Great Hymn to the Aten

This video is about the "Great Hymn to the Aten," which was composed for (possibly even by, though I doubt that) the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten in praise of his singular god, the Aten, or sun disc. It has resonances with later monotheistic themes, images, and ideas that would show up in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
*If you’d like to reference this information or would like to ask me a direct questions for an assignment you are working on, that’s awesome and I am glad to help. Below you will find a model of an MLA citation for this video. Please insert the title, date posted, and url for this specific video.
Zapkin, Phillip. “Title.” TH-cam, uploaded by TheatreofPhil, date posted, url.

[@williamrader4718]

thank you for the info! very helpful

[@TheatreofPhil]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

[@chamomiletea9562]

Thanks for helping us see the links between Judaism and Egyptian religion. I have always wondered about this and our evolving concept of God or gods. Akhenaten strikes me as very intelligent and spiritual as well as being a great poet.

[@TheatreofPhil]

So, I do want to be clear about this: I don't know that there are direct links between Judaism and Egyptian religion. I think there are parallels, as there are between many religions or bodies of mythology, but I point to the connections more because my viewers are more likely to know Jewish/Christian texts than they are to understand ancient Egyptian paganism.
Personally, I quite like Akhenaten. I think he's super interesting. Though whether or not he actually wrote the "Hymn" is an open question.

[@chamomiletea9562]

@@TheatreofPhil Thank you for the clarification as there are some books and videos which take that leap, especially noting that Akhenaten wrote the Hymn. I think Akhenaten is fascinating too.

[@TheatreofPhil]

Yeah, Freud kind of started the conflation of Akhenaten with Judaism in his book Moses and Monotheism, but most historians today think Freud's argument is unreliable. And the issue of historical authorship is always debated--the same is true, for instance, with David and the Psalms. Personally, I doubt David wrote anything; it's more likely the Psalms were written for David. It's the same here with the Great Hymn, which was probably written for Akhenaten, rather than by him.