Atenism, Ancient Egyptian Monotheistic Religion
Atenism reigned as a prominent religion in Ancient Egypt for 20 years, becoming its official faith for 11 of those years. The religion differed markedly from the polytheistic beliefs that permeated Egypt, leading scholars to ruminate on the rationale behind its development. Perhaps more intriguing, its founding over 3,000 years ago curiously aligns with the period religious scholars believe Moses lived, a prophet credited with establishing formal Jewish law.
Atenism revolves around the worship of the god Aten (“sun disc”), a deity previously identified as one aspect of the sun god Ra. Pharaoh Amenhotep IV’s rise to power in 1350 BC marked the beginning of the Atenism revolution. Amenhotep IV — who later changed his name to Akhenaten, “Spirit of Aten” — not only made Aten the supreme god, but eventually declared that Aten was the only god.
Beyond explicitly changing a polytheistic society to a monotheistic one and stamping out cults to various other gods, Akhenaten undermined the priesthood. He stripped them of their cultural, political, and economic power. At the same time, Akhenaten refocused the broader worship of Egyptians to himself, claiming that only the Pharaoh (and possibly Queen Nefertiti) could worship Aten directly. Everyone else had to worship through him. Eventually, Akhenaten’s reign came to an end, along with Atenism’s (forced) prominence, and the old cults began to spring up.
I find it fascinating that the development of Atenism possibly occurred in the same century and region as the establishment of another monotheistic belief system: Judaism. The sudden, radical shift in religious practices engendered by Moses and Akhenaten has led to wild speculation, including the idea that the two individuals were the same person. Egyptologist Ramy Romany maintains that a hieroglyph in Akhenaten’s tomb displays the late Pharaoh holding up two tablets to the sky, inscribed with a phrase: “the word of god.” If true, that depiction parallels Moses’s story: he received two stone tablets (inscribed by god) with the ten commandments. What do you think?
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