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Thoughts on worship
Topic Started: Apr 24 2013, 12:42 PM (545 Views)
Maaritaten
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After spending a few days reading and re-reading all the relevant text I could possibly find from Akhetaten, a fairly cohesive picture of what worship would've been like there. Of course these are just my thoughts and, sometimes very liberal, interpretations but I will try to back my points up with textual 'evidence'.

- Offerings
Well, this is a no brainer. We KNOW from evidence of all kinds that there were offerings in extreme. It would seem that all offering took place in the Great Temple however, and not in the personal chapels and altars of the people. Considering the fact that we no longer have a temple and we believers are scattered all over the world it would only be reasonable to assume that everyone can make offerings to the Aten.

Then what exactly did the offerings concist of? Some prayers state that ALL that Aten has created is in some way offered back to him, and we can see this from recent evidence from Amarna of animal sacrifice. A more appropriate offering today would imho concist of the likes of bread, fruit and various drinks - all mentioned in the hymns and prayers found in the tombs.

As I said the other day, in my personal prayers I like to partake of some of what I have offered after I'm finished with my ritual - something which I believe is consistent with the following lines from the tomb of Huya:
"I enjoy the things which are offered:
I consume bread and beer, warm meat and cold water,
wine and milk, all that is offered,
in the sanctuary of the Aten in Akhetaten"


- Fixed prayer times
In this aspect there are many similarities between Atenism and Islam. Many sources point to actual rituals of worship taking place at least twice a day: at sunrise and sunset. There is only one instance of evening prayer being offered (I'll get back on the exact quote later on, I have forgotten where I found it atm) - which isn't very surprising considering that sunset was thought of as dying in a sense. However it would be reasonable to assume that it would be a proper time to give thanks for the life and gifts of Aten that we anticipate in our morning prayers. Some of the Amarna letters also would seem to indicate prayers during the day, for example the letter from the Assyrian king with complaints of how his envoys have to stand for hours under the sun when participating in rituals.


- Posture
In the tomb of Huya we can read that "their hands give praise at your dawning, they prostrate themselves when you shine on them". The frequent textual mentionings of raised hands coupled with depiction in carvings of the same, I think we can safely assume that the 'orans' position was the most common one when praying. The prostration on the other hand, is both mentioned and depicted less frequently, and I know of no depiction where someone else besides the King is prostrate before the Aten. Maybe this is to be considered a position reserved for royalty, and possibly higher clergy, and maybe only at certain important functions and rituals?


- Cleanliness
There's a single line from the tomb of Tutu which says 'all men rise up in their places, they cleanse their limbs and clothe themselves'. Here again is something we might have in common with Islam, which stresses ritual purity before formal communal prayers. Maybe we need not make it an obligation, but I feel that making a short ablution before prayers and rituals would be appropriate. Maybe we can draw inspiration from that great sun religion of Japan, Shintoism: before praying at a shrine shintoists visit a small fountains where they cleanse their mouths and hands. Quite a lovely thought, methinks :)



'Let me be satisfied seeing You, Oh Living Aten!'
- adapted from the Hymn of Tutu, Chamberlain of the Two Lands
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