Akhenaten's Solar Theology of Light

Akhenaten's Solar Theology of Light

The solar theology of the light of Aten became the single and highest element in the creation of the universe. This great change changed his name to Akhenaten established a theistic religion and founded a new capital. The relationship during the interlude of theism Amarna The Amarna theologians were able to break away from the original doctrines. The rituals of the god Shu and Tefnut the creator god Atum were abolished. The new capital Amarna originally named Akhenaten was an ancient city in Egypt built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the 18th dynasty. The cultural and artistic changes of the time for the worship of the single god Aten. The cult of Osiris in the solar path to the integration of the Amarna style into the worship of the sun god as the solar disk that gave birth to life at the center of the pharaoh.

The "constellations" of the original universe originated on the breath of Atum of Shu from the darkness of Nun. The solar light of Aten became the single and highest element in the creation of the universe. After the death of Akhenaten who will be the victor of the afterlife every day. To replace the cosmology of the breath of Atum, the priests of Akhenaten in this new belief the creator of the world was the solar disk Aten. The light was also the figure that encircled him. Identifying light as shadow using phonetic and symbolic similarity between the spellings. From the word "divine shadow" Akhenaten came to represent the god of the dead in a sense. The cult of Osiris was largely neglected during Akhenaten's Amarna, since as a pharaoh the responsibility was transferred to a complete figure of the Amarna period little known during the transition to the cult of Osiris. The situation of Osiris in the solar path to the fusion of the Amarna style into the post-Amarna cult and from the objects found on the mummy of Tutankhamun describes the cult of Osiris in the post-Amarna period under Tutankhamun himself until it was reestablished until the time of Ramses.

Aten Amarna, Tomb of Akhenaten

The tomb of Pharaoh Akhenaten in the cliffs east of El Amarna

Creating natural life and supporting the universe creating natural life almost identical to the spelling of "light" Sw the solar light of the physical body of Atum led to the transformation into the solar doctrine of Amarna. The spelling of the visible word for the light Sw of Aten is similar to the spelling of Shu and Sw of the teaching of the solar breath of Atum, giving rise to the same meaning. This linguistic and symbolic meaning allows to replace the natural meaning with light.

The concept of the afterlife in the Amarna period especially impersonal and undefined arose in the naturalistic cosmological philosophy, within the framework of time-centered in the existing and visible. The Aten is the only "existent" or "permanent" of the Egyptian gods the divine beauty as it corresponds to the old Osirian ritual which has a new meaning and is transformed into the sun as confirmed in the "Osiríaca". During the New Kingdom the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is called the sacred complex of the Amarna temple limited by the foundation stone platform is also a sacred temple. The small temple of the Aten at Amarna has an east-west sun orientation similar to the orientation of the Temple of Opet at Karnak.

el Amarna / Ruins of Akhetaten, Tell el-Amarna, ruins of the Great Temple of the Aten

The Amarna called “Osiriacus” a symbol deliberately created in contrast to the traditional mortuary image of Osiris is a nocturnal image of the ritual festival of the Hager of Abydos. Furthermore the image of Osiris made sun-born as Re and reborn on the eighth day of the month of Hager gives the terrestrial universe a “solidity”. All the hidden life manifestations of traditional solar cosmology the Amarna use of the Aten and the radiant Osiris are also assigned to Ra the sun god in tune with Osiris in line with the similar Aten as the “holder” and “determiner” of the terrestrial universe. Akhenaten is associated with the transformation of the pharaoh and is the sole mediator of the world.