Atenism - History of The Aten Before Akhenaten

History of The Aten Before Akhenaten

The Aten—the god of Atenism—first appears in texts dating to the 12th dynasty, in the Story of Sinuhe. Here during the Middle Kingdom, the Aten "as the sun disk...was merely one aspect of the sun god Re." The Aten, hence, was a relatively obscure sun god; without the Atenist period, it would barely have figured in Egyptian history. Although there are indications that the Aten was becoming slightly more important in the eighteenth dynasty period—notably Amenhotep III's naming of his royal barge as Spirit of the Aten—it was Amenhotep IV who introduced the Atenist revolution, in a series of steps culminating in the official installment of the Aten as Egypt's sole god. Although each line of kings prior to the reign of Akhenaten

had previously adopted one deity as royal patron and supreme state god, there had never been an attempt to exclude other deities, and the multitude of gods had been tolerated and worshipped at all times. . . . the reign of Thutmosis IV it was identified as a distinct solar god, and his son Amenhotep III established and promoted a separate cult for the Aten. There is no evidence that he (ie. Amenhotep III) neglected the other gods or attempted to promote the Aten as an exclusive deity.