Ever since I heard about Akhnaten, I've been very confused about this whole sun god thing. (Bear with me on spellings. I could look them all up, of course, but since the alphabet hadn't been invented yet, it's hard to take seriously that there's any correct spelling. I could also look up this whole topic, but I'm not sure the differences described below can be all that easily resolved.)
Akhnaten became known as the heretic pharaoh for advocating (well, requiring) the worship of Aten, described as the disc of the sun. Previously and subsequently, the Egyptians had worshiped many gods, but I think the chief was Amun Ra or Re, the sun god. I get that Akhnaten was pushing a monotheistic religion, certainly a momentous change. What I don't get is how the disc of the sun differs from a sun god. Was Amen just a guy living in the sun or pulling a really, really, really bright chariot, whereas Aten was literally the big yellow hole in the sky? Oh ok, I'll go look it up.
Looking it up didn't help a lot. Amun Ra was a guy. Ra was a falcon-headed god of the sun, later united with Amun who was just a really great guy and Amun Ra apparently later united with Horus, making for a dang confusing deity. Aten really was just the disc of the sun, though representing the force creating everything. One surmises that there would be more info on Aten if subsequent pharaohs hadn't been at such pains to eliminate the heretic pharaoh's religion and evidence of it. Anybody with further information is ever so welcome to come forward with it in the form of a comment or email.
Given the weather lately, I could go for a sun god in a big way. Could anybody blame me?
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