Stage 6 Ancient History

The death of any pharaoh heralded a period of uncertainty for all sections of Egyptian society, which in the case must have been compounded by the youth of Tutankhaten (who later changed his name to Tutankhamen to reflect the change of allegiance from the Aten to the Amen). With the death of Akhenaten the new Atenist religion was without a leader. Egypt had lost its vassals in North Syria to the Hittites and there was substantial unrest in Palestine. The time was ripe for political and religious change.

                  The old shrines and monuments had been abandoned in the wake of the Atenist religious changes. The old religion had been a unifying force, as the Egyptians believed that confidence, order and discipline were the rewards for their faith in the old gods. With the loss of the old religion, Egyptian society had lost its divine sanction.

                  More than this could have been lost. It is modern historian Buldge’s opinion that:

“The temples and their staff performed important administrative and economic functions in the state and in the absence of anything like an organised civil service, and when they ceased to operate- the whole business of life for many sectors of the populace came to a halt”

                  Tutankhamen’s advisors realised that action had to be taken to restore the confidence of the people in their pharaoh and that one way to do this was to revive their traditional religion. It is unlikely that Tutankhamen himself made such decisions, as he was only 9 when he took the throne, but his advisor’s Ay and Horemheb would have made such choices. For Amun to regain his position as the most important god, Tutankhamen could no longer live like an Atenist at Amarna, and so the Pharaoh and his court reinstated Thebes as the capital.

                  It is likely that the two religious traditions co-existed for a number of years, as no temple to Aten was closed until 10 years later. We also have evidence of both Amun and the Aten featuring on Tutankhamen’s cartouche. However, the Aten was no longer the sole god and evidence from the Restoration Stela tells us that Tutankhamen restored temples and cult images of other gods, increased temple incomes and chose new members for the priesthoods from worthy citizens.