Great Hymn to the Aten
( Work in progress )
Aten
- the disc of any celestial body, including the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets
- the Aten; the disc of the sun in particular, often as the manifestation of the solar god
A house altar showing Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three of their daughters. 18th dynasty, reign of Akhenaten
Aten also Aton, Atonu, or Itn (Ancient Egyptian: jtn) was the focus of Atenism. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra, the sun god in traditional ancient Egyptian religion. Akhenaten, however, made it the sole focus of official worship during his reign.
The word Aten appears in the Old Kingdom as a noun meaning "disc" which referred to anything flat and circular; the sun was called the "disc of the day" where Ra was thought to reside. By analogy, the term "silver aten" was sometimes used to refer to the moon. High relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a curved surface, therefore, the late scholar Hugh Nibley insisted that a more correct translation would be globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk.
Aten, by nature, was everywhere and intangible because he was the sunlight and energy in the world. Therefore, he did not have physical representations that other Egyptian gods had. He was represented by the sun disc and reaching rays of light. The explanation as to why Aten could not be fully represented was that Aten was beyond creation. Thus the scenes of gods carved in stone previously depicted animals and human forms, now showed Aten as an orb above with life-giving rays stretching toward the royal figure. This power transcended human or animal form.
Background
The Great Hymn to the Aten is the longest of a number of hymn-poems written to the sun-disk deity Aten. Composed in the middle of the 14th century BC, it is varyingly attributed to the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten or his courtiers, depending on the version, who radically changed traditional forms of Egyptian religion by replacing them with Atenism.
"It has been called 'one of the most significant and splendid pieces of poetry to survive from the pre-Homeric world."
The hymn-poem provides a glimpse of the religious artistry of the Amarna period expressed in multiple forms encompassing literature, new temples, and in the building of a whole new city at the site of present-day Amarna as the capital of Egypt.
"If this were a new religion, invented to satisfy our modern scientific conceptions, we could not find a flaw in the correctness of this view of the energy of the solar system. How much Akhenaten understood, we cannot say, but he certainly bounded forward in his views and symbolism to a position which we cannot logically improve upon at the present day. Not a rag of superstition or of falsity can be found clinging to this new worship evolved out of the old Aton of Heliopolis, the sole Lord of the universe."
The 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten forbade the worship of other gods, a radical departure from the centuries of Egyptian religious practice. Akhenaton's religious reforms (later regarded heretical and reversed under his successor Pharaoh Tutankhamun) have been described by some scholars as monotheistic, though others consider them to be henotheistic.
Translation
There exist countless translations of the hymn, this version is translation by Miriam Lichtheim. (source: Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom)
The Great Hymn to the Aten in the Tomb of Ay
Adoration of Re-Harakhti-who-rejoices-in-lightland In-his-name-! Shu-who-is-Aten, living forever; the great living Aten who is in jubilee, the lord of all that the Disk encircles, lord of sky, lord of earth, lord of the house-of-Aten in Akhet-Aten; (and of) the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, who lives by Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands, Neferkheprure, Sole-one-ei-Re; the Son of Re who lives by Maat, the Lord of Crowns, Akhenaten, great in his lifetime; (and) his beloved great Queen, the Lady of the Two Lands, Nefer-nefru-Aten Nefertiti, who lives in health and youth forever, The Vizier, the Fanbearer on the right of the King, ----- [Ay]; he says:'
Splendid you rise in heaven's lightland, o living Aten, creator of life! When you have dawned in eastern lightland, You fill every land with your beauty, You are beauteous, great, radiant, High over every land; Your rays embrace the lands, To the limit of all that you made, Being Re, you reach their limits, You bend them (for) the son whom you love; Though you are far, your rays are on earth, Though one sees you, your strides are unseen.
When you set in western lightland, Earth is in darkness as if in death, One sleeps in chambers, heads covered, One eye does not see another. Were they robbed of their goods, That are under their heads People would not remark it: Every lion comes from its den, All the serpents bite; Darkness hovers, earth is silent, As their maker rests in lightland.
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; Bodies cleansed, clothed, Their arms adore your appearance. The entire land sets out to work All beasts browse on their herbs.' Trees, herbs are sprouting, , Birds fly from their nests, Their wings greeting your Ita. All flocks frisk on their feet, All that fly up and alight, They Jive when you dawn for them. Ships fare north, fare south as well Roads lie open when you rise; , The fish in the river dart before you, Your rays are in the midst of the sea.
Who makes seed grow in women, Who creates people from sperm; Who feeds the son in his mother's womb Who soothes him to still his tears. Nurse in the womb, Giver of breath, To nourish all that he made. When he comes from the womb to breathe, On the day of his birth, You open wide his mouth, You supply his needs. When the chick in the egg speaks in the shell, You give him breath within to sustain him; When you have made him complete, To break out from the egg, He comes out from the egg, To announce his completion, Walking on his legs he comes from it.
How many are your deeds, Though hidden from sight, o Sole God beside whom there is none! You made the earth as you wished, you alone, All peoples, herds, and flocks; All upon earth that walk on legs, All on high that fly on wings, The lands of Khor and Kush, The land of Egypt. You set every man in his place. You supply their needs; Everyone has his food, His lifetime is counted. Their tongues differ in speech, Their characters likewise; Their skins are distinct, For you distinguished the peoples.
You made Hapy* in Dat**, You bring him when you will, To nourish the people, For you made them for yourself. Lord of all who toils for them, Lord of all lands who shines for them, Aten of daytime, great in glory! All distant lands, you make them live, You made a heavenly Hapy descend for them; He makes waves on the mountains like the sea, To drench their fields and their towns. How excellent are your ways, O Lord of eternity! A Hapy from heaven for foreign peoples, And all lands' creatures that walk on legs, For Egypt the Hapy* who comes from Dat**.
Your rays nurse all fields, When you shine they live, they grow for you; 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; You alone, shining in your form of living Aten, Risen, radiant, distant, near. You made millions of forms from yourself alone, Towns, villages, fields, the river's course; All eyes observe you upon them, For you are the Aten of daytime on high. ...-----...
You are in my heart, There is no other who knows you, Only your son, Neferkheprure, Sole-one-of-Re, Whom you have taught your ways and your might. (Those on) earth come from your hand as you made them, When you have dawned they live, When you set they die; You yourself are lifetime, one lives by you. All eyes are on (your) beauty until you set, All labor ceases when you rest in the west; When you rise you stir [everyone] for the King, Every leg is on the move since you founded the earth. You rouse them for your son who came from your body, The King who lives by Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands, Neferkheprure, Sole-one-of-Re, The Son of Re who lives by Maat, the Lord of crowns, Akhenaten, great in his lifetime; (And) the great Queen whom he loves, the Lady of the Two Lands, Nefer-nefru-Aten. Nefertiti, living forever.
* Hapi (Nile god) (Ancient Egyptian: ḥʿpy) was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egyptian religion.
** Dat or Duat (The Netherworld) (Ancient Egyptian: dwꜣt) is the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology.
Conclusion
Many scholars have contended that Akhenaten was the first example of a scientific mind, and that the worship of the Aten satisfies correct scientific conceptions about the importance the sun and solar energy for life on earth.
In this hymn, we can clearly read about Creation, Solar energy, Water cycle. The Sun or solar energy is the main reason for life. Without it, life on earth would immediately cease to exist. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth, including the Nile and all rivers. And solar heating is an essential component of the water cycle. Water is also an essential element in every living organism.
So we can conclude, that the nature of the Aten daily activity revolves around recreating the earth on a daily and yearly basis. Two Great cycles: Cycle of a Day (diurnal cycle), and Cycle of a Year (seasonal cycle).