ABSTRACT
In connexion with the Sun-gods of Egypt and with their various forms which were worshipped in that country must be considered the meagre facts which we possess concerning Ȧten, who appears to have represented both the god or spirit of the sun, and the solar disk itself. The origin of this god is wholly obscure, and nearly all that is known about him under the Middle Empire is that he was some small provincial form of the Sun-god which was worshipped in one of the little towns in the neighbourhood of Heliopolis, and it is possible that a temple was built in his honour in Heliopolis itself. It is idle to attempt to describe the attributes which were originally ascribed to him under the Middle or Early Empire, because the texts which were written before the XVIIIth Dynasty give us no information on the subject. Under the XVIIIth Dynasty, and especially during the reigns of Ȧmen-ḥetep III. and his son Ȧmen-ḥetep IV., he was made to usurp all the titles and attributes of the ancient solar gods of Egypt, Rā, Rā-Ḥeru-khuti, Horus, etc., but it does not follow that they originally belonged to him. In the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead, which is based upon the Heliopolitan, we find Ȧten mentioned by the deceased thus:—“Thou, O Rā, shinest from the horizon of heaven, and Ȧten is adored when he resteth (or setteth) upon this mountain to give life to the two lands.” 1 Hunefer says to Rā, “Hail, Ȧten, thou lord of beams of light, [when] thou shinest all faces (i.e., everybody) live;” 69Nekht says to Rā, “O thou beautiful being, thou dost renew thyself and make thyself young again under the form of Ȧten;” Ani says to Rā, “Thou turnest thy face towards the Underworld, and thou makest the earth to shine like fine copper. The dead rise up to see thee, they breathe the air and they look upon thy face when Ȧten shineth in the horizon;” “…. I have come before thee that I may be with thee to behold thy Ȧten daily;” “O thou who art in thine Egg, who shinest from thy Ȧten,” etc.
