Akhenaten And His Family Egyptian Gods Humanities Essay Help

I have always been fascinated by ancient Egypt, so it is only fitting that I have chosen an Egyptian work for this discussion. I have selected the work Akhenaten and His Family. This is an ancient Egyptian work which was completed in painted limestone relief in the 14th century BCE. This work depicts King Ahkenaten, queen Nefertiti, and their two children under the rays of their sun god, Aten.

According to our text, historically, Egyptian kings “may have associated themselves with a single god who they represented in human form” (Sayre, 2013, p. 31). However, religion in Egypt supported many gods. This remained until king Amenhotep IV established a monotheistic, or one deity, religion. That deity was the sun disk Aten, featured in this work. This king believed so strongly that the sun was the creator of all life that he changes his name to Akhenaten, which translates to “The Shining Spirit of Aten” (Sayre, 2013). This change effected the way worship was performed.

In the past, traditional worship of deities had been performed in the innermost areas of their temples which were small and dark. Worship of Aten was performed as more of a celebration, and took place in open courtyards, with abundant sunlight (Dorman, n.d.). On the walls of these open-air temples hung art that was completed in exactly the style of the piece that I have chosen for this discussion.

What I found to be the most interesting about this work is the change in style of art after Akhenaten became the pharaoh. Historically, Egyptian art had remained largely unchanged for a long time and depicted gods and pharaohs unrealistic and rigid-looking. Akhenaten changed the face of arts and culture during that time. This new style of art, called the Amarna Style, depicted a more realistic and intimate portrait. Akhenaten and his Family shows both he and the queen holding their children, seemingly having a family moment. To me, this is akin to what we might consider a “family photo” today.

Have a great week!
Kim

References

Dorman, P. F. (n.d.). Akhenaten: King of Egypt. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Akhenaten

Sayre, H. M. (2013). Discovering the Humanities (2nd ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

 

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