04/24/2019
I am sharing these photos, like the one of Akhenaten’s bust below, in an effort to shed light on the contributions of ancient Africans to civilization. For thousands of years, Africans have been maligned as being “too stupid,” in the words of Donald Trump, to do what whites have done over the centuries. These photos are meant to show otherwise. My intent is not to further sow dissension among whites and non-whites but to finally have a frank conversation about what is or isn’t the truth.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, several members of Museum Africa, most of them white, are also in search of the truth. These include people from France, England, Denmark, Israel, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, India, Argentina, Nigeria, Canada, as well as the United States.
I invite all of you to go further in digging up the histories of Africa’s ancient people. If you haven’t done so already, please click on the Museum Africa link above to learn more. Thank you.
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) -- some scholars believe he is the actual Moses.
Akhenaten (also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, Ikhnaton, and Khuenaten; meaning "Effective for Aten") known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV (sometimes given its Greek form, Amenophis IV, and meaning Amun is Satisfied), was a pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monotheistic or henotheistic. An early inscription likens the Aten to the sun as compared to stars, and later official language avoids calling the Aten a god, giving the solar deity a status above mere gods.
Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, yet in the end it would not be accepted. After his death, traditional religious practice was gradually restored, and when some dozen years later rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhenaten himself as "the enemy" in archival records.
He was all but lost from history until the discovery, in the 19th century, of Amarna, the site of Akhetaten, the city he built for the Aten. Early excavations at Amarna by Flinders Petrie sparked interest in the enigmatic pharaoh, whose tomb was unearthed in 1907 in a dig led by Edward R. Ayrton. Interest in Akhenaten increased with the discovery in the Valley of the Kings, at Luxor, of the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who has been proved to be Akhenaten's son according to DNA testing in 2010.
