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THE GREAT ATEN

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Bianca
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« on: November 09, 2007, 03:09:27 pm »

                    








Aten Worship





The temple of Aten at Khut-Aten was like at Heliopolis, called Het Benben, a name which probably means "House of the Obelisk;" it was begun on a large scale, but was never finished. It contained many altars wherein incense was burnt and offerings were laid, but no sacrifices of any kind were offered up on them.

The high-priest of Aten assumed the title of the high-priest of Ra ar Heliopolis, Ur-maau, and in many respects the new worship was carried on at Khut-Aten by means of many of the old forms and ceremonies of the Heliopolitain priesthood; on state occasions the king himself officiated.

The worship of Aten as understood by Amen-hetep IV was, however , a very different thing from the ancient worship of Aten, for whereas that was tolerent the new worship was not. It is clear from the reliefs which have been found in the city of Khut-Aten that Aten was regared as the giver of life, and the source of all life on this earth, and that his symbols were the heat and light of the sun which vivified and nourished all creation.

Aten was also the one physical body of the Sun, and the creed of Aten ascribed to the god a monotheistic character or oneness, of which it denied the existance in any other god. This being so, the new religion could either absorb or be absorbed by the other gods of Egypt, because he had nothing in common with them.

Attempts have been made to prove that the Aten worship resembled that of the monotheistec worship of the Hebrews, and to show that Aten is only another form of the name Adon, i.e., the Phoenician god whom the Greeks knew as Aowvis ; but as far as can be seen now the worship of Aten was something like a glorified materialism, which had to be expounded by priests, who performed ceremonies similar to those which belonged to the old Heliopolitan sun-worship, without any connection whatsoever with the relationship of Yahweh, and a being of the character of Adon, the local god of Byblos, had no place in it anywhere.

In so far as it rejected all other gods, the Aten religion was monotheistic, but to judge by the texts which describe the power and works of Aten, it contained no doctrines on the unity or oneness of Aten similiar to those which are found in the hymns to Ra, and none of the beautiful ideas about the future life, with which we are familiar from the hymns and other compositions in the Book of the Dead.
« Last Edit: November 09, 2007, 05:21:53 pm by Bianca2001 » Report Spam   Logged

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