B
104-473: C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Aten , also Aton , Atonu , or Itn ( Ancient Egyptian : jtn , reconstructed [ˈjaːtin] ) was the focus of Atenism , the religious system formally established in ancient Egypt by the late Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten . Exact dating for the Eighteenth Dynasty is contested, though
208-773: A literary language , and was also the language of the New Kingdom administration. Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptian is represented by a large body of religious and secular literature , comprising such examples as the Story of Wenamun , the love poems of the Chester–Beatty I papyrus, and the Instruction of Any . Instructions became
312-576: A synthetic language , Egyptian by the Late Egyptian phase had become an analytic language . The relationship between Middle Egyptian and Late Egyptian has been described as being similar to that between Latin and Italian. The Late Egyptian stage is taken to have ended around the 8th century BC, giving rise to Demotic. Demotic is a later development of the Egyptian language written in the Demotic script , following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic ,
416-478: A brief passage by chanted recital following the teachers. Later on, they were asked to copy some paragraphs to train their writing abilities, either on ostraca or wooden tablets. Once the instructors deemed the pupil had made some progress, they would assign the same first two steps toward Middle Egyptian manuscripts, consisting of classical work and instructions. After that, the same methods were implemented to Middle Egyptian texts, in which grammar and vocabulary took
520-411: A capital city and religious center was relatively short lived compared to the 18th Dynasty or New Kingdom as a whole as it was shortly abandoned after the death of Akhenaten. Inscriptions found on boundary stela accredited to Akhenaten discuss his desire to make the city a place of worship to Aten, dedicating the city to the god and emphasizing the royal residences' efforts in worship. Major principles of
624-399: A deep conviction of an underlying holiness and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state. An impious king could bring about famine, and blasphemy could bring blindness to an individual. In opposition to the right order expressed in the concept of Maat
728-558: A few have survived that were written in hieratic and (later) demotic. There was also a form of cursive hieroglyphs , used for religious documents on papyrus, such as the Book of the Dead of the Twentieth Dynasty ; it was simpler to write than the hieroglyphs in stone inscriptions, but it was not as cursive as hieratic and lacked the wide use of ligatures . Additionally, there was a variety of stone-cut hieratic, known as "lapidary hieratic". In
832-495: A few specialists in the language. For all other purposes, the Egyptological pronunciation is used, but it often bears little resemblance to what is known of how Egyptian was pronounced. The following consonants are reconstructed for Archaic (before 2600 BC) and Old Egyptian (2686–2181 BC), with IPA equivalents in square brackets if they differ from the usual transcription scheme: / l / has no independent representation in
936-641: A general date range places the dynasty in the years 1550 to 1292 BCE. The worship of Aten and the coinciding rule of Akhenaten are major identifying characteristics of a period within the Eighteenth Dynasty referred to as the Amarna Period ( c. 1353 – 1336 BCE). Atenism and the worship of the Aten as the sole god of ancient Egypt state worship did not persist beyond Akhenaten's death. Not long after his death, one of Akhenaten's Eighteenth Dynasty successors, Tutankhamun , reopened
1040-489: A history of rhetoric scholar, defines rhetoric as the transmission of emotion and thought through a system of symbols, including words, to influence the emotions and thoughts of others. Maat sought to influence its audience to action as well. Scholars have closely examined this relationship between ancient Egyptian rhetoric and the concept of Maat , using three specific areas: 1) ancient Egyptian texts that actually taught Maat; 2) ancient Egyptian letter writing that embodied
1144-419: A man can say: "It was the property of my father." There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law. Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules. Maat represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From
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#17327658365091248-462: A nominal feminine suffix * -at , a nominal prefix m- , an adjectival suffix -ī and characteristic personal verbal affixes. Of the other Afroasiatic branches, linguists have variously suggested that the Egyptian language shares its greatest affinities with Berber and Semitic languages, particularly Arabic (which is spoken in Egypt today) and Hebrew . However, other scholars have argued that
1352-442: A popular literary genre of the New Kingdom, which took the form of advice on proper behavior. Late Egyptian was also the language of New Kingdom administration. Late Egyptian is not completely distinct from Middle Egyptian, as many "classicisms" appear in historical and literary documents of this phase. However, the difference between Middle and Late Egyptian is greater than the difference between Middle and Old Egyptian. Originally
1456-405: A priority to get scribes to their villages because this procedure allowed the government to limit excessive abuses by pointing out the importance of the complaints of the poor. Scribal instructional texts emphasize fair treatment of all peoples and how anyone who abuses their power is subject to punishment. Although this procedure was regulated by the local government, it helped provide the poor with
1560-408: A prophet of the Aten, and during his reign was one of the main propagators of Atenism in Egypt. After the death of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun reinstated the cult of Amun, and the ban on the state worship of non-Atenism deities was lifted in favor of a return to the traditional ancient Egyptian pantheon. The point of this transition can be seen in the name-change of Tutankh aten into Tutankh amun indicating
1664-444: A scribe jokes that his colleague's writing is incoherent like "the speech of a Delta man with a man of Elephantine ." Recently, some evidence of internal dialects has been found in pairs of similar words in Egyptian that, based on similarities with later dialects of Coptic, may be derived from northern and southern dialects of Egyptian. Written Coptic has five major dialects, which differ mainly in graphic conventions, most notably
1768-503: A stressed vowel (⟨ bjn ⟩ = */ˈbaːjin/ 'bad') and as ⟨ jj ⟩ word-medially immediately before a stressed vowel ( ⟨ḫꜥjjk⟩ = */χaʕˈjak/ 'you will appear') and are unmarked word-finally (⟨ jt ⟩ = /ˈjaːtVj/ 'father'). In Middle Egyptian (2055–1650 BC), a number of consonantal shifts take place. By the beginning of the Middle Kingdom period, / z / and / s / had merged, and
1872-510: A stressed vowel in syllables that had been closed in earlier Egyptian (compare ⲛⲟⲩⲃ < */ˈnaːbaw/ 'gold' and ⲧⲁⲡ < * /dib/ 'horn'). The phonemes /d g z/ occur only in Greek loanwords, with rare exceptions triggered by a nearby /n/ : ⲁⲛⲍⲏⲃⲉ/ⲁⲛⲥⲏⲃⲉ < ꜥ.t n.t sbꜣ.w 'school'. Earlier *d ḏ g q are preserved as ejective t' c' k' k ' before vowels in Coptic. Although
1976-644: A transliteration of the corresponding Demotic "alphabetical" sign(s) in angle brackets ⟨ ⟩ . More changes occur in the 1st millennium BC and the first centuries AD, leading to Coptic (1st or 3rd – c. 19th centuries AD). In Sahidic ẖ ḫ ḥ had merged into ϣ š (most often from ḫ ) and ϩ / h / (most often ẖ ḥ ). Bohairic and Akhmimic are more conservative and have a velar fricative / x / ( ϧ in Bohairic, ⳉ in Akhmimic). Pharyngeal *ꜥ had merged into glottal / ʔ / after it had affected
2080-465: A uniliteral hieroglyph. Egyptian scholar Gamal Mokhtar noted that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols derived from "fauna and flora used in the signs [which] are essentially African", reflecting the local wildlife of North Africa, the Levant and southern Mediterranean. In "regards to writing, we have seen that a purely Nilotic, hence [North] African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects
2184-598: Is also the longest-attested human language, with a written record spanning over 4,000 years. Its classical form, known as " Middle Egyptian ," served as the vernacular of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and remained the literary language of Egypt until the Roman period . By the time of classical antiquity , the spoken language had evolved into Demotic , and by the Roman era , diversified into various Coptic dialects . These were eventually supplanted by Arabic after
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#17327658365092288-487: Is an extinct branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages that was spoken in ancient Egypt . It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts, which were made accessible to the modern world following the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian scripts in the early 19th century. Egyptian is one of the earliest known written languages , first recorded in the hieroglyphic script in the late 4th millennium BC . It
2392-474: Is dated from the oldest known complete sentence, including a finite verb , which has been found. Discovered in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen (dated c. 2690 BC ), the seal impression reads: Extensive texts appear from about 2600 BC. An early example is the Diary of Merer . The Pyramid Texts are the largest body of literature written in this phase of the language. One of its distinguishing characteristics
2496-452: Is not a contrastive feature; all obstruents are voiceless and all sonorants are voiced. Stops may be either aspirated or tenuis (unaspirated), although there is evidence that aspirates merged with their tenuis counterparts in certain environments. The following table presents the consonants of Demotic Egyptian. The reconstructed value of a phoneme is given in IPA transcription, followed by
2600-468: Is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu , and Aten are merged into the creator god. Others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry , as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic . As pharaoh, Akhenaten was considered the 'high priest' or even
2704-399: Is sometimes reserved for the earliest use of hieroglyphs, from the late fourth through the early third millennia BC. At the earliest stage, around 3300 BC, hieroglyphs were not a fully developed writing system , being at a transitional stage of proto-writing ; over the time leading up to the 27th century BC, grammatical features such as nisba formation can be seen to occur. Old Egyptian
2808-424: Is the best-documented variety of the language, and has attracted the most attention by far from Egyptology . While most Middle Egyptian is seen written on monuments by hieroglyphs, it was also written using a cursive variant , and the related hieratic . Middle Egyptian first became available to modern scholarship with the decipherment of hieroglyphs in the early 19th century. The first grammar of Middle Egyptian
2912-426: Is the concept of Isfet : chaos, lies and violence. In addition, several other principles within ancient Egyptian law were essential, including an adherence to tradition as opposed to change, the importance of rhetorical skill and the significance of achieving impartiality and "righteous action". In one Middle Kingdom (2062 to c. 1664 BCE) text, the creator declares "I made every man like his fellow". Maat called
3016-406: Is the tripling of ideograms , phonograms, and determinatives to indicate the plural. Overall, it does not differ significantly from Middle Egyptian, the classical stage of the language, though it is based on a different dialect. In the period of the 3rd dynasty ( c. 2650 – c. 2575 BC ), many of the principles of hieroglyphic writing were regularized. From that time on, until
3120-559: Is uncertain, although the god Shu , who in some myths is Maat's brother, also wears it. Depictions of Maat as a goddess are recorded from as early as the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2680 to 2190 BCE). The sun-god Ra came from the primaeval mound of creation only after he set his daughter Maat in place of isfet (chaos). Kings inherited the duty to ensure Maat remained in place, and they with Ra are said to "live on Maat", with Akhenaten (r. 1372–1355 BCE) in particular emphasising
3224-565: The Coptic Catholic Church . Most hieroglyphic Egyptian texts are written in a literary prestige register rather than the vernacular speech variety of their author. As a result, dialectical differences are not apparent in written Egyptian until the adoption of the Coptic alphabet . Nevertheless, it is clear that these differences existed before the Coptic period. In one Late Egyptian letter (dated c. 1200 BC ),
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3328-570: The Fifth Dynasty (c. 2510–2370 BCE) onwards, the vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat and in later periods judges wore images of Maat. Later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the Sebayt , a native wisdom literature . These spiritual texts dealt with common social or professional situations, and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in
3432-560: The Middle Kingdom Era (2060–1700 BCE). Although scribal practices had been implemented before this period, there is no evidence of "systematic schooling" occurring in a materialized institution during the Old Kingdom (2635–2155 BCE). Scribal schools were designed to transform people to the literate sesh or scribes who could function for society and bureaucracy. Therefore, literacy among ancient Egyptians revolved around
3536-583: The Muslim conquest of Egypt , although Bohairic Coptic remains in use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Church . The Egyptian language branch belongs to the Afroasiatic language family . Among the typological features of Egyptian that are typically Afroasiatic are its fusional morphology, nonconcatenative morphology , a series of emphatic consonants , a three-vowel system /a i u/ ,
3640-535: The Pyramid Texts of Unas ( c. 2375 BCE and 2345 BCE). Later, when most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth , as their attributes are similar. In other accounts, Thoth was paired off with Seshat , goddess of writing and measure, who is a lesser-known deity. After her role in creation and continuously preventing the universe from returning to chaos, her primary role in ancient Egyptian religion dealt with
3744-579: The Weighing of the Heart that took place in the Duat . Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of the afterlife successfully. In other versions, Maat was the feather as the personification of truth, justice, and harmony. Pharaohs are often depicted with the emblems of Maat to emphasise their roles in upholding
3848-444: The ancient Egyptian concepts of truth , balance, order, harmony, law , morality , and justice . Ma'at was also the goddess who personified these concepts, and regulated the stars , seasons , and the actions of mortals and the deities who had brought order from chaos at the moment of creation. Her ideological opposite was Isfet (Egyptian jzft ), meaning injustice, chaos, violence or to do evil. Cuneiform texts indicate that
3952-588: The hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts. Demotic is the name of the script derived from the hieratic beginning in the 7th century BC. The Coptic alphabet was derived from the Greek alphabet , with adaptations for Egyptian phonology. It was first developed in the Ptolemaic period , and gradually replaced the Demotic script in about the 4th to 5th centuries of the Christian era. The term "Archaic Egyptian"
4056-466: The Aten and receiving the ankh, the breath of life, from him. Compared to periods before and after the Amarna Period, Priests had less to do since offerings, such as fruits, flowers, and cakes were limited, and oracles were not needed. In the worship of the Aten, the daily service of purification, anointment, and clothing of the divine image that is traditionally found in ancient Egyptian worship
4160-508: The Aten's cult worship were recorded via inscriptions on temples and tombs from the period. Straying significantly from the tradition of ancient Egyptian temples being hidden and more enclosed the further one went into the site, temples of Aten were open and did not have roofs in order to allow the rays of the sun inside. No statues of Aten were allowed as they were seen as idolatry. However, these were typically replaced by functionally equivalent representations of Akhenaten and his family venerating
4264-611: The Egyptian language shared closer linguistic ties with northeastern African regions. There are two theories that seek to establish the cognate sets between Egyptian and Afroasiatic, the traditional theory and the neuere Komparatistik , founded by Semiticist Otto Rössler. According to the neuere Komparatistik , in Egyptian, the Proto-Afroasiatic voiced consonants */d z ð/ developed into pharyngeal ⟨ꜥ⟩ /ʕ/ : Egyptian ꜥr.t 'portal', Semitic dalt 'door'. The traditional theory instead disputes
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4368-622: The Greeks and Romans. When the Romans took control of Egypt, the Roman legal system, which existed throughout the Roman Empire , was imposed in Egypt. The ethical aspect of Maat gave rise to the social formation of groups of elite individuals called sesh referring to intellectuals, scribes, or bureaucrats. Besides serving as the civil servant of the kingdom, the sesh had a central role in
4472-480: The Horizon, in his name Shu, which is the Aten. The later form was Re, ruler of the two horizons, who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name of light, which is the Aten. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty ( Ra who is Horus of the two horizons ), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on in ancient Egyptian religious practice. During the Amarna Period, this synthesis
4576-473: The Instruction of Ptahhotep presents Maat as follows: Maat is good and its worth is lasting. It has not been disturbed since the day of its creator, whereas he who transgresses its ordinances is punished. It lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing has never yet brought its venture to port. It is true that evil may gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts;
4680-597: The Semitic preference for triradical roots. Egyptian is probably more conservative, and Semitic likely underwent later regularizations converting roots into the triradical pattern. Although Egyptian is the oldest Afroasiatic language documented in written form, its morphological repertoire is very different from that of the rest of the Afroasiatic languages in general, and Semitic languages in particular. There are multiple possibilities: perhaps Egyptian had already undergone radical changes from Proto-Afroasiatic before it
4784-442: The annual changes of river and land configurations; as well as for calculating tax, logging commercial business, and distributing supply. Learning instructions in scribal schools were available for very young prospective students (5–10 years old students). This elementary instruction took 4 years to complete, and then, they could become apprentices of a tutor – an advanced level of education that elevated their scribal careers. In
4888-435: The baby chick are cared for; and Akhenaten asks his divine father to 'lift up' the creatures for his sake so that they might aspire to the condition of perfection of his father, Aten." Akhenaten represented himself as the son of Aten, mirroring many of his predecessors' claims of divine birth and their positions as the embodiment of Horus. Akhenaten positioned himself as the only intermediary who could speak to Aten, emphasizing
4992-579: The basis of Egyptian law . From an early period the king would describe himself as the "Lord of Maat" who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart. The significance of Maat developed to the point that it embraced all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe, the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons , heavenly movements , religious observations and good faith , honesty , and truthfulness in social interactions . The ancient Egyptians had
5096-525: The concept to a degree that the king's contemporaries viewed as intolerance and fanaticism. Some kings incorporated Maat into their names, being referred to as Lords of Maat , or Meri-Maat ( Beloved of Maat ). Maat had a central role in the ceremony of the Weighing of the Heart, where the decedent's heart was weighed against her feather. B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Maat represents
5200-675: The definite article ⲡ is unaspirated when the next word begins with a glottal stop: Bohairic ⲡ + ⲱⲡ > ⲡⲱⲡ 'the account'. The consonant system of Coptic is as follows: Here is the vowel system reconstructed for earlier Egyptian: Vowels are always short in unstressed syllables ( ⟨tpj⟩ = */taˈpij/ 'first') and long in open stressed syllables ( ⟨rmṯ⟩ = */ˈraːmac/ 'man'), but they can be either short or long in closed stressed syllables ( ⟨jnn⟩ = */jaˈnan/ 'we', ⟨mn⟩ = */maːn/ 'to stay'). Ma%27at Maat or Maʽat ( Egyptian : mꜣꜥt /ˈmuʀʕat/, Coptic : ⲙⲉⲓ ) comprised
5304-436: The dominance of Aten as the preeminent deity. This has led to discussion of whether Atenism should be considered a monotheistic religion, and thus making it one of the first examples of monotheism. Aten is both a unique deity and a continuation of the traditional idea of a sun-god in ancient Egyptian religion, deriving a lot of the concepts of power and representation from the earlier solar deities like Ra, but building on top of
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#17327658365095408-554: The elementary level, pupils received instructions from the tutors while sitting in circle around the tutors. The lessons were implemented in different fashions: reading was recited aloud or chanted, arithmetic was studied mutely, and writing was practiced by copying classical short literacy and the Miscellanies , a short composition specifically aimed to teach writing. When learning writing, scribal apprentices were required to go over sequential steps. They firstly had to memorize
5512-637: The emphatic consonants were realised is unknown. Early research had assumed that the opposition in stops was one of voicing, but it is now thought to be either one of tenuis and emphatic consonants , as in many Semitic languages, or one of aspirated and ejective consonants , as in many Cushitic languages . Since vowels were not written until Coptic, reconstructions of the Egyptian vowel system are much more uncertain and rely mainly on evidence from Coptic and records of Egyptian words, especially proper nouns, in other languages/writing systems. The actual pronunciations reconstructed by such means are used only by
5616-439: The end of a stressed syllable and eventually null word-finally: ⟨pḏ.t⟩ */ˈpiːɟat/ > Akkadian transcription -pi-ta 'bow'. The most important source of information about Demotic phonology is Coptic. The consonant inventory of Demotic can be reconstructed on the basis of evidence from the Coptic dialects. Demotic orthography is relatively opaque . The Demotic "alphabetical" signs are mostly inherited from
5720-481: The ethical and moral principle that all Egyptian citizens were expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in matters that involve family , the community , the nation , the environment , and the gods . Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became
5824-400: The feeling that their petitions were put before higher officials' requests. Although the main responsibility of scribes was to compose the work, transfer it or communicate, some scribes added additional commentary. The scribe's role in judicial system should also be taken into consideration. Local and insignificant crimes were usually led by a scribe or a foreman during the trial. Thoth was
5928-547: The first known Coptic text, still pagan ( Old Coptic ), from the 1st century AD. Coptic survived into the medieval period, but by the 16th century was dwindling rapidly due to the persecution of Coptic Christians under the Mamluks . It probably survived in the Egyptian countryside as a spoken language for several centuries after that. Coptic survives as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and
6032-404: The god of wisdom who invented writing, which directly connects Maat to ancient Egyptian rhetoric. Maat (which is associated with solar, lunar, astral, and the river Nile's movements) is a concept based on humanity's attempt to live in a natural harmonic state. Maat is associated with the judgment of the deceased and whether a person has done what is right in their life. Thus, to do Maat
6136-655: The graphemes ⟨s⟩ and ⟨z⟩ are used interchangeably. In addition, / j / had become / ʔ / word-initially in an unstressed syllable (⟨ jwn ⟩ /jaˈwin/ > */ʔaˈwin/ "colour") and after a stressed vowel ( ⟨ḥjpw⟩ */ˈħujpVw/ > /ˈħeʔp(Vw)/ '[the god] Apis'). In Late Egyptian (1069–700 BC), the phonemes d ḏ g gradually merge with their counterparts t ṯ k ( ⟨dbn⟩ */ˈdiːban/ > Akkadian transcription ti-ba-an 'dbn-weight'). Also, ṯ ḏ often become /t d/ , but they are retained in many lexemes ; ꜣ becomes / ʔ / ; and /t r j w/ become / ʔ / at
6240-508: The hierarchical structure of Ancient Egyptian society, created important distinctions between elite classes and everyone else. The political and ideological interests of the elite dominated and directed the majority of social and cultural life in Ancient Egypt. Rhetoric has also been acknowledged as playing a role in the maintenance of social hierarchies, with its priorities of maintaining harmony and social order. Illiterate people had
6344-435: The hieroglyphic orthography, and it is frequently written as if it were / n / or / r / . That is probably because the standard for written Egyptian is based on a dialect in which / l / had merged with other sonorants. Also, the rare cases of / ʔ / occurring are not represented. The phoneme / j / is written as ⟨ j ⟩ in the initial position (⟨ jt ⟩ = */ˈjaːtVj/ 'father') and immediately after
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#17327658365096448-519: The hieroglyphic script, and due to historical sound changes they do not always map neatly onto Demotic phonemes . However, the Demotic script does feature certain orthographic innovations, such as the use of the sign h̭ for / ç /, which allow it to represent sounds that were not present in earlier forms of Egyptian. The Demotic consonants can be divided into two primary classes: obstruents ( stops , affricates and fricatives ) and sonorants ( approximants , nasals , and semivowels ). Voice
6552-404: The inscriptions of scenes of gods carved in stone previously depicted animals and human forms instead showed the Aten as an orb above with life-giving rays stretching toward the royal figure. This power transcended human or animal form. Later, iconoclasm was enforced, and even sun disc depictions of Aten were prohibited in an edict issued by Akhenaten. In the edict, he stipulated that Aten's name
6656-572: The inscriptions, the Aten created a Nile river in the sky (rain) for the Syrians. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the royal family, and because of this non-royals receives life from Akhenaten and Nefertiti , later Neferneferuaten, in exchange for loyalty to the Aten. In inscriptions, like the Hymn to the Aten and the King, the Aten is depicted as caring for the people through Akhenaten, placing
6760-464: The language's final stage of development, the Coptic alphabet replaced the older writing system. Hieroglyphs are employed in two ways in Egyptian texts: as ideograms to represent the idea depicted by the pictures and, more commonly, as phonograms to represent their phonetic value. As the phonetic realization of Egyptian cannot be known with certainty, Egyptologists use a system of transliteration to denote each sound that could be represented by
6864-515: The large part, carried out literate functions for large masses of individuals. Since everyone was taxed, for example, their contributions were recorded by scribes. During periods of natural disasters, additionally, scribes worked on distant assignments, which were often in the form of letters. These letters were written and read by scribes for those who were not literate which enabled communication with superiors and families. Written texts were often read aloud in public by scribes, who also wrote most of
6968-406: The latter of which it shares much with. In the earlier stages of Demotic, such as those texts written in the early Demotic script, it probably represented the spoken idiom of the time. However, as its use became increasingly confined to literary and religious purposes, the written language diverged more and more from the spoken form, leading to significant diglossia between the late Demotic texts and
7072-474: The laws and righteousness. From the Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1550 – 1295 BC) Maat was described as the daughter of Ra , indicating that pharaohs were believed to rule through her authority. Maat was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman. Sometimes she is depicted with wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head. The meaning of this emblem
7176-475: The letters, regardless of the sender's writing ability. Thus, scribes were involved in both writing and reading the letters. Since scribes read the letters out loud in public, they could not use the first person to present the king's voice. Thus, the texts were presented in the third person grammatical structure . However, much of ancient Egyptian writing was symbolic and operated on a much deeper level than narratives might suggest. Religious concerns, as well as
7280-416: The loss of favor in the worship of the Aten. While there was no purge of the cult after Akhenaten's death, the Aten persisted in Egypt for another ten years or so until it seemed to fade. When Tutankhamun came into power, his religious reign was one of tolerance, with the major difference being that the Aten was no longer the only god worshiped within official, state capacity. Tutankhamun made efforts to rebuild
7384-763: The mastery of writing and reading in their specific purposes of conducting administration. In scribal schools, students were selectively chosen based on the same date of birth around Egypt. Most of the apprentice scribes were boys, but some privileged girls received similar instruction as the boys in the scribal schools. They could either live at school with their peers or stay with their parents, depending on geographical adjacency. The students were taught two types of writing by their teachers who were priests: sacred writing and instructive writing. Sacred writing emphasized Maat and its moral as well as ethical values and instructions, while instructive writing covered specific discussion about land-measurement and arithmetic for evaluating
7488-416: The moon. High relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a curved surface, therefore, the late scholar Hugh Nibley insisted that a more correct translation would be globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra , the sun god in traditional ancient Egyptian religion. While the Aten was worshiped under the reign of Amenhotep III , it
7592-470: The most part. Besides honing reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, students of scribal schools also learned other skills. Male students were involved in physical training, while female students were asked to practice singing, dancing, and musical instruments. Although little mythology survives concerning the goddess Maat, she was the daughter of the Egyptian Sun god Ra ; and the wife of Thoth ,
7696-506: The patron of scribes who is described as the one "who reveals Maat and reckons Maat; who loves Maat and gives Maat to the doer of Maat". In texts such as the Instruction of Amenemope the scribe is urged to follow the precepts of Maat in his private life as well as his work. The exhortations to live according to Maat are such that these kinds of instructional texts have been described as "Maat Literature". Scribal schools emerged during
7800-522: The power Ra and many of his contemporaries represents. Aten carried absolute power in the universe, representing the life-giving force of light to the world as well as merging with the concept and goddess Ma'at to develop further responsibilities for Aten beyond the power of light itself. The cult-center of the Aten was at the capital city Akhenaten founded, Akhetaten , though other cult sites have been found in Thebes and Heliopolis . The use of Amarna as
7904-512: The quality of the surrounding vowels. / ʔ / is not indicated orthographically unless it follows a stressed vowel; then, it is marked by doubling the vowel letter (except in Bohairic): Akhmimic ⳉⲟⲟⲡ /xoʔp/ , Sahidic and Lycopolitan ϣⲟⲟⲡ šoʔp , Bohairic ϣⲟⲡ šoʔp 'to be' < ḫpr.w * /ˈχapraw/ 'has become'. The phoneme ⲃ / b / was probably pronounced as a fricative [ β ] , becoming ⲡ / p / after
8008-870: The reality" that the geographical location of Egypt is, of course, in Africa. While the consonantal phonology of the Egyptian language may be reconstructed, the exact phonetics is unknown, and there are varying opinions on how to classify the individual phonemes. In addition, because Egyptian is recorded over a full 2,000 years, the Archaic and Late stages being separated by the amount of time that separates Old Latin from Modern Italian , significant phonetic changes must have occurred during that lengthy time frame. Phonologically, Egyptian contrasted labial, alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal consonants. Egyptian also contrasted voiceless and emphatic consonants, as with other Afroasiatic languages, but exactly how
8112-479: The reign of Amenhotep III where it was depicted as a falcon-headed god like Ra. While Aten was the preeminent creator deity of a pantheon of ancient Egyptian gods under Amenhotep III, it was not until his successor that Aten would be the only god acknowledged via state worship. During the reign of Amenhotep III's successor, Amenhotep IV, the Aten became the sole god of the Egyptian state religion, and Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect his close link with
8216-431: The rich to help the less fortunate rather than exploit them, echoed in tomb declarations: "I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked" and "I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan". To the Egyptian mind, Maat bound all things together in an indestructible unity: the universe, the natural world, the state, and the individual were all seen as parts of the wider order generated by Maat. A passage in
8320-511: The royal family as intermediaries for the worship of the Aten. There is only one known instance of the Aten talking. In the Hymn to Aten, a love for humanity and the Earth is depicted in Aten's mannerisms: "Aten bends low, near the earth, to watch over his creation; he takes his place in the sky for the same purpose; he wearies himself in the service of the creatures; he shines for them all; he gives them sun and sends them rain. The unborn child and
8424-599: The same graphemes are used for the pulmonic stops ( ⟨ ⲧ ϫ ⲕ ⟩ ), the existence of the former may be inferred because the stops ⟨ ⲡ ⲧ ϫ ⲕ ⟩ /p t c k/ are allophonically aspirated [pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ] before stressed vowels and sonorant consonants. In Bohairic, the allophones are written with the special graphemes ⟨ ⲫ ⲑ ϭ ⲭ ⟩ , but other dialects did not mark aspiration: Sahidic ⲡⲣⲏ , Bohairic ⲫⲣⲏ 'the sun'. Thus, Bohairic does not mark aspiration for reflexes of older *d ḏ g q : Sahidic and Bohairic ⲧⲁⲡ */dib/ 'horn'. Also,
8528-433: The script was supplanted by an early version of Coptic (about the third and fourth centuries), the system remained virtually unchanged. Even the number of signs used remained constant at about 700 for more than 2,000 years. Middle Egyptian was spoken for about 700 years, beginning around 2000 BC, during the Middle Kingdom and the subsequent Second Intermediate Period . As the classical variant of Egyptian, Middle Egyptian
8632-435: The society since the ethical and moral concepts of Maat were further formulated, promoted, and maintained by these individuals. Scribes in particular held prestigious positions in ancient Egyptian society as they were a primary means for the transmission of religious, political, and commercial information. Although few were formally literate, writing was an important part of citizens' lives in Ancient Egypt, and scribes, for
8736-480: The southern Saidic dialect, the main classical dialect, and the northern Bohairic dialect, currently used in Coptic Church services. Most surviving texts in the Egyptian language are written on stone in hieroglyphs . The native name for Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is zẖꜣ n mdw-nṯr ("writing of the gods' words"). In antiquity, most texts were written on the quite perishable medium of papyrus though
8840-423: The spirit of Maat. It was very practical advice, and highly case-based, so few specific and general rules could be derived from them. During the Greek period in Egyptian history , Greek law existed alongside Egyptian law. The Egyptian law preserved the rights of women, who were allowed to act independently of men and own substantial personal property, and in time, this influenced the more restrictive conventions of
8944-619: The spoken language of the time, similar to the use of classical Middle Egyptian during the Ptolemaic Period. Coptic is the name given to the late Egyptian vernacular when it was written in a Greek-based alphabet, the Coptic alphabet; it flourished from the time of Early Christianity (c. 31/33–324) , but Egyptian phrases written in the Greek alphabet first appeared during the Hellenistic period c. 3rd century BC , with
9048-401: The state temples that were destroyed during Akhenaten's reign and reinstate the traditional pantheon of gods. This seemed to be "a move based publicly on the doctrine that Egypt's woes stemmed directly from its ignoring the gods, and in turn the gods' abandonment of Egypt". Ancient Egyptian language The Egyptian language , or Ancient Egyptian ( r n kmt ; "speech of Egypt")
9152-429: The state temples to other Egyptian gods and re-positioned Amun as the pre-eminent solar deity. Aten is depicted as a solar disc emitting rays terminating in human hands. The word Aten appears in the Old Kingdom as a noun meaning "disc" which referred to anything flat and circular; the sun was called the "disc of the day" where Ra was thought to reside. By analogy, the term "silver aten" was sometimes used to refer to
9256-479: The supreme deity. The sole worship of Aten can be referred to as Atenism. Many of the core principles of Atenism were recorded in the capital city Akhenaten founded and moved his dynastic government to, Akhetaten , referred to as either Amarna, El-Amarna, or Tell el-Amarna by modern scholars. In Atenism, night is a time to fear. Work is done best when the sun, and thus Aten, is present. The Aten created all countries and people, and cares for every creature. According to
9360-448: The time. Balustrades depict Akhenaten and the royal family embracing the rays of the Aten flanked stairwells, ramps, and altars. These fragments were initially identified as stele but were later reclassified as balustrades based on the presence of scenes on both sides. Inscriptions in tombs and temples during the Amarna Period often gave Aten a royal titulary enclosed in a double cartouche . Some have interpreted this to mean that Akhenaten
9464-644: The values given to those consonants by the neuere Komparatistik , instead connecting ⟨ꜥ⟩ with Semitic /ʕ/ and /ɣ/ . Both schools agree that Afroasiatic */l/ merged with Egyptian ⟨n⟩ , ⟨r⟩ , ⟨ꜣ⟩ , and ⟨j⟩ in the dialect on which the written language was based, but it was preserved in other Egyptian varieties. They also agree that original */k g ḳ/ palatalise to ⟨ṯ j ḏ⟩ in some environments and are preserved as ⟨k g q⟩ in others. The Egyptian language has many biradical and perhaps monoradical roots, in contrast to
9568-491: The word m3ˤt was pronounced /múʔʕa/ during the New Kingdom of Egypt , having lost the feminine ending t . Vowel assimilation of u to e later produced the Coptic word ⲙⲉⲉ/ⲙⲉ "truth, justice". The earliest surviving records indicating that Maat is the norm for nature and society, in this world and the next, were recorded during the Old Kingdom of Egypt , the earliest substantial surviving examples being found in
9672-474: The world. Aten does not have a creation myth or family but is mentioned in the Book of the Dead . The first known reference to Aten the sun-disk as a deity is in The Story of Sinuhe from the 12th Dynasty , in which the deceased king is described as rising as a god to the heavens and "uniting with the sun-disk, the divine body merging with its maker". Aten was extensively worshipped as a solar deity during
9776-409: Was considered to have been everywhere and intangible as Aten was the sunlight and energy in the world. Therefore, he did not have physical representations that other traditional ancient Egyptian gods had, instead represented via the sun disc and reaching rays of light tipped with human-like hands. The explanation as to why the Aten could not be fully represented was that the Aten was beyond creation. Thus
9880-439: Was made the sole deity to receive state and official cult worship under his successor Akhenaten, though archaeological evidence suggests the closing of the state temples of other Egyptian gods likely did not stop household worship of the traditional pantheon. Inscriptions, such as the " Great Hymn to the Aten ", found in temples and tombs during Akhenaten's reign showcase the Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of
9984-490: Was not performed. Instead, incense and food-stuff offerings such as meats, wines, and fruits were placed onto open-air altars. A common scene in carved depictions of Akhenaten giving offering to Aten has him consecrating the sacrificed goods with a royal scepter. Instead of barque-processions, the royal family rode in a chariot on festival days. Elite women were known to worship the Aten in sun-shade temples in Akhetaten. Aten
10088-428: Was published by Adolf Erman in 1894, surpassed in 1927 by Alan Gardiner 's work. Middle Egyptian has been well-understood since then, although certain points of the verbal inflection remained open to revision until the mid-20th century, notably due to the contributions of Hans Jakob Polotsky . The Middle Egyptian stage is taken to have ended around the 14th century BC, giving rise to Late Egyptian. This transition
10192-479: Was recorded; or the Afroasiatic family has so far been studied with an excessively Semitocentric approach; or, as G. W. Tsereteli suggests, Afroasiatic is a sprachbund , rather than a true genetic language family. The Egyptian language can be grouped thus: The Egyptian language is conventionally grouped into six major chronological divisions: Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using both
10296-424: Was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually. The real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods on the state level, especially Amun-Ra , prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi- monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism
10400-400: Was taking place in the later period of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (known as the Amarna Period ). Original Old Egyptian and Middle Egyptian texts were still used after the 14th century BCE. And an emulation of predominately Middle Egyptian, but also with characteristics of Old Egyptian, Late Egyptian and Demotic, called " Égyptien de tradition " or "Neo-Middle Egyptian" by scholars,
10504-407: Was the embodiment of Aten, and the worship of Aten is directly worship of Akhenaten; but others have taken this as an indicator of Aten as the supreme ruler even over the current reigning royalty. There were two forms of the title; the first had the names of other gods, and the second later one was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself. The early form was Re-Horakhti who rejoices in
10608-436: Was to act in a manner unreproachable or inculpable. So revered was the concept of Maat that Egyptian kings would often pay tribute to gods, offering small statues of Maat , indicating that they were successfully upholding the universal order: the interconnection among the cosmic, divine, natural, and human realms. When rhetors are attempting to achieve balance in their arguments, they are practicing Maat. George Kennedy,
10712-467: Was to be spelt phonetically. Two temples were central to the city of Akhetaten. The larger of the two had an "open, unroofed structure covering an area of about 800 by 300 metres (2,600 ft × 1,000 ft) at the northern end of the city". Doorways had broken lintels and raised thresholds. Temples to the Aten were open-air structures with little-to-no roofing to maximize the amount of sunlight on the interior making them unique compared to other Egyptian temples of
10816-547: Was used as a literary language for new texts since the later New Kingdom in official and religious hieroglyphic and hieratic texts in preference to Late Egyptian or Demotic. Égyptien de tradition as a religious language survived until the Christianisation of Roman Egypt in the 4th century. Late Egyptian was spoken for about 650 years, beginning around 1350 BC, during the New Kingdom of Egypt . Late Egyptian succeeded but did not fully supplant Middle Egyptian as
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