THE GREAT ATEN

PLAN OF THE EMPTY TOMB

It is, unfortunately, not known how old the king was when he died, but he must have been a comparatively young man, and his reign could not have been so long as twenty years.

In the ten or twelve years of it which he lived at Khut-Aten he devoted himself entirely to the building of his new capitol and the development of the cult of Aten and, meanwhile, the general condition of Egypt was going from bad to worse, the governors of Egyptian possessions Syria and Palestine were quarrelling among themselves, strong and resolute rebels had risen up in many parts of these countries and, over and above all this, the infuriated priesthood of Amen-Ra were watching for an opportunity to restore the national god to his proper place, and set upon the throne a king who would forward the interests of their brotherhood.

This opportunity came with the death of Amen-hetep IV when Tut-ankh-Amen, a son of Amen-hetep III by a concubine, ascended the throne. He married a daughter of Amen-hetep IV who was called Ankh-s-en-pa-Aten, but she changed her name into Ankh-s-en-Amen, and both the new king and queen were worshippers of the great god of Thebes.

Tut-ankh-Amen at once began to restore the name and figure of Amen which his father-in-law had cut out from the monuments, and began to build at Thebes. Very soon after his accession he came to terms with the priest of Amen, and in due course removed his court to the old capital.

On the death of Tut-ankh-Amen AI ascended the throne by virtue of his marriage with Thi, who was in some way related to the family of Amen-hetep IV. Before Ai became king he was a follower of Aten, and built himself a tomb at Khut-Aten, which was ornamented after the manner of those of the adherents of this god, but as soon as he had taken up his abobe at Thebes and begun to reign over Egypt, he built another tomb of the Kings at Thebes.