Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Akhenaton The Pharaoh That Egyptians Tried To Forget

The Pharaoh Akhenaton, does not stand in good relation to the Pharaohs before or immediately after him. He was different and during his reign he changed the very thing that was important for Egyptians, their idea of spirituality and God or at least the illusive force they adored but could not see. The act to make this force tangible would later cost him his historic place in Egyptian history but would also put him on a podium of his own.

As the son and ruler after Amenhotep III, he led the Egyptians from 1358 until 1340 and in addition to this married the stunning Nefertiti, a woman whose profile is imprinted in our minds because of a bust made by an artist of that time. Akhenaton did not have the familiar facial appearance of the Pharaohs before him and looking at his pointed head you are able to see why alien believers think he may just be their proof that aliens did indeed visit us.

But the human Akhenaton was not only a pharaoh hoping to win wars to establish his authority and find respect from his devotees. Deep inside him this ruler was very religious. Only his thoughts of religion differed from anything Egyptians grew up with. Instead of the many Gods they worshipped, he began to worship one god, Aten and brought him into greater prominence, until Aten ultimately became the primary deity of Egypt. This alone makes this man remarkable because establishing a new religion, one so different to what the people believed in can't have been easy. He spent his reign worshipping his god and composed hymns to honour this deity. He ignored pleas from his outposts pleading for help against invasions, and he seems to absolutely have ignored the signs which clearly showed his idyllic rule were definitely crumbling fast.

Akhenaton ordered all the temples to worship the solar god and forbid the Egyptian people to worship the deities they worshipped in the past. It could not have been easy if you still believed in Amun to observe his holy places defiled. Many of his most trusted followers probably have already started to plan the worshipping of the earlier gods immediately after his death. The reason for Akhenaton 's loss of life is uncertain but just after his death, this next appointed Smenkhkare also died, and then the young Tutankhamen was forced to be the pharaoh.

If Tutankhamen himself or possibly a prominent priest persuaded him to follow the path back to the ancient gods of Egypt is just not certain. However he did and soon the monotheism religion established by Akhenaton ended up being forgotten in Egypt. Akhenaton's tomb has also been found, but there is no evidence to guess that he was ever entombed there. His end is some sort of mystery.

While the Pharaoh Amenhoteph IV might not have been given the recognition he deserves by the generations of Egyptians after him, modern history did. His idea about religion and god makes him stand out from all the other rulers before and after him. In the end Egypt as a nation soon forgot him as his physical legacy was deleted by his own son.

Lee ang is an online writer with an interest in astronomy and ancient cultures.You will find his fiction e-book Ozymandeus online and if you want it you can email him at monkcove@yahoo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Ang



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