AKHENATEN’S Hymn To THE ATEN

This text is thought by many to show Akhenaten’s monotheism was a forerunner to Christianity

One text that has led to many comparisons between Akhenaten’s religion and Christianity is the Great Hymn to the Aten, which is recorded in his vizier, Ay’s tomb at Tell el Amarna. It has been compared to Psalm 104 from the Book of Psalms in the Christian Bible. There are eight points of comparison between this and Psalm 104, although the full text runs to dozens of lines. For example The Hymn to the Aten states, “The land is in darkness, in the manner of death … Every lion is come forth from his den; All creeping things, they sting.” Verse 20 from Psalm 104 similarly writes, “Thou makest darkness and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.” Another verse from the Hymn to the Aten states, “At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon, When thou shinest as the Aten by day, Thou drivest away the darkness and givest thy rays. The Two Lands are in festivity every day, Awake and standing upon (their) feet, For thou hast raised them up … All the world, they do their work.” This is compared to verse 23 from Psalm 104, “The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.” This verse from the Hymn to the Aten is often compared with verse 12 of the Psalm. It states, “The birds which fly from their nests, Their wings are (stretched out) in praise to thy ka. All beasts spring upon (their) feet. Whatever flies and alights, They live when thou hast risen (for) them.” The Psalm comparatively states, These comparisons seem convincing of the religion of the Aten being the origin of the Psalm and Christian thought but for the eight comparable points there are many other verses that do not compare. Additionally the Hymn to the Aten was not new at the time it was penned and much is adapted from the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts (20401782 BCE) and earlier hymns to Amun. Akhenaten had taken well-known elements of the traditional religion and re-branded them to fit his new god; as did later religions. “By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.”