TUTANKHAMEN

AMENISM, ATENISM AND EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

WITH HIEROGLYPHIC TEXTS OF HYMNS TO AMEN AND ATEN, TRANSLATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY
SIR ERNEST A. WALLIS BUDGE, LITT. D., D. LITT.
KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.

[1923]

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM.

During the last eighty years the gods of Egypt and the religion of the Ancient Egyptians have been carefully studied by many Egyptologists, but the difficulties which surround these subjects have not yet been cleared away. The responsibility for the existence of these difficulties rests upon the Egyptians themselves, because they did not write books on their religion or explanations of what they believed. But a great many hymns to their gods and legends of their gods and goddesses have come down to us, and from these, thanks to the publication of Egyptian texts during the last thirty years, it is now possible to arrive at a number of important conclusions about the Egyptian religion and its general character. The older Egyptologists debated the question whether it was monotheistic, polytheistic, or pantheistic, and the differences in the opinions which they formed about it will illustrate its difficulty. Champollion believed it to have been "a pure monotheism, which manifested itself externally by a symbolic polytheism." 1 Tiele thought that in the beginning it was polytheistic, but that it developed in two opposite directions; in the one direction gods were multiplied, and in the other it drew nearer and nearer to monotheism. 2 Naville treated it as a "religion of nature, inclining to pantheism." 3 Maspero admitted that the Egyptians applied the epithets, "one God" and "only God" to several gods, even when the god was associated with a goddess and a son, but he adds "ce dieu Un n'etait jamais DIEU tout court"; 4 the "only god" is the only god Amen, or the only god Ptah, or the only god Osiris, that is to say, a being determinate possessing a personality, name, attributes, apparel, members, a family, a man infinitely more perfect than men. He is a likeness of the kings of this earth, and his power, like that of all kings, is limited by the power of neighbouring kings. The conception of his unity is geographical and political at least as much as it is religious. Ra, only god of Heliopolis, is not the same as Amen, only god of Thebes. The Egyptian of Thebes proclaimed the unity of Amen to the exclusion of Ra, the Egyptian of Heliopolis proclaimed the unity of Ra to the exclusion of Amen. Each one god, conceived of in this manner, is only the one god of the nome or of the town, and not the one god of the nation recognized as such throughout the country.

On the other hand, de Rougwrote in 1860, "The unity of a supreme and self-existent being, his eternity, his almightiness, and eternal reproduction as God; the attribution of the creation of the world and of all living beings to this supreme God; the immortality of the soul, completed by the dogma of punishments and rewards; such is the sublime and persistent base which, notwithstanding all deviations and all mythological embellishments, must secure for the beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians a most honourable place among the religions of antiquity." 5 And in his work on the Religion and Mythology of the Ancient Egyptians 6 Brugsch expressed his conviction that, from the earliest times, a nameless, incomprehensible and eternal God was worshipped by the inhabitants of the Valley of the Nile. This conviction he based on many passages in the religious and moral texts of the Egyptians, in which reference is made to a self-existent almighty Being who seems to be none other than the God of modern nations. From these documents we learn that the Egyptian theologians believed that at one time, which was even to them infinitely remote, nothing existed except a boundless primeval mass of water which was shrouded in darkness, but which contained the ultimate sources of everything that now exists in the universe. In late times this watery mass, which was called Nunu, was regarded as the "Father of the Gods." A something in this water, which formed an essential part of it, felt the desire to create and, having imagined in itself the forms of the beings and things that it intended to create, became operative, and the first creature produced was the god Tem or Khepera, who was the personification of the creative power in the primeval water. This god sent forth from his body Shu (i.e., Heat) and Tefnut (Moisture), and these produced Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky). Tem or Khepera fashioned the form of everything in his mind and made known his desires to create to his heart, which was personified as Thoth. This god received the creative impulse and invented in his mind a name for the object that was to be created, and when he uttered that name the object came into being. In the texts of the early Dynastic Period Ptah and Khnemu were associated with the god of the primeval water, Nunu or Nu, and they were said to fashion the creatures and things the names of which were pronounced by Thoth. Moreover, they associated the goddess Maat with Thoth, and the part she played at the creation was very much like that which is attributed to Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs.

What the earliest pictorial forms of Tem, Ptah and Khnemu were is not known, but the first and second appear as men at an early period, and the third is represented by a special form of ram or kudu. Ra, who usurped the attributes of Tem, also appears as a man. But of the original creative power which existed of and by itself in the watery mass of Nunu no form is known. The mind of man was incapable of imagining him, and the hand of man was incapable of making a figure that could be considered to be an image or likeness of him. Under the XVIIIth dynasty an Egyptian scribe composed a hymn to Hep (or Hap or Hapi), the Nile-god, in which he traced his origin back to the great watery mass of Nunu. He says of him, "He cannot be sculptured in stone in figures whereon is placed the White Crown. He cannot be seen. Service cannot be rendered to him. Gifts cannot be presented to him. He is not to be approached in the sanctuaries. Where he is is not known. He is not to be found in inscribed shrines. No habitation can contain him. There is none who acteth as guide to his heart." 7 The Nile-god is thus described only because he was the direct emanation from the great unseen, unknown and incomprehensible creative power, which had existed for ever and was the source of all created things. Statues of the Nile-god were made under the last dynasties of the New Empire, but the hymn quoted above was written many centuries earlier.

The religious literature of Ancient Egypt of all periods is abundant, yet in no class of it do we find any prayer or petition addressed to this unseen and unknown god. But in the Collections of Moral Aphorisms, or "Teachings," composed by ancient sages, we find several allusions to a divine power to which no personal name is given. The word used to indicate this power is NETER or NETHER. Many have tried to assign a meaning to this word and to find its etymology, but the original meaning of it is at present unknown. The contexts of the passages in which it occurs suggest that it means something like "eternal God." The same word is often used to describe an object, animate or inanimate, which possesses some unusually remarkable power or quality, and in the plural neteru, it represents the beings and things to which adoration in one form or another is paid. The great God referred to in the Moral Aphorisms is also spoken of as pa neter, "the God," just as the Arabs speak of Al-Allah, i.e., "the Allah." The following examples drawn from the Precepts of Kagemna (IVth dynasty) and the Precepts of Ptah-hetep (Vth dynasty) will illustrate this use of Neter. 8

1. The things which God, (neter), doeth cannot be known.

2. Terrify not men. God, (neter), is opposed thereto.

3. The daily bread is under the dispensation of God, (neter).

4. When thou ploughest, labour (?) in the field God, (neter), hath given thee.

5. If thou wouldst be a perfect man make thy son pleasing to God, (neter).

6. God, I 1, loveth obedience; disobedience I is hateful to God, (neter).

7. Verily a good (or, beautiful) son is the gift of God, (neter).

These extracts suggest that the writers of the Precepts believed in a God whose plans were inscrutable, who was the feeder of men, who assigned to each a share of the goods of this world, and who expected men to obey his behests and to bring up their children in a way pleasing to him. As time went on the ideas of the Egyptians about God changed, and under the XVIIIth dynasty he lost something of the aloofness with which they regarded him, and a fuller idea of his personality existed in their minds. This is clear from the following extracts taken from the Precepts, or Teaching, of Khensu-hetep, 9 more generally known as the "Maxims of Ani."

1. The God magnifies his name.

2. The house of God abominates overmuch speaking. Pray with a loving heart, the words of which are hidden. He will do what is needful for thee, he will hear thy petitions and will accept thine oblations.

3. It is thy God, who gives thee existence.

4. The God is the judge of the truth.

5. When thou makest an offering to thy God beware of offering what he abominates.

The unknown God of the early dynasties has now become a Being who gives men their lives and means of subsistence, who can be approached in a temple, or house, who is pleased with offerings, and with prayers offered up silently to him, and who wishes his name to be magnified. Another extract reads:--

6. "Observe with thine eye his plans (or dispensation). Devote thyself to singing praises to his name. He gives souls to hundreds of thousands of forms. He magnifies him that magnifies him."

The text continues: "Now the god of this earth is Shu, who is the President of the Horizons. His similitudes are upon the earth, and to them incense and offerings are made daily." Shu in mythological language was the light and heat that emanated from the self-created, self-subsistent and self-existent primeval god, Horus, or Tem, or Khepera. The being who is referred to in the first part of extract No. 6 seems to me to be different from Shu, the god of this earth. And it will be remembered that Amenhetep IV, the "Disk-worshipper," adored "Horus of the Two Horizons in his name of Shu (i.e., Heat) who is in the Aten (Disk)."

The Teaching of Amenemapt, the son of Kanekht, a work that was probably written under the XVIIIth dynasty, proves quite plainly that the writer distinguished very clearly between God and the gods Ra, the Moon-god, Thoth, Khnem-Ra, Aten, etc. In the following extracts he clearly refers to God.

1. Leave the angry man in the hands of God . . . God knows how to requite him (Col. V).

2. Carry not away the servant of the God for the benefit of another (Col. VI).

3. Take good heed to Nebertcher, (Lord of the Universe) (Col. VIII).

4. Though a man's tongue steers the boat, it is Nebertcher who is the pilot (Col. XIX).

5. Truth is the great porter (or bearer) of God (Col. XXI).

6. Seat thyself in the hands of God (Col. XXII).

7. A man prepares the straw for his building, but God is his architect.

It is he who throws down, it is he who builds up daily.

It is he who makes a man to arrive in Amentt (the Other World) [where] he is safe in the hand of God (Col. XXIV).

8. The love of God, praised and adored be he is more than the respect of the Chief (Col. XXVI). 10

It will be noted that in none of these extracts is any attempt made to describe God, Neter, and that he is never called "One," or "Only One." The truth is that the Egyptians felt that they could not describe him and that they knew nothing about him, except that he existed. This great nameless. unseen and unknown God handed over to a number of inferior beings the direction and management of heaven and earth and everything which was in them. Those that were kind and considerate to the human race men called gods, and those that were malevolent and inimical they called devils. Each community or village, however small, possessed its own "god," whose power and importance depended upon the wealth and social position of his worshippers. But the Egyptian, whilst adoring the "god," Neter, of his native city, was ready to admit the existence of another Neter, who was probably the Being whom we call God. Thus, in Chapter CXXV of the Book of the Dead, the deceased says in his declaration before the Forty-two gods, "I have not cursed God," and "I have not contemned the god of my city 11 . The distinction between "God" and "god of the city" was quite clear in the mind of the Egyptian.

It has been claimed by some that Amenhetep IV was the first monotheist in Egypt, but the acceptance of this statement depends upon what meaning is given to the word monotheism, i.e., the doctrine of there being only one god. The passages from the Moral Papyri quoted above show that the Egyptian priests and learned men were monotheistic, even though they do not proclaim the oneness of the god to whom they refer. The idea of oneness was well understood under the Ancient Empire, but in the Pyramid Texts the attribute is ascribed to the "gods" and to kings as well as to God. Thus in Teta (l. 237) the "lord one" is mentioned; in Merenra I the king is called "great god alone," (l. 127), 12 and is said to be stronger than every god; and in Pepi II (l. 952) the king is called the "one of heaven," Now the monotheism of Amenhetep IV was different from that of the writers of the Moral Papyri, and the oneness of Aten which he proclaimed resembled the oneness of several other Egyptian solar gods and also gods to whom solar attributes had not been originally ascribed. Tem, Horus of the Two Horizons, and Ra, each of these is called "One," and "only one," whether mentioned singly or together as a triad, and the same title was given to Amen after his fusion with Ra. And whilst Amenhetep IV was proclaiming the oneness of Aten in the city of Aten, the worshipper of Amen was proclaiming the oneness of Amen in Thebes, the worshipper of Ra or Tem was proclaiming the oneness of his god in Heliopolis, and so on throughout the country. And it is interesting to note that votaries of Neith of Sa proclaimed that their goddess was "One," 13 that she first created herself and then produced Ra from her own body. The second portion of a fine Hymn to the solar triad, which is preserved in the Papyrus of Ani (sheet 19), and is addressed to Ra-Tem-Heraakhuti the "only one," adds Osiris to this "only one" thus "Praise be to thee, O Osiris, eternal Lord, Un-nefer, Heraakhuti, whose forms are manifold and whose attributes axe majestic, Ptah-Seker-Tem in Anu, lord of the hidden shrine and creator of Hetkaptah (Memphis) . . . thou turnest thy face to the Other World, thou makest the earth to shine like tcham (gilded copper?). The dead rise up to look at thee, they breathe the air and they see thy face like that of the Aten (Disk) when he rises on his horizon. Since they see thee their hearts are content, O thou who art Eternity and Everlastingness."

It is impossible for Amenhetep IV to have indulged in the philosophical speculations as to the unity of God, with which he is sometimes credited, but which were only evolved by the Greek philosophers a thousand years later. It is, however, very probable that he wished Aten, as the god of absolute truth and justice, to become the national god of Egypt and divine ruler of all the countries of the Sudan and Western Asia that formed his dominions. If that be so, he was born too late to bring this about, even supposing that he was physically and mentally fit to undertake such a task. When he ascended the throne, Amen, or Amen-Ra, the King of the Gods, the Lord of the world, was actually what Amenhetep wished Aten to be. Amen had expelled: the Hyksos and set the first king of the XVIIIth dynasty upon his throne, and he had given victory to the successors of Aahmes I and filled Egypt with the wealth of the Sudan and Western Asia. Amen had become the overlord of the gods, and his fame filled the greater part of the world that was known to the Egyptians. It was impossible to overthrow the great and wealthy priesthood of Amen. to say nothing of the social institutions of which Amen was the head. The monotheism of Amenhetep from a religious point of view was not new, but from a political point of view it was. It consisted chiefly of the dogma that Amen was unfit to be the national god of Egypt, the Sudan and Syria, and that Aten was more just, more righteous, and more merciful than the upstart god of Thebes, and that Aten alone was fitted to be the national god of Egypt and her dominions. When Amenhetep tried to give a practical form to his views, his attempt was accompanied, as has frequently been the case with religious "reformers," by the confiscation of sacrosanct property, and by social confusion and misery. It was fortunate for Egypt that she only produced one king who was an individualist and idealist, a pacifist and a religious "reformer" all in one.

Amenhetep IV attempted to establish a positive religion, and as a religious innovator he spoke and acted as if he were divinely inspired and had a divine revelation to give to men, and in every way he tried to depart from the traditions of the past. He never realised that if his religion was to take root and flourish it must be in contact all along the line with the older ideas and practices which he found among his people. Religion did not begin with him in Egypt. He failed in his self-appointed task because his religion did not appeal to the tradition and religious instincts and susceptibilities that already existed among the Egyptians, and because he would not tolerate the traditional forms in which their spiritual feelings were embodied.

Variegated glass bottle in the form of a fish.
From Tall al-'Amarnah. British Museum, No. 55193.
Presented by the Egypt Exploration Society, 1921.

Footnotes

1 L'ypte, Paris, 1839, p. 245.
2 Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid, Amsterdam, 1893, p. 25.
3 La Religion, p. 92.
4 Histoire Ancienne, Paris, 1904, p. 33.
5 udes sur le Rituel Funaire (in Rev. Arch., Paris, 1860, p. 12).
6 Religion und Mythologie, Leipzig, 1885, p. 90.
7 See Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, Second Series, London, 1923, pl. LXXIII. (Introduction, p. 31.)
8 They are taken from the Prisse Papyrus which was written under the XIth or XIIth dynasty. See Virey, udes sur le Papyrus Prisse, Paris, 1877, where a transcript of the hieratic text and a French translation will be found.
9 See Chabas, L'Egyptologie, Sie I., Chalon-sur-Sae, Paris, 1876-78; and Amineau, La Morale Egyptienne, Paris, 1892.
10 See Egyptian Hieratic Papyri, ed. Budge, Second Series, London, 1923.
11 From the Papyrus of Nebseni. Early XVIIIth dynasty.
12 And "Lord of the earth to its limit"
13 See Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. 1, p. 458.

TUTANKHAMEN

AMENISM, ATENISM AND EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

WITH HIEROGLYPHIC TEXTS OF HYMNS TO AMEN AND ATEN, TRANSLATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY
SIR ERNEST A. WALLIS BUDGE, LITT. D., D. LITT.
KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.

[1923]

HYMNS TO THE SUN-GOD.

[From the Papyrus of Ani, Sheets 18 and 19.]

The following Hymns are good, typical examples of the songs of praise and thanksgiving which were addressed to the Sun-god by orthodox Egyptians under the XVIIIth dynasty.

A HYMN TO RA WHEN HE RISES ON THE HORIZON AND WHEN HE SETS IN THE LAND OF LIFE.

Homage to thee, O RA, who risest as Tem-Heraakhuti.

Thou art adored. Thy beauties are before my eyes, and thy splendour falleth upon my body.

Thou goest to thy setting in the Seqtet Boat with fair winds, and thy heart is glad. The heart of the Matet Boat rejoices.

Thou stridest over the heavens in peace, all thy foes being cast down.

The stars which never rest (i.e., the planets) hymn thee, and the stars which never vanish (i.e., the circumpolar stars) glorify thee as thou sinkest to rest in the horizon of Manu.

Thou art beautiful at morn and at eve, O thou Living Lord, the Unchanging One, my Lord.

Homage to thee who risest as Ra and settest as Tem in beauty.

Thou risest and shinest on the back of thy mother [the Sky-goddess], O thou who art crowned king of the gods.

Nut (the Sky-goddess) pays homage to thee, and Maat (the goddess of Law and Truth) embraces thee at morn and eve.

Joyfully thou stridest over the heavens and the Lake of Testes (a part of heaven) is content thereat. Thine enemy Sebau is cast down headlong, his arms and hands are cut off, and thy dagger has severed the joints of his backbone.

Ra has a fair wind, the Seqtet Boat advances and comes into port.

The gods of the South, the North, the West and the East praise thee, O thou divine substance, from whence all forms of life sprang.

Thou speakest--earth is flooded with silence, O thou ONLY ONE, who didst dwell in heaven before ever the earth and the mountain came into being.

O SHEPHERD, O LORD, O ONLY ONE, Creator of what is, thou didst make the tongue of the Nine Gods. Thou hast made all that sprang from the waters, and thou shootest up from them over the land of the pools of the Lake of Horus.

Let me breathe the air which comes from thy nostrils and the north wind which is from thy mother Nut. Glorify my spirit, O Osiris, make divine my soul.

O Lord of the gods, thou art worshipped at setting in peace, and art exalted because of all thy wondrous works,

Shine thou upon my body each day.

A HYMN TO RA, WHEN HE RISES IN THE EAST.

Hail, thou Aten, thou lord of rays, who risest on the horizon day by day! Shine thou with thy beams of light upon the face of the Osiris Ani, the truth-speaker, who sings hymns to thee at dawn, and adores thee at eventide. Let his soul appear with thee in heaven. Let him sail out in the Matet Boat and arrive in port in the Seqtet Boat, and let him cleave his way among the stars that never vanish.

Homage to thee, O Her-aakhuti, who art Khepera, the self-created!

When thou risest and sendest forth thy beams upon the lands of the South and the North, thou art beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods rejoice when they see thee, the King of Heaven.

Nebt-Unnut (a goddess) is on thy head, her serpents are on thy head, and she takes her place before thee. Thoth stands in the bows of thy boat to destroy thy foes.

The denizens of the Tuat (Underworld) come to meet thee, they bow before thee in homage at the sight of thy Beautiful Form.

I would come before thee daily to be with thee and to behold thy Beautiful Aten (Disk). Let me be neither prevented nor repulsed.

Grant that when I look upon thy beauties my members may be made young again, even as are the members of thy favoured ones.

I am one who worshipped thee on earth. Let me enter the Eternal Land in the Everlasting Country. O my Lord, I beseech thee to decree this for me.

Homage to thee who risest as Ra on thy horizon and restest upon Maat!

Thou passest over the sky, every face watches thy course, thou thyself being unseen. Thou showest thyself at dawn and at eve daily.

The Seqtet Boat of thy Majesty goes forth mightily, thy beams fall upon every face, thy variegated lights and colours cannot be numbered, and cannot be told . . . .

One by thyself alone didst thou come into being from the primeval waters of Nunu (or Nu).

May I go forward as thou dost advance without pause, and dost in a moment pass over untold leagues and as thou sinkest to rest even so may I.

Thou art crowned with the majesty of thy beauties, thou dost fashion thy members as thou dost advance, and dost produce them without the pangs of labour in the form of Ra, and dost rise up into the heights.

Grant that I may come into the everlasting heaven and the mountain where thy favoured ones dwell. Let me join myself to those who are holy and perfect in the divine Underworld, and let me appear with them to behold thy beauties at eventide. I lift my hands to thee in adoration when thou the living One dost set. Thou art the Eternal Creator and art adored at thy setting in heaven.

I have given my heart to thee without wavering, O thou who art the mightiest of the gods . .

TUTANKHAMEN

AMENISM, ATENISM AND EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

WITH HIEROGLYPHIC TEXTS OF HYMNS TO AMEN AND ATEN, TRANSLATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY
SIR ERNEST A. WALLIS BUDGE, LITT. D., D. LITT.
KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.

[1923]

B.--HYMN TO ATEN1

BY

AI, OVERSEER OF THE HORSE OF AAKHUNATEN.

1. A Hymn of praise of Her-aakhuti, the living one exalted in the Eastern Horizon in his name of Shu who is in the Aten, who liveth for ever and ever, the living and great Aten, he who is in the Set-Festival, the lord of the Circle, the Lord of the Disk, the Lord of heaven, the Lord of earth, the lord of the House of the Aten in Aakhut-Aten, [of] the King of the South and the North, who liveth in Truth, lord of the Two Lands (i.e., Egypt), NEFER-KHEPERU-RA UA-EN-RA, the son of Ra, who liveth in Truth, Lord of Crowns, AAKHUN-ATEN, great in the period of his life, [and of] the great royal woman (or wife) whom he loveth, Lady of the Two Lands, NEFER-NEFERU-ATEN NEFERTITI, who liveth in health and youth for ever and ever.

2. He (i.e., Ai, a Fan-bearer and the Master of the King's Horse) saith:--

Thy rising [is] beautiful in the horizon of heaven, O Aten, ordainer of life. Thou dost shoot up in the horizon of the East, thou fillest every land with thy beneficence. Thou art beautiful and great and sparkling, and exalted above every land.. Thy arrows (i.e., rays) envelop (i.e., penetrate) everywhere all the lands which thou hast made.

3. Thou art as Ra. Thou bringest [them] according to their number, thou subduest them for thy beloved son. Thou thyself art afar off, but thy beams are upon the earth; thou art in their faces, they [admire] thy goings.

Thou settest in the horizon of the west, the earth is in darkness, in the form of death. Men lie down in a booth wrapped up in cloths, one eye cannot see its fellow.

If all their possessions, which are under their heads, be carried away they perceive it not.

4. Every lion emergeth from his lair, all the creeping things bite, darkness [is] a warm retreat (?). The land is in silence. He who made them hath set in his horizon.

The earth becometh light, thou shootest up in the horizon, shining in the Aten in the day, thou scatterest the darkness. Thou sendest out thine arrows (i.e., rays), the Two Lands make festival, [men] wake up, stand upon their feet, it is thou who raisest them up. [They] wash their members, they take [their apparel]

5. and array themselves therein, their hands are [stretched out] in praise at thy rising, throughout the land they do their works.

Beasts and cattle of all kinds settle down upon the pastures, shrubs and vegetables flourish, the feathered fowl fly about over their marshes, their feathers praising thy Ka (person). All the cattle rise up on their legs, creatures that fly and insects of all kinds

6. spring into life, when thou risest up on them.

The boats drop down and sail up the river, likewise every road openeth (or showeth itself) at thy rising, the fish in the river swim towards thy face, thy beams are in the depths of the Great Green (i.e., the Mediterranean and Red Seas).

Thou makest offspring to take form in women, creating seed in men. Thou makest the son to live in the womb of his mother, making him to be quiet that he crieth not; thou art a nurse

7. in the womb, giving breath to vivify that which he hath made. [When] he droppeth from the womb . . . on the day of his birth [he] openeth his mouth in the [ordinary] manner, thou providest his sustenance.

The young bird in the egg speaketh in the shell, thou givest breath to him inside it to make him to live. Thou makest for him his mature form so that he can crack the shell [being] inside the egg. He cometh forth from the egg, he chirpeth with all his might, when he hath come forth from it (the egg), he walketh on his two feet.

O how many are the things which thou hast made!

They are hidden from the face, O thou

8. One God, like whom there is no other. Thou didst create the earth by thy heart (or will), thou alone existing, men and women, cattle, beasts of every kind that are upon the earth, and that move upon feet (or legs), all the creatures that are in the sky and that fly with their wings, [and] the deserts of Syria and Kesh (Nubia), and the Land of Egypt.

Thou settest every person in his place. Thou providest their daily food, every man having the portion allotted to him, [thou] dost compute the duration of his life. Their tongues are different in speech, their characteristics (or forms), and

9. likewise their skins [in colour], giving distinguishing marks to the dwellers in foreign lands.

Thou makest Hapi (the Nile) in the Tuat (Underworld), thou bringest it when thou wishest to make mortals to live, inasmuch as thou hast made them for thyself, their Lord who dost support them to the uttermost, O thou Lord of every land, thou shinest upon them, O ATEN of the day, thou great one of majesty.

Thou makest the life of all remote lands. Thou settest a Nile in heaven, which cometh down to them.

10. It maketh a flood on the mountains like the Great Green Sea, it maketh to be watered their fields in their villages. How beneficent are thy plans, O Lord of Eternity! A Nile in heaven art thou for the dwellers in the foreign lands (or deserts), and for all the beasts of the desert that go upon feet (or legs). Hapi (the Nile) cometh from the Tuat for the land of Egypt. Thy beams nourish every field; thou risest up [and] they live, they germinate for thee.

Thou makest the Seasons to develop everything that thou hast made:

11. The season of Pert (i.e., Nov. 16-March 16) so that they may refresh themselves, and the season Heh (i.e., March 16-Nov. 16) in order to taste thee. 2 Thou hast made the heaven which is remote that thou mayest shine therein and look upon everything that thou hast made. Thy being is one, thou shinest (or, shootest up) among thy creatures as the LIVING ATEN, rising, shining, departing afar off, returning. Thou hast made millions of creations (or, evolutions) from thy one self (viz.) towns and cities, villages, fields, roads and river. Every eye (i.e., all men) beholdeth thee confronting it. Thou art the Aten of the day at its zenith.

12. At thy departure thine eye . . . thou didst create their faces so that thou mightest not see. . . . ONE thou didst make . . . Thou art in my heart. There is no other who knoweth thee except thy son Nefer-kheperu-Ra Ua-en-Ra. Thou hast made him wise to understand thy plans [and] thy power. The earth came into being by thy hand, even as thou hast created them (i.e., men). Thou risest, they live; thou settest, they die. As for thee, there is duration of life in thy members, life is in thee. [All] eyes [gaze upon]

13. thy beauties until thou settest, [when] all labours are relinquished. Thou settest in the West, thou risest, making to flourish . . . for the King. Every man who [standeth on his] foot, since thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, thou hast raised up for thy son who came forth from thy body, the King of the South and the North, Living in Truth, Lord of Crowns, Aakhun-Aten, great in the duration of his life [and for] the Royal Wife, great of majesty, Lady of the Two Lands, Nefer-neferu-Aten Nefertiti, living [and] young for ever and ever.

Footnotes

1 See N. de G. Davies, op. cit., Vol. VI, pl. xxvii.
2 i.e., for men to feel the heart of Shu who is in the Aten.

TUTANKHAMEN

AMENISM, ATENISM AND EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

WITH HIEROGLYPHIC TEXTS OF HYMNS TO AMEN AND ATEN, TRANSLATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY
SIR ERNEST A. WALLIS BUDGE, LITT. D., D. LITT.
KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.

[1923]

A.--A HYMN TO ATEN BY THE KING. 1

A HYMN OF PRAISE TO THE LIVING HORUS OF THE TWO HORIZONS, WHO REJOICETH IN THE HORIZON IN HIS NAME OF "SHU, WHO IS IN THE ATEN" (i.e., DISK), THE GIVER OF LIFE FOR EVER AND EVER, BY THE KING WHO LIVETH IN TRUTH, THE LORD OF THE TWO LANDS, NEFER-KHEPERU-RA UA-EN-RA, SON OF RA, WHO LIVETH IN TRUTH, LORD OF THE CROWNS, AAKHUNATEN, GREAT IN THE DURATION OF HIS LIFE, GIVER OF LIFE FOR EVER AND EVER.

[He saith]:--

Thou risest gloriously, O thou Living Aten, Lord of Eternity! Thou art sparkling (or coruscating), beautiful, [and] mighty. Thy love is mighty and great . . . thy light, of diverse colours, leadeth captive (or, bewitcheth) all faces. Thy skin shineth brightly to make all hearts to live. Thou fillest the Two Lands with thy love, O thou god, who did[st] build [thy]self. Maker of every land, Creator of whatsoever there is upon it, [viz.] men and women, cattle, beasts of every kind, and trees of every kind that grow on the land.

They live when thou shinest upon them. Thou art the mother [and] father of what thou hast made; their eyes, when thou risest, turn their gaze upon thee. Thy rays at dawn light up the whole earth. Every heart beateth high at the sight of thee, [for] thou risest as their Lord.

Thou settest in the western horizon of heaven, they lie down in the same way as those who are dead. Their heads are wrapped up in cloth, their nostrils are blocked, until thy rising taketh place at dawn in the eastern horizon of heaven. Their hands then are lifted up in adoration of thy KA (or person); thou vivifiest hearts with thy beauties (or, beneficent acts), which are life. Thou sendest forth thy beams, [and] every land is in festival. Singing men, singing women, [and] chorus men make joyful noises in the Hall of the House of the Benben Obelisk, [and] in every temple in [the city of] Aakhut-Aten, the Seat of Truth, wherewith thy heart is satisfied. Within it are dedicated offerings of rich food (?).

Thy son is sanctified (or, ceremonially pure) to perform the things which thou willest, O thou Aten, when he showeth himself in the appointed processions.

Every creature that thou hast made skippeth towards thee, thy honoured son [rejoiceth], his heart is glad, O thou Living Aten, who [appearest] in heaven every day. He hath brought forth his honoured son, UA-EN-RA, like his own form, never ceasing so to do. The son of Ra supporteth his beauties (or beneficent acts).

NEFER-KHEPERU-RA UA-EN-RA [saith]:--

I am thy son, satisfying thee, exalting thy name. Thy strength [and] thy power are established in my heart. Thou art the Living Disk, eternity is thine emanation (or, attribute). Thou hast made the heavens to be remote so that thou mightest shine therein and gaze upon everything that thou hast made. Thou thyself art Alone, but there are millions of [powers of] life in thee to make them (i.e., thy creatures) live. Breath of life is it to [their] nostrils to see thy beams. Buds burst into flower (?), [and] the plants which grow on the waste lands send up shoots at thy rising; they drink themselves drunk before thy face. All the beasts frisk about on their feet; all the feathered fowl rise up from their nests and flap their wings with joy, and circle round in praise of the Living Aten. . . .

Footnotes

1 See N. de G. Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, Vol. IV, pl. xxxii, xxxiii. The text is from the Tomb of Api at Tall al-'Amarnah, with an addition from the tomb of Tutu.