Akhenaten
· Heretic????
· DID excommunicate the Priesthood of Re J_
· KV55: no inscriptions. No scenes. Cut for something. 197> Davis> strange things, gold plated wood. Damaged. 4 Canopic jars. Scene of Aki W name of Tye. Skeleton.
· Man: beautiful sarcophagus: skeleton
· NOTE: in video emphasises the MYSTERIOS NATURE: “but this coffin... inside it... a skeleton... a mysterious one”> Zahi Hawass (Director, Supreme Council of Antiquities)
· Wafah El Sediq (Director, Cairo Museum)
o “Prophet”
o Changed many things... 1st...
o She says that Nefertiti was the actual ruler, and that Akhenaten was primarily involved with his religion. SO perhaps it is Nefertiti’s sed festival and SHE is primarily rep. In the statues OR they are represented together. ?????
§ “She was actually the one who was ruling”
§ “Akhenaten devoted himself for his religion, and the actual ruler was Nefertiti”
o “The revolution was... in everything. They have changed the language, the language became very simple because it was to be used also by the people. So they changed the classical language of Ancient Egypt to be a very simple language... The new Egyptian Language... at the same time they changed a lot in the art. The way of showing everything, it was more free.”
o “he considered himself the son of.. the god who created the world.. male and female in one, because he is part of this god he also... he is the same, he is male and female”
· Priesthood had greater power than pharaoh
· Janice Kamrin
o Archaeologist
o Karnak, columns: one of 5 names of Amunhotep 3> hacked away
o
· 5th year go openly, against the Theban priesthood
· Changed name
· Religious changes effected all areas of Egyptian life
o Movie says that “The art was to be a clear message to the people, and the artists were to be it’s messengers.”
§ “the pharaoh invited them to abandon traditional limits and give free reign to their creativity and imagination”
· “Mahmoud Mabouk”
o Art historian
o (translation)“Artistic objects underwent change as well. Human characteristics and feelings were ever greater importance. But the proportions and artistic cannons were no longer similar to those of the past. Akhenaten gave the court sculptors Bek and Tutmose the job and responsibility of artistically changing the proportions, forms and shapes.”
o Tutmose set up a workshop in the area of Tell’ a Amarna, where plastic heads, rough drawings on limestone tablets and unusually proportioned busts of the King have been found. Some of these show the King with a very prominent chin, and others with a much shorter chin.
o “At this point we also see a change in the temples and fresco paintings, and in art in general. Styles become more human, with more refined features. Note the delicacy on the King’s fingers as he touches the sun’s rays during worship. We can almost see the emotions pass through his lips and body as he closes his eyes against the sun’s strong rays. This is what distinguishes Amarna art.”
o “In order to portray the religious concepts contained in Akhenaten’s hymn which declared ‘you are the mother and the father of everything created, and you in your compassion are mother or father’ the answer tends to modify the physical appearance of the statue to represent the sovereign as both maternal and paternal”
o “There was some debate about why these sovereigns, queens and daughter’s heads are portrayed as they are, and although some put it down to physical deformity or illness that probably effected the royal family it was actually part of a whole new art form.”
o “Here we see Akhenaten in front of his deceased daughters body, sad as any father would be. We see the girl’s body... her family crying, pulling at their hair as a sign of great suffering endured for this tragic death. We see Akhenaten holding Nefertiti’s wrist in an attempt to comfort her in the loss of her child. These details are a true revolution in Amarna art”
o “When you go into the Royal tomb at Amarna, there’s not a hint of that (AMDUAT) all you have are images of the sunlight, it’s a daytime... there’s nothing on the walls but the Aten and the King and Queen. ”
· “Art was to reflect the breakaway from the traditions of Egypt”
· The heads are also portrayed in an unusual way
o Large head: represent childhood, purity?
· For the first time the pharaoh was depicted in the intimacy of family life. Most that show are in tomb.!!
· No longer supreme god, but human being. Suffering from d. Death.
· Image from day to day life is fixed in stone, as do the other images on the walls of the tombs.
· Egyptians put tombs to west where the sun sets, North banks of Niles. Amarna tombs are dug out of the mountain to east. TOMB IS MASSIVE!
· Aki tomb compared to Valley of Kings is VERY different.
o NK walls painted W scenes from the book of the dead “Amduat”
o Journey and trials overcome in death.
o Aki sarcophagus guarded by figures if Nefertiti in protective embrace
· Gave orders for Eye’s burial:
· Vizier live in Memphis, bury at SACRA???
o 2007 excavations confirm
o Seal bearer
o Bar reliefs, monkeys eating fruit
· Barry Kemp J
o Archaeologist, director of the Amarna project
o “Whilst Akhenaten was at Amarna his second daughter _______ died. (In annex to main royal tomb) this is a scene of the family grieving over her... In front of her are arranged her family, here is Akhenaten himself.... behind Queen Nefertiti, and beyond three of her sisters; and they are shown in an attitude of extreme grief, they’re in despair. They’re raising their hands in a gesture of mourning and despair, and in a royal tomb this is a unique example of the expression of deep personal feeling. The scene does tell one or more other things about the Amarna period, what happened. Here is the name of Akhenaten.”
o (NOT HIM)“ a dead body had never before been depicted and nor had a Pharaoh in a moment of weakness”
· Amarna letters= know foreign relations. Know that let political tasks slid with concentration on religion.
o 1880’s
o Temples = military, correpsondance = complicated political game (not that effective!)
o Hatti> Hittites
o Ak. B/c weak> require intervention of Queen tye> W arrived Neffertiti disappear> replaced by eldest daughter CHANGE NAME?. 12th year husband
o Nefertiti Nefu Nefru Aten
o Same time = NEW KING appears ruling beside Akhenaten!!!
o Convincing evidence new king= female! And believe Nefertiti
o 3 names recorded in this way
o 1 Aki (not commonist)
o 2 Ankkeprerura (Smenkarae- Nef or a brother) and Nebkeprerura (MOST COMMON) (TUT) > after Ak two corenations
o Nefertiti, unsure where buried: 2 anonomas female mummies of Amenhotep II
On this dvd set J
* just a few things i would like to point out
> Elder Lady is Queen Tyie
> The younger Lady is Akhenaten's sister, and mother of Tutankhamun
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