Aten Sightings
- The Story of Sinuhe 1800BC
I made my grand appearance in literature in the story of Sinuhe, which told of an ancient courtier who traveled to distant lands. Sinuhe describes his master, the king, as flitting up to heaven to unite with the sun-disk (a.k.a. Aten). They got disky with it!
- Two Hymns to the Sun God 1600BC - 1300BC
Two lil' bros, Suti and Hor, wrote about how much they loved me (and all the other sun gods) on a stele. What's a stele? It's like a big stone block people carve important things on and stick in the ground. Obviously, the best part of the stele is where my boys Suti and Hor get with the program and focus on me, calling me the "creator of all." Pretty nice, right? It makes two pretty big points: first, I get the credit I deserve for, you know, making everything live. It's also proves that people knew who I was before Akhenaten put me on the map.
- The Later Boundary Stele of Amenhotep IV Akhenaten 1352BC - 1338BC
Akhenaten outdid himself here. On this stone marking the borders of his capital, he called me all sorts of lovely names. He dubs me "Dad" and talks about all the nive chints he did for me. I was super stoked, because he did me the huge honor of naming his new capital "Akhetaten," or "Horizon of the Aten." Later, folks wound up calling it "Amarna."
- The Great Hymn to the Aten 1352BC - 1338BC
Akhy wrote me a really nice note, which he turned into a prayer. He mentions how I banish the darkness every day and calls me the only deity in the world. I rule over many nations–including Egypt–and am pretty awesome overall.
- The Tomb of Ay 1352BC - 1338BC
Ay, Akhy's advisor who later became pharaoh, praised me here, but dissed me elsewhere. He dropped me all these sweet lines: saying that I kiss the ground when I get up in the morning and shine. He didn't let Akhenaten go without a little lovin' just for him. In his tomb, Ay gave him all sorts of pet names.