Akhenaten

Name: Akhenaten
Author: Dominic Montserrat
ISBN: 113469041X

by Dominic Montserrat

This is a very different kind of book. It’s not so much about Ancient Egypt as about the modern obsession with Ancient Egypt. Why do we find Ancient Egypt such an endlessly fascinating topic? What is it about it that entrances us and has entranced countless generations? The book deals with the one character of Akhenaten, who is probably the most controversial figure in the whole of Ancient Egypt history. He is the ‘heretic king’ who is best known for being the founder of monotheism in Ancient Egypt. He abolished all the gods except for one, who he said was the sole god and his personal god. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . The book looks at how Akhenaten has been co-opted and hijacked by a whole different range of groups, from psychoanalysts to protestant fundamentalists to gay rights campaigners. Everyone has seen in Akhenaten a figure that he or she could use to his or her own ends. Many people would probably recognise him for the way he was shown in Egyptian art; he was shown in a very strange way, with an elongated skull, and of course he subsequently became famous for being Tutankhamun’s dad. But he himself was the king who overthrew centuries of tradition in Ancient Egypt to found a brave new vision of the cosmos, with him at its centre. I think it is the great antiquity – and the fact that it is so alien to western civilisation. Greece and Rome somehow feel more familiar, whereas Ancient Egypt seems very different, with its animal-headed gods and its tombs; it is something about that combination of antiquity and mystery that is endlessly appealing.

Recommended by

Toby Wilkinson

"This is a very different kind of book. It’s not so much about Ancient Egypt as about the modern obsession with Ancient Egypt. Why do we find Ancient Egypt such an endlessly fascinating topic? What is it about it that entrances us and has entranced countless generations? The book deals with the one character of Akhenaten, who is probably the most controversial figure in the whole of Ancient Egypt history. He is the ‘heretic king’ who is best known for being the founder of monotheism in Ancient Egypt. He abolished all the gods except for one, who he said was the sole god and his personal god. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . The book looks at how Akhenaten has been co-opted and hijacked by a whole different range of groups, from psychoanalysts to protestant fundamentalists to gay rights campaigners. Everyone has seen in Akhenaten a figure that he or she could use to his or her own ends. Many people would probably recognise him for the way he was shown in Egyptian art; he was shown in a very strange way, with an elongated skull, and of course he subsequently became famous for being Tutankhamun’s dad. But he himself was the king who overthrew centuries of tradition in Ancient Egypt to found a brave new vision of the cosmos, with him at its centre. I think it is the great antiquity – and the fact that it is so alien to western civilisation. Greece and Rome somehow feel more familiar, whereas Ancient Egypt seems very different, with its animal-headed gods and its tombs; it is something about that combination of antiquity and mystery that is endlessly appealing."

Ancient Egypt · fivebooks.com