God Aton | Aten God of Egypt
The Egyptian gods
Ancient Egyptians knew the principle of multilateralism from the worship of natural phenomena to the sanctification of ideas and symbols like most ancient human societies at the time. Each God had a certain power stemming from the strength of the group he believed in. Many powerful gods emerged on the stage of ancient Egyptian history. From the sun god "Ra" and the God "Amon" to the God "Aton", the power of the God comes from the power of the group believing in that God.
Upon the advent of Amnovs IV to the Egyptian throne, the priests of God Amon had made him the official God of the whole State and its new geographical borders (Military expansion has reached its maximum) which has brought more resources to Egypt (The tribute), which mostly went to the temple's treasury, increased their economic influence after the tyranny of their political influence, and this influence and power was reflected in the God Amon because of the strength of his followers as well as the Amnovs who wanted to scale their power, influence and activities. He called for his doctrine of renouncing the principle of the multiplicity of God and the worship of the one God, the worship of the sun God "Aton".
Despite the reasons for "Amnovs IV - Akhnatun" (1367 - 1350. M.L.) to declare his religious invitation, but it was the first call for unification in ancient Egypt to abolish the manifestation of multiple gods and to acknowledge the existence of one God and no other God, the God "Come the Great Neighborhood" - that is, the sun disk - and rejoicing in his illuminated mountain in his name. (Shaw) who is the name of Aton, and whose faith is based on the worship of the Sun itself, whose radiation extends in the form of hands, gives the King her living son on Earth "millions of lives in it" and through him to the whole world.
So the new God was not called any God of the ancient Sun and it was not called the "Sun" but the "Atten" -- the Sun Disk -- and it was not used in the names of the ancient gods. But the worship of the Sun was known to the Egyptians from the very age and if it arose with other names, manifestations and images by the establishment of local gods that took centre stage as evidence that the deity "Amun" even when it reaches the top of its glory is coupled with the Sun as "Amun _ Ra", another manifestation of the Sun God.
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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