Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt
Overview
In the middle of the fourteenth century B.C.E., Egypt’s polytheistic religion was suddenly attacked by its most traditional upholder, the pharaoh. The short-lived revolution that followed continues to be as disturbing and enigmatic as the “heretic king,” Akhenaten, who set it in motion. Was Akhenaten the first monotheist, as he is widely reputed to be, or was he an opportunist, possibly even an atheist, who cloaked a political revolution in religious terms? Modern readers will now find it easier to address such questions by using this wide-ranging collection of documents, many of them never before translated into English, in which the full sweep of one of ancient history’s most fascinating periods lives anew.
Top Highlights
“City-states from Canaan to southern Syria acknowledged the pharaoh as their suzerain” (Page 2)
“In the middle of the fourteenth century b.c.e.1 Egypt was suddenly wracked by a revolution led, incongruously, by its god-king. Against all precedent, most of the ancient gods were overthrown and their temples closed.” (Page 1)
“The most detailed of surviving records come, unfortunately, from the Twentieth Dynasty, two centuries after the period covered in this book.” (Page 3)
“Given all these problems and the historical significance of the period in which they lie, it is hoped that readers will be in a better position to appreciate both by having within the covers of one book as much of the written evidence as seems pertinent.” (Page 2)
“a single god in the sky, worshiped through and alongside his earthly children, the king and queen.” (Page 1)
- Title: Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt
- Author: William Murnane
- Publisher: Scholars
- Publication Date: 1995
- Pages: 310
The late William Murnane received his B.A. from St. Anselm’s College and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He was the author or editor of 12 books, including The Temple of Khonsu, and wrote hundreds of articles on ancient history and culture. He was a visiting professor of Egyptology at the University of California at Berkeley and then joined the Department of History at the University of Memphis, which is where he taught courses on Egyptology and world civilization.
