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Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet

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Nicholas Reeves' latest book, Akhenaten is a convincing re-assessment of the 17 year reign of Egypt's heretic king. Drawing on recent discoveries and the re-examination of previous finds, to shed more light on this most controversial period of Egyptian history. Especially convincing were his arguments on the true identity of the mummy found in KV55, and the evidence pointing to Akhenaten's co-regency with Queen Nefertiti as Smenkhare. What I did find distressing and curious was Mr. Reeves' obvious distaste and criticism for Queen/King Hatshepsut. I do still recommend this book highly. An important work on a very important time in history.

In my view, Nicholas Reeves delivers a long needed reappraisal of Akhenaten's reign by arguing that most interpretations of this controversial Pharaoh--as a benevolent ruler who merely believed in the existence of One God are totally at odds with the surviving facts from his reign. Although Reeves' book is devoted to the monarch, Akhenaten does not take centre stage until the beginning of Chapter 4(p.75) when he accedes to the throne. In the previous chapters, Reeves meticulously lays out the rise of the New Kingdom Empire, the discovery of El-Amarna and the tremendous wealth that Egypt enjoyed under the prosperous 38 year reign of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father.

Reeves argues, compellingly that rather than being a devout Monotheist (someone who believes in the existence of one God--the Aten here), Akhenaten used his Religious revolution to cynically concentrate power in his hands--at the expense of more traditional political structures of Ancient Egypt such as the Amun Priesthood. The Amun priests were denied access to the considerable wealth of the Amun temples which had boosted the Egyptian economy after they had defied Akhenaten's wishes in his 4th Year. The wealth was instead conveniently diverted into the Treasury of the Egyptian state, ie. Akhenaten. Soon after, Reeves notes that Akhenaten unleashed a Wave of Terror against anything remotely concerning the old religious order--between his Year 8 and Year 12--as his agents actively destroyed non-Atenist religious statues and hacked out the names and images of these gods wherever they occured--on Temple Walls, Obelisks, Shrines and even on the accessible portions of Tombs. (pp.154-55) Rather than being a king who wished to reform the traditional Amun Priesthood or curb its power as Akhenaten's father had begun to do in the final years of his reign by paying more attention to the temples and shrines of other divinities such as Monthu, Re and Ptah, Akhenaten wished to create a New Order--his order.

The author observes that the scale of the anti-Amun persecutions were so terrifying that mass paranoia reigned throughout Egypt. Archaeological discoveries at Akhetaten show that many ordinary residents of this city chose to gouge or chisel out all references to the god Amun on even minor personal items that they owned--like commemorative scarabs or make-up pots--perhaps for fear of being accused of having Amunist sympathies. References to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father, were partly erased since they contained the traditional Amun form of his name. As the author aptly concludes: "Such displays of frightening self-censorship and toadying loyalty are ominous indicators of the paranoia which was beginning to grip the country. Not only were the streets [of Akhetaten] filled with the pharaoh's soldiers...; it seems the population now had to contend with the danger of malicious informers." (pp.154-55) In the end, Akhenaten's revolution collapsed from within after his death since the enormous costs of founding a new capital city at Akhetaten in modern day El-Amarna and the closing of the Amun temples choked off the growth of the Egyptian economy. A byproduct of Akhenaten's centralisation tendencies was the appearance of massive corruption among the king's state officials who held unprecedented control over all the wealth and produce of Egypt. Later Egyptians rejected Akhenaten's unhappy reign by systematically dismantling all his monuments, denouncing him as "that criminal from Akhetaten" (see 'The Inscription of Mes' dating to Ramses II) and abandoning Akhetaten, the seat of Akhenaten's religious Revolution, to the Desert.

On other matters, Reeves decisively rejects the view of a long 12 year coregency between Akhenaten and his father, Amenhotep III in favour of a shorter period of only one year. Reeves notes the clear evidence of docket EA 27--on a diplomatic letter written to Akhenaten--which is dated to the latter's Year 2 plus the evidence from Amenhotep III's own tomb, in which this king's name is always represented in his traditional prenomen/nomen form of Nebmaatre Amenhotep, rather than the later Akhenaten inspired "Nebmaatre Nebmaatre" which omitted any reference to his father's Amun-affiliated birth name. (pp.75-78) Regarding the mysterious Dahamanzu who corresponded with Suppiluliuma of Hatti, the author argues that this Queen could only be Nefertiti, rather than Ankhesenamun, as is traditionally believed. Reeves notes that the approximate time of the first correspondence by this newly widowed Queen occured late in the Autumn Season (ie: September/October)--a time which Hittite records show that Suppiluliuma I was beseiging the city of Carchemish. This corresponds perfectly with the known time of Akhenaten's death when the bottling of Wine from his Royal vinery was taking place. One of his Year 17 wine dockets was even been changed into Year 1 of Akhenaten's successor (cf. CAH)--which proves that Akhenaten had died during this process--to reflect this political change. Tutankhamun, by contrast, clearly died late in the Winter Season (December or early January) as the presence of the Blue Lotus flower in his tomb--which only blossoms in late February and early March--proves when one takes into account the traditional 70 day mummification process. The existence of a diplomatic letter, EA 170, found in El-Amarna from one of Akhenaten's Canaanite vassals which makes reference to a Hittite attack on the city of Amki is undoubtedly the same one which Hittite Annals record as being in progress at the time of Dahamanzu's first correspondence. (pp.172-77) In contrast, Tutankhamun had abandoned Akhetaten (El-Amarna) for Thebes at least 7 or 8 years prior to his death in his Year 10--a fact which removes the case for identifying Dahamanzu with Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun's Queen.

However, Reeves' suggestion in his book that Neferneferuaten was the same person as the male king Smenkhkare must now be rejected based on new evidence collated in 2004 which demonstrates that the former was a woman. (cf. Dodson & Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004, p.285, note 111)

Reeves' excellent prose and penetrating insight into the disastrous situation that Egypt was facing under Akhenaten's crisis filled reign shows the tremendous value of this masterful work. I consider it a must read on Akhenaten's tumultous 17 year reign and its terrible aftermath which left behind a weak and chastened Egypt bereft of her imperial possessions in Syria (which had now been lost to the Hittites), and struggling to recover her confidence and belief in the divine kingship of Pharaoh. It took 3 different Pharaohs--Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb--to fix the mess that Akhenaten left behind. The sole regret which I have with this work is its relative brevity--at 194 pages--before you reach the Bibliography and Index sections. But this does not detract from its great value and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to the general reader.

This book is the best book-length treatment of the Heretic King since Aldred's famous "Akhenaten: King of Egypt" (1988), and of course, it is more up-to-date. Beautifully illustrated, scholarly but eminently readable. The author's grasp of most of the complex and controversial issues surrounding the Amarna period is on the money. He develops the equation of Queen Nefertiti with King Smenkhkare in a way that is the most convincing yet (although I must still disagree with that theory, I confess). For sheer reading pleasure, I must say it is on a par with Mme Desroches-Noblecourt's "Tutankhamen" (1963). There's a surprise on almost every page for even the seasoned Amarnaphile (Who else could tell you that Hitler was a great admirer of the "Aryan" bust of Queen Nefertiti?). In summary, this book is easily without peer on all counts and, in fact, is the best thing the author has written to date.

The subject of Reeves' book is Akhenaten; a Pharoah who attempted to remake Egyptian society from country where a host of gods and idols were worshipped to a monothiestic society which recognized only one god: the Aten, or sun disc.

Reeves looks further back than most other authors for the origins of the Aten cult, seeing not just the trend of a priesthood that was becoming more and more politically powerful but also in other events during the 17th and 18th Dynasties which might have effected Akenaten's thinking. Reeves also discusses archeological proof as he tells the story (as it is known) and writes about different theories to explain this or that. Reeves does NOT fall into the trap of discussing the Aten cult as predecessor or influence on Judaism, which has become fashionable as of late. Overall, a good book.

I have read several books on Akhenaten and this one is by far the best. An up-to-date title that is accessable even to the non-expert. Reeves puts forth the most plausible explanation for the identity of the ephemeral Smenkhkare, and the occupant of KV55. And most important of all, the REAL motive behind Akhenaten's new religion. This book will make you reconsider everything learned in Aldred's and Redford's books.

If you've read one Akhenaten title you've basically read them all. As with the countless versions which have preceeded Mr. Reeves treatment of the socalled False Prophet, the author reproduces and supports many of the curious claims surrounding the Amarna periods infamous ruler. One area the author appears to make headway is in identifying Amenophis III with the Aten. In detailing Amenophis III and his adoption of the Aten personna as his "deified physical manifestation", Mr. Reeves appears to defend Akhenaten from the status of "False prophet", but he quickly backpeddles and returns to the normal persecution completely ignoring his own statements.

So was Akhenaten a mad religious zealot or merely a devoted son expressing loyalty and love for his departed father? Was Akhetaten a new capitol city or simply the grandest form of tribute to the man whom truly gave him life? If Akhetaten was indeed the capitol city as is claimed then it appears that the new Pharoah was more of a visionary than many of his predecessors as the location of this new city was a centralized location. Halfway between the old capitols of southern and northern Egypt "as Mr. Reeves points out". This would serve to unify the country and make the Pharoah and his court more accessible to the population and not isolate them as is claimed in this book. Another curious and unverified claim adopted by the author from previous sources is the decline of the Egyptian empire under Akhenaten. As I have said this is an often repeated claim which is never verified. None of the authors who preach of the Egyptian empires decline under Akhenaten ever present verifiable facts to support their claim and Mr. Reeves is no differnt.

Most desturbing is the introduction of often repeated claims of incest on behalf of Akhenaten, again I would ask where except in the mind of the author is the proof of this? What Mr. Reeves does is introduce some very interesting ideals only to shrink back into long excepted ideals and accusations. I can only speculate as to the reason for Egyptology's deep animosity toward Akhenaten as he is befar the most reviled figure in Egypt's history. The hatred expressed for the man and his ideals by those who study him from a distance seperated by thousands of years is almost always skewed in the most vile manner. The use of bricks and usurption of temples constructed by Akhenaten by later rulers is helf up as proof of the hatred the man engendered with his ideals. Yet it is completely ignored that Ramesses "the offending Pharoah" did the same to his own father's constructions. So was Akhenaten anymore hated than any of his predecessors by his own or he simply viewed as a threat by outsiders struggling to make sense of a history long ago written?

If you are remotely interested in the reign of Akhenaten, which most of us interested in Egyptology are, you can find enough different depictions of the man to leave you thoroughly confused. Was he a pragmatic politician out to break the power of the Amun priesthood (Aldred)? A megalomaniac who enjoyed watching his people broil in the noon-day sun (Redford)? A predecessor of Moses seeking truth in monotheism (Hornung and Lorton)? The deranged gay lover of his brother Smenkhkare (Allen Drury?) Or something else? Where Reeves sticks to the generally-agreed facts provided by recent research, he produces a good and very readable book on the Amarna period. But his own theories, many of them still controversial among Egyptologists (that Smenkhkhare was really another name for Nefertiti, that the late 18th Dynasty were a homicidally dysfunctional family in which Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamen were all murdered in succession, that the skeleton found in a disordered tomb near Tutankhamen's is actually that of Akhenaten, and that the woman's mummy found in a side room of the tomb of Amenhotep II is Nefertiti) keep getting in the way of the facts. In order to get a really thorough view of Akhenaten, I recommend reading all of the above treatments (well, maybe not Drury, since it is admittedly a novel), which will show you not the whole truth about Akhenaten, but how much we DON'T know about him after over a century of research.

If you are fascinated with ancient Egypt, do not miss this non-fiction book about Pharaoh Akhenaten,which reads like a well-written novel. The mysterious Pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to introduce one god, Aten, and overthrow the all the other gods, and became known as the "great heretic" is one of the most interesting and debated historical figures of all time. It is beautifully illustrated with photographs. It also has an early section that summarizes the history of the period up to that point, and it continues on to the reign of his son Tutankhamun. Worth the photographs alone, but well written, not dry.

Akhenaten has to be one of the most fascinating characters in Egyptian history and the deliberate destruction of much the documentation of his historical legacy by subsequent Pharaohs often leaves the Amarna period open to the wildest of speculations. Nicholas Reeves presents a wealth of information in this book, often including many quotes from original sources and photos of original art work so that the readers can judge some of his conclusions for themselves.

The book is carefully researched and the general argument that Akhenaten used his religious beliefs to legitimate his power is well supported by the evidence quoted. This does not of course preclude the notion that Akhenaten was sincere in his beliefs and Reeves does not suggest this. In fact it seems far from illogical that a ruler of ancient Egypt could have believed he was the son of god.

Many of the conundrums of Amarna history are argued in a very balanced way in the book. Reeves effectively debunks the theories that Akhenaten was homosexual or that his appearance in statuary was due to Froehlich's syndrome. He provides interesting evidence in relation to suggestions that Akhenaten may or may not have suffered from Marfan's syndrome and that Nerfertiti may or may not have been promoted to the status of co-regent. At times, however, Reeves takes fairly extreme positions based on somewhat flimsy evidence. He claims that Akhenaten's 'dictatorial rule' led Egypt to the 'brink of disaster', that Akhenaten's rule involved 'wanton destruction' and 'deliberate neglect'. He describes the later years of Amarna as a 'terror' and suggests that Pharaoh's lover Kiya had an evil personality and may have been pulling strings behind the scene. These extreme positions are supported with arguments based on evidence where the author and purpose of the documents quoted is often ignored. One document marshalled in favor of the sorry state Egypt had descended into was written by a priest of Amun, who would obviously have had a significantly biased agenda.

Overall though, the book is extremely readable and paints a fascinating picture of power politics in Egypt, where priests, generals and the Pharoah himself vie for power and influence in a manner so typical of politics throughout the history of mankind that it certainly rings true.

at first i did not know if i was going to like it but further along i went the better the book got