How Akhenaten radically altered artistic representations of royalty to influence the social order during the Amarna period.
Physical art forms and the written word that may accompany them are the result of a society or individual representing itself in a controlled manner. It is for that reason that, in looking at how Akhenaten changed the Egyptian social order during the Amarna period, I will be focusing particularly on his changes to artistic representations of the royal family, and how they were used to effect social changes. I will also look into his changes to religion within the kingdom, however this will be the secondary focus of my essay, used to support my analysis of the effects of artistic changes. During his time as the Pharaoh, …show more content…
Figure 1 is a limestone representation that was found in a chapel that had been built on the grounds of a private residence, and as such it was almost undoubtedly intended for private worship of some sort (Kemp 1989, 282). It shows the Pharaoh Akhenaten, along with Nefertiti, facing one another and enjoying the company of three of their children – Akhenaten is even shown to be kissing the eldest child. This picture of the royal couple as members of a loving and doting family, used as an image worthy of veneration, is evidence to further support the agenda that these artistic changes would have supported, which I discussed at the beginning of this piece. Akhenaten has had a very specific image carved of both himself and Nefertiti, and of their relationship with their family, including the sun god Aten himself. At the centre of the top part of the image here, we can see a representation of the sun disc, with its rays reaching out to touch the royal family, as though they are arms, complete with hands on the end. Even this representation of Aten is a symptom of Akhenaten’s great artistic and religious upheaval, as the god had traditionally been depicted in a somewhat anthropomorphic manner rather than in his literal form (Laboury 2011, 3). This …show more content…
This process was very effective, given that Tutankhamun, within the first few years of his reign, left Akhenaten’s still fairly new city, Amarna, to return to Thebes and restore it to its previous position as the royal seat (Redford 1978, 138). Given the size that the city of Amarna had reached in even such a short reign – Kemp (2000, 15) identifies it as “the largest ancient city in Egypt which is still above ground” – the fact that it was abandoned shows just how disturbed much of Egypt had been by Akhenaten’s changes to the social regime. Indeed, Hornung (2001, 6) suggests that after his reign ended, there was only a vague recollection of the sin of this Pharaoh. This shock at Akhenaten’s heresy was also felt by contemporaries of the Pharaoh who may have maintained positions of power beyond his reign, and thus had the ability to guide Tutankhamun’s decisions as a young Pharaoh. This swift return to an Egypt that looked more like it had prior to Akhenaten’s time in power than it had since the Pharaoh began implementing his systematic changes is a reflection of just how drastic these changes were, and with this in mind it is a significant feat that even small elements of his artistic approach were used after this point in Egypt’s timeline. Snell (2010, 78-79) suggests that art – and language, too – is an area that may have developed of its own accord without Akhenaten’s intervention,
Physical art forms and the written word that may accompany them are the result of a society or individual representing itself in a controlled manner. It is for that reason that, in looking at how Akhenaten changed the Egyptian social order during the Amarna period, I will be focusing particularly on his changes to artistic representations of the royal family, and how they were used to effect social changes. I will also look into his changes to religion within the kingdom, however this will be the secondary focus of my essay, used to support my analysis of the effects of artistic changes. During his time as the Pharaoh, …show more content…
Figure 1 is a limestone representation that was found in a chapel that had been built on the grounds of a private residence, and as such it was almost undoubtedly intended for private worship of some sort (Kemp 1989, 282). It shows the Pharaoh Akhenaten, along with Nefertiti, facing one another and enjoying the company of three of their children – Akhenaten is even shown to be kissing the eldest child. This picture of the royal couple as members of a loving and doting family, used as an image worthy of veneration, is evidence to further support the agenda that these artistic changes would have supported, which I discussed at the beginning of this piece. Akhenaten has had a very specific image carved of both himself and Nefertiti, and of their relationship with their family, including the sun god Aten himself. At the centre of the top part of the image here, we can see a representation of the sun disc, with its rays reaching out to touch the royal family, as though they are arms, complete with hands on the end. Even this representation of Aten is a symptom of Akhenaten’s great artistic and religious upheaval, as the god had traditionally been depicted in a somewhat anthropomorphic manner rather than in his literal form (Laboury 2011, 3). This …show more content…
This process was very effective, given that Tutankhamun, within the first few years of his reign, left Akhenaten’s still fairly new city, Amarna, to return to Thebes and restore it to its previous position as the royal seat (Redford 1978, 138). Given the size that the city of Amarna had reached in even such a short reign – Kemp (2000, 15) identifies it as “the largest ancient city in Egypt which is still above ground” – the fact that it was abandoned shows just how disturbed much of Egypt had been by Akhenaten’s changes to the social regime. Indeed, Hornung (2001, 6) suggests that after his reign ended, there was only a vague recollection of the sin of this Pharaoh. This shock at Akhenaten’s heresy was also felt by contemporaries of the Pharaoh who may have maintained positions of power beyond his reign, and thus had the ability to guide Tutankhamun’s decisions as a young Pharaoh. This swift return to an Egypt that looked more like it had prior to Akhenaten’s time in power than it had since the Pharaoh began implementing his systematic changes is a reflection of just how drastic these changes were, and with this in mind it is a significant feat that even small elements of his artistic approach were used after this point in Egypt’s timeline. Snell (2010, 78-79) suggests that art – and language, too – is an area that may have developed of its own accord without Akhenaten’s intervention,