I came today upon a wonderful art
work of Arden.
The painting depicts the family of the infamous Egyptian king Akhenaton
consisting of him, his wife and 6 daughters. Clearly the artist has depended on
the two dimensional ancient illustrations for the 18th Dynasty
family whose life details are still in many ways mysterious.
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| Akhenaton, Nefertiti and their children in the royal terrace. Note that children were often represented naked with head shaved and a side lock of hair |
Yet a couple of facts are
confirmed about king Akhenaton and his mistress. Being crowned under the name
Amenhotep IV, the young king soon changed his name to Akhenaton, meaning the
,,,of Aton. The later was a sun deity who, though well known in Egypt since the
Old Kingdom, has never been a national god before Akenaton assigned him as the one
and only god of the country. In the
fifth year of his reign, Pharaoh Akhenaten (1352–1336 BC) and his queen
Nefertiti abandoned Thebes and built a new city, Akhetaten, Horizon of the Aten,
in the area now known as Tell al-Amarna. It was there that the couple enjoyed an
undisturbed family life with their young
daughters soon to be six in number. Akhetaton\s revolutionary religious thought was soon to extend to art as well and
for the first , and probably only, time in ancient Egypt, was the royal family represented
while carrying out non ritual related daily life activities. Countless representations
of the family were produced showing them in a casual manner.
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| An original relief of the royal family |
The life of Akenaton and his
consort were apparently short and we are unaware of their final destiny. While
one of their daughters at least passed away during their lifetime, the others
same to have outlived their parents and one even became the queen of Akhenaton’s
successor, the notorious Tutankhamon. The eternal rest place of Akhenaton’s
family remains unknown but their presence in ancient and contemporary art work is
everlasting and timeless.
The superb painting of Arden is
also available here as a print on many:objects http://www.cafepress.com/ardenellennixon/7162111
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