Part 10 (2/2)

Akhnaton's G.o.d was the force which created the sun, the something which penetrated to this earth in the sun's heat and caused the vegetation to grow.

Amon-Ra and the G.o.ds of Egypt were for the most part but deified mortals, endued with monstrous, though limited, power, and still having around them traditions of exaggerated human deeds. Others had their origin in natural phenomena--the wind, the Nile, the sky, and so on. All were terrific, revengeful, and able to be moved by human emotions. But Akhnaton's G.o.d was the intangible and yet ever-present Father of mankind, made manifest in suns.h.i.+ne. The youthful High Priest called upon his followers to search for their G.o.d not in the confusion of battle or behind the smoke of human sacrifices, but amidst the flowers and trees, amidst the wild duck and the fishes. He preached an enlightened nature-study; he was perhaps the first apostle of the Simple Life. He strove to break down conventional religion, and ceaselessly urged his people to wors.h.i.+p in Truth, simply, without an excess of ceremonial.

While the elder G.o.ds had been manifest in natural convulsions and in the more awful incidents of life, Akhnaton's kindly G.o.d could be seen in the chick which broke out of its egg, in the wind which filled the sails of the s.h.i.+ps, in the fish which leapt from the water. Aton was the joy which caused the young sheep ”to dance upon their feet,” and the birds to ”flutter in their marshes.” He was the G.o.d of the simple pleasures of life, and Truth was the watchword of his followers.

It may be understood how the boy longed for truth in all things when one remembers the thousand exaggerated conventions of Egyptian life at this time. Court etiquette had developed to a degree which rendered life to the Pharaoh an endless round of unnatural poses of mind and body. In the preaching of his doctrine of truth and simplicity, Akhnaton did not fail to call upon his subjects to regard their Pharaoh not as a G.o.d but as a man. It was usual for the Pharaoh to keep aloof from his people: Akhnaton was to be found in their midst. The Court demanded that their lord should drive in solitary state through the city: Akhnaton sat in his chariot with his wife and children, and allowed the artist to represent him joking with his little daughter, who has mischievously poked the horses with a stick. In representing the Pharaoh, the artist was expected to draw him in some conventional att.i.tude of dignity: Akhnaton insisted upon being shown in all manner of natural att.i.tudes--now leaning languidly upon a staff, now nursing his children, now caressing his wife.

As has been said, one of the first artists to break away from the ancient conventions was in the service of Queen Tiy, and was probably under her influence. But in the radical change in the art which took place, Akhnaton is definitely stated to have been the leader, and the new school acknowledge that they were taught by the King. The new art is extraordinary, and it must be owned that its merit lies rather in its originality than in its beauty. An attempt is made to do away with the prescribed att.i.tudes and the strict proportions, and to portray any one individual with his natural defects. Some of the sculptured heads, however, which have come down to us, and notably the four ”canopic”

heads found in this tomb, are of wonderful beauty, and have no trace of traditional mannerisms, though they are highly idealised. The King's desire for light-heartedness led him to encourage the use of bright colours and gay decorations in the palace. Some of the ceiling and pavement paintings are of great beauty, while the walls and pillars inlaid with coloured stones must have given a brilliancy to the halls unequalled in Egypt at any previous time.

The group of n.o.bles who formed the King's Court had all sacrificed much in coming to the new capital. Their estates around Thebes had been left, their houses abandoned, and the tombs which were in process of being made for them in the Theban hills had been rendered useless. The King, therefore, showered favours upon them, and at his expense built their houses and constructed sepulchres for them. It is on the walls of these tombs that one obtains the main portion of one's information regarding the teachings of this wonderful youth, who was now growing into manhood. Here are inscribed those beautiful hymns to Aton which rank so high in ancient literature. It is unfortunate that s.p.a.ce does not allow more than a few extracts from the hymns to be quoted here; but something of their beauty may be realised from these. (Professor Breasted's translation.)

”Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of heaven, O living Aton, Beginning of life!

When thou risest in the eastern horizon of heaven Thou fillest every land with thy beauty.”

”Though thou art afar, thy rays are on earth; Though thou art on high, thy footprints are the day.”

”When thou settest in the western horizon of heaven The world is in darkness like the dead.

Men sleep in their chambers, their heads are wrapt up.

Every lion cometh forth from his den.

The serpents, they sting.

Darkness reigns, the world is in silence: He that made them has gone to rest in his horizon.”

”Bright is the earth when thou risest in the horizon ...

When thou sendest forth thy rays The two lands of Egypt are in daily festivity, Awake and standing upon their feet, For thou hast raised them up.

Their limbs bathed, they take their clothing, Their arms uplifted in adoration to thy dawning.

Then in all the world they do their work.”

”All cattle rest upon their herbage, all trees and plants flourish.

The birds flutter in their marshes, their wings uplifted in adoration to thee.

All the sheep dance upon their feet, All winged things fly; they live when thou hast shone upon them.”

”The barques sail up-stream and down-stream alike,...

The fish in the river leap up before thee, And thy rays are in the midst of the great sea.”

”Thou art he who createst the man-child in woman ...

Who giveth life to the son in the body of his mother; Who soothest him that he may not weep, A nurse even in the womb.”

”When the chick crieth in the egg-sh.e.l.l, Thou givest him breath therein to preserve him alive ...

He cometh forth from the egg, to chirp with all his might.

He runneth about upon his two feet.”

”How manifold are all thy works!

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