Hymns to Aten

The first Hymn (A) is put into the mouth of Aakhunaten, and is known as the "Shorter Hymn to Aten." Several copies of it have been found in the tombs at Tall al-'Amarnah. Texts of it have been published by Bouriant, Daressy, Piehl and others, but the most correct version is that copied from the tomb of Api and published by Mr. N. de G. Davies. 1 The second Hymn (B) is found in the tomb of Ai, and is known as the "Longer Hymn to Aten." The text was first published by Bouriant in Mission Archéologique, tom. I, p. 2, but badly, and he revised it in his Monuments du Culte d'Atonou, I., pl. xvi. A good

text with a Latin translation was published by Breasted in his De Hymnis in Solem sub rege Amenophide IV conceptis, Berlin, 1894, and English versions of most of it were given by him in his History of Egypt, p. 315, and in other publications. Other versions and extracts have been published by Griffith, World's Literature, p. 5225; Wiedemann, Religion, pp. 40-42; Hall, Ancient History, p. 306; Erman, Religion, p. 64, etc. The best text yet published is that of Davies 1 and that, with a few trivial alterations, is reproduced in the following pages. In recent years this Hymn has been extolled as a marvellously beautiful religious composition, and parts of it have been compared with some of the Hebrew Psalms. In consequence it has been regarded as an expression of sublime human aspirations, and the outcome of a firm belief in a God who was a counterpart of the Yahweh of the Hebrews and identical with God Almighty. But if we examine the Hymn., line by line, and compare it with the Hymns to Ra, Amen and other gods, we find that there is hardly an idea in it which is not borrowed from the older Egyptian religious books. Aten is called the eternal, almighty, self-produced, living, or self-subsisting, creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them, and "one god alone." His heat and light are the sources of all life and only for these and the material benefits that they confer on man and beast is Aten praised in these hymns. There is nothing spiritual in them, nothing to appeal to man's higher nature. The language in which they are written is simple and clear, but there is nothing remarkable about the phraseology, unless the statements are dogmatic declarations like

the articles of a creed. A very interesting characteristic of the hymns to Aten is the writer's insistence on the beauty and power of light, and it may be permitted to wonder if this is not due to Mitannian influence, and the penetration into Egypt of Aryan ideas concerning Mitra, Varuna, and Surya or Savitri, the Sun-god. Aten, or Horus of the Two Horizons, corresponds closely to Surya, the rising and setting sun, Ra to Savitri, the sun shining in full strength, "the golden-eyed, the golden-handed, and golden tongued." "As the Vivifier and Quickener, he raises his long arms of gold in the morning, rouses all beings from their slumber, infuses energy into them, and buries them in sleep in the evening." 1 Surya, the rising and setting sun, like Aten, was the great source of light and heat, and therefore Lord of life itself. He is the Dyaus Pitar, the "Heaven-Father." Aten, like Surya, was the "fountain of living Light," 2, with the all-seeing, eye, whose beams revealed his presence, and "gleaming like brilliant flames " 3 went to nation after nation. Aten was not only the light of the sun which seems to give new life to man and to ail creation, but the giver of light and all life in general. The bringer of light and life to-day, he is the same who brought light and life on the first of days, therefore Aten is eternal. Light begins the day, so it was the beginning of creation; therefore Aten is the creator, neither made with hands nor begotten, and is the Governor of the world. The earth was fertilized by Aten, therefore he is the Father-Mother of all creatures. His eye saw everything and knew everything. The hymns to Aten suggest that

[paragraph continues] Amenhetep IV and his followers conceived an image of him in their minds and worshipped him inwardly. But the abstract conception of thinking was wholly inconceivable to the average Egyptian, who only understood things in a concrete form. It was probably some conception of this kind that made the cult of Aten so unpopular with the Egyptians, and caused its downfall. Aten, like Varuna, possessed a mysterious presence, a mysterious power, and a mysterious knowledge. He made the sun to shine, the winds were his breath, he made the sea, and caused the rivers to flow. He was omniscient, and though he lived remote in the heavens he was everywhere present on earth. And a passage in the Rig-Veda would form an admirable description of him.

Light-giving Varuna! Thy piercing glance doth scan

In quick succession all this stirring active world.

And penetrateth, too, the broad ethereal space,

Measuring our days and nights and spying out all creatures. 1

But Varuna possessed one attribute, which, so far as we know, was wanting in Aten; he spied out sin and judged the sinner. The early Aryan prayed to him, saying, "Be gracious, O Mighty God, be gracious. I have sinned through want of power; be gracious. What great sin is it, Varuna, for which thou seekest in thy worshipper and friend? Tell me, O unassailable and self-dependent god; and, freed from sin, I shall speedily come to thee for adoration." 2

[paragraph continues] And Varuna was a constant witness of men's truth and falsehood. The early Aryan also prayed to Surya, and addressed to him the Gayatri, a formula which is the mother of the Vedas and of the Brahmans. He said to the god, "May we attain the excellent glory of the divine Vivifier: so may he enlighten or stimulate our understanding." The words secured salvation for a man. 1 No consciousness of sin is expressed in any Aten text now known, and the Hymns to Aten contain no petition for spiritual enlightenment, understanding or wisdom. For what then did the follower of Aten pray? An answer to this question is given in the Teaching of Amenemapt, the son of Kanekht, who says:--

"Make the prayer which is due from thee to the Aten, when he is rising,

Say, Grant to me, I beseech, strength [and] health.

He will give thy provision for the life.

And thou shalt be safe from that which would terrify [thee]." 2

Footnotes

75:1 See Davis, The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, London, 1910.

77:1 Ancient History of the Near East, p. 298.

80:1 The object of this festival seems to have been to prolong the life of the king, who dressed himself as Osiris, and assumed the attributes of Osiris, and by means of the rites and ceremonies performed became absorbed into the god. In this way the king renewed his life and divinity.

91:1 Babylonian Room, Table-Case F. No. 72 (29855).

92:1 The names of the seven daughters of Aakhunaten were 1. Aten-merit, 2. Maket-Aten, 3. Ankh-s-en-pa-Aten, 4. Nefer-neferu-Aten the little, 5. Nefer-neferu-Ra, 6. Setep-en-Ra, 7. Bakt-Aten. The first daughter married her father's co-regent, Sakara. The second died young and was buried in a tomb in the eastern hills. The third married Tutankhaten (Amen).

92:2 The tombs of all these have been admirably published by Davies, The Rock Tombs of El-Amarna. Six vols. London, 1903-08.

100:1 All these letters and reports are written in cuneiform upon clay tablets, of which over three hundred were found by a native woman at Tall al-'Amarnah in 1887-8. Summaries of the contents of those in the British Museum were published by Bezold and Budge in Tell el-Amarna Tablets, London, 1892, and by Bezold in Oriental Diplomacy, London, 1893. The texts of all the letters in London, Berlin, and Cairo were published, together with a German translation of them, by Winckler; another German translation was published by Knudtzon. The texts, with translations by Thureau-Dangin, of the six letters acquired by the Louvre in 1918, are published in Revue d'Assyriologie, Vol. XIX, Paris, 1921. Three of the letters are from Palestinian governors and two from Syrian chiefs; the third is by the King of Egypt and is addressed to Intaruda, governor of Aksaph.

103:1 Some interesting remarks by Dr. H. Asselbergs on the old and new style of bas-relief work in the reign of Amenhetep IV, with a photographic reproduction of a block published by Prisse in his Monuments, plate 10, No. 1, will be found in Aegyptische Zeitschrift, Band 58 (1923), P. 36 ff.

104:1 It was first Published by Hall, Catalogue of Scarabs, p. 302.

109:1 This discovery has been attributed to Petrie by Mr. Garvin in the Observer, February 25, 1923. I have told the true story of the "find" in my Nile and Tigris, Vol. I, p. 140 ff.

109:2 He dug there from November, 1891, to the end of March, 1892. See his Tell el Amarna, London, 1894, 4to.

110:1 See his preliminary Report in the Journal of Egyptian Archæology, Vol. VII (1921), p. 169 ff.

111:1 For the published literature see his Rock Tombs, Vol. IV, p. 28.

112:1 Ibid., Vol. VI, pl. xxvii.

113:1 Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, p. 33.

113:2 See Martin, Gods of India, p. 35.

113:3 Monier-Williams, Indian Wisdom, p. 19.

114:1 Monier-Williams' translation.

114:2 Rig-Veda, VII, 86, 3-6.

115:1 Martin, The Gods of India, p. 39.

115:2 Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, ed. Budge, 2nd Series, London, 1923, pl. 5.

A.--A HYMN TO ATEN BY THE KING. 1

A HYMN OF PRAISE TO THE LIVING HORUS OF THE TWO HORIZONS, WHO REJOICETH IN THE HORIZON IN HIS NAME OF "SHU, WHO IS IN THE ATEN" (i.e., DISK), THE GIVER OF LIFE FOR EVER AND EVER, BY THE KING WHO LIVETH IN TRUTH, THE LORD OF THE TWO LANDS, NEFER-KHEPERU-RA UA-EN-RA, SON OF RA, WHO LIVETH IN TRUTH, LORD OF THE CROWNS, AAKHUNATEN, GREAT IN THE DURATION OF HIS LIFE, GIVER OF LIFE FOR EVER AND EVER.

[He saith]:--

Thou risest gloriously, O thou Living Aten, Lord of Eternity! Thou art sparkling (or coruscating), beautiful, [and] mighty. Thy love is mighty and great . . . thy light, of diverse colours, leadeth captive (or, bewitcheth) all faces. Thy skin shineth brightly to make all hearts to live. Thou fillest the Two Lands with thy love, O thou god, who did[st] build [thy]self. Maker of every land, Creator of whatsoever there is upon it, [viz.] men and women, cattle, beasts of every kind, and trees of every kind that grow on the land.

They live when thou shinest upon them. Thou art the mother [and] father of what thou hast made; their eyes, when thou risest, turn their gaze upon thee. Thy rays at dawn light up the whole earth. Every heart beateth high at the sight of thee, [for] thou risest as their Lord.

Thou settest in the western horizon of heaven, they lie down in the same way as those who are dead. Their heads are wrapped up in cloth, their nostrils are blocked, until thy rising taketh place at dawn in the eastern horizon of heaven. Their hands then are lifted up in adoration of thy

[paragraph continues] KA (or person); thou vivifiest hearts with thy beauties (or, beneficent acts), which are life. Thou sendest forth thy beams, [and] every land is in festival. Singing men, singing women, [and] chorus men make joyful noises in the Hall of the House of the Benben Obelisk, [and] in every temple in [the city of] Aakhut-Aten, the Seat of Truth, wherewith thy heart is satisfied. Within it are dedicated offerings of rich food (?).

Thy son is sanctified (or, ceremonially pure) to perform the things which thou willest, O thou Aten, when he showeth himself in the appointed processions.

Every creature that thou hast made skippeth towards thee, thy honoured son [rejoiceth], his heart is glad, O thou Living Aten, who [appearest] in heaven every day. He hath brought forth his honoured son, UA-EN-RA, like his own form, never ceasing so to do. The son of Ra supporteth his beauties (or beneficent acts).

NEFER-KHEPERU-RA UA-EN-RA [saith]:--

I am thy son, satisfying thee, exalting thy name. Thy strength [and] thy power are established in my heart. Thou art the Living Disk, eternity is thine emanation (or, attribute). Thou hast made the heavens to be remote so that thou

mightest shine therein and gaze upon everything that thou hast made. Thou thyself art Alone, but there are millions of [powers of] life in thee to make them (i.e., thy creatures) live. Breath of life is it to [their] nostrils to see thy beams. Buds burst into flower (?), [and] the plants which grow on the waste lands send up shoots at thy rising; they drink themselves drunk before thy face. All the beasts frisk about on their feet; all the feathered fowl rise up from their nests and flap their wings with joy, and circle round in praise of the Living Aten. . . .

Footnotes

116:1 See N. de G. Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, Vol. IV, pl. xxxii, xxxiii. The text is from the Tomb of Api at Tall al-'Amarnah, with an addition from the tomb of Tutu.

B.--HYMN TO ATEN 1

BY

AI, OVERSEER OF THE HORSE OF AAKHUNATEN.

1. A Hymn of praise of Her-aakhuti, the living one exalted in the Eastern Horizon in his name of Shu who is in the Aten, who liveth for ever and ever, the living and great Aten, he who is in the Set-Festival, the lord of the Circle, the Lord of the Disk, the Lord of heaven, the Lord of earth, the lord of the House of the Aten in Aakhut-Aten, [of] the King of the South and the North, who liveth in Truth, lord of the Two Lands (i.e., Egypt), NEFER-KHEPERU-RA UA-EN-RA, the son of Ra,

who liveth in Truth, Lord of Crowns, AAKHUN-ATEN, great in the period of his life, [and of] the great royal woman (or wife) whom he loveth, Lady of the Two Lands, NEFER-NEFERU-ATEN NEFERTITI, who liveth in health and youth for ever and ever.

2. He (i.e., Ai, a Fan-bearer and the Master of the King's Horse) saith:--

Thy rising [is] beautiful in the horizon of heaven, O Aten, ordainer of life. Thou dost shoot up in the horizon of the East, thou fillest every land with thy beneficence. Thou art beautiful and great and sparkling, and exalted above every land.. Thy arrows

[paragraph continues] (i.e., rays) envelop (i.e., penetrate) everywhere all the lands which thou hast made.

3. Thou art as Ra. Thou bringest [them] according to their number, thou subduest them for thy beloved son. Thou thyself art afar off, but thy beams are upon the earth; thou art in their faces, they [admire] thy goings.

Thou settest in the horizon of the west, the earth is in darkness, in the form of death. Men lie down in a booth wrapped up in cloths, one eye cannot see its fellow.

[paragraph continues] If all their possessions, which are under their heads, be carried away they perceive it not.

4. Every lion emergeth from his lair, all the creeping things bite, darkness [is] a warm retreat (?). The land is in silence. He who made them hath set in his horizon.

The earth becometh light, thou shootest up in the horizon, shining in the Aten in the day, thou scatterest the darkness. Thou sendest out thine arrows (i.e., rays),

the Two Lands make festival, [men] wake up, stand upon their feet, it is thou who raisest them up. [They] wash their members, they take [their apparel]

5. and array themselves therein, their hands are [stretched out] in praise at thy rising, throughout the land they do their works.

Beasts and cattle of all kinds settle down upon the pastures, shrubs and vegetables flourish, the feathered fowl fly about over their marshes, their feathers praising thy Ka (person). All the cattle rise up on their legs, creatures that fly and insects of all kinds

6. spring into life, when thou risest up on them.

The boats drop down and sail up the river, likewise every road openeth (or showeth itself) at thy rising, the fish in the river swim towards thy face, thy beams are in the depths of the Great Green (i.e., the Mediterranean and Red Seas).

Thou makest offspring to take form in women, creating seed in men. Thou makest the son to live in the womb of his mother, making him to be quiet that he crieth not; thou art a nurse

7. in the womb, giving breath to vivify that which he hath made. [When] he droppeth from the womb . . . on the day of his birth [he] openeth his mouth in the [ordinary] manner, thou providest his sustenance.

The young bird in the egg speaketh in the shell, thou givest breath to him inside it to make him to live. Thou makest for him his mature form so that he can crack the shell [being] inside the egg. He cometh forth from the egg, he chirpeth with all

his might, when he hath come forth from it (the egg), he walketh on his two feet.

O how many are the things which thou hast made!

They are hidden from the face, O thou

8. One God, like whom there is no other. Thou didst create the earth by thy heart (or will), thou alone existing, men and women, cattle, beasts of every kind that are upon the earth, and that move upon feet (or legs), all the creatures that are in the sky and that fly with their wings, [and] the deserts of Syria and Kesh (Nubia), and the Land of Egypt.

Thou settest every person in his place. Thou providest their daily food, every man having the portion allotted to him, [thou] dost compute the duration of his life. Their tongues are different in speech, their characteristics (or forms), and

9. likewise their skins [in colour], giving distinguishing marks to the dwellers in foreign lands.

Thou makest Hapi (the Nile) in the Tuat (Underworld), thou bringest it when thou wishest to make mortals to live, inasmuch as thou hast made them for thyself, their Lord who dost support them to

the uttermost, O thou Lord of every land, thou shinest upon them, O ATEN of the day, thou great one of majesty.

Thou makest the life of all remote lands. Thou settest a Nile in heaven, which cometh down to them.

10. It maketh a flood on the mountains like the Great Green Sea, it maketh to be watered their fields in their villages. How beneficent are thy plans, O Lord of Eternity! A Nile in heaven art thou for the dwellers in the foreign lands (or deserts), and for all the beasts of the desert that go upon

feet (or legs). Hapi (the Nile) cometh from the Tuat for the land of Egypt. Thy beams nourish every field; thou risest up [and] they live, they germinate for thee.

Thou makest the Seasons to develop everything that thou hast made:

11. The season of Pert (i.e., Nov. 16-March 16) so that they may refresh themselves, and the season Heh (i.e., March 16-Nov. 16) in order to taste thee. 1 Thou hast made the heaven which is remote that thou mayest shine therein and look upon everything

that thou hast made. Thy being is one, thou shinest (or, shootest up) among thy creatures as the LIVING ATEN, rising, shining, departing afar off, returning. Thou hast made millions of creations (or, evolutions) from thy one self (viz.) towns and cities, villages, fields, roads and river. Every eye (i.e., all men) beholdeth thee confronting it. Thou art the Aten of the day at its zenith.

12. At thy departure thine eye . . . thou didst create their faces so that thou mightest not see. . . . ONE thou didst

make . . . Thou art in my heart. There is no other who knoweth thee except thy son Nefer-kheperu-Ra Ua-en-Ra. Thou hast made him wise to understand thy plans [and] thy power. The earth came into being by thy hand, even as thou hast created them (i.e., men). Thou risest, they live; thou settest, they die. As for thee, there is duration of life in thy members, life is in thee. [All] eyes [gaze upon]

13. thy beauties until thou settest, [when] all labours are relinquished. Thou settest in the West, thou risest, making to flourish . . . for the King. Every man who

[paragraph continues] [standeth on his] foot, since thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, thou hast raised up for thy son who came forth from thy body, the King of the South and the North, Living in Truth, Lord of Crowns, Aakhun-Aten, great in the duration of his life [and for] the Royal Wife, great of majesty, Lady of the Two Lands, Nefer-neferu-Aten Nefertiti, living [and] young for ever and ever.

Footnotes

122:1 See N. de G. Davies, op. cit., Vol. VI, pl. xxvii.

132:1 i.e., for men to feel the heart of Shu who is in the Aten.