Chapter IX: The End of an Era

The high hopes of Akhenaton's early years met an untimely end. The Asiatic provinces of Egypt fell away to the Hittites or to local Canaanite princes who had little sympathy with the Empire. Although there is no evidence of revolt in Egypt itself, Akhenaton's alienation from the older priesthood must have resulted in dislocations of the economy, and difficulties in the smooth running of government.

Smenkhkare

There is some evidence to suggest that Nofretete lost favor with her husband and moved to a new palace in the northern sector of Akhetaton. The king gave high honor to his eldest daughter Meritaton, whose husband, Smenkhkare became his successor on the throne of Egypt. We have no records indicating events in the earliest years of Smenkhkare's reign but in the third year he is known to have gone to Thebes. The reason for the visit can only be conjectured, but it may have been a gesture to appease the Amon priesthood which was still firmly entrenched there.

Our sources fail us again, but neither Akhenaton nor Smenkhkare are mentioned after _ca._ 1350 B.C. Whether they died natural deaths, or perished at the hands of assassins, can only be guessed. We are not even sure if Smenkhkare was co-regent with his father-in-law or if Akhenaton had died before he came to the throne. At most Smenkhkare reigned but four years. If his trip to Thebes was made to bring about a reconciliation with the Theban priesthood, it seems to have failed completely.

Tutankhaton-Tutankhamon

Smenkhkare's successor, Tutankhaton, was married to Ankhesenpaton, the third daughter of Akhenaton and Nofretete. Under Tutankhaton the capital was moved back to Thebes, and the Amarna revolt was at an end. His name, meaning "the living image of Aton," was changed to Tutankhamon, "the living image of Amon," and Amon was restored to his place as chief deity of Egypt. Ankhesenpaton's name was changed to Ankhesenpamon for the same reason. Although Tuntankhamon was one of Egypt's lesser kings, the discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter in 1923 has made him the best known Pharaoh of Egyptian history to most westerners.

Tutankhamon's return to the worship of Amon was a conscious repudiation of the Aton cult. He actually ascribes the calamities that befell Egypt in the years of Akhenaton to the anger of Amon:

The temples of the gods and goddesses ... had gone to pieces. Their
shrines had become desolate and had become overgrown mounds.... The
land was topsy turvy and the gods turned their backs upon this land.
If one prayed to a god to seek counsel from him, he would never come
(at all). If one made supplication to a goddess, similarly she would
never come at all. Their hearts were hurt (?) so they destroyed that
which had been made.[59]

Following Tutankhamon's early death we meet a story of intrigue and international politics which involves his widow. Ankhesenpamon, fearful of the future of herself and her country, wrote to the Hittite king, Suppiluliumas, asking that one of his sons be sent to Egypt to become her husband:

My husband died, and I have no son. People say that you have many
sons. If you were to send me one of your sons, he might become my
husband. I am loath to take a servant of mine and make him my
husband.[60]

The Hittite king, suspecting something amiss, sent a servant to check on matters in Egypt. When the envoy reached Thebes, the widowed queen asked:

Why do you say, "They may try to deceive me." If I had a son would I
write to a foreign country in a manner which is humiliating to myself
and my country. You do not trust me and tell me such a thing. He who
was my husband died and I have no sons. Shall I perhaps take one of my
servants and make him my husband? I have not written to any other
country. I have written only to you. People say that you have many
sons. Give me one of your sons, and he is my husband and king in the
land of Egypt.[61]

Suppiluliumas was convinced of the good faith of the young widow and sent a son to Egypt, but the young man never reached Thebes. Along the way he was murdered by Egyptians who resented the thought of a foreigner as their ruler. The result was a period of war between the Hittites and Egypt. Another son of Suppiluliumas made a record of the affair:

When my father gave them (the Egyptians) one of his sons (to take over
the kingship), they killed him as they led him there. My father let
his anger run away with him; he went to war against Egypt and attacked
Egypt.[62]

The battle is not mentioned in the Egyptian annals. Probably it was brief and indecisive, for the Hittites could not afford to throw a major army into such a campaign. The rising power of Assyria was a threat to Hittite control in the north, and she had to be ready to protect her northern provinces. Had the Hittites launched a major campaign against Egypt it is doubtful if she could have survived.

Eye and Horemhab

The rule of Egypt fell to the aged vizier Eye, who had been a counselor and friend of Akhenaton. After four years Eye was succeeded by Horemhab (_ca._ 1340-1310 B.C.), an energetic ruler who sought to restore Egypt's fortunes abroad and erase the memory of the Amarna revolt at home. As a young general, Horemhab had espoused the cause of Akhenaton, but as a Pharaoh he sought to obliterate the records of the Amarna kings with as great enthusiasm as Akhenaton had sought to eliminate the name of Amon. Later orthodox king lists omit the names of Akhenaton, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamon, and Eye, placing the name of Horemhab immediately after Amenhotep III.

Although the Amon priests of Thebes seemed to be more firmly entrenched than ever after the accession of Horemhab, the calendar could not be pushed back completely. Egyptian art and literature retained some of the naturalism of the Amarna movement. There were effects in the religious world, too, for although Atonism was not pure monotheism, it exhibited tendencies in that direction which persisted in the Egyptian thought. God is frequently addressed in the singular, although under different names, in the hymns of the later periods of Egyptian history.