Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and into the Holy Land. The bible acknowledges that Moses was born and raised an Egyptian in elite circles. But some have wondered whether he rose to the very top and was indeed the Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Indulge me for a moment!
This is an intriguing theory about an enigmatic pharaoh who rejected the Gods of ancient Egypt and established a monotheist (one-God) cult around the Sun. Or the Aten to be more precise.
Some, even in academia, have argued that this one-God worshipping king of Egypt may have either been Moses or inspired him in some way. The father of psychology, Sigmund Freud, even believed that Moses had been a priest in the cult of the Aten who had to flee with his other believers when the old religion was restored and Akhenaten overthrown.
Akhenaten (or Moses if you prefer!) was famously married to the incredible Nefertiti whose beautiful bust is displayed at the Neues Museum in Berlin. Their depictions are almost touchingly domestic with the queen tending the children while Akhenaten sits nearby.
I was at the Neues Museum just a fortnight before it closed because of the Coronavirus. And I filmed some of the very distinctive artwork that was created under Akhenaten. It’s almost like the artist’s rule book was thrown out under his reign and new styles developed – reflecting his revolution in religion.
You’re not allowed to take photos or film the Nefertiti bust but I found an unfinished bust dating back over three thousand years. In some ways, this object was more alluring because you could see the artist’s smudges and tracing. Enjoy the little film I made below because it may be a long time before any of us get to see these treasures again.
One key difference between Akhenaten and Moses is, of course, that we know for 100% certainty that Akhenaten existed. We have his statues, his mummy (vandalised after death) and cartouches. Of Moses, we have the story but no confirmed grave or contemporary images.
the story of Moses in the bible was deemed inaccurate by scholars of the bible in modern times. They traced the routes mentioned in the bible and even explained the “parting of the waves” which even today can be seen. The locals of the area in modern times were able to show the area whereby the wind when hitting a small river was able to part the shallower part of the water as it crossed over the top of bedrock. There is no evidence at all, other than the bible, that Moses even existed, in essence, a mystical person. Akhenaten’s life mirrors that of Moses, in that Akhenaten took his followers from the Egyptian capital and it was the priests who chased after him. The priests were the real power in Egypt, they had power and money. Besides, archeology has proven there were no slaves used in the building of the pyramids.
The Biblical timeline has Moses born in approx. 1527 BC and Akhenaten born in 1379 BC so it doesn’t make sense that Akhenaten was Moses or visa-versa. Also, it’s a misunderstanding that Akhenaten worshipped the sun, he used the most powerful symbol known to him as the symbol of Aten. He worshipped Aten not the sun. And why did King David have the same symbol on the back of his throne?