Aten 47465 225318480 2008-07-13T01:52:51Z 91.106.108.161 {{Refimprove|date=November 2007}} :''Alternative use: the [[Aten asteroid]]s, named after [[2062 Aten]]'' {{Hiero|Aten|<hiero>i-t:n-N5</hiero><ref>Hieroglyphs can be found in (Collier and Manley p. 29)</ref>|align=right|era=Egypt}} {{Template:Ancient Egyptian religion}} '''Aten''' (or Aton) was the disk of the [[sun]] in ancient [[Egyptian mythology]], and originally an aspect of [[Ra]]. He became the deity of the [[monotheism|monotheistic]] — in fact, [[monism|monistic]] — [[religion]] of [[Amenhotep IV]], who took the name [[Akhenaten]]. The worship of Aten seems to have ceased shortly after Akhenaten's death. ==Overview== [[Image:Aten_disk.jpg|325px|thumb|Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] and his family adoring the Aten]] [[Image:Aten.svg|325px|thumb|Aten]] ''Aten'' was the life-giving force of light. The full title of Akhenaten's god was ''The Rahorus who rejoices in the horizon, in his/her Name of the Light which is seen in the sun disc''. (This is the title of the god as it appears on the numerous [[stelae]] which were placed to mark the boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at [[Amarna]], or "Akhetaten.") This lengthy name was often shortened to ''Ra-Horus-Aten'' or just ''Aten'' in many texts, but the god of Akhenaten raised to supremacy is considered a [[Syncretism|synthesis]] of very ancient gods viewed in a new and different way. Both [[Ra]] and [[Horus]] characteristics are part of the god, but the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god. In particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic (human) form, but as rays of light extending from the sun's disk. Furthermore, the god's name came to be written within a [[cartouche]], along with the titles normally given to a [[Pharaoh]], another break with ancient tradition. The Aten, the sun-disk, first appears in texts dating to the [[Twelfth dynasty of Egypt|12th dynasty]], in [[The Story of Sinuhe]], where the deceased king is described as rising as god to the heavens and uniting ''with the sun-disk, the divine body merging with its maker''.<ref>[[M. Lichtheim]], ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'', Vol.1, 1980, p.223</ref> Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as ''Ra-Herakhty'' (''Ra, who is Horus of the two horizons''), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the [[Amarna]] period, this synthesis was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually. The real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, above all [[Amun]], and the introduction of [[monotheism]] by Akhenaten.<ref>Jan Assmann, ''Religion and Cultural Memory: Ten Studies'', Stanford University Press 2005, p.59</ref> The syncretism is readily apparent in the [[Great Hymn to the Aten]] in which Re-Herakhty, [[Shu]] and Aten are merged into the creator god.<ref>M. Lichtheim, ''Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.2, 1980, p.96</ref> Others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten [[monolatry]].<ref>Dominic Montserrat, ''Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt'', Routledge 2000, ISBN 0415185491, pp.36ff.</ref> ==Royal Titulary== During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a Royal Titulary (as he was considered to be king of all), with his names drawn in a [[cartouche]]. There were two forms of this title, the first had the names of other gods, and the second later one which was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself. The early form has [[Re-Horakhti]] who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name [[shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]] which is the Aten. The later form has Re, ruler of the two horizons who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name of light which is the Aten. [[Image:Small_aten_temple.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Small Temple of the Aten at Akhetaten]] ===Variant Vocalizations=== The name as been vocalized as Aton, Atonu, Itni, Itn, and Adon. <ref> ''Oedipus and Akhnaton'', by I. Velikovsky </ref> ===Variant Translations=== *Because high relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a curved surface (see for example the photograph illustrating this article), the late scholar [[Hugh Nibley]] insisted that a more correct translation would be globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk. The three-dimensional spherical shape of the Aten is even more evident when such reliefs are viewed in person, rather than merely in photographs. *There is a possibility that Aten's three-dimensional spherical shape depicts an eye. In the other early monotheistic religion [[Zoroastrianism]] the sun is called [[Ahura Mazda]]'s eye. *These two theories are compatible with each other, since an eye is an orb. ===Names from the Aten=== *[[Akhenaton]]: "Effective spirit of the Aten." *[[Akhetaten]]: "Horizon of the Aten," Akhenaton's capital. The archaeological site is known as [[Amarna]] or [[Tell el-Amarna]]. *[[Meriaton]]: "Beloved of the Aten." *[[Tutankhaton]]: "The Aten is the Life of Toth." Original name of [[Tutankhamon]]. ==See also== {{Wikisource|Great Hymn to Aten}} *[[Moses]] *[[Atenism]] *[[Great Hymn to the Aten]] *[[Kefa]] *[[Makhshava]] *[[Shiblon]] *[[Amun]] *[[Pharaoh of the Exodus]] == References == ;Citations <references /> ;General *Collier, Mark and Manley, Bill. ''How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: 2nd Edition''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. {{Ancient Egypt topics}} [[Category:Atenism]] [[Category:Egyptian gods]] [[Category:Names of God]] [[Category:Solar gods]] [[als:Aton]] [[ar:آتون]] [[bn:আতেন]] [[bg:Атон (бог)]] [[ca:Aten]] [[da:Aton (gud)]] [[de:Aton]] [[et:Aton]] [[el:Ατέν]] [[es:Atón]] [[eo:Atono]] [[eu:Aton]] [[fr:Aton]] [[gl:Atón]] [[hi:अतेन]] [[it:Aton]] [[ka:ატონი]] [[lt:Atonas]] [[hu:Aton]] [[mk:Атон]] [[nl:Aton]] [[ja:アテン]] [[no:Aton]] [[oc:Aton]] [[pl:Aton]] [[pt:Aton]] [[ru:Атон]] [[scn:Aton]] [[simple:Aten]] [[sk:Aton]] [[sl:Aton]] [[sh:Aton]] [[fi:Aton]] [[sv:Aton]] [[tl:Aten]] [[th:เทพอาเตน]] [[tr:Aten]] [[uk:Атон]] [[zh:阿頓]]