Great Hymn to the Aten
One sun disk, without myth or rival gods, sustains every living thing on earth by its light alone, and the king is presented as its sole prophet.
- near-exclusive worship of a single solar power
- the sun as universal, not only Egyptian
- kingship as sole priesthood of the god
- a religious program that did not survive its founder
A hymn inscribed in the tomb of the courtier Ay, praising the Aten, the sun disk that Akhenaten elevated above Egypt's traditional pantheon during his brief religious revolution at Amarna. The hymn strips away the usual crowd of gods and myths in favor of a single radiant source of life, reaching every land and creature, and centers Akhenaten himself as the disk's unique intermediary.
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