ORIGIN Egyptian. Creator sun god.
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 2000 BC until late in Egyptian history, but of little influence after 1362 BC.
SYNONYMS Aton.
CENTER(S) OF CULT chiefly at Thebes but also at Heliopolis, Memphis, el-Amarna and other sanctuaries in the Nile valley.
ART REFERENCES monument at Giza, wall paintings at Karnak and el-Amarna.
LITERARY SOURCES various papyri, inscriptions and coffin texts.
Aten, the sun as a disc, was revered as a numen in his own right, distinct from Atum or Re, from circa 2000 BC and possibly earlier. His influence had been growing under several pharaohs including Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV and Amenhotep III, who initiated a cult of Aten at Heliopolis.
Aten rose to ultimate supremacy for a brief period during the reign of Amenhotep IV who renamed himself Akhenaten in honor of the god. During Akhenaten’s reign from 1379 BC Aten became the supreme god of Egypt, eclipsing all others.
The iconography of Aten is very distinctive. It began as a winged sun disc with outstretched arms, but this was refined into a sun disc embellished with the uraeus (see WADJET) and subtended by thin arms, like the rays of the sun, each of which ends in a human hand. Where the latter point toward a royal personage they hold the ankh symbol of life. The god is never drawn in human or animal form.
Akhenaten first built a sanctuary to Aten adjacent to that of AMUN in the Karnak complex at Thebes. The main cult center was to the north of Thebes on the east bank of the Nile at el-Amarna, where a huge sanctuary was constructed. It was open to the sky (and the rays of Aten) and the main ceremonials took place at dawn. It acted as a contentious rival to the cult of Amun-Re at Karnak, which Akhenaten suppressed. All the temples to Aten were later destroyed, as was most of his iconography. Akhenaten ruled from el-Amarna for the remainder of his reign. One of his queens, Nefertiti, was also a staunch Aten worshiper.
The elevation of Aten was influenced by politics (the strength of the Amun-Re priesthood was becoming excessive), and it is notable that Akhenaten alone had access to, or knowledge of, the god.
Aten worship was also undeniably the result of a growing interest in the concept of a single creator god and was the first arguable demonstration of monotheism. Very little detail of the cult survives.
Witch's Well 