DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11365#0054
HISTORICAL RESULTS.
44
Here we see that whether we regard the total
number of objects, or the number of varieties,
Ra-smenkh-ka (who only lived at Tell el Amarna
two or three years in place of Akhenaten's twelve
years) has between a third and a half of the numbers
of Akhenaten. And Tut-ankh-amen is nearly as well
represented as Ra-smenkh-ka. Allowing for the
absence of any palace rubbish (which was the greatest
supply of Akhenaten's objects), the proportion of
objects of Ra-smenkh-ka and of Tut-ankh-amen is
quite as large in proportion to the length of reigns as
that of Akhenaten's. Hence the activity of the
factories shews that it is very unlikely that they
ceased in two or three years after Akhenaten ; on the
contrary it agrees well with the length of reigns of
his successors given by Josephus. The proportion of
the Amen objects in those of Tut-ankh-amen also
agrees closely with the proportion of years just
named by the chronology. From that I suggested
that 6 years were on the Aten system, and the
remaining 3 on the Amen system: and we see that
the proportion of the total numbers is about 2 to 1,
and of varieties 3 to 1, which is a remarkable agree-
ment for a method which is only approximate.
101. The worship of Aten being abandoned then
about eighteen years after Akhenaten's death, the
purpose of the town as a religious centre ceased.
Yet the population did not leave it ; the number of
Amen rings seems to shew that until the death of
Tut-ankh-amen the factories still continued. Then
comes a blank, when the town appears to have been
rapidly deserted. Yet the Aten worship was not
proscribed, and the priests appear on the accession of
Horemheb to have put up his name on the existing
buildings, from the fragment (XI, 5) which was
found.
But Horemheb finally abolished the Aten worship.
His pylon at Thebes is built of the blocks of Akhen-
aten's Theban buildings; and he seems to have
rapidly removed everything at Tell el Amarna. Not
only the stone buildings, but their very foundations
were eradicated ; in all our work there was not one
stone left in its place that was large enough to be
worth using; a few patches of mortar and small
stones were the whole remains in situ. This proves
that the destruction was very rapid and systematic.
When a building is only resorted to for stone as
required, the upper parts are ruined first, chips accu-
mulate, and the foundations, and perhaps the lower
courses, are so encumbered as not to be worth ex-
traction. But here the clearance must have been
made systematically, clearing out one part thoroughly
before going further. And with this accords also the
erasure of the Aten, and the names of Akhenaten
and the queen, on most of the rock monuments.
Akhenaten in his new zeal had erased the name of
Amen from end to end of Egypt ; and now the
revenge came of erasing the Aten worship and its
founder, from the face of the land, and from the page
of history. All the new ideals, the "living in the
truth," the veneration of the rays, the naturalism in
art, the ethical views, all melted away, without leaving
perceptible trace on the minds and ways of the
Egyptians ; and they rushed on into an age of war-
fare and decadence. Horemheb seems to have
deported all the stone of Tell el Amarna, and used
it for foundations and building throughout the lower
country; at Memphis, at Heliopolis, great quantities
of these remains have been found; and considering
the immense amount that was removed from Tell el
Amarna, there is as yet no proof that the remains of
Akhenaten in other places shew that he built else-
where below Thebes; but only that Horemheb, and
perhaps Seti I, had brought their stone away from
the capital. Akhenaten's oath not to leave Tell el
Amarna, suggests that he limited his work to that
place.
102. Such was the fall of one of the great move-
ments of human thought, carried out by a single
idealist, who set himself against the traditions, the
religion, and the habits of his country. Even his
royal position might not have enabled him to make
such a change, had he not possessed a character of
boldness and extreme tenacity—-perhaps a dreamy
obstinacy—with much delicacy of feeling, kindness of
manner, a sense of humour, and a pleasure in popular
enjoyments. All this may be seen in his face—his
very own face that we have preserved in the death-
mask, apart from all transcription. In his remarkable
position, the greatness of his changes, the modernity
of his thoughts, the wreck of his ideas, this strange
humanist is one of the most fascinating characters of
history ; and into his face we can now look, as if we
had seen him in the flesh.
44
Here we see that whether we regard the total
number of objects, or the number of varieties,
Ra-smenkh-ka (who only lived at Tell el Amarna
two or three years in place of Akhenaten's twelve
years) has between a third and a half of the numbers
of Akhenaten. And Tut-ankh-amen is nearly as well
represented as Ra-smenkh-ka. Allowing for the
absence of any palace rubbish (which was the greatest
supply of Akhenaten's objects), the proportion of
objects of Ra-smenkh-ka and of Tut-ankh-amen is
quite as large in proportion to the length of reigns as
that of Akhenaten's. Hence the activity of the
factories shews that it is very unlikely that they
ceased in two or three years after Akhenaten ; on the
contrary it agrees well with the length of reigns of
his successors given by Josephus. The proportion of
the Amen objects in those of Tut-ankh-amen also
agrees closely with the proportion of years just
named by the chronology. From that I suggested
that 6 years were on the Aten system, and the
remaining 3 on the Amen system: and we see that
the proportion of the total numbers is about 2 to 1,
and of varieties 3 to 1, which is a remarkable agree-
ment for a method which is only approximate.
101. The worship of Aten being abandoned then
about eighteen years after Akhenaten's death, the
purpose of the town as a religious centre ceased.
Yet the population did not leave it ; the number of
Amen rings seems to shew that until the death of
Tut-ankh-amen the factories still continued. Then
comes a blank, when the town appears to have been
rapidly deserted. Yet the Aten worship was not
proscribed, and the priests appear on the accession of
Horemheb to have put up his name on the existing
buildings, from the fragment (XI, 5) which was
found.
But Horemheb finally abolished the Aten worship.
His pylon at Thebes is built of the blocks of Akhen-
aten's Theban buildings; and he seems to have
rapidly removed everything at Tell el Amarna. Not
only the stone buildings, but their very foundations
were eradicated ; in all our work there was not one
stone left in its place that was large enough to be
worth using; a few patches of mortar and small
stones were the whole remains in situ. This proves
that the destruction was very rapid and systematic.
When a building is only resorted to for stone as
required, the upper parts are ruined first, chips accu-
mulate, and the foundations, and perhaps the lower
courses, are so encumbered as not to be worth ex-
traction. But here the clearance must have been
made systematically, clearing out one part thoroughly
before going further. And with this accords also the
erasure of the Aten, and the names of Akhenaten
and the queen, on most of the rock monuments.
Akhenaten in his new zeal had erased the name of
Amen from end to end of Egypt ; and now the
revenge came of erasing the Aten worship and its
founder, from the face of the land, and from the page
of history. All the new ideals, the "living in the
truth," the veneration of the rays, the naturalism in
art, the ethical views, all melted away, without leaving
perceptible trace on the minds and ways of the
Egyptians ; and they rushed on into an age of war-
fare and decadence. Horemheb seems to have
deported all the stone of Tell el Amarna, and used
it for foundations and building throughout the lower
country; at Memphis, at Heliopolis, great quantities
of these remains have been found; and considering
the immense amount that was removed from Tell el
Amarna, there is as yet no proof that the remains of
Akhenaten in other places shew that he built else-
where below Thebes; but only that Horemheb, and
perhaps Seti I, had brought their stone away from
the capital. Akhenaten's oath not to leave Tell el
Amarna, suggests that he limited his work to that
place.
102. Such was the fall of one of the great move-
ments of human thought, carried out by a single
idealist, who set himself against the traditions, the
religion, and the habits of his country. Even his
royal position might not have enabled him to make
such a change, had he not possessed a character of
boldness and extreme tenacity—-perhaps a dreamy
obstinacy—with much delicacy of feeling, kindness of
manner, a sense of humour, and a pleasure in popular
enjoyments. All this may be seen in his face—his
very own face that we have preserved in the death-
mask, apart from all transcription. In his remarkable
position, the greatness of his changes, the modernity
of his thoughts, the wreck of his ideas, this strange
humanist is one of the most fascinating characters of
history ; and into his face we can now look, as if we
had seen him in the flesh.