The God Aton
Aton is the God proclaimed by King Akhenaten and considered the sun god the unifying God who has no partner the light of Aten benefits all races, representing Aten in the form of the disk of the sun, with its rays ending in human hands, giving life and prosperity to the royal family, and after the death of Akhenaten, Amun returned again, to his first place, as one of the Egyptian Lords.
Monotheism among the ancient Egyptians
The ancient Egyptians knew monotheism before the call of monotheism adopted by King Akhenaten, but there was always a God controlling the rest of the Gods, The Call for monotheism existed since the era of Thutmose IV and Akhenaten did it. The ancient Egyptians believed in several other gods besides the main ones.
The main Gods are:
An atom in the eye of the Sun (Heliopolis)
Ptah in Memphis
Thoth in the ashmunites
Amon is in Thebes
Horus in Luxor
Khnum in Aswan
I come to Amarna Hill
These were the names of the Great God, the creator of the universe and life. The ancient Egyptians viewed him as one eternal God who had nothing before him and the creator of the gods and everything and the systems of the world, but the ancient Egyptians shared with him and shared with other gods, but the god Aten remained by his ancient names The Elder God of these gods.
Anthems of the Aten
Akhenaten came up with a new idea-hymns to the idol instead of prayers to him, and this is one of his hymns:
Anthem of the Orient
O one who shines the bright with his light
Fill the earth with your beauty
O beautiful, wonderful powers above the Earth
Come, extend your light on the Earth
You are the subterranean apparition
Oh who if you settle in the west of the universe
The world is in a darkness that resembles death
So people are in bed
And if their heads are in a hood
If the morning twilight turns red
The sun has risen in the universe
When the world has become a day
And if the Earth is shaking: and if people wake up
Oh, the one Sunday that there is no other God
I created the Earth at your whim, Sunday one
You have the creation of people, animals, and a bear.
Temples of ATON
The temple of Aten in Tel Amarna, the capital of Akhenaten, and his temple in Karnak, were without a roof, to allow the sun's rays to penetrate inside.
God Aton
During the Amarna period, Aton was the god of infinite generosity, who brought about justice and universal harmony, benefiting all men equally. His existence as a deity dates back to the reign of Thutmose IV, the eighth pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, although it is also believed that his earliest origins lie between the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom. However, throughout the different stages, you can see the exponential development of the cult of Aten, which went from being a solar disc to a deity of great superiority.
Once he assumed power in Egypt, Amenhotep IV showed his dissatisfaction and rejection of the traditional religion of the culture, rooted in monotheistic beliefs. That is why he began a new religious reform in order to strip away all kinds of beliefs and express that only Aten should be the only Egyptian god worthy of devotion. In honour of this, Amenhotep decided to change his name to Akhenaten, which means ‘Faithful Servant of Aten’.
After that, a new type of belief was established, henotheism or monolatry, which represents the recognition of the existence of various deities. However, only one of them is worthy of worship by the faithful devotee.
Amarna mythology
However, the Pharaoh's efforts to worship only Aten were not enough for the Egyptian people to accept them, as the clergy strongly opposed this type of henotheistic worship and rejected the idea of not worshipping other gods. Thus, the will of the imposing Pharaoh was violated after his death.
He is the god who grants life on earth and encourages everything around him, which is why he is considered a solar disc that nourishes life. In the early days of his worship, he was represented as a man with a falcon's head and revered as the god of goodness and infinite justice.
Aten was the god proclaimed by King Akhenaten, who considered the sun disc to be his symbol. Akhenaten thought that Aten was the only god and that all races benefited from his light. To bring life and wealth to the royal family, Aten was symbolized by the sun disc, with its rays terminating in human hands. After Akhenaten's death, Aten returned to his former status as one of the Egyptian gods and was no longer the supreme god and primary deity of the ancient Egyptian state.
It should be noted that contrary to popular belief, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV did not abolish the old theological system. He made changes to it, probably more for political reasons than out of a belief in astral worship, which was too abstract for the Egyptian mindset of the time. However, in order for this reform to be effective, his only option was to impose it by authority. As a result, towards the end of his reign, he banned the worship of the ancient gods and stripped the priests of the cult of the powerful and wealthy Amun of their power. Evidence of this theory can be found in the numerous syncretisms associating Aten with other deities. However, some deities remained, such as Maat and the two goddesses of the crown, Wadjet and Nekhbet.
The fact that rulers made annual sacrifices to the sun cult was already established before Amenhotep IV, who, it is true, elevated it to new heights in a masterful way. The cult of Aten was far from being practiced only in its consecrated city; it was imposed in the sanctuaries of the major gods throughout the country by the creation of a group of preachers of the new religion, charged with spreading the good word throughout Egypt. In Heliopolis, for example, the remains of a monument dedicated to the solar disc have been found, and in Karnak, the spread of the cult of Aten eclipsed the god Amun. However, in the Nile Delta, no inscriptions dedicated to the god Aten have ever been found. This cult was not natural to the Egyptians but imposed, so it had great difficulty establishing itself throughout the territory. What some consider to be the world's first monotheism was more of a henotheism or monolatry that lasted more than 15 years, recognizing the existence of several gods but venerating one in particular, even to the exclusion of the others.
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