Where did Akhenaten Go?

In Search of the Sun Worshipper

We need to first agree that Akhenaten’s tomb will not be found in Egypt, now or later. He went out of the borders and vanished. This article will try to explain why he had to leave. For conjecture on where he could have gone, read < http://hubpages.com/hub/Akhenaten-changed-the-world> and < http://hubpages.com/hub/Akhenaten-and-the-Kikuyu >

We need to go further back to understand the dilemma in which Akhenaten found himself.

Akhenaten was first called Amenhotep IV, which means he subscribed or paid homage to Amun, the National God at the time, just like his father before him. Now, Amun was a God of war. Recall that Menes, or Mena, the Pharaoh who unified Northern and Southern (Upper) Egypt was allied the Amun. It is even likely that it was Menes himself who was deified as Amun after blazing his way from East Africa to the north to form a unified state. My theory is that after the war, Menes needed a peaceful time to consolidate his gains; a time when no war could be waged. He probably started a tradition of a war period, followed by a peace period. The Hebsed festival most likely punctuated these periods, every thirty years. A war period would then end after celebrating the next hebsed and a peaceful period would begin. This peaceful period was represented by the Ankh – the symbol of life, since peace meant that life would be protected and the people and their livestock would thrive. At the next hebsed, the peaceful period would end and the Pharaoh at the helm must expand Egyptian borders by declaring war on all the kings who had resisted subjugation by then.

Here we go to the Kikuyu for help on further conjecture. The Kikuyu say that Maina begets Mwangi and Mwangi begets Maina. Since the Kikuyu also had a festival that was celebrated every thirty years just like the Egyptian hebsed, we must assume that Maina stands for Menes (Amun) and therefore war. In the same breath Mwangi stands for Ankh and therefore peace.You can see the Ankh in the suffix of Mwa-ngi.

It should be noted that the Egyptians also named their children in the Kikuyu fashion - the first born boy is named after the father's father (who is the boy's grandfather) and the first born daughter is named after the father's mother (who is the girl's Grandmother). War begets peace, peace begets war: father begets the son, the son begets the father.

Here is a list of the 12^th Dynasty kings to show this naming system:

1. Amenemhet I (Sehetepibre) 1991 - 1962

2. Senusert I (Kheperkare) 1956 - 1911

3. Amenemhet II (Nubkaure) 1911 - 1877
4. Senusert II (Khakheperre) 1877 - 1870
5. Senusert III (Khakaure) 1836 - 1817
6. Amenemhet III (Nimaatre) 1817 - 1772
7. Amenemhet IV (Maakherure) 1772 - 1763
8. Neferusobek (Sobekkare) 1763 - 1759

Senusert I named his son Amenemhet II, after the boy’s Grandfather, Amenemhet I; Amenemhet II named his son Senusert II after the boy’s Grandfather Senusert I.

After Senusert I, we get a completely different story. Instead of Senusert I having his own son take the throne, a step brother bearing the same name as his took the throne. This is possible in a polygamous society, where even today, a Kikuyu man with several wives will have all the first born sons bearing the same name, that of their Grandfather. Therefore, Senusert III and Senusert II had the same father. It is therefore not easy to tell whether the Amenemhet III who took over from Senusert III was his son, or his stepbrother’s (Senusert II). Any how, the boy fell into the same problem as his predecessors and was succeeded not by a son but by a step- brother.

Now Back to Akhenaten. Since his original name was Amenhotep, we can rightly assume that he was allied to Amun the God of war and not to Ankh. He should have been out campaigning to enlarge Egypts borders but did he?

So Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten and he did not go out to enlarge the borders of Egypt. Instead he decided that only Aten was to be worshiped, and he, Akhenaten, was a chief priest of Aten. it was not long before Akhenaten started to think of himself as a 'son of Aten' and therefore a god. Aldred (1968) says that "Akhenaten's henchmen refer to their king as 'the god who made them'. The only war that Akhenaten fought was against the God Amun and his priests. Akhenaten supposedly sent workmen to hack away at the names of gods and not even his own father's name was spared- it was prefixed with Amun. Around Egypt, peace reigned so much that the period is called 'Amarna' - the peaceful period and it is from this word that the Swahili word for peace - Amani - comes from; Arabic 'al-amnu.'

The City that Akhenaten Built

If Akhenaten had never planned to flee, he would have built a very permanent city. Evidence from Amarna indicate that most of the City was a temporary nature. They used burned bricks. The only permanent man man made structures remaining intact are the tombs in the hillside, which were never occupied, as Egyptologists admit. We know that even even priests and other nobles bult themselves tombs with the intention of being buried in them. How is it possible that not even a noble man or a priest in Akhenaten's palace, decided to use one of the already built tombs to save himself the trouble of having to build one? Because, when Akhenaten left, no one remained behind. The departure was fore-planned and well organized. The tombs were a red herring. They were never meant to be occupied. There must have been a threat to Akhanaten and his household that was so big that he needed to divert attention by building an entire city and moving out of Thebes. This Threat, i suspect strongly was Horemhab the army General. How else could akhenaten be succeeded by a nine year old?

Nine Year olds are preteens not Pharaohs

Previously when a child was not old enough to rule, someone else ruled as regent until the child came of age. That is how Hatshepsut came to power. Though she was meant to be there until her nephew came of age, she usurped the power and ruled for 21 years and nine months. It is not possible even today, for a child of nine years to take the reigns of government alone. Someone abducted Tutankhamen from Akhenaten's household which was a signal for Akhenaten to flee. When he fled, the boy was installed on the thrown as a puppet until his master was ready to rule. Not able to wait, Horemhab planned Tut's demise a few years later and installed Aye, the Vizier. After another brief moment, Aye disapeared and Horemhab Took over.

Horemhab the Horrible

I suggest that the English word Horrible has a direct link to the name Horemhab. Even the Arabic word Haram may have the same roots. he did terrible things. He caused Akhenaten to flee. He installed a young boy as pharaoh then killed him by using the Vizier Aye as an accomplice. When Aye outlived his usefulness, he caused his disappearance. He must have killed him as well. How do you explain that when he took over the throne, he tried to change the records to show that after Akhenaten's father Amenhotep III), there was no other pharaoh, but him. He erased Akhenaten Tutankhamen and Aye - three Pharaohs in all. How more horrible could he have been?

Akhenaten beat the odds and fled

Akhenaten emerged the sharpest of them all. He had known Horemhab's plans for a long time. He planned to flee from the south. I read somewhere that a tablet was found with the words to the effect that "I will be burried next to the mountains and evven if my wife tries to dissuade me, I will not listen to her." I hope to cite the source when I find it. If you find it sooner, leave a comment. We know there are no mountains in Egypt. His entourage ended up in the Ethiopian highlands where they took refuge in an island on a lake name after him - the lake Tana. But they knew the journey was not over until they reached the mountain known by his name - the the Kenya (read akhena). He probably ordered his scouts to name the largest river flowing from that mountain after him - the Tana. When it was time to move on, his people scouts planned that emigrating groups should use the Tana as a meeting point before they could be directed to the destination near the mountain. That is why the Tana is called 'thagana' - (receive visitors) in the Kikuyu language.

Linguistic evidence from Kenyan communities indicates that Akhenaten moved southwards for reasons that will be explained. Stay with me. In the meantime, read the hub - Akhenaten and the Kikuyu ( http://emmanuelkariuki.hubpages.com/hub/Akhenaten-and-the-Kikuyu ), and Mentuhotep and the Kisii and Meru people of Kenya - ( http://emmanuelkariuki.hubpages.com/hub/The-Kisii-and-Meru-people-of-Kenya-and-their-Misri-origin )

To be continued.

One of the many reasons that Akhenaten lost face with priests and nobility alike was for not extending the borders of Egypt as was ordained by the thirty period of Amun in which he reigned. He spent hours composing hymns to his god, Aten which are among his most remarkable feats (Giles 1970). This antagonism with the Amun priests must have become so antagonistic that the only way he could escape and have the peace that he so desired was to move out of Thebes the capital. But he was still the Pharaoh and moving out of Egypt was not an option at the time. This was something he would consider later. At the time, he still had the resources to build another capital for himself. And so in his fourth year on the throne, Akhenaten started to build a new capital which he called 'Akhetaten.' Giles sums up Akhenaten’s story with the words “here [Akhenaten] he still may lie in a tomb yet undiscovered.” (p.55).

Aldred thinks that the tomb ascribed to Smenkhare belongs to Akhenaten. As recently as February 2011 when riots were rocking Egypt, Dr. Hawass mentioned KV 55 and ascribed it to Akhenaten. I beg to difer and so does Giles. Giles who wrote in 1970 said that Aldred's conjecture was an excursion into fantasy because Aldred cannot explain how the body found its way to Thebes in a “miserable uninscribed little tomb ------ (Giles 1970 p.106).

We know that Akhenaten eventually abandoned the capital. This will be covered in detail later. In the meantime, they say that History repeats itself. Read the following text about Dingane King of the Zulus and see if it is a mirror of what may have happened in Akhetaten:

Without further delay the evacuation of the capital commenced. The indluenkulu and other seraglio huts were set alight as Dingane, accompanied by his subjects, crossed the Umkumbane stream, skirted kwaMatiwane, the hill of execution, and entered emaKhosini - the place of Kings. Joined by the populace from kraals in the valley he set out in a north- westerly direction reaching a hill named Isihlalo- the Chair- from the summit of which Dingane gazed upon columns of smoke rising from emGungundlovu. A momentous era in his eventful reign had ended. ( Decker, Rule of Fear - P. 236)