Changes

The word Aton/Aten (''Itn'') is an old Egyptian word meaning a disc, for example for the moon or a mirror; the sun as a heavenly body; a place where solar gods may manifest; or the name of a deity. It is with the latter that we associate it. Aton was a deity in Egypt from the 18th Dynasty onwards. On a scarab of Thutmose IV the Aton is mentioned as a god of battles – “the King fought with the Aton before him…to make the foreigners to be like the [Egyptian] people…in order to serve the Aton forever.” By the time of Amenhotep III the Aton was definitely seen as a god in his own right, and seems to have had a cult of his own by that stage: an official named Penbuy was named “scribe of the treasury of the temple of the Aten”

The word Aton/Aten (''Itn'') is an old Egyptian word meaning a disc, for example for the moon or a mirror; the sun as a heavenly body; a place where solar gods may manifest; or the name of a deity. It is with the latter that we associate it. Aton was a deity in Egypt from the 18th Dynasty onwards. On a scarab of Thutmose IV the Aton is mentioned as a god of battles – “the King fought with the Aton before him…to make the foreigners to be like the [Egyptian] people…in order to serve the Aton forever.” By the time of Amenhotep III the Aton was definitely seen as a god in his own right, and seems to have had a cult of his own by that stage: an official named Penbuy was named “scribe of the treasury of the temple of the Aten”

The early worship of this deity was not monotheistic in any sense. The famous sun hymn of the brothers Suti and Hor (which may or may not have been the inspiration for [[Akhenaten]]’s sun-hymns) praised [[Amun]] in his form as [[Re]], [[Kheperi]], [[Harakhte]], [[Khnum]] and [[Aten]]. He was a solar god among other solar gods, but yet (as yet) as important as Ra.

The early worship of this deity was not monotheistic in any sense. The famous sun hymn of the brothers Suti and Hor (which may or may not have been the inspiration for [[Akhenaten]]’s sun-hymns) praised [[Amun]] in his form as [[Ra]], [[Kheperi]], [[Harakhte]], [[Khnum]] and [[Aten]]. He was a solar god among other solar gods, but yet (as yet) as important as Ra.

While Atonism was not unknown before the time of Amenhotep IV, it was during his reign that the Aton gained great (even sole) prominence among the gods.

While Atonism was not unknown before the time of Amenhotep IV, it was during his reign that the Aton gained great (even sole) prominence among the gods.