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Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt
The pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt in the mid-fourteenth century BCE, has been the subject of more speculation than any other character in Egyptian history. Often called the originator of monotheism and the world's first recorded individual, he has fascinated and inspired both scholars of Egyptology and creative talents as diverse as Sigmund Freud and Philip Glass.
This provocative biography examines both the real Akhenaten and the myths that have been created around him. It scrutinises the history of the pharaoh and his reign, which has been continually written in Eurocentric terms inapplicable to ancient Egypt, and the archaeology of Akhenaten's capital city, Amarna. It goes on to explore the pharaoh's extraordinary cultural afterlife, and the way he has been invoked to validate ideas as diverse as psychoanalysis, racial equality and fascism. Dr Montserrat makes the point that our view of Akhenaten has never been based purely on historical or archaeological knowledge, but is a cultural hallucination, influenced by western desires about ancient Egypt and modern struggles for legitimation and authority.
Combining up-to-date historical synthesis with extensive new archival research, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt is the first book to assess critically why the archaeology of ancient Egypt continues to fascinate. Theoretically astute and engagingly written, and illustrated with many striking images never previously published, it will appeal to anyone with an interest in Akhenaten or in the archaeology of ancient Egypt.
This provocative biography examines both the real Akhenaten and the myths that have been created around him. It scrutinises the history of the pharaoh and his reign, which has been continually written in Eurocentric terms inapplicable to ancient Egypt, and the archaeology of Akhenaten's capital city, Amarna. It goes on to explore the pharaoh's extraordinary cultural afterlife, and the way he has been invoked to validate ideas as diverse as psychoanalysis, racial equality and fascism. Dr Montserrat makes the point that our view of Akhenaten has never been based purely on historical or archaeological knowledge, but is a cultural hallucination, influenced by western desires about ancient Egypt and modern struggles for legitimation and authority.
Combining up-to-date historical synthesis with extensive new archival research, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt is the first book to assess critically why the archaeology of ancient Egypt continues to fascinate. Theoretically astute and engagingly written, and illustrated with many striking images never previously published, it will appeal to anyone with an interest in Akhenaten or in the archaeology of ancient Egypt.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 13, 2017
This book, while it covers the life of Akhenaten, commonly known as the "Heretic Pharaoh", is more about how intellectuals and fringe groups grab some historical figure and make him part of their cause or philosophy in an effort to give their own agenda historical legitimacy and credibility otherwise lacking. For example, this pharaoh has been embraced variously as an icon by both Aryan supremacists and by black activists, by family values types as well as by the homosexual movement, by science fiction huxsters, and so many more. Clearly, all these different "Akhenatens" created by each of these movements can't all possibly coexist as historically accurate or authentic, and, given that this man lived many millenia neither is it possible to determine exactly what man he was. But to all these groups, none of this much matters anyway ---- the need for propaganda with which to inspire and encourage the faithful and to proselytize for new members supersedes any faithfulness to either truth or historical accuracy. It's an interesting study --- and, in pop versions of history, we've seen many similar treatments of other great figures such as Alexander the Great, Richard the Lion-Hearted, JFK, and Martin Luther King, Jr. In that respect, this is an interesting --- even if I did not find it exactly a compelling one.
October 7, 2011
Who was Akhenaten?
This is the question that Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt explores, holds up to the light, but doesn't answer. Montserrat explores how the historical figure of Akhenaten has been used by a number of different groups to further their own agenda or interests. Akhenaten therefore exists with a number of identities that can be contradictory: he is a racial, religious, political, domestic and sexual figure.
Montserrat steers away from outright criticising these identities, or from offering his own take on Akhenaten. This is probably wise in a book such as this. He leaves the readers to explore and then make up their own minds whether any of these identities are valid. However, the chapter focused on the Akhenaten that has emerged from the archaeological remains was particularly good at stripping away some of the myths about the real man.
The book turns the question I started with back to us, but re-phrases it: who IS Akhenaten? The historical figure remains elusive, a man we know less about than we think, but the cultural icon can be explored and examined.
This is the question that Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt explores, holds up to the light, but doesn't answer. Montserrat explores how the historical figure of Akhenaten has been used by a number of different groups to further their own agenda or interests. Akhenaten therefore exists with a number of identities that can be contradictory: he is a racial, religious, political, domestic and sexual figure.
Montserrat steers away from outright criticising these identities, or from offering his own take on Akhenaten. This is probably wise in a book such as this. He leaves the readers to explore and then make up their own minds whether any of these identities are valid. However, the chapter focused on the Akhenaten that has emerged from the archaeological remains was particularly good at stripping away some of the myths about the real man.
The book turns the question I started with back to us, but re-phrases it: who IS Akhenaten? The historical figure remains elusive, a man we know less about than we think, but the cultural icon can be explored and examined.
September 21, 2016
I rather enjoyed Dominic Montserrat's Akhenaten. I didn't know that Frida Kahlo had done a painting with both Akhenaten and Nefertiti in. Nor did I know that the Nazi's had tried to appropriate him or the gay movement.
May 2, 2021
Rather than write a book about a historical man, Montserrat analyzes a "cultural hallucination", looking at what Akhenaten has meant to various people at various times.
Immensely thought-provoking was the briefly mentioned idea that utopias are inherently interwined with fascism.
Immensely thought-provoking was the briefly mentioned idea that utopias are inherently interwined with fascism.
April 22, 2025
Akhenaten
Cosmos.
History.
Stars.
Solar Journey.
A myth.
Beginnings.
Orthodoxy.
Present.
Temple Walls.
Akhenaten.
A modern world.
Degradation & Decay.
●
Space.
~
Cosmos.
History.
Stars.
Solar Journey.
A myth.
Beginnings.
Orthodoxy.
Present.
Temple Walls.
Akhenaten.
A modern world.
Degradation & Decay.
●
Space.
~
February 1, 2024
No figure from pharaonic Egypt, not even Tutankhamun, has been perceived in as many contradictory and outlandish ways as Akhenaten. That makes him Egyptology's prime candidate for what is called, at least among classicists, "reception studies"—examinations of how modern audiences think about a figure from ancient history. Such studies don't necessarily feel very satisfying, as the running theme through all of them is that people see in each figure what they want to see. In other words, there's a version of Akhenaten for everybody. But Montserrat does a good job cataloguing those versions and discerning the general trends among them. Akhenaten is especially important for such a study, because Egyptologists' own examinations of him are shaped, to an unusual degree, by their personal reactions to Egypt's weirdest pharaoh.
After the introductory chapter, Montserrat discusses the essential points of what is known about Akhenaten, followed by the history of excavation of his capital city. Montserrat's sober treatment of Akhenaten and his questioning of many of the Egyptological assumptions about his reign are a refreshing contrast from the works of many other Egyptologists on the same subject.
Then we plunge into the perceptions of Akhenaten after he entered the public consciousness at the end of the nineteenth century, most prominently a family man in an idyllic court and a proto-Christian religious reformer. Then things get weirder: Akhenaten's sun worship made him appealing to some of the more pagan-like mystical racists of interwar Germany, who contorted the evidence to downplay his African ancestry. In the late twentieth century, Akhenaten became a symbol of black identity and of countless other ideas put forward by neopagans and New Agers. The last two chapters discuss versions of Akhenaten in fiction, mainly novels, and their frequent focus on Akhenaten's sexuality and gender identity.
How compelling these sections are is likely to depend on which of those topics you find interesting, but even in duller sections (Montserrat admits that reading too many novels about Akhenaten is a recipe for tedium) there are eccentric details—for instance, the Akhenaten novel that turns out to be a retelling of the Russian Revolution.
After the introductory chapter, Montserrat discusses the essential points of what is known about Akhenaten, followed by the history of excavation of his capital city. Montserrat's sober treatment of Akhenaten and his questioning of many of the Egyptological assumptions about his reign are a refreshing contrast from the works of many other Egyptologists on the same subject.
Then we plunge into the perceptions of Akhenaten after he entered the public consciousness at the end of the nineteenth century, most prominently a family man in an idyllic court and a proto-Christian religious reformer. Then things get weirder: Akhenaten's sun worship made him appealing to some of the more pagan-like mystical racists of interwar Germany, who contorted the evidence to downplay his African ancestry. In the late twentieth century, Akhenaten became a symbol of black identity and of countless other ideas put forward by neopagans and New Agers. The last two chapters discuss versions of Akhenaten in fiction, mainly novels, and their frequent focus on Akhenaten's sexuality and gender identity.
How compelling these sections are is likely to depend on which of those topics you find interesting, but even in duller sections (Montserrat admits that reading too many novels about Akhenaten is a recipe for tedium) there are eccentric details—for instance, the Akhenaten novel that turns out to be a retelling of the Russian Revolution.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews