Cambridge, continued

Chapter XIX
Egypt: the Amarna Period and the end of the 18th Dynasty

Neferkheprure Amenhotpe (Amenophis IV) , aka Akhenaten, Pharoah following Amenhotpe III. Queen: Nefertiti (1379-1362 B.C.), daughter of Ay.

He – possibly as co-regent with his father – helped launch the “Amarna Revolution,” distinctive mainly for a peculiar effort at monotheism. (Falcon symbol replaced by a shepherd’s crook. El-Amarna became his capital.

Not entirely a new thing under the sun; the king and his priest were intermediaries between the sun-god and man, recalling the high status of the earliest pharaohs.
But his concentration of bureaucratic power led to corruption and problems.

El-Amarna: a new place unclaimed by any god. An instant capital; building details are extant on a cliff-side stelae. He called it Akhetaten.

Went on an iconoclastic rampage against other gods. Died in his 18th regnal year.
Smenkhkare, Ankkheprure (aka Neferneferuaten) appears to have ruled with or just after Akhenaten. His paternity is unclear. He did not live long. (His name appears on a stelae fragment now in London.) He was succeeded by the boy-king Tutankhaten
(1361-1352.) His decayed mummy was moved to Thebes and rediscovered in modern times. He died at 20 years old.

Tut. was only nine years old upon his ascension. He soon left Amarna for Memphis.
At the suggestion of Ay, his vizier [not the same as the Ay noted above?], all the revolutionary policies of Akhenaten were reversed.

His reign was also short, maybe nine years. He died in his 19th year, possibly of a head wound. He had no children living to succeed him. The 18th Dynasty, the family of Amosis, ended with him.

The vizier Ay became the next pharaoh. (He is referred to by Josephus as Harmais. (1358-1348.)

Ay also died without issue; succeeded by the Great Commander of the Army, Horemheb (1348-1320).

Both Ay and Horemheb are visible to us in carvings.

Foreign Affairs: Control over Syria slipped by the time of Akhenaten, was replaced by that of the Hittites.

Religion: A move to incorporate Re, the sun god, into the center of religious thought. Re becomes the sole god, of whom other gods are avatars.

Akhenaten’s change was to focus on Aten, an aspect of Re, and ignore all the other gods completely.