Since writing the above, another point in Akhnaton’s teaching has become apparent, from the scenes, recently discovered by the present writer, in the tomb of Rames. There is a scene often represented upon the walls of tombs of Dynasty XVIII. which seems to represent human sacrifice. The figure of a man is seen dragged to the tomb upon a sledge, and Sir Gaston Maspero has pointed out that this can hardly be anything else than such a sacrifice. This scene was shown on one of the walls of the tomb of Rames, and evidently dated from a period previous to Akhnaton’s revolution. When, however, the young king had formulated his religion of love he could not tolerate a barbaric and cruel ceremony of this kind. We thus find that the entire scene is here obliterated, almost certainly by the king’s agents. The objection to human sacrifice is closely in accord with his objection to human suffering as recorded on page 175.
THE TENTH TO THE TWELFTH YEARS OF THE REIGN OF AKHNATON.
“One must be moved with involuntary admiration for the young king who in such an age found such thoughts in his heart.”--BREASTED: ‘History of Egypt.’
In the tombs of rich persons who had lived and died previous to the time of Akhnaton, a large portion of the walls had been covered with religious inscriptions; and when at first the nobles of the City of the Horizon of Aton were planning their sepulchres they must have been at a loss to know what to substitute for these forbidden formulæ. Soon, however, it became the custom to write there short extracts from the hymns which were sung in the temples of the Aton. In a few cases these inscriptions supply us with a definite psalm which, although short, seems to be complete. In one tomb--that of Ay--however, there is a copy of a much more elaborate hymn; and it would thus seem that there were two main psalms in use in the temples, a longer and a shorter version of the same composition.
It was not unusual for the Egyptians to compose hymns in honour of their gods, and a few such have been preserved to us upon the walls of the old temples. Like the Hebrew psalms of later date, they are not always of a very high moral tone. They are often but chants of victory, dealing in battles, in thunders, and in tempests, and glorying in the wrath of heaven. The longer hymn to the Aton, which is here given in full, is quite unlike any of these compositions, and both in purity of tone and in beauty of style it must rank high amongst the poems of antiquity.