V
Conclusions
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After
a series of considerations I think I cannot exclude a
priori any connection between the two monotheistic religions which
the subject of this research. On the contrary a series of
considerations based on some historical
and reliable evidence let us consider this connection probable.
So I will try to expound the peculiar aspects of this theme.
Firstly we must say that the two hypothesis can be agreed: one is
the monotheism of Israel a revised and corrected derivation of the
akhetonian religion, the other is exactly the opposite.The first
hypothesis (Yahwism's derivation from Atonism) is fairly reliable
because nowadays, thanks particularly to the recent archaeological
discoveries, it is usually supported with assumptions historically
confirmed by several scholars. I refer to what has been previously said:
for many centuries Jewish enjoyed the
status of third worlder (let me use this term of great topical
interest that maybe, more than any other word, better expresses the
problems here examined). However,
free for their own choice, they were persecuted and just after Amarna's
events they were made slaves (only Israeli tribes). It must also be
added the distintictive similarity
between the Hymn to Aton and some passages of the Holy Scriptures,
the latter definitely going back to a period which followed the
historical events so far described. The second hypothesis, which links
the two religions in a different way, is quite interesting as well. It
maybe sheds the right light on the role that the queen Nefert-iti had
during this period, although in my opinion her character has not been
thoroughly studied. However, at least in the light of the present
knowledge, it is difficult to say with enough certainty whether the
matrix of that social and religious revolution was determined by
Nefert-iti, the pretty woman who
here comes. At that time solar gods were also known by the
populations of Western Asia (the likely queen's country of
origin) and of Iranian tableland. The most important solar god
was Shamash, who was venerated not only by Mesopotamian populations (Assyrians,
Babylonians and even Sumerians), but also by Hittites and Hurrians (the
Japhetic populations). Another solar god greatly venerated in the
Iranian tableland, but also well-known in the region of Mitanni, was
Navrati. He was usually portrayed as a solar disc with arms encircling
the world, thus presenting an iconography very similar to Aton's However,
what is singular is the fact that both gods belonged to polytheist
religions. The concept of monotheism, which was exclusive prerogative of
Israeli tribes, might lead to suppose that the Jew matrix was introduced
into Pharaonic court by the young princess (1). In my opinion, the
fairly mysterious events that accompanied the sudden disappearance of
Nefert-iti during Akhenaton's reign should be further closely examined.
This unexpected disappearance dates back to around the 12th - 13th year
of Akhenaton's reign but, as far as we know, it is not possible to be
sure whether she disappeared because of her death or because she had
lost the king's favour. In any case in that same moment Smenkhkharé,
the king's brother or nephew (some scholars think he was his son),
undertook the office of co-regent of the Pharaoh and assumed the epithet
of Nefer Neferu-aton. Until that moment the epithet had belonged to the
queen Nefert-iti who had added it to her name during the 6th year of her
husband's reign. This is a very singular event that might lead to
presume that she had lost the king's favour. It would have been
inconceivable that after her death, the king had taken away the queen's
name to give it to another person. On the basis of these historically
ascertained events, some scholars think that during the last years of
his reign, the king may have tried to back off in order to draw close
again to people among which a
general discontent (further fostered by the priests of the dismissed
cult of Amun) was certainly rife. One of the first manoeuvres that the
king may have used in drawing near again to people was to expel the
queen, considered the main and the essential cause of the crisis. At the
same time, he may have joined up with Smenkhkharé, a figure completely
unknown in politics and who, consenquently, could probably guarantee an
innovative political process. If these events were given value, they
could give more credit to the
primary and determining role that the queen Nefert-iti had in
Amarnian revolution.There is also another element: a letter that has
been discovered at the Hittite palace of the king Shuppiluliuma in the
area of Hattusas and that is commonly attributed to Anches-en-Amun, the
third-born daughter of Nefert-iti and Akhenaton. In this letter, sent to
the Hittite king, she proposes herself to one of his sons since she is
widow, refusing ever to marry a court's servant. The fact that this
letter bears the signature Dachamunzu, whose meaning in Akkadian language is queen, has created
doubts about the exact identity of the person who sent the letter. This
is a very foggy and unusual fact for several reasons. First, Pharaohs
used to choose their wives abroad whereas the contrary never happened.
Notably a foreigner could not certainly rise to the dignity of king.
Secondly, Anches-en Amun had married Tut-ankh-Amun but, for reasons of
dating, the widow status declared in the letter was not referred to
Tut-ankh-Amun but, according to some scholars to Akhenaton, the
princess' father whom she had married first. Such a solution cannot be
proposed since Tut-ankh-Amun belonged to the royal family and was
certainly not a slave. In the light of what has been said, it becomes
credible what some authors maintain, i.e. the fact that the letter was
written by Nefert-iti when Akhenaton died (the queen at that time openly
opposed the hostile court and maybe all the ungrateful Egyptians) (2).
This fact could doubtless indicate the critical situation affecting
Egyptian court when the movements hostile to Amarnian policy were about
to prevail against the heretical
queen. In addition, this fact gives further evidence to confirm the
hypothesis that Nefert-iti was the
primus motor of Amarnian revolution. Both the hypotheses here
examined and each on its own, when are supported at least partially by
reliable historical elements, denote solid links between the two
monotheist creeds at the dawn of the iron age. At present other facts or
plausible events that might sufficiently support or give a suitable justification of the sudden slavery of Israel after almost
a millennium of freedom, do not exist. I would suggest that this aspect
of the problems here discussed has not been sufficiently dealt with by
scholars and such a deficiency
can only partially be justified with the lack of historical sources.
After all I would like to make clear what above mentioned about the
origin of the word Adonis or Adonais as well as the connection between the Psalm 104 of the Holy
Scriptures and the Great Hymn to Aton. In ancient times the word Adon
(lord) was commonly used by the tribes of Israel instead of Jhwé (god),
because mention directly the Divinity was contrary to the Tables of the
Law. Infact it was considered a sin. The ethimology of such a word, most
likely, is of hamitic origin, as many linguistic say. The hypothesis of
a connection or better, an identity, with the word Itn (=Aton) is simply
and hard to contest. All that, of course, should strenghten the
hypothesis of the connection between the two monotheistic cults. As to
the Psalm 104, it is insustainable for me to consider a pure coincidence
some more lines of verses as Robinson says. I think that the only
hypotheses that can consistently legitimate the historical events here
examined are the two possible ones
examined in the present study. Although they have antithetic
starting-points, they find a coherent connecting link in their
conclusions, i.e. in a creed which
has an only one matrix. Nevertheless, at the present time certain
and doubtless theories do not exist. We are still in the field of
serious hypotheses which give rise to fairly intense suspicions and need
to be closely examined. What seem at least unquestionable is the
indirect link between the two religions: the Jewish, who were persecuted
just after Amarna's events, followed a monotheist creed which, at the
time, was inevitably considered heretical. 1
- It is very
likely that Israeli religious reformers historically placed the whole
theological framework of many centuries during the political and formative
period of Israel, and concentrated it on the mythic characters of Moses,
who received the Tables of the Law directly from Jahweh. At least within
the secular world, such a dictated law cannot be accepted because, as we have already pointed
out, the influence of other cultures and civilisations, is too evident (cf.
M. Liverani, op. cit.). 2
- First of all the
great American archaeologist D.B. Redford (cf. the work by his author, History and Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt : Seven
Studies, Toronto Ont., 1967).
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