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2005-08-10T02:41:27Z

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	'''Aten''' is a [[sun god]] in ancient [[Egyptian mythology]], and represented by the sun's disk. His worship ([[Atenism]]) was instituted as the basis for the mostly [[monotheism\|monotheistic]] [[religion]] of Amenhotep IV (who later took the name Akhenaten). The worship of Aten ceased shortly after Akhenaten's death.		'''Aten''' is a [[sun god]] in ancient [[Egyptian mythology]], and represented by the sun's disk. His worship ([[Atenism]]) was instituted as the basis for the mostly [[monotheism\|monotheistic]] [[religion]] of Amenhotep IV (who later took the name Akhenaten). The worship of Aten ceased shortly after Akhenaten's death.

Thiebes at 09:49, 8 March 2005

2005-03-08T09:49:29Z

New page

{{thelema}}
((egyptiangods}}
'''Aten''' is a [[sun god]] in ancient [[Egyptian mythology]], and represented by the sun's disk. His worship ([[Atenism]]) was instituted as the basis for the mostly [[monotheism|monotheistic]] [[religion]] of Amenhotep IV (who later took the name Akhenaten). The worship of Aten ceased shortly after Akhenaten's death.

Viewing the Aten as Akhenaten's god is actually a simplification. ''Aten'' is the name given to the solar disk, whereas the full title of Akhenaten's god was ''Ra-Horus, who rejoices in the horizon in his name of the light which is in the sun disk''. (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.)

This lengthy name was often shortened to ''Ra-Horus-Aten'' or just ''Aten'' in many texts, but the god Akhenaten had raised to supremacy was in fact a synthesis of very ancient ones viewed in a new and different way. In particular, it 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 is a synthesis of two other gods ([[Ra]] and [[Horus]]), 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. This is readily apparent in the [[Great Hymn to the Aten]].

==See Also==
* [[Atenism]]
* [[Adonis]]
* [[Adonai]]

==References==
*Wikipedia (2005). ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aten Aten].'' Retrieved March 8, 2005

Aten - Revision history

Frater C.U.G.: fix template link

Thiebes at 09:49, 8 March 2005