SUMMARY

Atenism, the cult of the Aten (the Sun's disk), received a powerful boost when it was adopted by Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1352-1335 BC). The fervent Atenist changed his name to Akhenaten (the Servant of the Aten). The Philosopher Pharaoh even displaced the capital of the Egyptian Empire from Thebes to Akhetaten 'Horizon of the Aten', a city he built on the eastern bank of the Nile, in the middle between Thebes and the old, northern capital Memphis.

The reason behind the king's choice of the location of the city has not been disclosed, apart from the king's declaration that it was the Aten alone who guided him to this spot.

An Egyptologist believes that the site of the city chosen for the geographic features that surrounds it: the uniform band of distant cliffs become interrupted by a prominent gap (the Royal Wadi) in the center of the encircling hills, forming a gigantic representation of the hieroglyph Akhet 'horizon', when the Sun rises. He believes that this may have been the sign the king was searching, and may have suggested the name 'Akhetaten'.

I agree with the above proposal, but I am not totally convinced . . . No other major city in ancient Egypt such as Thebes, Memphis, or Helioplois shows the same geographic features. And, there could be many such places along the Nile Valley.

I have speculated that the sign the young pharaoh was searching was in the heaven, rather than on the Earth . . . A total solar eclipse could have been a most spectacular sign . . .

Using an eclipse-prediction software, I scanned all the eclipses that were visible in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), and his son and successor Akhenaten. I found that a total solar eclipse was visible in Egypt in 1352 BC . . . The totality path crossed the middle of the Egyptian Nile, quite close to the site of Akhetaten (27 deg 35 min N, 30 deg 55 min E), yet that location did not enjoy a total eclipse . . . However, when I applied the coordinates of the city of Akhetaten to the software, the view of the eclipsed Sun at maximum eclipse was quite meaningful: a very deep partial solar eclipse (magnitude 0.997), with only a slight crescent of sunlight managed to remain visible.

The sunlight cast from behind the dark New Moon must have looked much like the representation of the Aten (a red raying sun disc), the sign the king had been searching for, I believe.

There is more evidence supporting this fact. First, the city was dominated by a magnificent temple dedicated to the Aten. The temple contained a smaller, closed structure called Gem-Aten 'Aten is Found', a clear indication that the king was seeking a heavenly sign, since the Aten (the Sun disc), exists in the sky!

I think we have just solved a 3,351 years old enigma: the peculiarity of the site of Akhetaten, and probably even the reason behind the displacement of the capital of the Egyptian Empire from Thebes to Akhetaten. The ancient Egyptian total solar eclipse of 1352 BC was indeed an eclipse that changed the history of the ancient Middle East!

There has been a controversy over a co-regency period between Akhenaten and his father, with strong arguments both for and against. For example, some text books give a co-regency period of about 7 or 8 years starting in 1356 BC. If so, Akhenaten's Year 4 (fourth regnal year) must have been 1352 BC.

The king decided to build the city in his Year 4, after a visit to the location of the city in Year 4 . . . Further, the king celebrated a royal jubilee, again, in Year 4. In ancient Egypt, the royal jubilee was celebrated traditionally in Year 30 of a king's reign. I find the total solar eclipse a very plausible reason behind this untraditional, too early date of the jubilee.

The few facts mentioned above, show clearly that Year 4 was 1352 BC either in a sole rule or a co-regency. However, most chronologies agree that Amenhotep III reigned at least until 1352 BC. Also, the author has shown that Year 9 of Amenhotep I was absolutely 1517 BC (Ibrahem 2000), implying that the co-regency period actually started in 1356 BC. (Refer to the author's paper 'The Dream that Has Come True').

Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem is a young professional astronomer from Egypt, graduated in 1995. His research work is mainly on comets and archaeo-astronomy and is also a very dedicated observational astronomer, and has a good reflector telescope. Aymen can be contacted at: aymoib@frcu.eun.eg .