohs afterwards, that they tried very very hard to erase it from history entirely. They did not succeed, obviously, but boy did they try.
Oh! These homies are also tangentially related to another figure in Egypt that I am certain you're aware of- Tutankhamen. You know why that is wild to me? Because he was not a very long-lasting or significant pharaoh! Obviously- he's known as a "boy king." He's mostly just famous because his tomb (I have some FEELINGS about theories on his tomb) which was the first one anyone (publicly, not in a grave-robbing capacity) really found intact. You've definitely seen pictures of his tomb in a history text book and I'm sure a solid 75% of you went through at least a brief "Egypt" phase.
If I don't take too much space talking about Amarna, I'll come back to Tut. While we're here, though, I do want to publicly apologize to the kid named Zach in my third grade class who I said that I thought looked like King Tut's mummy. Little 9 year old me could not fathom why that would be offensive to anyone, but I see it now.
ANYWAY. Back to topic. Amarna. Let's jump in.
Akhenaten Be Trippin
Okay, so the Amarna period occurred between 1353 and 1336 BCE, during the 18th Dynasty. It was the first dynasty of the period called the "New Kingdom." I could go into a more general background of the period, and there are a few other really interesting parts of the dynasty that I think are great, but for our purposes I just wanna talk about why this part was so strange and interesting.
Pharaoh Akhenaten was, as mentioned, originally named Amenhotep IV after his father. He changed it when, five years into his reign, he decided the nation's religion was going to focus on one single god- the Aten. Even if you only have a minimal knowledge of ancient Egyptian religion, you'll probably recognize that monotheism was not their jam, and if they WERE going to focus more on one god than others, Aten is not the name that pops up. The "chief god" more or less was Ra/Amun Ra. The Aten was not even a person like the other gods were, with the more standard humanish body and animal head. The Aten was the sun disk- like, the actual sun that you saw in the sky every day. So he changed his name to Akhenaten, or "successful for/ of great use to the Aten."
He didn't just change his name and religion, either. He built an entirely new city in the middle of the heckin desert, far away from the traditional capitals of either Mephis (called Inebu-hedj by Egyptians) or Thebes (Called "Waset" by Egyptians, modern Luxor). He named it Akhetaten, translated "Horizen of the Aten", and it is generally referred to as Amarna, Tell- el Amarna, or El-Amarna today. It was only lived in during and briefly after this reign, and a good deal of it was straight up destroyed by later pharaohs, to better erase this nonsense from posterity.
It wasn't so much the choosing one god to be the most powerful that was so distasteful to his successors, it was the effort to destroy the worship of every other god in the process. There's evidence that the Aten did exist as a deity before this, but as a minor one and certainly not the only one the Pharaoh worshiped. The efforts against the worship of other gods was especially egregious in the case of Amun Ra, who was not only highly regarded but also had the richest priesthood, the revenue from which was suddenly taken for the Aten.
There are a lot of really interesting theories for why Akhenhaten did this. There is the very basic idea that perhaps he truly believed this was the Way To Go. He himself became the main priest of Aten, he wrote poetry and in some cases appeared to be genuinely devout. It's hard to know for certain the inner workings of the Pharaoh's mind, and one would expect he'd have to be truly committed to this idea if he was willing to dismantle thousands of years of Egyptian tradition.
Alternatively, as is unfortunately too common when rulers claim religious fervor, it was a power grab. The Amun temples were extremely rich. In this new religion, Akhenaten, and his queen Nefertiti, and possibly his daughters, were elevated to deities as well; pharaohs usually were considered somewhat divine, but this was different. This brought almost all power- political, economic, spiritual- to the throne of Egypt.
Akhenaten might also have wanted to just make his mark. This was something that no pharaoh had ever done before, and he may have wanted to prove that he was a pharaoh to be reckoned with, and to be remembered. Akehnaten was not the first in line for the Egyptian crown, but his elder brother who died earlier in his father's reign. Perhaps he wanted to prove that he was not merely the backup, but the one who was destined to rule all along.
All of this is speculation, and one or all of these theories could be all or part of the real reason. It's possible we'll never know for sure. The pharaohs that came after were really hoping we wouldn't know enough to know it happened in the first place. They destroyed monuments with his and Nefertit's face and name, and removed them from official lists of pharaohs. Needless to say, they missed a spot, but not enough to give us all the juicy details we so crave.
Akhenaten focued all of his energy on these changes, and as a result lost much Egypt's imperial power in other regions in the Middle East and Mediterranean. Later pharaohs had to work overtime to rectify what he had let fall by the wayside.
The Art
So, the art from the Amarna period is WEIRD, okay? If you've ever seen a picture of a statue of Akhenaten, you will notice that he DOES NOT look like other pharaohs. While there tend to be some differing details from statues of pharaohs that help Egyptologists differentiate rulers, they all tend to be quite similar. The reason for this was most likely that, like rulers in other regions of the world, the likenesses of them were meant to make them look like their "best selves," which often required a LOT of artistic interpretation. These were for posterity, so they wanted to look hot! They're usually pretty symmetrical and have similar hair and clothing styles, and are portrayed in scenes of power and strength. But look at how this guy is portrayed:
I'll be honest the first thing this all strikes me as is unsettling. He's physically disproportionate in a way that pharaohs just aren't, he has noticeable hips and a paunch stomach. Also, his eyes are just kind of eerie. It's been suggested that these and some other carvings show a combination of male and female features- the wide shoulders and beard of a man, but the curved waist and hips of a woman. One theory as to why he looks like this, is that he wanted to look "otherworldly" to emphasize his non-human/godly nature.
TODAY's topic of discussion, as with the last, is of a historical nature. Unlike the last, I do not have a degree in this historical area so take what I say with a grain of salt. I will say straight out that there are SO MANY theories on this one and I'm mostly just gonna go with the ones I'm most interested in, but please recognize that what I say is not necessarily The Answer to all of the questions about this topic. If you're interested in other parts of the subject or have different opinions, side with different theories, etc., I'd truly love to hear about them! But for now, I wanna tell you about the period of Egyptian history called the Amarna Period.
This period is a pretty popular one- though there are depressingly few really good documentaries on it- but it is still unknown enough for enough people that I personally had no real knowledge or interest in it until a couple of years ago (not that I am a necessarily the best gauge of what is "well-known" or not). It's famous in large part because one of the rulers is one of the most well-known Egyptian women of all time- Nefertiti. It is also famous because the Pharaoh, Akhenaten (previously named Amenhotep IV) took Egyptian religion, art, and the literal capital to a place no other Pharaoh did before or after. I think one of the things that intrigue people the most about all of that is that it was so hated by the pharaohs afterwards, that they tried very very hard to erase it from history entirely. They did not succeed, obviously, but boy did they try.
Oh! These homies are also tangentially related to another figure in Egypt that I am certain you're aware of- Tutankhamen. You know why that is wild to me? Because he was not a very long-lasting or significant pharaoh! Obviously- he's known as a "boy king." He's mostly just famous because his tomb (I have some FEELINGS about theories on his tomb) which was the first one anyone (publicly, not in a grave-robbing capacity) really found intact. You've definitely seen pictures of his tomb in a history text book and I'm sure a solid 75% of you went through at least a brief "Egypt" phase.
 |
| this boi |
If I don't take too much space talking about Amarna, I'll come back to Tut. While we're here, though, I do want to publicly apologize to the kid named Zach in my third grade class who I said that I thought looked like King Tut's mummy. Little 9 year old me could not fathom why that would be offensive to anyone, but I see it now.
ANYWAY. Back to topic. Amarna. Let's jump in.
Akhenaten Be Trippin
Okay, so the Amarna period occurred between 1353 and 1336 BCE, during the 18th Dynasty. It was the first dynasty of the period called the "New Kingdom." I could go into a more general background of the period, and there are a few other really interesting parts of the dynasty that I think are great, but for our purposes I just wanna talk about why this part was so strange and interesting.
Pharaoh Akhenaten was, as mentioned, originally named Amenhotep IV after his father. He changed it when, five years into his reign, he decided the nation's religion was going to focus on one single god- the Aten. Even if you only have a minimal knowledge of ancient Egyptian religion, you'll probably recognize that monotheism was not their jam, and if they WERE going to focus more on one god than others, Aten is not the name that pops up. The "chief god" more or less was Ra/Amun Ra. The Aten was not even a person like the other gods were, with the more standard humanish body and animal head. The Aten was the sun disk- like, the actual sun that you saw in the sky every day. So he changed his name to Akhenaten, or "successful for/ of great use to the Aten."
 |
| chillin with the bois (and the Aten disk) |
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| Some of what exists today. There's something called the Amarna Project that is a semi-constant study/dig of these ruins |
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| mostly just like. flat now. Which is too bad I've read that Aten temples were really interesting and different! Since the deity was the literal sun, they were open air with no roofs! |
It wasn't so much the choosing one god to be the most powerful that was so distasteful to his successors, it was the effort to destroy the worship of every other god in the process. There's evidence that the Aten did exist as a deity before this, but as a minor one and certainly not the only one the Pharaoh worshiped. The efforts against the worship of other gods was especially egregious in the case of Amun Ra, who was not only highly regarded but also had the richest priesthood, the revenue from which was suddenly taken for the Aten.
There are a lot of really interesting theories for why Akhenhaten did this. There is the very basic idea that perhaps he truly believed this was the Way To Go. He himself became the main priest of Aten, he wrote poetry and in some cases appeared to be genuinely devout. It's hard to know for certain the inner workings of the Pharaoh's mind, and one would expect he'd have to be truly committed to this idea if he was willing to dismantle thousands of years of Egyptian tradition.
Alternatively, as is unfortunately too common when rulers claim religious fervor, it was a power grab. The Amun temples were extremely rich. In this new religion, Akhenaten, and his queen Nefertiti, and possibly his daughters, were elevated to deities as well; pharaohs usually were considered somewhat divine, but this was different. This brought almost all power- political, economic, spiritual- to the throne of Egypt.
Akhenaten might also have wanted to just make his mark. This was something that no pharaoh had ever done before, and he may have wanted to prove that he was a pharaoh to be reckoned with, and to be remembered. Akehnaten was not the first in line for the Egyptian crown, but his elder brother who died earlier in his father's reign. Perhaps he wanted to prove that he was not merely the backup, but the one who was destined to rule all along.
All of this is speculation, and one or all of these theories could be all or part of the real reason. It's possible we'll never know for sure. The pharaohs that came after were really hoping we wouldn't know enough to know it happened in the first place. They destroyed monuments with his and Nefertit's face and name, and removed them from official lists of pharaohs. Needless to say, they missed a spot, but not enough to give us all the juicy details we so crave.
Akhenaten focued all of his energy on these changes, and as a result lost much Egypt's imperial power in other regions in the Middle East and Mediterranean. Later pharaohs had to work overtime to rectify what he had let fall by the wayside.
The Art
So, the art from the Amarna period is WEIRD, okay? If you've ever seen a picture of a statue of Akhenaten, you will notice that he DOES NOT look like other pharaohs. While there tend to be some differing details from statues of pharaohs that help Egyptologists differentiate rulers, they all tend to be quite similar. The reason for this was most likely that, like rulers in other regions of the world, the likenesses of them were meant to make them look like their "best selves," which often required a LOT of artistic interpretation. These were for posterity, so they wanted to look hot! They're usually pretty symmetrical and have similar hair and clothing styles, and are portrayed in scenes of power and strength. But look at how this guy is portrayed:
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| hmm |
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| hMM |
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| HMMMM |
Others suggest that Akhenaten was interested in a more realistic representation of the world, and that included the way he was portrayed- even if it pointed out imperfections. And let's be clear, Akhenaten was almost certainly inbred, as that was the way of the Egyptian dynasties- better to keep it in the family and make that a problem for future generations than to potentially give power to any other officials. Is this perhaps a more life-like representation than let's say, Ramses II? I mean maybe?
Obviously it would have been potentially wilder to suddenly jump from traditional Egyptian art to like, realism- baby steps, you know- but to me at least it doesn't strike me as that realistic either. ALSO, the mummy that people are pretty sure is him seems pretty normal feature-wise? We'll get to this but to be fair his mummy is not "normal" for mummies, either. All that being said, I guess we do like to assume Nerfertiti looked just like her bust, so who knows.
In either of these cases, there are scholars that say this was a kind of "art nouveau" type of thing where, like religion, Akhenaten was looking to change the face of art. Or perhaps it's another indicator of wanting to stand out from other pharaohs. Bonus theory- since the city was in a different region (though remote) the artists came from different backgrounds and therefore influenced the stylistic qualities of the art regardless of the pharaoh's whims. Due to the nature of artists at this time and of Akhenaten's power trip, I doubt this is the case, but still something to consider.
OOH! Something else interesting about Amarna art- it includes family scenes! I mentioned most art showed kings in positions of power, but there's also some interesting examples of Akhenaten with Nefertiti in "risque" (for the time) postures and one where they're sitting together playing with their daughters! This does make me think that realism was at least partially a motivator, because these were scenes from life, not just from king stuff and battles.
Okay, so I've already gone on for far longer than blog posts are want to do, so I'm gonna be done for now. I still want to talk about Nefertiti, though, because I'm also really fascinated by her role in this whole thing! So come back tomorrow for that.
In the meantime, here are some resources if you wanna read a little bit more. I definitely pulled a lot of this from stuff I've read before and some documentaries(which are of course to be taken with a grain of salt) so I'm not gonna pretend these encompass everything I've taken my info from. Still, it's nice to have some additional resources:
Obviously it would have been potentially wilder to suddenly jump from traditional Egyptian art to like, realism- baby steps, you know- but to me at least it doesn't strike me as that realistic either. ALSO, the mummy that people are pretty sure is him seems pretty normal feature-wise? We'll get to this but to be fair his mummy is not "normal" for mummies, either. All that being said, I guess we do like to assume Nerfertiti looked just like her bust, so who knows.
In either of these cases, there are scholars that say this was a kind of "art nouveau" type of thing where, like religion, Akhenaten was looking to change the face of art. Or perhaps it's another indicator of wanting to stand out from other pharaohs. Bonus theory- since the city was in a different region (though remote) the artists came from different backgrounds and therefore influenced the stylistic qualities of the art regardless of the pharaoh's whims. Due to the nature of artists at this time and of Akhenaten's power trip, I doubt this is the case, but still something to consider.
OOH! Something else interesting about Amarna art- it includes family scenes! I mentioned most art showed kings in positions of power, but there's also some interesting examples of Akhenaten with Nefertiti in "risque" (for the time) postures and one where they're sitting together playing with their daughters! This does make me think that realism was at least partially a motivator, because these were scenes from life, not just from king stuff and battles.
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| This is something I'll hopefully get to in the future but this is Nefertiti and Akhenaten. For a long time people were like why is AK's face so close to ANOTHER PHARAOH was he intimate with ANOTHER PHARAOH is that a MAN. It's his wife though. Such interesting implications!!!! |
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| Just chillin with the kids! they just look like miniature adult people but that's fine! Of course the Aten is here too, but genuinely it's so interesting that they got a family scene like this done. |
I'll be super honest- I don't know! I feel like clearly something different and interesting was going on here. It's so obviously different from other rulers' statues, and all these theories are great and fun to talk about, but as with why AK went off the deep end in the first place, I don't know how much we can assume about why. To be fair, I am neither an Egyptologist, nor an art historian, so who's to say. I do know that of all Egyptian pharaoh statues I've seen, Akhenaten's by far freaks me out the most.
CONCLUSION (for now you can't shut me up that easily)
I don't know how well I've conveyed that this is SO INTERESTING but like. It's WILD my dudes! This was not normal Pharaoh behavior!! He was ROCKING THE BOAT BIG TIME. And we can theorize out the wazoo why that all was but most likely we'll just never know because his successors were NOT ON BOARD and so they reverted things to how it was before, and destroyed the vast majority of what we'd otherwise use to learn more about this period.
The Pharaoh Horemheb was ESPECIALLY salty about the situation, it seems. He razed Amarna, destroyed monuments of Akhenhaten, as well as overwrote his name on the monuments of intermediate pharaohs Smenkhare, Ay, and Tutankhamen, and used the rubble from them to make his own monuments. He then dated his reign from the death of Amenhotep III.
Whoever buried Ahekhaten ALSO seemed to have beef cuz the mummy we have that we think is him? Is not a mummy, it is a skeleton. No soft tissues to be seen, just some bones, and I've read that when first found, even that was also just not in great condition.
I think I'm most fascinated by the fact that like, this man thought he was changing the world somehow, he put so much effort and time and money into it, he changed the religion, the art, he built a whole city in the middle of the desert. But despite all of that, whether good or bad, he was systematically erased from the list of pharaohs, with the intent that we'd never know his name or what he'd done. When he is referred to, he's called the "Heretic Pharaoh." There's just A LOT TO UNPACK THERE.
Okay, so I've already gone on for far longer than blog posts are want to do, so I'm gonna be done for now. I still want to talk about Nefertiti, though, because I'm also really fascinated by her role in this whole thing! So come back tomorrow for that.
In the meantime, here are some resources if you wanna read a little bit more. I definitely pulled a lot of this from stuff I've read before and some documentaries(which are of course to be taken with a grain of salt) so I'm not gonna pretend these encompass everything I've taken my info from. Still, it's nice to have some additional resources:
That's all for now, be back soon!
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