False prophet or covert Epicurean?

"Akhenaten: Egypt's false prophet" is an immensely tedious, boring and scholarly book, about half of which doesn't even deal with Akhenaten.

Yet, it's immensely controversial. Just read some of the customer reviews at Amazon!

The reason isn't hard to fathom. Akhenaten (who ruled Egypt for about 20 years around 1340 BC) was a heretical pharaoh who attempted to abolish traditional Egyptian religion in favour of something that looks like monotheism. If this interpretation of Akhenaten's agenda is true, his cult of the Aten (the deified light of the sun) could very well be the world's first monotheist religion. Add to this a curiously naturalistic art, an emphasis on the "here and now", and a seeming rejection of a real afterlife, and you almost wonder whether Akhenaten might have been an Epicurean atheist in disguise!

Since Western culture considers monotheism or atheism as more advanced than polytheism, many have seen Akhenaten as something of an ancient hero. His beautiful queen Nefertiti, weird statues showing Akhenaten with a grotesque body, and the heretical pharaoh's family connections to Tutankhamen, have all added to the mystery and speculations. I suspect the general public still see Akhenaten and Nefertiti in a positive light. There are even New Age cults which consider the man as something of a prophet.

But are we to believe Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten was a false prophet...

Reeves argues that Akhenaten simply wanted to centralize all power in Egypt into his own hands. Since the priesthood of Amen (and other polytheist priesthoods) owned vast amounts of land, piled up riches in their temples and hence wielded indirect political influence, Akhenaten decided to attack them by launching a fake "monotheist" cult nominally dedicated to Aten but really centred around himself. Akhenaten was the only person who could interpret the will of Aten, and hence became the sole religious power in Egypt. He then unleashed a reign of terror against the traditional priesthoods, all the while confiscating their property. That the cult of Aten was really a cult of Akhenaten is proven, according to the author, by the imposition of house altars showing the royal family. To further his agenda, Akhenaten had a new capital city, Akhetaten, built on a previously empty spot in the desert, thus isolating himself from the traditional capitals of Memphis and Thebes.

Reeves further claims that Akhenaten attempted to isolate Egypt from the outside world, neglected to keep control of Egypt's foreign vassals in Syria, and experimented with economic autarchy. Together with the terror, this supposedly brought Egypt to the brink of disaster.

Reeves also indulges in some strange speculations himself, including the claim that Akhenaten's male successor Smenkhare was really none other than...Nefertiti assuming a fake male identity! He also claims that the treasonous letter from an Egyptian lady of high standing to the Hittites was written by Nefertiti. And yes, he believes that Tutankhamen was murdered.

Personally, I don't know enough about Akhenaten to form an informed opinion about him. What strikes me as curious are his "Epicurean" tendencies, admitted even by Reeves. Why would an ancient Egyptian pharaoh adopt such? Doesn't this show that Akhenaten's new religion (or philosophy) actually was a real belief on his part, and not simply a manoeuvre? Then he tried to impose it on the superstitious people of Egypt, with disastrous results...

One also wonders how Akhenaten could have ruled Egypt for almost two decades, if he was such an unmitigated disaster? Why didn't somebody stage an uprising? Why wasn't he murdered by his own retinue?

There is something here that doesn't meet the eye...

Be that as it may, I nevertheless recommend "Akhenaten: Egypt's false prophet" and advice everyone to continue pondering the problem of Egypt's most revolutionary pharaoh...