Akhenaten Family Background Essay Example for Free

Akhenaten Family Background EssayDescribe the family and family background of Akhenaten. In your answer identify to the 18th dynasty pharaohs, his mother, his brother, Akhenatens wives, particularly Nefertiti (her extraction and roles) and his children. Assess their importance to the pharaoh. In your answer refer to at least four witnessers, ancient and modern. You can also show diagrams if you wish. (500-550 words) Akhenaten was the tenth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty he reigned everyplace new Kingdom Egypt for approximately 17 course of instructions. Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep cardinal and his chief wife, tycoon Tiy. Scholars agree that Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy had four knget daughters and two sons, Thutmoses and Akhenaten, who was originally named Amenhotep IV. Akhenaten was a sheltered child and appe atomic number 18d to be jilted by his suffer as he was rarely included in portraits of the family and was never taken to each public events unlike his brother, Thutmoses, as he was not imitation to take the throne. Akhenaten became pharaoh after the death of his father Amenhotep III in 1352BC, as Thutmoses had died prematurely.It is believed that Akhenaten was already married to Nefernefruaten- Nefertiti when he came to the throne. Nefertitis origin or parents are unknown, there are two main theories of her origin, and the most trustworthy is that Nefertiti is the daughter of Ay, vizier to various pharaohs of the 18th dynasty and the assumed brother of Queen Tiy. This is believed as Nefertitis nurse was the wife of Ay, as well as references that Nefertitis sister, Mutnojme, is prominently featured in the reliefs of Ays tomb.Another theory is that Nefertiti was the Mitannian princess sent to Egypt for a diplomatic marriage, referred to as Tadhukhipa, this is supported as Nefertiti means the beautiful woman has come. Nefertiti was Akhenatens chief wife and it is clean that Akhenaten valued his beloved wife, in his tomb he referred to he r as the mistress of his happiness, and according to C. Alfred on one of the boundary stelae at Amarna he describes her as Fair of Face, Joyous with the Double Plume, Mistress of Happiness, endue with Favour, at hearing whose voice one rejoices, Lady of Grace, Great of Love, whose disposition cheers the Lord of Two Lands.In Akhenatens tomb and in tombs of the nobles, Nefertiti is depicted as equal to the pharaoh, in Akhenaten and the Amarna Bradley states shes is treated as the kings partner not only in their family life but in spectral and political life as well, unlike other pharaohs there are also many another(prenominal) family reliefs depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their six daughters making offerings to the Aten no son was ever depicted in reliefs. Akhenaten and Nefertiti are accepted to have had six daughters together. They were Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhensenpaaten, Nefernefruten-tasherit, Nefernefure and Setepenre.Meritaten beloved of Aten, married Akhenatens success or, Smekhkare. Around year 15 of Akhenatens reign, Meritaten was effrontery the rank of Mistress of the rest home and ducky of the King, at this time she was depicted performing certain religious rituals in the synagogue of the Aten. Meketaten protected of Aten possibly died at childbirth (Alfred) or at the age of 11 (Redford), mourning scenes of Akhenaten and Nefertiti are depicted in the kings tomb. Ankhensenpaaten her life is in the Aten, married Tutankhamun and became Ankhensenamun.Nefernefruaten-tasherit Nefernefruaten immature after Nefertiti, Nefernefrure beautiful as the beauty of Re, and Setepenre chosen of Re. What happened to the youngest three daughters is unknown. In admission to Nefertiti, Akhenaten had many other minor wives that he inherited from Amenhotep IIIs harem as well as those he would have selected himself. Of particular importance is Kiya, one of Akhenatens minor wives. Her full origin is unknown, but she seems to have come from an official family wit h links to the royal household.In Akhenatens inscriptions Kiya was described as the greatly beloved wife of the king, this was purely an acknowledgement of her position as sulfurary wife and in particular as the mother of royal children. She is believed to be the mother of Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamen) and possibly Smenkhkare, who succeeded Akhenatens reign. It appears Kiya was a favourite of Akhenatens for a reasonably long time. Describe the edifice drifts of Akhenaten in East Karnak, near the tralatitious capital Thebes, and Akhetaten (his new cult centre).Describe the features of the buildings and account for the stylistic changes, especially to do with the revere of the Aten. In your answer include evidence from sources ancient and modern. You can use diagrams and maps if you wish. When Akhenaten came to power in 1353BC instead of retentivity the holistic New Kingdom Egypt builder-warrior pharaoh, Akhenaten focused on his building projects and the establishment of Aten worship in New Kingdom Egypt. In the first year of his reign Akhenaten ordered that his fathers manifestation project be completed, this was typical of New Kingdom pharaohs.This project was of two decorated pylon gateways at the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. The relief scenes carved on the pylon at this time show Akhenaten in a traditional way, they also depict the Aten as a falcon-headed beau ideal. In the second year Akhenaten ordered the construction of four temples dedicated to the Aten to be built at East Karnak, outside the enclosure wall on the east of the Great Temple of Amun-Re. These temples were Gempaaten sun disk is found , the Mansion of the Ben-ben stone, Rud-menu Sturdy are the Monuments of the sun-disk Forever, and Teni-menu tall are the Monuments of the sun-disk Forever.The Gempaaten was an open rectangular court of justice approximately 300m by 200m enclosed with a mud-brick wall, meet this was a roofed colonnade. The temple itself was adorned with colossa l statues of Akhenaten. The decorative scenes shown in the temple showed a exultation of the Heb-sed festival in the second and third year of the kings reign. According to an unknown source in the depictions of the first year the ritual was enacted before officials from all the districts and the gods of Egypt, whose statues had been brought from near and far to be set(p) in shrines.Akhenaten offered to the gods individually and was accepted by each to continue ruling. However, in the Heb-sed festival of the third year all the shrines of the gods of Egypt are replaced by the Aten and Akhenaten in the reliefs. Typically when a pharaoh is being depicted with a god he is either drawn equal or depicted kneeling to the deity, but as the sun-disc is shown at the top of relief scenes Akhenatens single standing figure becomes more prominent. There is no strong evidence of the other three Aten temples purpose or location at Karnak, as they were destroyed and the building materials were reuse d in later pharaohs building projects.It is believed that the Mansion of the Ben-ben stone was built for Nefertiti, the Ben-ben stone is typically depicted as a pyramid shaped stone, but in this temple it was shown as an obelisk. In the relief scenes Nefertiti is visualized making offerings to the Aten as this role was generally undertaken by Akhenaten, these reliefs were the first to include Nefertiti in the triad of the Aten. A major change in the depiction of Akhenaten began to appear in these temples, he was no longer portrayed as the tradition pharaoh but instead his face become elongated, he showed very little amphetamine body tone and had a pot belly.However large and remarkable Akhenatens Aten temples were, they would never be able to overcome the dominance of Amun at Karnak. This issue led to Akhenatens desire to form a new capital city entirely devoted to the Aten sun-disc. In year six of his reign Akhenaten selected a site halfway between Memphis and Thebes, where the c liffs on the east bank form an amphitheatre opposite from the river Nile, this naturally occurring amphitheatre was 13km in diameter and 5km wide.Akhenaten set up boundary stelae to mark the limits of his new city in every directions, he affirmed that the ground did not belong to any deity and it was the Aten himself who had revealed the land to Akhenaten. On the boundary stelae the king states the city is to be called Akhetaten meaning the Horizon or seat of the Aten, the message on the stelae mentions the temples Akhenaten intends to construct in the city A House of the Aten, a Mansion of the Aten, a Sunshade of the Queen and a House of Rejoicing for the Aten in the Island.Evidence of most of these temples and buildings has not been found or confirmed. Akhetaten was change integrity into several main building regions these included the Main city with the royal palace and temples, the North Suburb, sec city, Maru-aten (Southern Palace), a workers village and rock cut tombs. Th e Great Temple of the Aten was built as the centre of worship in Akhetaten. The building was an 800m by 300m open roofed rectangular court, similar to the Gempaaten in layout but much(prenominal) larger.The temple was not open to the public and only the royal family or high priest could get in into the Great Temple of the Aten. R. J. Unstead states the temple was designed in a processional way entrance to the temple was from the west between two tall pylons, this entrance let into a small courtyard, ahead of this was the House of Rejoicing or Per-Hai. This was a hall filled with columns and adorned with reliefs of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. From Per-Hai you reach the next part of the temple Gem-Aten finding of the Aten, this courtyard contained rows of mud brick offering tables.Ahead of the Gem-Aten is the entrance to a long narrow court with a raised altar, beyond this alter is then entrance to another court, followed by a second and finally into three smaller sanctuary or garden c ourts. Each court of the temple, aside from the Gem-Aten had its own altar and colossal statues of Akhenaten as well as representations of the Aten on wall reliefs. There was no excrete at the other end of The Great Temple so the procession of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and the Aten priests had to turn around and qualifying through the west entrance.