Course XXVI - Teaching 3: The Ancient Egypt

Here we must repeat again an ancient and ever-present question: is there a God Creator, or is there not a God Creator? And in possession of clear personal ideas one has to respond conscientiously.
In the end of nineteenth century, on the antechamber of the funeral chapel of a famous biologist, his friends of different trends are gathered. A Catholic man, talking to an old gentleman, expressed his grief because the biologist was not reconciled with God. “Do you feel”, the gentleman asked, “that he is far from God?” The Catholic man said, yes, as an atheist, he guided many people through the path of disbelief. The gentlemen urged: “Is it possible that this great being, knowing man and nature in depth, can be far from God?”
But, are there atheists? No in reference to persons who say they are atheists, that do no reflect on this and perhaps are unable to do, but in relation to those who are very interested in this matter. We can distinguish to types of believers in God.
The first type is of those who believe in a God Creator, outside them and different from them, inaccessible to them but with whom they can unite.
Of the second type are those who believe that the Self takes part in the Unity, of God, and tends to expand and fuse with Him.
We feel proper to outline the raison d’être of monotheistic and polytheistic currents.
You do not explain anything if you state that the former believe in only one God and the latter in several gods.
Aryan race, heir of the Atlanteans, in developing its individual and rational personality, needed to stick to the Self, and the projection of the Self resulted in monotheism. A perfect man needed a primordial and very perfect mould: God.
According to the link or opposition of the Self in regard to the world and to internal powers unknown to him, monotheism degenerated in a personal God. But the mind of the Aryan man, building a bridge between instinct and intuition and the power of reason, was able to construct infinite images like his own images, more or less perfect, and to create representations more or less exact of his divine mould, thus leading the souls to polytheism.
After the process of solidification of being, of the descent of the Self, this tends to join to other separate entities; it tends to expansion and, as a result of it, polytheism appears. It individualizes aspects of the Self to which the Self wants to join.
But always we have to consider that the Non-Manifested aspect is expressed by the Manifested aspect, and that the latter is a support of the former.
Aryan man, in perfecting his own ego, perfected his monotheistic belief, and in perfecting his chances of similarity, developed and perfected his polytheistic belief.
The polytheistic worship reached its summit in Egypt, before the personal worship of Osiris. Priests developed the mind to know more and more; they do not think of love like monotheists did, but like something loftier and divine. Many of these priests were of royal blood and the Pharaoh always married a woman of his blood. This occurred for millennia. Otherwise, they believed that they would lose the divine and royal power, and this actually occurred.
Along with the polytheism of Amon’s priests, the monotheistic worship prevails among the black nomads, as much in Asia as in Africa.
The esoteric teachings of both currents and a strict practice of their rites were kept and observed as much in Temples of Amon’s Priests as in Temples of Mitania, Kush, Punt and others.
But these two forces had to fight in order to prevail, and this occurred in the times of Iknaton, the first historic personality of the Egyptian era, when the so-called religious war of the two suns was waged.
In the times of the XVIII Dynasty, the first symptoms of a religious crisis appeared in Egypt, culminating with the fight of the two suns, Amon and Aton.
Tutmosis IV married an Asiatic princess of Mitania, and by this Asiatic influence several important religious changes took place, since when his grandson Amenophis IV occupied the throne (1375 b. C.), the fight against Amon’s Temple began, and as neither Amenophis nor his Asiatic wife take the traditional oath on God Amon, the former was later called the Heretic Pharaoh.
He came to the throne at the age of 12, openly worshipped the Only God whom he called Sun Aton, and later took the name of Iknaton (Aton is satisfied).
The esoteric monotheistic school, animated by the concept of fraternal unity, was gaining ground by the concept of the Only God; images were not worshipped, but a solar disk extending its rays whose ends are like hands that hold the Ank, sign of life. Amon’s school is suppressed and persecuted along with its great hierarchies and many gods, and its immense wealth is confiscated. Its priests were exiled or hidden. And the bald priests belonging to Amon’s school were substituted for the long-haired priests of Aton.
In this time, the art experiences a great evolution; symbolic and hieratic shapes are substituted for real living shapes; but now the size of the Pharaoh is bigger than the rest of figures. Teye, the mother of Iknaton, apparently got on well with these inclinations of her son, but not openly.
Merit-Aton, the first child, is born in the fifth year of Iknaton’s reign. In this time, other gods survived beside Aton. But this situation should not last, for the Pharaoh came into open conflict with Amon-Ra’s priests. This occurred shortly afterwards Tii’s death, and from this we can deduce that her activity was that of moderation.
For a better worship of his God, Iknaton decides to leave Thebes and build the City of Aton’s Horizon. Then, Thebes became a city of province with a weakened priesthood.
Then he changes his own name, Amenophis (Amon’s Peace), for Iknaton.
The new city was built on an island, in the Nile River, about 250 kilometers South of the present Cairo. Shortly afterwards Meket-Aton –Protected by Aton– is born.
The new city is established during the eight year. An-khes-en-pe-Aton –She lives for Aton– is born. Nefer-neferu-Aton is born in the eleventh year. The new religion starts developing. The “Hymn to Aton” is written about this time.
The Nefertiti’s influence becomes patent.
Al-Ra is appointed High Priest of Aton.
Two new daughters are born during the thirteen and the fifteen year.
Teye, mother of Iknaton, visits the Temple in the City of Aton’s Horizon. Shortly afterwards she dies and is buried in Thebes.
Her death means the end of moderation: the name of Amon is systematically deleted, even in the tiniest objects. Of millions of known inscriptions, just some few remained.
Even in the tomb of Amenophis III his name was substituted for that of Nis-Maat-Ra.
Also there is a strange detail: he called Nefer-Ne-Feru-Ra to his fifth daughter, and Sotep-en-Ra to her fourth daughter; in both cases, “Ra” instead of “Aton”, as he did with his first four daughters. He wished a son. But after six “disappointments”, he even had his seventh disappointment. He had no other descendants that at least would survive the early childhood. His first daughter married an Egyptian noble named Smenk-ha-Ra.
At the request of the King of Babylon for every one of his sons, Amenophis granted his fourth daughter. His third daughter married Tutank-Aton, who later was the Pharaoh Tutankamon.
His second sick daughter died being young, as well as Beket-Aton, sister of Iknaton.
And because his health was poor, quite soon he built his tomb.
He has not a successor, and the prospect of his religion was somber.
Foreign affairs worsened his situation, such as disputes with Babylon and the Hittites, adventures of Asiru, and so on. Iknaton developed a strange passivity, and the loyal Risaddi, King of Byblos, did not count on his help.
Pharaohs celebrated the jubilee after thirty years of reign. Iknaton celebrated it at the age of 30, as if he wished to take back his reign to his birth date.
Now, at this age he was slim and emaciated. He decides to delete from any inscription not only the name of Amon but also those of all gods. Just Amon remained. This decision was not strictly observed. Even the names of Hathir, Etha, et cetera, and the plural “Gods”, were deleted.
Insofar as he deleted just the name of Amon, he had “one” clergy against him; later all priests were against him.
Seemingly Horenheb, the chief of the army, in disagreement with the pacifistic politics of Iknaton, secretly planned his future campaigns, perhaps in collusion with Meri-Ra, the High Priest of Aton. With no descendants and with many people against him, even among his officials, he granted his trust to Smenkara, who married with high pomp his elder daughter when she was twelve years old.
He associated his son-in-law to the regency, and when he finally succeeded him, adopted as epithet “Beloved of Iknaton”.
An associate in the throne was an insufficient step. Syria was almost lost, and the considerable expenses derived from the construction of Aton’s Horizon exhausted the immense Egyptian treasure. Doubtless he was aware of the impossible survival of Aton’s religion, and this actually occurred. We only know that he died with the collapse of his empire. His mummy reveals the existence of a criminal attack. Apparently he was epileptic. Then he would be about thirty years old. Seemingly it was the year eighteen of his reign, but in certain inscription there is a mention to the nineteen year. We do not know anything more about Nefertiti. Seemingly she survives one year to his husband. Tutankhaton, his son-in-law and successor, was persuaded to come back to Thebes, and then the City of the Horizon was definitively abandoned. Later, after a time of appeasement between Aton’s and Amon’s worships, the worship of Amon prevailed by the influence of Horenheb, the chief of the army.
Amon’s clergy entirely recovered its influence forty years after the death of Iknaton. They deleted his name, and people mentioned him as “the criminal”. Amenophis IV’s inscriptions remained untouched. The Temple of Aton, in Karnac, is demolished. Iknaton is buried in the tomb of Teye. They open the tomb, take out the corpse and cut any reference to his name in his bands. They erase inscriptions. Finally his corpse is put back in the coffin.
The Fight of the Two Suns refers to this fight between Amon and Aton.
Curiously, this seed left by the followers of Aton crystallized in Osiris, incarnate and dead among men for the salvation of the world.