Aten sun god
Aten (or Aton) is the creator of the universe in ancient Egyptian mythology,
usually regarded as a sun god represented by the sun's disk. His worship (Atenism)
was instituted as the basis for the mostly monotheistic — in fact, monistic —
religion of Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaten. The worship of Aten seems
to have ceased shortly after Akhenaten's death.
Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family adoring the AtenAten was the focus of
Akhenaten's religion, but viewing Aten as Akhenaten's god is a simplification.
Aten is the name given to represent the solar disc. The term Aten was used to
designate a disc, and since the sun was a disc, gradually became associated with
solar deities. Aten expresses indirectly the life-giving force of light. The
full title of Akhenaten's god was The Rahorus who rejoices in the horizon, in
his/her Name of the Light which is seen in the sun disc. (This is the title of
the god as it appears on the numerous stelae which were placed to mark the
boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at Amarna, or "Akhetaten.") This lengthy
name was often shortened to Ra-Horus-Aten or just Aten in many texts, but the
god Akhenaten had raised to supremacy is considered a synthesis of very ancient
ones viewed in a new and different way. Both Ra and Horus characteristics are
part of the god, but the god is also considered to be both masculine and
feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to
exist within the god. In particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic
(human) form, but as rays of light extending from the sun's disk. Furthermore,
the god's name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles
normally given to a Pharaoh, another break with ancient tradition.
The Aten first appears in texts dating to the 12th dynasty, in The Story of
Sinuhe. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Herakhty (Ra, who is Horus of
the two horizons), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested
from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the
invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation
was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas
which came gradually. The real change is the apparent abandonment of all other
gods following the advent of Akhenaten, i.e., the introduction, apparently by
Akhenaten, of monotheism. This is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten.
Royal Titulary
During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a Royal Titulary (as he was
considered to be king of all), with his names drawn in a cartouche. There were 2
forms of this title, the first had the names of other gods, and the second later
one which was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself.
The early form has Re-Horakhti who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name Shu
which is the Aten. The later form has Re, ruler of the 2 horizons who rejoices
in the Horizon, in his name of light which is the Aten.
Variant Vocalizations
Egyptologists have also vocalized the name as Aton, Atonu, Itni, Itn, and Adon
(possibly the source of one of the Hebrew God's names, Adon). (Adon literally
means Lord in Hebrew, so this possibility is as likely as not. It is the same as
the title "Baal" That some Acadian and Pleshet gods were given)
Variant Translations
Because high relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a
curved surface (see for example the photograph illustrating this article), the
late scholar Hugh Nibley insisted that a more correct translation would be
globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk.
The three-dimensional spherical shape of the Aten is even more evident when such
reliefs are viewed in person, rather than merely in photographs.