ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which Akhenaten is used by two contemporary movements, both of which have particular vested interests in ancient Egypt while mostly remaining outside the academic establishment alternative religionists and Afrocentrists. Alternative religionist means those who look outside established faiths for spiritual fulfilment. The black radical traditions, the chapter surveys here involve a variety of concerns and approaches which partly glossed over. Akhenaten's spirituality and mystic associations make him ripe for appropriation by adherents of alternative religions. The ancient Egyptians, Madame Blavatsky says, are the descendants of the Atlanteans and the crucial link in preserving and disseminating the wisdom of Atlantis. This chapter finishes by sciencing the word Aton, and pointing out its resemblance to the Greek word aition, root of the word aetiology: the assignment of a cause or origin to a thing or place, often in mythological terms. The foundation story of Rome is a good example of a mythological aition.
