Friday, July 1, 2011

Hymn to Aten, by his beloved son, Ahkenaten




One before all others
Knowing the world and the heavens
Staring at existence
From his high place
In the throne room
In Amarna
The royal palace
Of the kingdom of Egypt
He knew the truth
He was proof
That Egypt was the highest land
Of the greatest lands
And the God Aten
Blessed it
Daily


The following is a poem/song devoted to the worship of the new Egyptian god Aten, held high above all others by Ahkenaten, the first Egyptian Pharaoh to institute monotheism.

"How manifold it is, what thou hast made!
They are hidden from the face (of man).
O sole god, like whom there is no other!
Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,
Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,
Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,
And what is on high, flying with its wings.
The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt,
Thou settest every man in his place,
Thou suppliest their necessities:
Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned.
Their tongues are separate in speech,
And their natures as well;
Their skins are distinguished,
As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples.
Thou makest a Nile in the underworld,
Thou bringest forth as thou desirest
To maintain the people (of Egypt)
According as thou madest them for thyself,
The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them,
The lord of every land, rising for them,
The Aton of the day, great of majesty"