Akhenaten The Heretic Pharaoh | Part 1: Like Father, Like Son

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G'day guys, Elliot here. Welcome back to Anthology of Heroes. It has been a while but
I'm glad to say I've finally settled back into Melbourne, Australia, and managed to
dig myself out of the mounds of IKEA boxes to get this episode recorded.
For any new listeners, in this show we share gritty stories of figures and events that changed
world history. And today we're coming out blazing with a story I've been itching to
share with you guys for a long time. If you're listening to a history podcast, I've got
a pretty good idea that you're into Ancient Egypt. I know that because for many kids,
myself included, it was the pyramids and their towering exotic pharaohs that lit the spark
of interest in history. You can see white, right? An ancient civilization so different
from ours, one so imposing and advanced that seemed to just vanish beneath the sands, waiting
to be rediscovered one day. You know one fact that still makes me go wow every time
I hear it? Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt, is closer to our time as in 2024 than
she is to the date when the great pyramids were initially built. I mean the oldest hieroglyphics
we've identified are from around 3000 BC, that's 5000 years ago. Egypt was the first
real nation state. It lasted for over 3000 years, that's triple the duration of the
Roman state and so far, still longer than our own western civilization. Growing up I
remember I had one of those big, thick, decay eyewitness books, you know the ones I mean,
right? They're full of pictures of huge, crumbling temples, brilliantly coloured hieroglyphics
and bizarre animal headed gods. What kid wouldn't be into that? Flicking through the pages there
was the famous gold mask of Tutankhamen, the boy king, the towering monoliths of Ramses
II and the beautiful carved bust of Queen Nefertiti. But there's one figure you won't find in
those books, a pharaoh named Arcanathan. In fact, if the ancient Egyptians had their way,
we would never know he existed at all. Before this pharaoh's body was even cold his statues
were being smashed to pieces, his religious edicts erased and the very record of his life scrubbed
from the imperial record. As soon as he was gone it was like everyone just wanted to pretend he
was never there. Why? What did this man do to warrant such hatred? Did he deserve it?
Over the course of the next two episodes you'll learn the incredible lost story of Pharaoh Arcanathan.
I promise you this is a wild one full of incest, religious cults, body dysmorphia,
lost temples, vanity and above all power. It's also an unfinished story. Because of how intensely
his memory was damned there are tons of gaps in Arcanathan's story. Gaps that every specialist
group you can think of has slotted into fill. Arcanathan has been called the first gay man,
the first monotheist, the first trans person, a role model for modern families and the patron
saint of pedophiles. He's inspired the works of feminist artist Frida Kahlo and has been a point
of fascination for psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud who's speculated that the pharaoh had been a
mentor for the biblical figure Moses. Afrocentrists point to him as a missing link to forgotten deeds
of black Africans while Nazis declare him a partial Aryan, a forefather of their racial purity
policies. There are people who point to him as the first communist, a man who envisioned a new
utopia for his people. But just as many others would describe his vision more akin to that of
Kim Jong-il's dystopian North Korea. By the end of this series, whatever you think of him,
I think you'll agree with Egyptologist James Henry Breasted who called him the first individual
in history. For a person we know only by fragments of statues and chips of smashed tablets his
personality oozes through the dusty passages of time. This is going to be a two-part series,
the first episode is going to focus predominantly on the rediscovery of this pharaoh and of his father
Amano Tep III. To know Arcanartin you've really got to know his dad because the son's rule was
in many ways the evolution of his father's vision just cranked up to 11. For this episode we're
lucky enough to have some primary sources, a collection of clay tablets collectively referred
to as the Amano Letters that record communication between Amano Tep III, Arcanartin and neighboring
kings. I found these tablets so interesting because some of them are just so so petty.
They were written thousands of years ago in a language that died out long ago but the contents
of them wouldn't look out of place in a Reddit comment section today. Ego, sex, threats and
squabbling over money. We really never do change, do we? As a warning this episode makes passing
references to incest. So let's get started. The story of the most hated man ever to rule
ancient Egypt. Arcanartin, the heretic pharaoh. Part one, like father, like son.
It's the year 1887. At a mud bank on the east side of the Nile River a peasant diggers at the
sandy soil. Behind her a wooden cart piled high with slabs of mud brick. Ancient building material
that made excellent fertilizer. Little did that woman know that 3,200 years ago in that very spot
stood an ancient post office in an Egyptian city unlike any other. As the wind whipped up the sands
the woman pulled her headscarf down to shield her eyes just as the shovel hit something hard
and hollow. It wasn't mud brick. Her heart stopped dead as she excitedly dug at the ground
heaving up a wooden box. A box that hadn't been touched by human hands for over three millennia.
Her mind raced as she dragged the heavy chest from the earth. What lay inside? Gold? Silver?
Jewels? But as she ripped the ancient lid from its hinges her heart sank. Blocks. Old clay blocks
with strange triangles drawn on them. Pulling out the first layer and peering beneath was just as
disappointing. Every one of them looked the same. With a heavy heart she tossed the tablets back
into her cart. Many broke but who cares. Whatever they were they didn't look valuable and they
certainly weren't gold. Perhaps she'd get a few pennies for them at the market. As she kept digging
for the mud brick the woman had no idea that in the back of her cart lay the key to illuminating
the darkest chapter in Egyptian history. A period that modern historians call the Amana period.
By the turn of the 20th century Egyptology had come a long way. The discovery of the Rosetta
stone had paved the way for the reading of hieroglyphics. While the unearthing of the enormous
abu symbol temple had lit Europe on fire. The discovery seemed endless. Almost every day
another enormous immaculate statue was hauled from the grounds of this ancient land. All around Europe
but especially in France and England rich young orientalists as they were called left the comfort
of their chateaus and flocked to the mysterious land of Egypt. Never since the crusade had so many
rich Europeans departed into muslim lands in such great numbers. All wanting to carve their name in
the history books their destination was usually two places. The mouth of the Nile where under the
shade of the pyramids and the watchful gaze of the Sphinx they could search for fame in the ruins of
Memphis or Giza. Or the southern city of Luxor where the middle temple's kingdom capital of
Thebes once stood. But what lay in between? In 1799 when Napoleon's soldiers trampled through
Egypt one of his cartographers was taken by a sprawling ruin on the east bank of the Nile.
Located seemingly in the middle of nowhere was a large well-planned city that he guessed may have
housed up to 50,000 people at one point. The nomads squatting at it called it Amarna after
their clan name but none had any clue as to the history of it. Smack bang in the middle of the
traditional northern and southern capitals of ancient Egypt the city seemed purpose built
and when the sun's delicate rays reached over the crumbling yellow cliffs it all but
confirmed it. The city was put here for a reason. After sketching what became the very first map
of the city the cartographer and his army moved on and for almost a hundred years the forgotten city
of Architarten lay slumbering its secret simmering beneath the sands. It was only when in 1887 a local
peasant woman sold some clay tablets to an antique dealer that interest in the mysterious city was
renewed. Sir Flinders Petrie a silvered British archaeologist and pioneer in Egyptology was
tipped off to the arrival of several strange crumbling tablets through a friend of his at
the Cairo Museum. As soon as the aged law would cast his eyes over the tablets he knew they were
unusual. The language on the Amarna letters as we'll refer to them going forward was cuneiform
the oldest written language in human history originating from the modern areas of Iran and
Iraq. To find something within the borders of ancient Egypt that weren't written in hieroglyphics
was already unusual but that was just the start of the mystery. Petrie scooped up the tablets and
bought them before his academic friends who could read cuneiform. They could make out some words
but told him the dialect was peculiar and varied. Sub-tablets were inscribed in different languages
including a lone letter in a Syrian dialect known as Harian. Petrie was shocked to learn that this
was the only long-form account of this language ever discovered. Realizing now the importance of
what these tablets could contain Petrie raced through the antique shops of Cairo frantically
trying to buy up every one of the fragile artifacts and translate them before their secrets were lost
for good. Once he'd secured as many as he could he took the next desert caravan to where they were
found and soon arrived at Amarna. Before Petrie's arrival there had been speculative interest in
the area. Everyone seemed to know that something had stood there once but with Petrie's open
checkbook one of the first real excavations began. Busying himself in the ruins he began
sketching what he found and what he saw surprised and disturbed him. A seasoned Egyptologist Petrie
was used to the usual portraits of Amun Ra the Falcon God, Wajit the Snake God or Isis the Divine
Protector but these deities were nowhere to be found. Likewise the portraits of strong proud
athletic pharaohs were missing. As the sands of Amarna revealed their ancient secrets their
reoccurring find was a portrait of a man. At least he thought he was a man though he was no pharaoh
Petrie recognized. His skull was long and oval shaped like an alien, his lips plump and feminine
and his eyes long almost almond shaped slits. In his physique he seemed almost malnourished.
He had a sagging punch of a stomach, thin arms and calves and wide womanly hips. After a few
moments staring into the ancient face of the pharaoh perhaps Petrie wished to look away to
avert his gaze. The pharaohs obscene proportions and sinister smiles seemed to whisper love me
but fear me. Laborists swore in Arabic as they hoisted the enormous statue from its sandy tomb
as Petrie looked the figure up and down. Who was this person with such a warped body? Were these
statues accurate representations? And even if they were why would a pharaoh choose to
portray himself in such a way? Accompanying the figure in almost every scene with a small circular
disc clearly meant to represent the sun and from it came rays of light with peculiar grasping hands
and fingers many of which clutched an ink the symbol of life. Whatever the circular disc was
one thing was clear the light it gave was reserved only for this figure and his family.
The public who were noticeably portrayed with the usual Egyptian anatomy were not worthy of
receiving the light instead they worship the royal family who in turn worship the disc.
By the time Petrie returned to Ammanah the news of the stone tablet had made waves.
Tourists and rubber-neckers flocked to the backwater eager to see this odd-looking figure.
There were no paths set up so they trudged over local crops and farmers hoping to reduce
foot traffic defaced and destroyed many of the ancient reliefs. Petrie's sketches are now the
only records of these artifacts that had survived for over three millennia. Speculation ran ripe as
to what was wrong with this figure. Did he have some ailment? Some speculated that he suffered
from Marfan syndrome a condition shared by Abraham Lincoln that resulted in slender frames with
unusually long wiry limbs. Others insisted it was clearly a woman who had wished to look like a man
for whatever reason. The truth would soon be revealed and it was much stranger than anyone
could have imagined. Long before the times of Caesar or even Alexander the Great it was the
kingdom of Egypt that reigned supreme. Like the sands of the desert where its citizens made
their home the kingdom was almost timeless. Empires rose and fell around it and though
occasionally humbled the kingdom always rose again. By the time of the 18th dynasty of what
historians now refer to as the New Kingdom Egypt as a state was already thousands of years old.
The 18th dynasty was one built on foreign conquest stable government and cultural splendor.
Its founder had come to power after wrestling control back from a foreign dynasty that had come
to dominate Egypt over the preceding centuries. In the not too distant past the kingdom of Egypt
had teetered on the brink of total annihilation. Occupied by foreign rulers and losing most of
their territory a succession of great warrior kings and queens had fought an outnumbered war
and against all the odds had reclaimed their ancient throne a dynasty born in blood.
This return of the king moment was accompanied by a significant shift in power from the northern
capital Memphis to a newer southern capital Thebes. Ancient Egypt was polytheistic meaning they
worshipped many gods but everyone had a deity they favored and for Pharaoh Amano Tep the third
that god was Amun the creator god sometimes he's also called Amun Ra after his merge with Ra the
sun god. The sudden elevation of Thebes as a national capital had been primarily responsible
for the sudden explosion in popularity of Amun Ra it was taken for granted that Amun's favor had
been pivotal in their dynasty's success in reclaiming the throne and for that the creator god was
owed their eternal loyalty and there were few as devoted to Amun Ra as Amano Tep the third.
Pharaoh Amano Tep the third stood as a pinnacle in an already prosperous dynasty sometimes called
Amano Tep the Magnificent we only have to count his surviving statues to know this guy was a big
deal the world today has more statues of him than any other Pharaoh the scale of his building projects
too had not been seen since the ancient time of the pyramids like reeds in the Nile foreign kings
of every color and stature bowed low before Amano Tep the Magnificent his empire shared the
world stage with a couple of big players Babylon Assyria the Matani and the Hittites to name a
few and though the rulers of this ancient VIP club referred to each other as brother each of them
begrudgingly acknowledged Egypt as the jewel in the crown in one of the Amano letters we see King
Tushrata of the Matani right from his empire in northern Syria to Amano Tep the third quote
for me all goes well for you may all go well for your household for your wives for your sons for
your nobles for your warriors for your horses for your chariots and in your country may all go
very well we can easily imagine the oh so uninterested Amano Tep the third motioning
is caught scribed to hurried along as the letter was read out to him waiting for Tushrata to get
to the point the letter continues quote may my brother send me unworked gold in very great
quantities and much more gold than he sent to my father in my brother's country gold is as plentiful
as dirt there it was the tacit acknowledgement that Egypt was richer and therefore mightier
according to the archaeological record Amano Tep the third undeniably possessed a truly staggering
amount of gold on a single temple a surviving work order shows an order for 3.25 tons of gold
let alone bronze copper or any other precious stones Amano Tep the third lived in a world of
opulence that was completely alien to the population he ruled vast pales complexes adorned with
exotic vibrant textures and walls literally covered in frescoes of him arm in arm with the gods the
trappings of power pervading every corner of his sprawling palaces golden ebony tables that
hosted an opulent array of intricately blown glass perfume bottles and silver trays overflowing with
dates figs and jars of honey his sexual appetite too was voracious the imperial harem overflowed
with women from all over the world including one lovely lady whose name meant i promise i'm not
making this up she whose nights on the town are numerous every one of Amano Tep's sensors was
indulged basking in such opulence is easy to understand his bold reaction when anyone dared
to compare themselves to him as they're equal captured in another one of the Amano letters he
responds to a request for one of his daughters to marry the Babylonian king you can almost hear
Amano Tep's incredulity as he writes quote from time a memorial no daughter of the king of Egypt
is given to anyone a response which clearly didn't go well as the Babylonian king replied quote when
i wrote about marrying your daughter in accordance with your practice of not giving a daughter you
wrote to me saying from time immemorial no daughter of the king is given to anyone why not you're a
king you do as you please were you to give a daughter who would say anything women gold spices
slaves all were provided to the great pharaoh and if he would grace you with so much as a thank you
well consider yourself blessed this kind of ego had not sprung up overnight by the year 1383
Amano Tep had ruled for over 30 years Amun Ra had clearly blessed him with an unusually long life
and as he approached his third decade of rule the king floored with the idea that he was a cut
above pharaohs of the past to celebrate his upcoming jubilee he held lavish expensive festivals
sometimes lasted months and while the public no doubt loved the day off as much as we do
they must have noticed the spectacles were becoming the stranger navigating the bustling
streets of Thebes high priests ceremonially paraded statues of Amun the creator god and Ra the
falcon headed god of the sky and pressed in between them was the image of Amano Tep himself
sometimes he wore the god's clothing other times he took on their aspects their powers
a pharaoh underlining his closeness to the gods was nothing new the pyramid age was long in the
past and without these colossal structures to remind the subjects of their subservience
pharaohs demonstrated to the subjects their physical and spiritual closeness to the gods as
a way of proving their right to rule but soon statues of the pharaoh progressed past him sitting
alongside the gods now it seemed the pharaoh wished to be represented as a god pharaohs were
understood to be the intermediary between the gods and the mortals but Amano Tep wanted to be seen
as one of them from a young age the pharaoh seemed to harbor a bit of an obsession with the cosmos
particularly the sun he favored the gods or the aspects that were related to the sky or the sun
Amun the creator of the solar system Mut Amun's wife and mother of the world and their son
Konsu god of the moon and if an average Egyptian citizen stopped to admire one of Amano Tep's
colossal statues that adorned their streets they'd notice not always but sometimes a glowing orb
stamped on the king's body the orb was known as the artan A-T-E-N the artan was nothing new for
Egyptians the radiant orange sun disk was almost always found floating above the head of perhaps
the most well-known god of them all Ra was usually pictured with the artan above his head
almost like a halo there wasn't all that much mythology behind the disk itself and this allowed
the pharaoh to construct his own narrative it was there where he would return to rule after
his sovereignty on earth came to an end increasingly Amano Tep the third began to identify personally
with the artan for a pharaoh that blazed brighter than all others it only seemed to make sense to
select this symbol to symbolize his reign something that his young son Arcanaten would have observed
as Amano Tep the third aged his megalomania grew for his chief consort a woman called T he
constructed an enormous man-made lake at her hometown his statues sprung up in every major city
from Memphis to Thebes to Amano Tep there was nothing he could not achieve no challenge too
difficult no province too distant for his light to reach so much so that he soon added a new title
for himself the dazzling sun disk high priests found their services altered by the pharaoh to
include prayers not four but two the artan around the year 1383 bc Amano Tep the third
celebrated his jubilee 30 years on the throne was a momentous and rare achievement and one that only
seemed to prove his divinity in Thebes along the west bank of the Nile a truly lavish procession
took place this festival had been years in the making no expense was spared the pharaoh desired
a celebration of a scale that hadn't been seen since the pyramid age like the sun crossing the
sky at dawn Amano Tep and his entourage set off down a stone highway that connected the two enormous
temples crowds pushed and shoved jostling for a view many who couldn't make the journey to the
capital instead paid a friend to bring a small statue in hope that the magic of the ceremony
would rub off in the statue and be transferred to the owner the entire length of the road was
girded by stone sphinxes over 10 000 in total priests of a moon walked alongside the pharaoh
throwing out rings bangles and necklaces gifts for the commoners to remember the occasion
Thebes was alive rhythmic drumbeats pulsed in the aroma of incense wafted over the procession
as heavy statues suspended in litters trailed behind members of the public thronged forward
jostling for a chance just to touch the stone statues and the pharaoh's personal bodyguards
looked on their hands on their club for any signs of disobedience Amano Tep the third
draped in rich cottons and silks threaded with gold led the parade ale was passed out freely and as
the crowd got merrier the young arc nathan Amano Tep's son observed with wide-eyed wonder the
flocking crowds the sounds the towering temple columns the colors the gold who else but a god
could arrange such a spectacle this he must have seen was true power and pivotal to it all was the
arton shining bright in the sky its golden rays stroked the brow of his father as the road ended
the procession reached an enormous gateway leading to another temple this time the crowd was held
back from here Amano Tep marched on alone one innocent looking fresco painted for the occasion
even recorded the moment of the pharaoh's divine conception his mother Mutemuya and his
father tap most the fourth in the imperial bed chamber but wait a minute that wasn't tap most
it was a moon ra dressed up as tap most if picturing the pharaoh's mother copulating with
a literal god was too subtle for anyone we're lucky enough to know that Mutemuya really enjoyed
the encounter as the plaque below tells us quote she awoke because of the god sent and
cried out with pleasure before his majesty she rejoiced at the side of his beauty and the love
of him suffused her body by now in a state of ecstasy mutemuya swooned over the god exclaiming
how great is your power your sweet fragrances stiffen all my limbs after the deed was done
a moon ra presumably while he waited for his uber told the queen quote Amano Tep ruler of thieves
is the name of this child i have placed in your womb he shall exercise potent kingship in this
entire land he shall rule the two lands like ra forever through the dimly lit palace Amano Tep
walked to the inner sanctum for an entirely new ritual his personal meeting with his father
a moon ra after a brief delay having received divine instructions the pharaoh emerged who
was adoring public on an elevated platform adorned in a dazzling set of new garments
the somber and serious king who had marched into the temple re-emerged energized sprightly and
youthful though subtle this change was symbolically profound new statues were unveiled to the public
and in them Amano Tep III took on a new appearance the pharaoh appeared leaner stronger almost
reborn cartoon like eyes large lips and high cheekbones graced his continents his face his
whole person had been rejuvenated from his mystical communion with the god a moon had
quite literally blessed the pharaoh so close was their bond every bit of this ceremony had
been preplanned even the material for these new statues were quarried from specifically selected
red and gold quartzite stones that were known to sparkle and dance in the light the public must
have shielded their eyes nearly blinded by the dazzling rejuvenated image of their king in his
statues metaphor and propaganda the message Amano Tep III wished to convey was that he had surpassed
the role of a king or a pharaoh no longer was he just these people's ruler he neared the status of
their god the jubilee festival more than any other would have been where the young arcanathan
would have observed the truly staggering power that one man could wield unbeknownst to the drunken
crowd the teens observations would later usher in one of the darkest moments in their history
ironically under the glowing light of the artan Amano Tep III would celebrate a second and even
a third jubilee festival but none would be as grand as the first he may not have wanted to
acknowledge it but his kingdom was dipping into a recession Amano Tep had been an unusually insular
ruler for a dynasty that had muscled their way back into power he had led exactly zero foreign
campaigns and even to his vassals he was aloof and distant no foreign booty combined with this
obsession with building well let's just say money was getting a little tight
Egypt was the greatest power in the region but that didn't mean the pharaoh could sit idle in
his ivory tower but an even more pressing issue was weighing on his mind for everything that
his communion with Amano had provided him there was one thing that he was denied time
contrary to the towering youthful athlete shown in his statues Amano Tep III was arthritic
overweight and old painful abscesses and dry sockets in between his teeth put him in a
perpetually cranky mood and by the time he hit his mid-40s succession was on his mind
his heir apparent Tutmos had died at an early age and though Amano Tep had many wives including
two of his own daughters he had only one living son his name was Amano Tep IV but to make things
easy to follow we've used and will continue to use the name he's known by today Arcanathan
as we get into Arcanathan's stories there are going to be big chunks that are still missing
and as you'd expect from a figure so controversial there are many different opinions as to what took
place in these gaps for the sake of keeping the story moving i'm not going to stop each time this
happens instead i'll pick the one that makes the most sense as always all the sources i've
used on our website anyway it seems likely that young Arcanathan co-ruled with his father for
some years as a heir apparent the teenager would have needed to catch up quickly we can only speculate
about how he felt towards his father on a father son level but he certainly must have idolized him
in the fragments of freezes and statues from this period if the teenager harbored any plans for his
revolution by this point he kept them to himself depictions and portraits followed the royal line
fairly normal depictions of the young prince showing him praising a moon the first event
that Arcanathan formally resided over with his father's funeral like all good pharaohs Amano
Tep III had long prepared for his death and the same splendor that accompanied him through life
would guide his soul back to the art and where he would rule for eternity shoulder to shoulder with
subjugated vassal kings and weeping foreign emissaries Arcanathan watched a procession of
high officials ceremoniously pulling like sled dogs the gilded heavy coffin of his father
towards his enormous mortuary temple in the valley of the kings as a chance and incense faded
Arcanathan found himself as the sole ruler of the most powerful kingdom in the world
his father's reign had been the most splendid in a millennia
but Arcanathan had already planned to eclipse it something truly revolutionary was coming to Egypt
when my brother Amano Tep III went to his fate it was reported when I heard what was reported
nothing was allowed to be cooked in a pot on that day I myself wept and sat wrote to Shrata king
of the matani he continues on that day I took neither food nor water I grieved saying let
even me be dead or let 10 000 be dead in my country and in my brother's country 10 000 as well but
let my brother whom I love and whom loves me be alive as long as heaven and earth this mournful
account is another one of the Amano letters showing the reaction of other kings learning about the
death of Amano Tep III from Tushrata's letter we learned that this VIP club of kings were eager
to welcome their new brother Arcanathan into the fold Egypt's vassal kings were even more sycophantic
it's very easy to imagine the smug grin stretching across the face of the teen as he read the
correspondence from the king of a small city in modern Lebanon another Amano letter records quote
I fall at the feet of the king my lord seven and seven times I am the dirt beneath the
sandals of the king my lord my lord is the sun who comes forth over all lands day by day
very quickly the arrogance of the teenage pharaoh emerged already considering himself
above these petty kings Arcanathan quickly made a poor impression on them forcing their messages
to stand out in the sun something foreign kings found bizarre and insulting one wrote to Arcanathan
saying quote why should messengers be made to stay constantly out in the sun and so die in the sun
if staying out in the sun means profit for pharaoh then let the messengers stay out and let him die
right there in the sun but for pharaoh himself there must be a profit in other words kill my
messages if you wish but at least have a good reason for doing so but the new pharaoh cared little
for the braying of barbarian kings to bask in the light of his father the arton was a privilege
even if they didn't understand it Arcanathan saw his father's rule as a pinnacle so rather than
supplant it he aimed to be a continuation of it but with one key difference within the sacred
temple of thebes where his father's jubilee festival concluded he built a new wing not within
the temple itself or even near it Arcanathan's new wing was constructed to the east of the temple
meaning the morning rays would greet his structure first named gempa arton meaning the arton is found
this was a deliberate snub to the high priests of Amun and within this hastily built structure
were the first representations of how he wished to be seen though as father had toyed with new
forms of representation Arcanathan took to the next level the young pharaoh and his immediate
family were deliberately portrayed as different from all others the cartoon like eyes of his
father's likeness were distorted further stretching them even longer and adding a sloping brow the
pharaoh's face was lean and his cheekbones raised and elongated the pursed thin lips of previous
kings were replaced with plump extended lips that curved around into a sly smile but it was a
pharaoh's body that was the strangest where his father showed himself as lean and muscular Arcanathan
once again emphasized how different his body was from others a long snake like neck elongated skull
thin wiry limbs and a punching belly Arcanathan was breaking new ground no other pharaoh had
cast himself in such a way and none ever would again equally as strange was the prominent role
his wife Nefertiti played in royal imagery few other pharaohs pictured their consorts and for
that matter their children alongside them but from the offset Arcanathan seems to have intended for
his entire family to be the center of the new cult from the fragments that survive we see the royal
family portrayed in a much more intimate manner Nefertiti sits on his lap twisting a head around
to kiss the pharaoh his children always pictured naked with extremely long bald heads play at their
feet as the life-giving rays of the art and shine down on the blessed family perhaps most
shockingly a tiny fragment seems to show Nefertiti and Arcanathan getting into bed together a shocking
almost pornographic image of the monarch one can only wonder if there was a plaque that went with
this one also the first question is why why did Arcanathan choose to take this path for reasons
that aren't clear to us Arcanathan was not on good terms with the priesthood of Amun even his
egomaniac father had kept the priests of his patron god close by but the teen seems to have
spurned them from the get-go it could be that he felt genuinely spiritually connected to the
Arcanathan and felt Amun was nothing but a relic of the past but it seems more likely that he
resented the power this priesthood had over his kingdom and rejecting their god was the quickest
way to neuter them patience was not an attribute bestowed on Arcanathan zealously he began numerous
building projects imitating his father but the quality was lacking the shimmering quartzide
his father utilized had to be quarried in Nubia and that would take too long instead Arcanathan
had court artisans create his likeness in sandstone a softer weaker stone that was cheaper and quicker
to work with by the time of his third year on the throne he celebrated his own jubilee festival
one that took a profoundly different tone to his father's surviving inscriptions tell us that the
festival was not to celebrate Arcanathan but the art in itself the government line was that his
father had not really died instead his spirit had merged with the art and where he would rule for
eternity the art and ruled the celestial kingdom and hand in hand Arcanathan ruled the earthly one
in the fourth year of his rule Arcanathan formally changed his name for simplicity i've been calling
him Arcanathan but up until this moment his birth name had been Amano tep the fourth not anymore
pharaohs had numerous names entitled throughout their life but changing one's birth name was
unprecedented Amano tep the fourth a name which meant a moon is pleased became Arcanathan meaning
effective for the artan nephatiti too adopted a new moniker nepho nepharatan meaning beautacious
are the beauties of the artan what were the citizens of his empire to think of these profound changes
did the new pharaoh really expect them to turn their back on generations of traditions on a whim
for the commoners the intrigues of the king were a world away from their daily life each
pharaoh had their own patron god and they had theirs as long as they paid their taxes well life
went on but Arcanathan wasn't content with the art and being just another god in the city of
thebes temples to various gods blotted out the skyline long ago had the temple replaced the
pyramid as the ultimate symbol of majesty and the towering structures of thebes devoted mostly to
amoon blocked at the rays of the artan figuratively and literally if the population was to truly
embrace the artan as their one true god it could never happen here the taint of amoon was too strong
arcanathan had clipped the wings of the amoon priesthood but the sheer scale of their cult
meant he could only do so much what he needed was a clean slate a break from the past virgin
ground where his new religion could be nurtured and so the search began for a new capital city
founded in honor of and eternally dedicated to the artan in his fifth year of rule
arcanathan and his entourage assembled on a dry patch of earth halfway down the nile on the east
bank pharaoh arcanathan lay the foundation stone for his new city full of excitement his mind raced
this was much more than a city to him this was a new empire a new religion a new order
on paper it was dedicated to the artan but really it was about himself and his father
by now he'd set up the foundations however wobbly of his new religion a multitude of high
priests had begun rituals of offering for the artan in the open air temples plates of meat and
fruit were piled high to nourish the hungry sun as he made his daily journey across the horizon
scribes had written lengthy prayers and blessings for and about the artan
though many were ripped straight from existing dedications to a moon the people feeling all
these roles were new men bureaucrats raised up from some obscure posting who now owed their
careers to arcanathan and should they wish to maintain their cushy lifestyle had a vested
interest in the success of this new religion the spot chosen for the capital was strategically
placed in the middle of the two ancient capitals memphis and thebes like everything arcanathan
did this placement was symbolic here he could start afresh it was an area free from the gods of
old memphis or new thebes as the warm fingers of the artan crept slowly over the mountains
bathing the pharaoh in light he declared triumphantly that in this location would be the new capital of
his eternal religion a place where false gods were banished and where the artan would reign
forever and ever he christened it arcanathan meaning the horizon of the art so his name was
arcanathan and the city was named arcanathan rapidly the city began to take shape with
arcanathan's vision meticulously guiding the placement of each brick in egyptian mythology
there is life and there is the afterlife as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west
the traditional burial sites for egyptian pharaohs was on the west bank of the nile in the valley of
the kings there in the dusky twilight under the watchful eye of osiris god of the underworld
a deceased pharaoh would navigate the perils of judgment day and hopefully arrive at the field
of wreaths paradise but arcanathan changed this too one of the first buildings he created was his
royal tomb sitting on the east bank of the nile he decreed that wherever he died it was here he
was to be buried soon an elaborate though rushed tomb was completed it was enormous far too big
for one man and that was because arcanathan was building for the future this site would be the
new valley of the kings where the body of all his heirs would remain after their souls made their
final journey to join the artan in that vein an equally large open top temple to the artan was
constructed every one of these buildings was strategically placed so that when the artan's
golden fingers clawed over the mountain range each morning they first illuminated the pharaoh's
administration further proved that he was indeed beloved by the artan deliberately contrasting
the dark incense filled temples of a moon these new temples had an open roofing after all this
was a city for the artan the solar rays that he sent down were a gift and one that should not be
squandered all these changes probably left the public a little bewildered not to mention foreign
diplomats who were left scratching their heads trying to figure out what this artan expected of
them but just like his father arcanathan cared not a bit for the opinions of foreign kings
to ignorant or barbaric to understand his religion both arcanathan and his father had known nothing
but prosperity and stability they had squandered the lessons of their ancestors who had reconquered
egypt by the skin of their teeth bathed in the warmth of the artan the pharaoh was hell bent on
unraveling everything his ancestors had built this he knew was the will of the artan and the artan
must be obeyed well guys that is where we leave things for today we'll be back in two weeks to
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and finally a quick shout out to our justinian tier members Seth Tom Sam Claudia Angus and John
cheers guys see you on the next one