In ancient times, creation stories serve as a time capsule from different regions; they serve to teach the following generations, and often laid the foundation of religious beliefs. In ancient Egypt, King Amenhotep IV began a religious cult built around the idea that the sun god, was the sole creator of all. Atenism was a new theory based on monotheism, which was a new concept for ancient Egyptian religions. It places an emphasis on the life of the living in contrast to death and afterlife.
The theme in this writing that stood out to me the most was the idea that Aten was responsible for the creation of everything. “You made the seasons to foster all that you made, winter to cool them, heat that they taste you. You made the far sky to shine therein, to behold all that you made”(lines 97-100). This leads me to believe that the King did believe that the sun god is the world’s creator, but I wonder if he believes that there are any other gods. Like I previously stated, monotheism wasn’t the norm for Egyptian religions, so this religious cult of Atenism may have believed in the existence of other gods, but that Aten was the sole creator.
The hymn also reflects the value of the living. The sun god is a symbol of life and rebirth, every morning is celebrated as a new beginning. “Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland, when you shine as Aten of daytime; as you dispel the dark, as you cast your rays, The Two Lands are in festivity. Awake they stand on their feet, you have roused them” (lines 25-30). Daytime is describes as a type of rebirth, and a time for work and productivity. Whereas nighttime is described by the line, “Earth is in darkness as if in death”(14). The juxtaposition of day and night shows how there is a belief that evil comes out at night, so it is best to sleep through the night.
I enjoyed this particular text because it made a lot of sense to me. Many creation stories, like the Genesis, are about a human god who created the world and people and then was worshiped for it. The sun god is interesting to me because it does give life to all living creatures and seems to be something that should be praised for the good it does.
I like how you said that creation stories are like a time capsule, that they hold on to information from that past and when generations to come read about them they can get this information that leads to more ideas. The hymn itself if pretty much dedicated to showing off how great of a god Aten was and how he was responsible for giving people purpose and life. But like you said the Egyptians did also worship other gods, and I had on question as to why do you think they might have switched the focus to it being all about life and rebirth instead of other popular gods that are focused around death?
I really like all the points that you made in your blog. I strongly agree with you idea of the emphasis that was placed in the juxtaposition of life and death in the piece. I thought the emphasis was so strongly placed into these ideas because it the piece itself was meant to be pasted outside of a tomb. So the passage itself held a certain theme that was relevant to it location of outside of a tomb.
I agree with how you interpret and explain The Great Hymn to Aten. The association with the worship of the Sun and the sole creator made sense and I had previously not made that connection. The sun seemed to be a kind of hands off god of sorts that was worshipped for bringing life but they did not seem to pray to Aten as a more human god like you mentioned. Aten was regarded as the bringer of life and giving new life each day rather then the god mentioned in the book of Genesis. Your comparison of how the Egyptians treat Aten versus how god is treated in works such as the Genesis was an interesting comparison.