Atenism: Akhenaten’s Experiment in Monotheism

The world’s first monotheistic religion wasn’t Judaism — it happened in Ancient Egypt during what’s known as the “Amarna heresy.”

Oh my gods! Everyone knows that Ancient Egypt was polytheistic, with a troupe of animal-headed gods that were worshiped for thousands of years. And it’s true. Ancient Egypt was polytheistic — except, of course, for those 20 years or so when it wasn’t.

Many of us thought that the Jews were the first monotheists in history. But sometime early in his reign, from 1353-1336 BCE, the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten upended centuries of polytheistic practices and decreed that there was only one god: the sun itself.

“Ancient Egypt was polytheistic — except, of course, for those 20 years or so when it wasn’t.”

Sun worship started with his father, Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who identified himself with a minor god, the Aten, elevating it to the status of a favored god and personal deity.

Amenhotep III might have initiated the intense worship of the Aten that took over his son, the pharaoh who became Akhenaten

Like Father, Like Sun

After Amenhotep III died, his son ascended the throne under the name Amenhotep IV, which meant The God Amun Is Content. But the pharaoh, in the fifth year of his reign, changed his name to Akhenaten, He Who Is Effective on the Aten’s Behalf, when he became convinced that the Aten was the one true god. 

Egyptologists never fail to point out that the Aten is the “solar disc,” though I’m not sure how that differs from just saying that they worshipped the sun.

Gerhard Fecht, who taught Egyptology at the Free University of Berlin and who died in 2006, noted the similarity of the pronunciation in ancient times of Aten (“yati”) and father or forefather (“yata”), which he believed was far from a coincidence. Akhenaten styled himself as the son of the sun and the father of his people, and he believed that he would merge with the sun in death. 

Wally and Duke are particularly partial to the Amarna style of art, as shown in this statue of Akhenaten

The Upsides of the So-Called Amarna Heresy

History hasn’t looked favorably upon Akhenaten, deeming him “the Heretic King” for having the gall to shift Ancient Egypt from polytheism to monotheism for a short period and for moving the capital from Thebes to a new city, Akhentaten, now referred to as Amarna.

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THE RISE AND FALL OF AMARNA, Ancient Egypt’s short-lived new capital

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There’s much to admire about this fascinating ruler, though. For one thing, he created a new style of art — strangely captivating genderbending statuary on the one hand and paintings that convey an intimate realism on the other — when the rest of the three millennia of Ancient Egypt had a remarkably stagnant style. If we can believe the artwork (and we have every reason to be skeptical, since imagery was used for propagandist purposes throughout the ancient kingdom), Akhenaten was utterly devoted to his queen Nefertiti.

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THE AMARNA STYLE OF ART REVEALS THAT AKHENATEN HAD MARFAN SYNDROME…and other conspiracy theories

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We’re also led to believe that Akhenaten doted on the six — count ’em, six — daughters he had with Nefertiti. Most pharaohs would have been disappointed by not having at least one son who could become heir to the throne, but Akhenaten was so enamored of his daughters, he included depictions of them in the artwork he commissioned — an uncommon practice for the time. 

There’s evidence that The Hymn to the Aten influenced one of the Psalms in the Bible

The Great Hymn to the Aten

This controversial pharaoh was a man who loved nature, waxing poetic in the Great Hymn to the Aten, which it’s believed he wrote himself. This poem begins:

For you are risen from the eastern horizon and have filled every land with your beauty;
For you are fair, great, dazzling and high over every land,
And your rays enclose the lands to the limit of all you have made;
For you are Re, having reached their limit and subdued them for your beloved son;
For although you are far away, your rays are upon the earth and you are perceived.

When your movements vanish and you set in the western horizon, 
The land is in darkness, in the manner of death. 
People, they lie in bedchambers, heads covered up, and one eye does not see its fellow.
All their property might be robbed, although it is under their heads, and they do not realize it.
Every lion is out of its den, all creeping things bite. 
Darkness gathers, the land is silent. The one who made them is set in his horizon.

Scholars delight in pointing out how similar the Bible’s Psalm 104 is to the second stanza. It’s not too far-fetched to accuse the Psalm author, who wrote hundreds of years after the Aten hymn, of plagiarism.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti, with three of their daughters, basking in the holy rays of the sun, known as the Aten in Ancient Egypt

Who’s Worshipping Whom?

In his book Akhenaten: Egypt’s False Prophet, Nicholas Reeves argues that Akhenaten worshipped the sun, while the populace of Egypt worshiped Akhenaten. He sees the move to monotheism as a political ploy to strengthen the pharaoh’s power. This point is strengthened by the carvings found in the few tombs used outside of Akhentaten: Instead of gods and goddesses, they feature the royal family prominently.

Atenism created a new trinity. Instead of Amun, the father who jerked off to create the twin siblings, his son Shu and daughter Tefnut, you had the Aten, Akhenaten and Nefertiti. In fact, their six daughters rounded out the royal family, providing a new version of the Ennead, the nine gods of creation.

Aten’s temples were open to the air, a striking contrast to previous Egyptian places of worship, notably the dark and mysterious confines of the temples to Amun, known as the Hidden One. Other temples held a small chamber at the back, the sanctuary, or holy of holies, which housed the cult image of the deity. But with the Aten there was no need for a statue — the god could be seen blazing up in the sky, its warmth felt upon the skin during daylight.

A relief from the Karnak Temple shows Akhenaten worshipping the sun. The new religion was probably appealing at first, with its focus on life and beauty instead of death

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Atenism’s popularity was short-lived, perhaps even beginning to wane while Akhenaten was still alive. But its initial appeal is easy to imagine. 

For centuries, Ancient Egyptians were obsessed with death; their great monuments, elaborate spells and mummification rituals were meant to assure a pleasant afterlife. But Atenism focused instead on the here and now, on life on this Earth. 

In the past, Egyptian tombs were located on the West Bank of the Nile, most notably the Valley of the Kings. But Akhenaten broke with tradition, designating the eastern hills as the site of the royal tombs and lesser cemeteries. No longer would death be associated with the west and the god Osiris, evoking the sunset and a bleak finality. Instead, death was now connected to the sun that rose from the eastern cliffside, offering light and hope each day.

The Militaristic Move to Monotheism

Most likely in the 10th year of his reign, Pharaoh Akhenaten ceased to tolerate any mention of other gods aside from the Aten, and launched an all-out war against the old deities, Amun and his consort Mut in particular. 

“An order went out from the palace to smash up the divine statues and hack out the names and images of these gods wherever they occurred — on temple walls, on obelisks, on shrines, on the accessible portions of tombs,” Reeves writes. 

The priesthood of the chief god, Amun, in particular, didn’t fare well under Akhenaten’s decree to worship only one deity: the Aten

The persecution spread to the common people as well. Eye makeup containers and commemorative scarabs from this time have been found with the hieroglyphs for other gods gouged or scratched out. 

We don’t just have to take Reeves’ word for how bad things got. Here’s what Manetho, a priest and historian from the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third century BCE, wrote about Akhenaten’s monomania:

…not only did they [pharaoh’s men] set towns and villages on fire, pillaging the temples and mutilating images of the gods without restraint, but they also made a practice of using the sanctuaries as kitchens to roast the sacred animals which the people worshipped; and they would compel the priests and prophets to sacrifice and butcher the beasts, afterwards casting the men forth naked.

Upon Akhenaten’s death, his son and successor, King Tut, returned Egypt to polytheism

King Tut Restores the Old Gods

After Akhenaten’s death, his son Tutankhamun’s reign didn’t last long — but did effect major change. Tut brought Ancient Egypt back to polytheism, after his father’s failed experiment. His Restoration Stela paints a bleak picture of how badly things had gotten in such a short time: 

…the temples and the cities of the gods and goddesses, starting from Elephantine as far as the Delta marshes … were fallen into decay and their shrines were fallen into ruin, having become mere mounds overgrown with grass. Their sanctuaries were like something which had not yet come into being and their buildings were a footpath [i.e., public] — for the land was in rack and ruin. The gods were ignoring this land. … if one prayed to a god, to ask something from him, he did not come at all; and if one beseeched any goddess in the same way, she did not come at all.

Akhenaten undeniably wreaked havoc upon the social order. His persecution of the gods that had been worshipped for millennia must have greatly unnerved the populace. He created countless enemies by stripping the priests of Amun of their power and stealing their great wealth to build his new capital city. He didn’t concern himself with the military or economics. For all his focus on hope, he left Ancient Egypt in worse shape than when he took the throne. 

But his revolutionary religious vision, even if it was self-centered, very well could have planted the seeds of the monotheistic religions that dominate the world today. –Wally

Controversial Theories About Akhenaten, Ancient Egypt’s “Heretic King”

The monotheistic pharaoh has spawned numerous crackpot theories, including his having Marfan syndrome and Nefertiti becoming king. 

Pharaoh Akhenaten: the face that launched a thousand conspiracy theories

Everything we think we know about Ancient Egypt can be completely upended with a new discovery of something as seemingly innocuous as a single stone carving. That being said, this article focuses on the research and theories of Nicholas Reeves, in his book, Akhenaten: Egypt’s False Prophet, republished in 2019.

Reeves poses some controversial speculations about the brief but mysterious Amarna Period, jumping to sensationalist conclusions with only the scantest of evidence. I want to believe him, though, especially since he served as the director of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project from 1998 to 2002.

Does the Amarna style of art reveal a hereditary disease?

It Runs in the Family? The Marfan Syndrome Theory

Egyptian art remained remarkably static for millennia. You can picture it in your head: The side-profile carvings and paintings with their legs bent and posed one in front of the other, inspiring the Bangles’ song “Walk Like an Egyptian.” But, much like the move from polytheism to monotheism, the Amarna Period also resulted in an intriguing new art aesthetic.

The unusual Amarna style, especially the statuary, has been a major reason some Egyptologists entertain the theory put forth by Alwyn L. Burridge that Akhenaten suffered from Marfan syndrome. The illness’ symptoms do include features found on the depictions of the pharaoh and his family: slender bones, a long face, an elongated skull, spidery fingers and a wide pelvis, among others.

This depiction of Akhenaten most likely was carved early in his reign and probably reveals what he actually looked like.

If this is indeed the case, the repercussions would have been severe: Akhenaten and his offspring would have been susceptible to sudden death due to a weakened cardiovascular system and would have likely gone blind in adulthood.

It would explain a lot, argues Reeves. A report that Akhenaten wanted “to see the gods” could have meant that he could only dimly discern the rays of the sun. He was skilled in music (“traditionally a vocation for the blind,” according to Reeves). Amarna art emphasizes the sense of touch and often depicted the pharaoh with a crutch or walking stick. And at least one of the fetuses mummified in the tomb of his probable son Tutankhamun, revealed skeletal deformities.

The desecrated sarcophagus in Tomb 55 in the Valley of the Kings

The Mummy in Tomb 55

In 1907, the archeologist Theodore M. Davis uncovered what he referred to as the Tomb of Queen Tiye, or Tomb 55. He found evidence that the tomb had been discovered before, a few millennia ago: 200 years after the remains were initially interred, Ancient Egyptian workers stumbled upon the sepulcher while digging away to build the tomb of Ramesses IX. Queen Tiye, the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III, was moved out of the tomb, perhaps to separate her from her “heretic” son, Akhenaten.

The mummy cache found in KV55

Queen Tiye, the mother of Akhenaten

Reeves thinks there’s a good chance the remaining coffin and mummy in Tomb 55 is that of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled from 1353-1336 BCE, especially given the violence of its desecration: “The names were systematically cut out, and the identifying face torn away to destroy the eyes, nose and mouth and effectively deny the king’s spirit sight, air and sustenance; for good measure a stone was hurled at the coffin’s head just before the party left,” Reeves explains. 

Kiya, who shared wifely duties with Nefertiti, was a scapegoat for Akhenaten’s questionable decisions

The Other Wife: The Mysterious and Maligned Kiya

While Nefertiti was the pharaoh’s chief wife, Akhenaten had a secondary spouse, Kiya, whom he also greatly loved, if we can infer that from the fact that she had a lavish estate of her own at Amarna. While Nefertiti gave birth to one daughter after another, Kiya is believed to have borne Akhenaten a son: the famous Boy King, Tutankhamun. 

Reeves posits that Kiya might well have been a princess of the Mitanni people. Her name essentially meant Monkey, Reeves informs us. But behind her playful façade, he says that she was “cruel and self-seeking” and “may even have been regarded, by posterity, as the evil genius behind many of Akhenaten’s excesses.”

A canopic jar with Kiya’s head upon it — other artifacts depicting her were viciously vandalized.

Her inscriptions have been scratched out, and her statues have had their eyes gouged out. References to Kiya were superimposed with figures and texts of Akhenaten’s daughters, and her coffin and canopic jars were repurposed for the pharaoh’s reburial. 

Did Princess Meritaten simultaneously give birth to her daughter and granddaughter?!

Who Says Incest Is Best?

As I’ve mentioned, Reeves loves a good conspiracy theory, and another one rears its head when discussing the historical record of Akhenaten’s progeny. Two additional daughters get mentioned: Meritaten-tasherit and Ankhesenpaaten-tasherit. The -tasherit ending equates to “Jr.,” and the first part of the names are the same as two of the pharaoh’s daughters by Nefertiti. 

Was Akhenaten a bit too fond of his daughters by Nefertiti?

“The implications of this are serious, however,” Reeves writes, “since the father of these children can have been none other than Akhenaten himself.”

Case closed?

Is this a carving of Akhenaten’s gay lover — or a woman who became his co-pharaoh?

Smenkhkare: The Unknown Pharaoh — and Akhenaten’s Gay Lover?

Confusing matters even more, a new pharaoh emerges on the scene while Akhenaten still sat upon the throne. Who was this co-regent? 

A small stele, or stone monument, from this time, made for a military officer named Pase, depicts two kings sitting side by side. One has his arm around his co-pharaoh, who is turning to affectionately touch the other’s chin. Because they’re both styled as kings, Egyptologists in the 1920s and beyond were convinced that this single stone revealed that Akhenaten was gay — never mind all the children he had. 

More recent discoveries have revealed that there’s a likely suspect right under our noses: Pharaoh Smenkhkare was probably none other than his famous wife, Nefertiti. –Wally

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt’s Amarna

Akhenaten moved the capital from Thebes to an undeveloped stretch of land in the middle of the country. It didn’t last long.

Unlike the other monuments of Ancient Egypt that are well preserved, little remains of the short-lived capital of Amarna

Pharaoh Akhenaten, now disparaged as a heretic, made some bold decisions that completely uprooted thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian tradition, including the move to the worship of a single god. This brief era, lasting less than two decades, is known as the Amarna Period and took place in the 1300s BCE. Not surprisingly, all that remains of Akhenaten’s legacy are fragments here and there, some of which had been buried for thousands of years in the sand, some of which were torn apart and repurposed in construction projects elsewhere in the country — and some of which surely have yet to be discovered.

A map of Amarna, with a large temple to the Aten at the top

The Move to Amarna: The New Capital of Akhenaten

At this time, the cult of the chief deity, Amun, held great power, particularly in Thebes, modern-day Luxor, which had become the religious and political center of Egypt. Perhaps as an attempt to reduce the power of the Amun priesthood, Akhenaten (the name he adopted, as he was previously known as Amenhotep IV) decided to decree that all worship be shifted away from Amun and the rest of the pantheon to a minor sun god, the Aten. On top of that, he moved the capital to an unoccupied stretch of desert along the Nile, bordered to the east by cliff walls that would house the royal tombs. He named the new city Akhentaten (Horizon of the Aten), confusingly similar to his new name. The city is now referred to as Amarna. The site was located on a barren stretch of the desert that lay between Lower Egypt’s capital, Memphis (200 miles to the north), and Upper Egypt’s capital, Thebes (250 miles to the south), making it a good spot to administer both lands.

Why did Akhenaten make this drastic move? Despite the fact that many Egyptologists delight in thinking it was the doing of a religious maniac who decreed that the old gods were false and that only one deity, the sun, deservered reverence, it was “dictated less by theological insanity than by court intrigue and politics,” writes Nicholas Reeves in his book Akhenaten: Egypt’s False Prophet, republished in 2019.

When you declare that all of the old gods are forbidden but one, as Pharaoh Akhenaten did, you’re going to piss off a lot of people — especially the wealthy and powerful priesthood of Amun, the former chief deity

An Assassination Attempt?

Reeves, always one to lend credence to a conspiracy theory, hints that a brush with death could have led to the move. “If Akhenaten had narrowly escaped assassination — and his subsequent persecution of the Theban god does indeed suggest a grudge of considerable magnitude — then he was now moving cleverly and decisively to outflank the opposition.”

While the Amun priesthood certainly had their gripes with a sudden loss of power and wealth, Reeves suggests that the population, the younger ones in particular, viewed the move to a new capital as an exciting adventure, “a contrast to the staid and perhaps stale atmosphere of conservative Thebes,” he writes. “For the new generation, pharaoh was the hero of the hour, the man who had re-established true order on the Egyptian world. There was energy in the air; the people believed.”

All that remains of the once-impressive north palace of Amarna

Akhentaten: Nearly a Decade in the Making

It was nine years before Akhentaten celebrated its official inauguration — “and to judge from the number of wine-jar dockets of this date recovered from the site, it must have been quite a party,” Reeves writes.

Although Akhenaten wasn’t known for his economic aptitude, he started out with overflowing coffers. Much of the wealth of his new capital came from the pilfered stockpiles of the old gods, Amun in particular.

Akhenaten and his family can be seen worshipping the Aten (aka the sun) in a tomb carved into the cliffs outside of Amarna in this photo from 1903

Amarna art focused on nature, reflecting the lush oasis Akhenaten created

Today Amarna is a desert wasteland, so it’s difficult to imagine that it once was a lush, green oasis, filled with trees and bushes, as depicted in the reliefs of the time. One of the highlights of the city were its gorgeously painted pavements showing scenes of nature. They were uncovered by the archeologist Flinders Petrie (amusingly described by Reeves as “legendary but dour”) in 1891. Petrie took great pains to preserve these works of art — but a local farmer destroyed most of them in a fit.

Even Hitler fell under the spell of the beautiful Nefertiti, as depicted in her famous bust

Hitler and the Famous Bust of Nefertiti

The palace and major temple were located in the north, so it’s interesting that many of the higher-end villas, like that of the vizier (a role we might now call prime minister), were built in the south — as far as possible from the pharaoh to still be within the boundaries of Akhentaten.

It was in one of these villas, owned by the artist Thutmose, whose house doubled as his studio, that the famed one-eyed bust of Nefertiti was found. If you want to see it in real life, you’ll have to visit the Berlin Museum. There was talk that the sculpture would be returned to Egypt during World War II, but Hitler liked Nefertiti’s “Aryan” appearance, declaring, “What the German people have, they keep!”

If you want to see the bust of Nefertiti, you’ll have to go to Berlin, as these visitors from 1963 did

A political cartoon in an Egyptian newsweekly from 1940: The woman, who represents Europe, is shouting, “Oh, no! Hitler, is this the new order you preached about?!”

This statue of Nefertiti was a particular favorite of Adolf Hitler’s, and for four years had been kept inside a fortified anti-aircraft gun tower next to the Berlin Zoo. 

Napoleon During His Campaign in Egypt by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1863

Napoleon and Amarna

Amarna remained undiscovered for so long in great part because the local population, “whose habit of shooting first and greeting later deterred the curious from taking an interest in the area,” according to Reeves.

The first Westerners to lay eyes on Amarna were members of Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition of 1789-1799. The French had come in search of a new passage to India. On all French ventures at the time, scholars were brought along to study and record the culture and history of the lands they passed through, and this was no exception. In fact, Napoleon had 139 of these “savants” in his party.

Very little remains of Amarna today — most buildings were used in other construction projects or simply abandoned

All’s Well That Ends Poorly

The new capital was, ultimately, a failed experiment. It only lasted 17 years. There’s no record of how or when Akhenaten died, but Reeves, of course, wouldn’t be surprised if he was the victim of foul play.

Whatever the cause, the Egyptian people weren’t too bummed at the city’s (or pharaoh’s) demise. As Reeves writes:

For ordinary folk, there is little doubt that Akhenaten’s actions as king over time inflicted the greatest misery: the people were confused by the man’s religious vision, frightened by the ruthless manner in which it was imposed, and quite likely appalled by his personal behaviour. Denied the celebration of the traditional religious festivals which gave form to their year, and brought to the very verge of bankruptcy by their king’s over-ambitious schemes and administrative incompetence, disillusionment was clearly widespread.

Akhenaten’s successor, none other than Tutankhamun, moved the capital back to Thebes, and reverted to polytheism — changing the end of his name from -aten to -amun to signify an allegiance with the previous chief deity, Amun. 

History hasn’t looked favorably upon Akhenaten, a pharaoh whose drastic actions and lack of acumen in ruling nearly ran the legendary empire into the ground. –Wally

The Tomb of Mereruka: An Entrancing Vision of the Afterlife

Get the additional ticket at Saqqara to see the finely preserved Ancient Egyptian mastaba of Pharaoh Teti’s vizier.

It should come as no surprise that Wally and I love exploring old cemeteries, especially ones that have monuments and mausoleums dedicated to famous people — from the park-like Père Lachaise in Paris, France to Graceland Cemetery, the final resting spot for Chicago’s version of nobility, not far from where we live. 

Before our trip to Egypt, the allure of exploring the culturally rich and diverse monuments of antiquity were obviously a large part of our ambitious itinerary. We had a brief window of only two days in Cairo — one of which was to see the Egyptian Museum, the other the Pyramids of Giza. 

But when our friend Margaret suggested we add on the less touristy (yet, some would argue, equally important) sprawling ancient burial ground of Saqqara — home of the oldest known pyramid in Egypt and necropolis to kings and nobles dating back 3,500 years or more — we thought, sign us up!                                           

A bas-relief on the wall leading to the suite of Mereruka’s son Meryteti shows nude male figures. The side-lock braids was a hairstyle worn by youths

Misguided at Saqqara

We had just finished exploring the parchment-hued limestone mastaba tombs of the Unas complex and had become increasingly frustrated with our guide, Ahmed. Earlier in the day, we had visited Giza and missed seeing the Solar Boat Museum as he apparently hadn’t included it as part of our pre-arranged itinerary. How unreasonable of us to assume we’d have a guide who would provide us options instead of rushing us through the sites so he could end his day early. 

“And that’s Saqqara,” Ahmed told us. 

“But what about that tomb with the cool statue?” Wally asked. 

Ahmed stared blankly at us as if he didn’t have the faintest notion of what we were talking about.

“Hold on,” Wally said, flipping through his notebook. “Here it is! Mereruka’s tomb.” 

“That costs extra,” Ahmed said.

“What part of of ‘we are only here once and want to see everything and are happy to pay extra’ don’t you understand?” a frazzled Wally exclaimed.

Ahmed acted like a petulant child as he led us back to the car to reluctantly return to the kiosk to purchase the additional tickets. (They cost a mere 80 Egyptian pounds, or about 5 bucks, by the way.)

The renowned gay photographer Duane Michals takes an interesting self-portrait at the Tomb of Mereruka — surely one that our guide Ahmed would not have approved of

During the Old Kingdom, from around 2686-2181 BCE, the wealthiest and most important non-royal members of Egyptian society were interred in monolithic bench-like burial structures referred to as mastabas. Mereruka served as the vizier, chief justice and son-in-law under the rule of the Sixth Dynasty Pharaoh Teti. As befitted his influential political position, he was buried in the largest of the non-royal tombs in Saqqara. 

On either side of the tomb entrance, the vizier Mereruka can be seen with his wife shown in a diminutive size in front of him

Little Women

Outside the entrance to the mastaba, relief portraits on the jambs on either side of the unassuming doorway depict Mereruka with a diminutive figure of his wife Sesheshet Watethathor standing at his feet and only coming up to about his knee. This symbolic device was employed in Egyptian art to show an individual’s importance or authority. The larger the scale, the more powerful; by extension, the lesser the scale, the more passive the role. Such was the lot of most women in Ancient Egypt (though there are exceptions to every rule, as King Hatshepsut proves).

In this historic photo from 1934, an artist copies the inscriptions and sketches the tomb

A Marvelous Mastaba

The mastaba was first excavated in 1892 by French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan and actually contains three tombs in total, divided into 31 interior chambers. Of these suites, 21 are dedicated to Mereruka, five to his wife and five for his son Meryteti. 

Inside the well-preserved tomb are finely detailed two-dimensional reliefs depicting scenes of everyday life — including activities the deceased vizier and his family wished to continue in the afterlife. Amongst the birds and beasts, hieroglyphic inscriptions on the walls and corridors of Mereruka’s suites bear his various titles. 

Although their heads are missing, we admired a relief depicting the vizier and his wife. It’s a timeless image of two entwined hands preserved in stone: Mereruka leading his beloved through the afterlife. 

Ancient Egyptian tombs had false doors, through which the spirit could come and go

If you carve it, it becomes real: Depictions of offerings were as good as the real thing to Ancient Egyptians

Farther into the tomb was the requisite false door, an architectural feature allowing the deceased to pass between the world of the living and the dead. Recessed rectangular panels are inscribed with a hieroglyphic list of provisions and facing inward at the bottom are six standing figures of Mereruka. Centered above the door the deceased is depicted seated on a stool with the fore and hind legs of a lion before a table of ritual offerings. Below this is a raised slab where food and drink could be placed by the living for the benefit of the dead. 

The famous statue of Mereruka is a large part of the appeal of this tomb complex

The Statue of Mereruka: A Step in the Right Direction 

The largest room, and the one photographed in our guidebook, is the mortuary chapel, an impressive six-pillared ceremonial chamber, where Mereruka’s priests and family would come to pay homage to the deceased vizier. Quietly presiding over the hall is a life-size statue of Mereruka stepping out from a recessed doorway. 

On the floor of the room is a stone ring. 

“What was that for?“ Wally asked Ahmed, who said he had no idea.

In my research, I learned that it was used for tethering sacrificial animals, including the sacred Apis bulls. Hopefully Ahmed reads this post and learns something — besides how to properly behave as a guide. 

We hope this hedgehog was going to be a pet — and not a sacrifice

Mereruka holds hands with his son

A scene depicting sculptors and metal workers — note that some of the artisans are dwarfs

As Wally and I wandered about, Ahmed caught a small group of American tourists touching the reliefs on the walls. For a brief moment, he became passionate and shouted, “Don’t touch! You’re breaking my heart!” Then, he muttered to us, “Why would they think it’s OK to touch the walls? You wouldn’t touch the paintings in the Louvre!” 

Then, in a moment, he was back to his sullen self, annoyed that we still wanted to explore. He told us he’d be waiting for us outside — but not before informing us that no photography was allowed. We obviously didn’t take heed. –Duke

 

Monster Theory: A Q&A With Liz Gloyn

Beware! Medusa, the Sphinx, Cerberus and other monsters reveal the greatest fears of a society. 

Saint Martha Taming the Tarasque, circa 1500

There’s young Wally, curled up on the loveseat in the living room (the one his mother constantly tells him not to sit on), with D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths or the D&D Monster Manual. 

The original Monster Manual used to play Dungeons & Dragons

From an early age, I’ve always loved monsters. Of course I imagined myself as a hero, and that often entailed slaying monsters — usually with magic. But I always found something sympathetic about monsters. To me, they often seemed misunderstood and maligned. Yes, the Minotaur devoured innocent youths. But did he ask to be born a vicious half-breed, trapped in the Labyrinth? 

The monsters of myth continue to have a mass appeal, as evidenced by the vampire craze (think True Blood, Twilight, Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Diaries). 

As my friend Heather’s little boy, Gulliver, explained to me about the Batman villain Two-Face, “He’s a likable baddie.” He paused, then continued, “He’s a baddie — but he’s a goodie to me.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. 

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While scrolling though episodes of The History of Ancient Greece podcast, I was intrigued to see one that had an interview with Liz Gloyn, senior lecturer in Classics at Royal Holloway at the University of London and author of Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture. Upon listening, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why didn’t my college offer courses on monster theory?!

Liz Gloyn, author of Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture

I reached out to Dr. Gloyn, and she graciously agreed to answer some questions about monster theory and her obsession with things that go bump in the night. –Wally

What drew you to monsters in the first place?

To be perfectly honest, I got cross! I had come up with an idea about how the original Clash of the Titans film used monsters and wanted to read what people had said on this subject, but when I went to look at the existing literature, there was nothing there. I could have read all I wanted to on the representation of the famous Greek heroes — Perseus, Theseus, Hercules and the rest — but monsters got treated as if they were scenery. That didn’t make any sense to me, so after I had finished with the piece I wanted to write about Clash of the Titans, I decided it was time for the monsters to get some proper attention of their own. 

The Italian movie poster for the original Clash of the Titans, which came out in 1981

“It’s noticeable how many monsters turn out to be women — or, if they’re male, they’re hypersexualized and hyperviolent, reflecting what happens without the controlling influence of civilization. ”

— Liz Gloyn, University of London

What is monster theory?

Monster theory is the field of academic studies which seeks to explain and understand the function of monsters. It’s based on a very influential piece by a medievalist, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, who set out seven theses of monster culture, or seven ways in which monsters manifest and make themselves known. 

Few could dream up creepy creatures like Hieronymus Bosch, who painted up horrorscapes in the late 1400s and early 1500s

Monster theory argues that monsters are cultural creations — that is, the particular fears and concerns of a given culture will generate monsters which reflect those fears and concerns. They might be about the “other,” whether you define that in terms of gender, sexuality, ethnicity or something else; they might be about behavioral taboos which need to be observed to keep society safe. And however hard a culture tries to banish a monster, it always comes back. 

How has the perception of monsters changed over the years?

In the ancient world, monsters were very much known by how they looked — you could spot a monster a mile off, although it was also possible to bump into one by accident if you were wandering around the forest not paying attention. 

What we’ve seen since antiquity is a move away from a monstrous outside necessitating a monstrous inside. The break begins with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where the Creature is initially an innocent and only becomes monstrous when people treat him badly because of his appearance. 

The frontispiece to an 1831 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

What we’re seeing in the 21st century is a major anxiety over not being able to spot a monster on sight — we fear things like the serial killer, the faceless evil government corporation and the imperceptible virus carrying a gruesome disease. That’s what makes the presence of classical monsters in popular culture even more interesting — they’re still immediately recognizable, and so out of step with more modern kinds of monstrosity, yet still have considerable appeal.

What’s the most surprising finding from your research on monsters?

I think what I’ve been most surprised by is the sheer range of modern interpretations of classical monsters out there. When people know you’re working on this stuff, they pass on every example that they come across, and some of the things that have been shared with me are really amazing: tattoos, bar signs, graffiti, as well as places you might expect to find them like computer games, films and books. 

Dr. Gloyn didn’t know Wally has a Medusa tattoo — though she’d hardly be surprised

I’ve been particularly interested to find how popular Medusa tattoos are. As a monster that can turn people to stone with a glance, she’s not the most obvious thing to have permanently inked on your arm, but she’s clearly been a very important choice for a lot of people. 

Head of Medusa by Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders, circa 1618. Not too many people know that Medusa was a rape victim punished by being transformed into a monster

What monster has been most maligned in your opinion?

Historically, it does have to be Medusa — her origin myth as told to us by Ovid in his poem The Metamorphoses is pretty explicit that the transformation happens after Poseidon has raped her, specifically as a punishment from Athena.

When you hear Medusa’s story, you can’t help but feel some sympathy for her and be pleased that she’s such a badass, even after death

Ovid’s version has been the most read and most influential in post-classical cultures, but until recently Medusa’s rape was translated away as “seduction” or a similar euphemism. Thankfully, as Latin literature has been opened up to a wider audience and stopped being the province of elite white men, we’re starting to see more versions of the story which grapple with Medusa’s identity as a survivor of sexual violence, so that aspect of the myth is beginning to get the coverage it should have.

Centaurs were wild creatures hardly more civilized than the wild beasts attacking them in this mosaic

What does monster theory tell us about how women are perceived? Men? Any other groups?

Monster theory argues that monsters come into existence in order to help society articulate fears and concerns about people not belonging to the dominant group — so, given the social structures of patriarchy, it has quite a lot to say about how society monsters women! Particularly in Greek myth, it’s noticeable just how many monsters turn out to be women — or, if they’re male, like centaurs, they’re hypersexualized and hyperviolent, reflecting what happens without the controlling influence of civilization. 

The Rape of Hippodamia by Peter Paul Rubens, 1638. Drunken centaurs tried to carry off the bride at her wedding feast

What looking at monsters that map on to different groups of people really tells us is what kind of threat they are supposed to hold. We see this, for instance, in the demonization of sexually active women in figures like the Sirens, or the way that villains in Hollywood are so often queer-coded, even in films made this century. 

Every society and every time period will react to these threats differently, so while there are some patterns we can spot which repeat, each monster reflects back the particular concerns of the society that generated it.  

The Victorious Sphinx by Gustave Moreau, 1886. You had only one chance to get the riddle of the Sphinx right

What’s your favorite monster, and why?

I have a soft spot for Medusa, as you may already have noticed, but I’m going to say the Sphinx.

Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustave Moreau, 1864. The wandering hero solves the riddle, so upsetting the Sphinx, she kills herself

Before Oedipus shows up and solves her riddle, she has been patiently sitting on the road to Thebes, saying her piece to every passing traveller and then, when they don’t listen to her properly and instead try to mansplain her riddle to her, eating them. I admit that this might be a slightly free interpretation of the myth, but it does strike me that Oedipus solves the riddle because he’s the first person to actually pay attention to what the Sphinx is saying, as opposed to all her previous victims who just thought that they’d understood her. 

Hercules and Cerberus by Peter Paul Rubens, 1637. Bad doggie! The three-headed pooch Cerberus guards the gates of Hell, but is caught by Hercules as one of his tasks

What monster would you least like to encounter?

Cerberus. I’m just not a dog person, let alone a three-headed dog person. 

3 Times Alexander the Great Wasn’t So Great

The famed king of Macedon and military leader could be ruthless and cruel, especially when he dealt with Tyre, Gaza and Persepolis.

Alexander might have had a great body, but his actions weren’t always so great — especially when it came to conquering three major cities of antiquity

It’s all a matter of perspective. You can read through these stories about the man history has dubbed Alexander the Great and think, “What a dick.”

But you shouldn’t view ancient history solely through a modern lens. Even Dante was guilty of reducing the legendary conqueror to barbarian status: He placed Alexander in the seventh circle of Hell, boiling for eternity in the blood he shed.

As far as ancient history goes, though, Alexander’s brutality was typical: “He was a man of his own violent times, no better or worse in his actions than Caesar or Hannibal,” writes Philip Freeman in Alexander the Great. “He killed tens of thousands of civilians in his campaigns and spread terror in his wake, but so did every other general in the ancient world.”

“Armies in the ancient world firmly believed it was their natural right to pillage any city they encountered.

As for captive women, in the minds of the soldiers they were nothing more than the spoils of war and were to be treated as such.”

— Philip Freeman, “Alexander the Great”

Here are a few instances when the legendary conqueror was far from “Great” and acted with particular cruelty in amassing his empire.

The Phoenician city of Tyre was prosperous and well-protected

1. The Siege and Massacre of Tyre

As part of his world conquest, in 332 BCE, Alexander set his sights on Tyre, located on an island off the Lebanese coast. This was the most powerful of all the Phoenician cities and one of the richest trading centers in the Mediterranean. 

Attacking the city of Tyre was no easy feat, as it was situated half a mile off the coast and protected by strong currents and winds. Alexander decided to build a causeway, chopping down some of the famed cedars of the area and destroying the older parts of the city on the mainland to use as construction material. 

The long, arduous task took over half a year, interrupted by violent storms, a fire the Tyrians started by sending a flaming ship crashing into the causeway, and even a “sea monster” getting trapped upon it (most likely a whale). 

An aerial photo of Tyre taken by the French military in 1934 shows the land bridge that resulted from Alexander the Great’s causeway

At last, Alexander’s men completed the causeway. While a battle raged on land, the king boarded his lead ship and led a naval battle that struck simultaneously at all the seaward walls around the city. The Tyrians didn’t know where to focus their defense. When a battering ram on an armored ship opened a breach, the Macedonian army flooded into Tyre. It’s said that Alexander himself was the first to reach the top of the city walls. Then the carnage began.

Alexander assaulted Tyre from all directions on both land and sea

“The ferocity of the slaughter was staggering,” Freeman writes. “The Macedonians had spent seven long months laboring to take the stubborn town. They had seen many of their friends crushed by stones hurled from the walls or burned to death by fire bombs. They were angry, exhausted, and passionately hated the people of Tyre for putting them through hell. Alexander didn’t even try to hold them back as they killed every man, woman, and child they could lay their hands on.”

Corpses of men, women and children lined the streets of Tyre after Alexander and his army breached the walls of the city

Thousands died within the first few hours, and the rest were sold into slavery — aside from the lucky few who sought sanctuary in the temple of Hercules. And then there were the 2,000 men of fighting age who were taken to a mainland beach across from Tyre and crucified.

A painting of Gaza in 1839 by David Roberts

2. The Unmentionable Death of Gaza’s Eunuch Governor

En route to Egypt, also in 332 BCE, Alexander faced an obstacle: the hilltop fortress town of Gaza, ruled at the time by the Persians. Its marketplace held the riches of the Arabian caravan trade, including frankincense, gold and myrrh. 

A bas-relief from Alexander the Great’s sarcophagus depicting the battle of Gaza

Alexander was, in many ways, not only a daring army commander but also an engineering genius. When his men weren’t fighting or trekking halfway around the world, they were engaged in impressive construction projects. In Gaza, Alexander ordered them to build a ring around the city equal to its height. Using the siege towers from Tyre, the Macedonian army stormed the walls of Gaza but were driven back three times. On the fourth attempt, though, Alexander led a successful foray into the city, despite a wounded shoulder from a previous skirmish. 

All the men of Gaza were killed, and the women and children sold into slavery. The local governor, a eunuch named Batis, was brought before Alexander, who insisted he bow down before him. Batis refused, looking upon his conqueror in contempt.

The hero Achilles dragged his enemy Hector from his chariot — a gruesome act that inspired Alexander the Great’s humiliation of the governor of Gaza

“Then Alexander in his anger did something so horrific that most ancient historians omit the episode altogether,” Freeman writes. Inspired by Achilles’ shocking treatment of his enemy Hector in The Iliad, Alexander tied Batis to his chariot by his ankles and dragged his mutilated body through the surrounding rocky desert around Gaza long after he was dead.

The burning of Xerxes’ palace in Persepolis. Was it an act of drunken stupidity — or premeditated revenge?

3. The Needless Sacking of Persepolis

Unlike these previous battles, Alexander and his army marched right into Persepolis, the heart of the great Persian Empire, unopposed, in 330 BCE. It was a new city for the era, and a gorgeous one at that, filled with statues, impressive architecture and luxurious accommodations. 

Architectural and artistic wonders filled the city of Persepolis, though Alexander’s army viewed them only as the spoils of war

Alexander had spent too much time calling Persepolis the most hated city in Asia and claiming that the ultimate goal of his campaign was to destroy the Persian Empire (even though he would continue on after this, much to some of his men’s dismay). Having finally reached the city that had been demonized for so long, Alexander’s soldiers didn’t give even the remotest thought to preserving this pinnacle of culture; they wanted booty in all senses of the word. 

“Armies in the ancient world firmly believed it was their natural right to pillage any city they encountered,” Freeman writes. “After all, they put their lives on the line fighting for king and country. Glory was well and good for princes and nobles, but they longed for tangible treasure to spend while they were still young enough to enjoy it and gold to buy that farm they had always had their eye on back home. As for captive women, in the minds of the soldiers they were nothing more than the spoils of war and were to be treated as such.”

A drawing of Persepolis by the architect Charles Chipiez

Once he was situated in the palace complex, Alexander knew he couldn’t contain his men. He gave his army free reign to sack Persepolis — the first time he had done so to a city that had willingly surrendered.

What resulted was “an orgy of ferocious greed,” as Freeman calls it. The soldiers broke into homes, killing the men and raping the women and girls. They grabbed anything of value, hacking limbs off golden statues and sometimes even killing each other in the quarrels over fine purple cloth or silver jewelry. 

“The bravest among the citizens saw what was coming and set their own houses on fire with themselves and their families inside before the Macedonians could break down the door,” Freeman writes. “Others put on their finest clothing and threw their wives and children from the roofs to their deaths in the streets below, then followed themselves. 

After one day, “Persepolis was a smoking ruin filled with the dead, an indescribable scene of horror as naked widows and orphans were led away in the winter cold to the slave markets,” Freeman continues.

Some time later, in what the author calls “a fine Greek tradition to blame women for the foolish deeds of men,” Alexander burned down the great palace of Xerxes. A courtesan (which is just a nice way of saying “high-class whore”) named Thaïs had spoken so eloquently of destroying the palace, that a drunk Alexander grabbed the nearest torch and started the blaze himself — an act he almost immediately regretted. But it was too late. The palace was reduced to ash. 

The woman is always to blame. The courtesan Thaïs is said to have convinced Alexander to burn down Xerxes’ palace — which he instantly regretted

A different version of the story comes from Arrian, often the best source for information about Alexander the Great. The historian stated that the Macedonian king had always planned to burn down the palace in revenge for all the evils the Persian Empire had perpetrated upon the Greek world. Evidence supports this claim: Archeologists have found the remains of the palace but no treasures destroyed at the time — revealing that the fire was most likely premeditated and not started until all valuable objects had been removed.

“In the end, we simply cannot know whether or not the king deliberately burned down the palace of Xerxes,” according to Freeman. “But we can be sure that most of the ancient historians who wrote of the episode were deeply uncomfortable with Alexander’s actions and preferred to blame the events of that night on too much wine and the silken tongue of a woman.” –Wally

“He killed tens of thousands of civilians in his campaigns and spread terror in his wake, but so did every other general in the ancient world.”

— Philip Freeman, “Alexander the Great”

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LEARN MORE about the insane early life of Alexander the Great, from a gay gang rape to his mother burning a rival’s baby!

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The Easy-to-Miss Mastabas of Saqqara

The three royal Saqqara tombs of Inefrt V, Unas-Ankh and Idut offer a glimpse into the daily life of Ancient Egyptians. 

Ancient Egyptians believed that a drawing of a sacrifice was as good as the real thing

For most of us, there are a couple of certainties about death: You can’t take it with you, and you can’t bring the dead back to life. 

When pondering the finality of death, we try to reason with fate that it’s not our time to go while simultaneously contemplating the frightening prospect that one day, no matter how hard we try to avoid it, we’ll all end up as worm food. 

“Two of the mastaba’s rooms were purchased by Edward Ayer, the first president of the Field Museum in Chicago.

Strangely enough, these entire rooms were dismantled and traveled by boat to the Windy City, where they were added to the Field’s permanent collection. They can still be viewed today. ”

Step through the doorway to enter a world over 4,000 years old

Not so for the royal and upper-class families of Ancient Egypt, who, although having lived life very much in the present, were preoccupied with achieving the ideal afterlife. The planning and preparation of sophisticated abodes where their souls would reside for eternity often began shortly upon birth. And when a pharaoh did die, if the right precautions were taken, their soul went on to enjoy living among the gods, while the souls of nobility were reborn into a utopia. 

Wally walks like an Egyptian — and you should, too!

Duke’s happy we decided to explore the mastabas at Saqqara

A few Old Kingdom burial structures, known as mastabas (pronounced “mast-a-bahs”) are located within the cemetery complex of Pharaoh Unas at Saqqara. Built for his viziers, wives and offspring, these “forever homes” survived, immutable, for thousands of years, likely due to being hidden under sand. The flat-roofed, low-slung structures are all similar in size, with their exterior walls built of durable limestone blocks. 

Servants bear offerings of beer, bread, fowl, meat and other goodies

Spirits in the Material World: Inefrt V’s Mastaba

The first mastaba that Wally and I went into was the tomb of Inefrt V, a vizier who served Pharaoh Unas from his mid to late reign around 2430 BCE. This was the most powerful title amongst the Egyptian social hierarchy, after that of king — in fact, they’re often called the prime ministers of the time — and Inefrt’s loyalty earned him a coveted final resting spot. 

Finely sculpted limestone relief carvings throughout his tomb depict daily life. The mere utterance of the hieroglyphic inscriptions that accompany them were believed to spark magical powers to prepare the soul of the deceased for the next world.

Six small figures of the deceased, carved in sunken relief, face the central niche of the false door, which was used by the ka, or spirit

In the offertory chapel, one of several rooms, we paused in front of a niche with a false door. After the deceased had been laid to rest, family members and priests continued to bring food and other offerings, which were placed on a low bench-like slab in front of the false door through which the spirit, or ka, would pass through in order to receive sustenance. The dead, you see, still had to eat and drink even if they no longer held a physical form. 

One of the mastabas shows offerings for Prince Unas-Ankh to enjoy during his afterlife

The Princely Digs of Unas-Ankh

The second mastaba tomb we entered belongs to Prince Unas-Ankh, the son of Queen Nebt and King Unas, who died around 2400 BCE. It was discovered and excavated in 1908 by British Egyptologist James E. Quibell, then the chief inspector at Saqqara. Many historians have speculated that the prince died before his father, as no male heir took the throne upon Unas’ death. 

Surprisingly realistic depictions of fish are shown swimming beneath a boat

Scenes devoted to daily life include seated scribes going about their work

Two of the mastaba’s rooms, the offertory chapel and antechamber, were purchased from the Egyptian government by American business magnate Edward Ayer, the founding father and first president of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Strangely enough, these entire rooms were dismantled and traveled by boat to the Windy City, where they were added to the Field’s permanent collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. They can still be viewed today. 

Why build a tomb when you can steal one like Princess Idut did? She’s shown smelling a lotus blossom, a symbol of rebirth

Princess Idut and the Usurped Lair of Ihy

The mastaba tomb of the vizier Ihy was the last of this group. Dated to circa 2360 BCE, it was discovered by British Egyptologist Cecil Firth in 1927 and further excavated by French Egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer. What makes this tomb particularly interesting is that it was later usurped and reused by Pharaoh Teti’s daughter, Princess Idut, who bears the title of king’s daughter of his body. Ihy’s name was erased, and scenes originally made for the vizier were adapted, with the figure of the princess replacing that of poor Ihy. These were executed in shallow relief and, perhaps because they were made over existing ones, are inferior in quality, in my opinion. 

That baby hippo better watch out for the crocodile!

One of my favorite reliefs within the mastaba depicts a hippopotamus giving birth with a crocodile waiting to gobble up the newborn in its snapping jaws.

Be sure to visit the mastabas after exploring the depths of Unas’ pyramid

The Mastabas of the Unas Complex

The mastaba tombs Wally and I saw at Saqqara were multi-roomed affairs with corridors and a mortuary chapel with a false door for worship and offerings to the deceased. Reliefs often included scenes of hunting, netting fish, herding and butchering animals, threshing grain and other farming activities corresponding to events and experiences that the departed would have enjoyed in everyday life.

One of the main concerns beyond death for royalty and nobles alike was that the deceased would require food, and plenty of it. This bas-relief shows a graphic depiction of butchers slaughtering a bull

As our guide Ahmed hurried us past the mastaba entrances, we stopped and pointed at the doorways.

“What’s in there?” Wally asked.

“Some tombs,” Ahmed said, dismissively.

“Well, let’s go in then. We might only be here once — we want to see everything,” Wally said.

“That’s fine,” Ahmed snapped, obviously annoyed. “We can do that. But they’re all the same.”

Not only was this an alarming statement from a guide, who should be proud of his country’s heritage, it also just wasn’t true.

It wasn’t until then that we told Ahmed we were travel bloggers — and he looked sheepish and then upset, suddenly changing his tune, telling us that it was unfair to have withheld this detail from him and that he would have given us a different tour had he been informed. We thought that was a poor way to treat clients, and I can only imagine that he shared the same dispassionate and rushed tours with everyone.

That’s bull! Don’t let your guide at Saqqara try to pass by the mastabas in the Unas complex

Because of our lackluster Giza and Saqqara experience arranged through the Kempinski hotel concierge in Cairo, I would recommend getting the locations and sights you want to visit in writing and agreed upon the day before your visit. We didn’t — and as a result were subject to the rushed whims of our guide.

Admission to Saqqara cost 150 Egyptian pounds (about $9.50 at the time). Ahmed took us to the Step Pyramid, the entrance hall to Djoser’s Funerary Complex, the Pyramid of Unas, the above-mentioned mastaba tombs and the Imhotep Museum. Knowing what we know now, though, we could have easily have seen more time at Saqqara, including the Serapeum; the tomb of Irukaptah, nicknamed the “Butcher’s Tomb;” the tomb of Queen Nebt, one of the wives of King Unas; and the Tomb of the Two Brothers, possible gay lovers. –Duke

 

The Shocking Secrets of the Gospel of Judas

One of the Gnostic gospels, this “heretical” text paints a controversial picture of Christianity and the apostle who is said to have betrayed Jesus.

The Betrayal of Jesus by Giotto di Bondone, 1304. But what if Judas turning Jesus over to the authorities was all part of the plan?

Most people believe that Christianity has always been fully formed, as if the New Testament was handed down from God Himself.

But that’s not the case. We can be forgiven for falling under the impression “that Christianity actually was a single, static, universal system of beliefs,” write Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King in Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity. “Creating this impression was itself a remarkable achievement — one to which certain ‘fathers of the church’ were dedicated. But they did so precisely because they realized how diverse Christian groups were, and they feared that controversies over basic issues—like those revealed in the Gospel of Judas — might undermine the ‘universal church’ they were trying to build, along with the authority they were claiming for their church alone.”

But the discovery of additional texts like the Gnostic Gospels shows there were dissenting views and that early Christianity was anything but uniform. Church founders very carefully debated which gospels to keep — and which to discard.

The sorry state of the first page of the Gospel of Judas. That’s what a humid safety box and a stint in a freezer will do to ancient papyrus!

Unearthing the Gospel of Judas

The Gospel of Judas was written by an unknown author in Greek around 150 CE. Deemed heretical, the only known surviving copy is one that was translated into Coptic in the 4th century and discovered in the 1970s in Middle Egypt. It was part of what’s called the Tchacos Codex, which had a rough go of it, from its burial cave to a humid safety deposit box — even being frozen at one point!

A church father named Irenaeus rails against this particular group of Christians in work, Against Heresies, written around 180 CE:

They declare that Judas the traitor … alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produced a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.

An early Christian leader, Irenaeus, railed against what he deemed heresies, including the Gospel of Judas.

This was at a time when Christianity had developed into numerous offshoots, with quite different beliefs. The Roman Emperor Constantine, a surprising but passionate convert to Christianity, attempted to resolve the differences by supporting the bishops he gathered together in 325 CE at the Council of Nicaea in present-day Turkey. These early church fathers went through the existing literature and chose what was canon and what was heresy. 

“The traditional history of Christianity is written almost solely from the viewpoint of the side that won, which was remarkably successful in silencing or distorting other voices, destroying their writings, and suppressing any who disagreed with them as dangerous and obstinate ‘heretics,’” Pagels and King write.

Those who dared to continue practicing beliefs the bishops had forbidden found their buildings confiscated or burned to the ground over the following centuries.

the shocking claims of the Gospel of Judas

The Gospel of Judas is a quick but confounding read. (At one point, for example, the writer offers this aside, which suggests that the son of God had the power to shapeshift: “Frequently, however, he would not reveal himself to his disciples, but you would find him in their midst as a child.” Judas 1:8).

Marvin Meyer and F. Gaudard translated the text into English for the National Geographic Society in 2006, and it wasn’t an easy task. As stated, the poor manuscript had been through the ringer. Improper handling and storage — including that stint in a freezer — had reduced the papyrus to fragments.

Here are four shocking claims made in the Gospel of Judas that completely disrupt what we know of Christianity.

The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio, circa 1602. The Christianity we know today was shaped by Church leaders 300 years after Jesus’ death — and early followers didn’t agree on doctrines.

1. Judas wasn’t a villain — he was actually Jesus’ favorite disciple and was asked by Christ to betray him.

This is the statement that’s the most shocking, even to this day, entirely turning the Gospels of the New Testament on their head.

“For thousands of years, Christians have pictured Judas as the incarnation of evil. Motivated by greed and inspired by Satan, he is the betrayer whom Dante placed in the third lowest circle of hell,” Pagels and King write. “But the Gospel of Judas shows Judas instead as Jesus’s closest and most trusted confidant — the one to whom Jesus reveals his deepest mysteries and whom he trusts to initiate the passion.”

On some level, this shouldn’t be such a big surprise. In all of the New Testament gospels, Jesus anticipated and even embraced his own death. So it’s not too far a stretch to imagine he worked with Judas to put his plan in motion.

2. The other apostles actually worship a false God and are mistaken in their beliefs about the Eucharist and martyrdom. 

The Gospel of Judas begins with Jesus laughing at the apostles (he laughs mockingly throughout the work) as they celebrate the Eucharist, believing that they were eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood — a practice that always struck me as eerily cannibalistic.

Matthew 26:26-28 reads, “As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘Take this and eat it, for this is my body.’

The Gospel of Judas declares that the apostles got the Eucharist all wrong.

“Jesus’s laughter is a kind of ridicule or mockery intended to shock the disciples out of their complacency and false pride,” Pagels and King write. “Their deepest problem is that they don’t know they have a problem; they wrongly think they are already righteous, with their prayers and practices of piety.” 

Despite the hopeful message of salvation in the gospel, there’s a cryptic declaration near the beginning: Jesus said to them, “Do you (really think you) know me — how? Truly I say to you, no race from the people among you will ever know me.” Judas 2:10-11.

The apostles then have a dream that horrifies them: Priests sacrificed their children and wives. Some had sex with other men, while some engaged in slaughter, amongst an array of other “sins and injustices.”

Jesus once again laughs (I told you) and informs them that they are the ones doing those deeds and that they worship a false God.

This is, in part, supposed to be a commentary on the craze of martyrdom. Not surprisingly, many followers of Jesus at the time weren’t happy with the trend that persecuted Christians should eagerly embrace torture and violent death.

“Their anger was directed less against the Romans than at their own leaders for encouraging Christians to accept martyrdom as God’s will, as though God desired these tortured bodies for his own glory,” Pagels and King write.

The apostles just didn’t understand Jesus’ teachings, according to the Gospel of Judas — even the “God” they worshipped was false!

The author of the Gospel of Judas points out what he feels is a stunning contradiction: “while Christians refuse to practice sacrifice, many of them bring sacrifice right back into the center of Christian worship — by claiming that Jesus’s death is a sacrifice for human sin, and then by insisting that Christians who die as martyrs are sacrifices pleasing to God,” the authors point out.

 Jesus tells the disciples that the supposed “God” they worship is actually a lower angel who’s leading them astray. (This is where the gospel starts going a bit off the rails and gets all metaphysical.)

St. Stephen, said to be the first Christian martyr, as painted by Rembrandt.

3. Judas didn’t commit suicide — he was, in fact, the first Christian martyr.

The Gospel of Matthew states that Judas, ashamed at his betrayal, returned the 30 pieces of silver that had been his bribe, and hanged himself.

The Suicide of Judas by John Canavesio, circa 1492 — but did Judas really hang himself? The Gospel of Judas has him meeting a different gruesome end.

But the Gospel of Judas tells a different tale: The other disciples, horrified by what Judas has done, and not grasping the truth of Jesus’ plan, stone the supposed traitor to death. Even though the gospel decries martyrdom, it paradoxically also states that its subject was the first Christian martyr. 

Resurrection of the Flesh by Luca Signorelli, circa 1500. According to 1 Corinthians 15: 52, “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

4. Despite what mainstream Christian teachings preach, during the end times, resurrection of the faithful will not be physical but spiritual.

Only Judas is ready to hear the truth, so Jesus takes him aside and teaches him how the visible world we know is actually one of primeval darkness and disorder. But despair not: There’s a heavenly realm where the invisible Spirit of God dwells in an infinite cloud of light.

At a time when Christians believed that the apocalypse was going to happen in the near future and that the bodies of the faithful would be reanimated, the Gospel of Judas taught a controversial doctrine: The body is temporary, but the spirit is eternal.

Jesus said, “The souls of every human race will die. But when those (who belong to the holy race) have completed the time of the kingdom and the spirit separates from them, their bodies will die but their souls will be alive and they will be lifted up.

Gospel of Judas 8:1-4

That sounds suspiciously like the state of enlightenment at the heart of Buddhism, which was gaining favor around this time.

By the end of the gospel, Judas reaches enlightenment, er, comprehends Jesus’ teachings. No longer turning his eyes away from Jesus, he looks up and enters nirvana, er, that infinite cloud of light. 

The torture and execution of Jesus, whom many believed would be another warrior king, dealt a severe blow to the faith of many early Christians. The Gospel of Judas attempts to show that the crucifiction (and murder of Judas) shouldn’t be disheartening: “This gospel suggests that our lives consist of more than what biology or psychology can explore — that our real life begins when the spirit of God tranforms the soul,” Pagels and King write.

A depiction of Lucifer devouring poor Judas

Was Judas a Demon?

Another scholar, April D. DeConick, offers a contradictory view. She questions the mainstream interpretation of the Gospel of Judas, arguing that instead of being the favored apostle, Judas was actually a demon. 

That’s a misinterpretation of the Greek, according to Pagels and King. Jesus calls Judas the “thirteenth god,” using the word “daimon.” Of course this later developed a negative connotation, worming its way into our language as “demon.” But in Greek thought, the term indicated a lesser god or even an individual’s lot in life. 

“Indeed,” the authors state, “Plato wrote that everyone possesses a daimon” — an idea picked up by Philip Pullman in the His Dark Materials series. –Wally

The Many Layers of Luxor Temple

The town of Luxor now surrounds this ancient complex built as a festival site by Amenhotep III and added on to by Hatshepsut, King Tut and Alexander the Great.

The modern city of Luxor has been built around the ancient temple complex

Americans never wanted a monarch like our friends across the pond, against whom we rebelled to set up a democracy. So we don’t know what it’s like to get caught up in a king’s or queen’s jubilee as the Brits do. 

It was a similar type of celebration that led to Luxor Temple. Amenhotep III, having been on the throne for 30 years, was due a Sed festival, an ancient rite to represent the rejuvenation of the pharaoh and renew his contract with the gods. Not every pharaoh made it three decades on the throne — at a time when that was pretty much the life expectancy — and Amenhotep was determined to celebrate his jubilee unlike any of his forebears. 

“Don’t miss the carvings of none other than Alexander the Great worshipping Amun-Min, whose massive hard-on points toward the legendary, bisexual conqueror.”

Luxor Temple was an important place of worship for 3,000 years!

He looked three miles south of Karnak Temple and directly across the Nile from his mortuary temple at a small shrine that acted as the “southern residence” of the composite god Amun-Ra. The town of Luxor, known as Thebes in ancient times, now surrounds the temple complex.

This colonnade was designed to resemble bundles of papyrus, an important plant for the Egyptians, used to make paper, sandals and other essentials

Amenhotep III had his architects design a vast open court with double rows of columns that resemble bundles of papyrus. The pharaoh was becoming more and more interested in solar worship, so he instructed that no roof cover this structure, allowing the sun’s rays to fill the space. With electrum walls and silver furnishings, you can only imagine how blinding the court would have been on a sunny day, filling worshippers with a sense of awe at the power of Amun-Ra.

Because they make noise at sunrise, as if in greeting, baboons were connected to sun worship for the Ancient Egyptians

Son of God

But Egyptologists say that the most important room in Luxor Temple is a small one at the back, behind the shrine where the solar barque, the god’s vessel, was kept, and next to an offering room. In this seemingly unobtrusive chamber, Amenhotep III rewrote his history (a favorite pastime of the pharaohs). He tells the tale of how his mother, Mutemwia, was visited in her bedchamber by what looked like her husband, Thutmose IV, but was actually the chief deity, Amun-Ra. 

The inscription at Luxor is a much more graphic recounting than the divine parentage story Hatshepsut inscribed in her mortuary temple. Amenhotep seems to delight in the details of his mother’s arousal:

She awoke because of the god’s scent and cried out with pleasure before his majesty. … She rejoiced at the sight of his beauty, and love of him suffused her body. …

“How great is your power!” … Your dew permeates all my limbs.” And then the majesty of this god did all that he desired with her.

Amenhotep-ruler-of-Thebes is the name of this child that I have placed in your womb. … He shall exercise potent kingship in this entire land. … He shall rule the Two Lands like Ra forever.

Speaking of graphic depictions, the Amun worshipped here was conflated with the fertility god Min and was depicted with an impressive erection. Don’t miss the carvings here that show none other than Alexander the Great worshipping this god, whose massive hard-on points toward the legendary, bisexual conqueror.

Alexander the Great, crowned as pharaoh, worships Amun in the form of Min, who has one arm, one leg and one giant erection

Luxor Temple became the primary stage for kingly rituals, including the Opet festival, when the Amun statue at Karnak would come for a visit.

An avenue of sphinxes once stretched for two miles, connecting Luxor to Karnak Temple

Various pharaohs put their stamp on Luxor, as seen in the Court of Ramesses

A Favorite of the Pharaohs

Over the course of 3,000 years, pharaohs added onto or rebuilt the temple. It’s interesting that Amenhotep III is known as the Sun King, and that his son, Amenhotep IV,  later chose the name of Akhenaten when he infamously shifted worship away from the pantheon led by Amun to a single deity, Aten, the sun itself. It seems the son took the father’s solar passion to an extreme. 

While Amenhotep laid the foundation for a colonnade in front of his sun court, it was completed by Akhenaten’s short-lived son, the famous Tutankhamun. Inside the massive hall, columns soar 60 feet into the air, and six striding colossi wowed visitors. 

Unlike so many other temples of Ancient Egypt, Luxor is open-aired, highlighting its connection to the sun

Ramesses II, who never shied away from an opportunity to proclaim his greatness, added on to Luxor, installing a forecourt, a pylon gateway and statues out front. To obtain the construction materials needed, he engaged in another preferred pastime of the pharaohs: razing and raiding the temples and pyramids of ages past. 

Ramesses shifted the axis of the temple to the east to align it with Karnak, to which it was connected by a sphinx-lined processional avenue.

You can see where the ancient stone wall ends and the new mosque built atop it starts

Religions Built Atop One Another 

Luxor, like most of the temples of Ancient Egypt was at some point buried in the shifting sands of the desert. But at no sight is this more clear than here, where you can literally see the different colors of the rock showing what was buried for millennia. 

Old meets new and Islam meets Ancient Egyptian at Luxor

You can also see how the complex was converted to various Christian churches in the 4th to 6th centuries, when Romans incorporated the entire complex into a castrum, or fortified military encampment. Icons of various holy figures can still be seen painted on one of the walls. 

In the late 3rd century, during the reign of Diocletian, this section of Luxor became a Roman legionary shrine. Part of the fresco can still be seen

With the rise of Islam, Muslims built a mosque atop one of the churches here. This striking place of worship sits perched atop one of Luxor’s surrounding walls and is still in use to this day. 

Venture to the back of Luxor Temple to see statues of King Tut and Queen Ankhesenpaaten

A Bizarre Ritual Out Back

While we wandered the open-air structures at the back of the temple, past two pairs of decaying statues, an Egyptian policeman approached us. The ubiquitous machine gun strapped across his chest that never failed to put me ill at ease was counteracted by his beaming smile. 

He signaled for us to follow him. A bit nervous but curious, Duke and I followed him into a nook in the far corner of the complex. The policeman gestured for our phone to take a picture. With Duke’s iPhone in hand, he began a series of strange choreography, intertwining our fingers of one hand and having us touch the ancient stone with the other. (I know you’re not supposed to touch the monuments, but when an armed guard tells you to do something, you obey. Sure enough, we weren’t the first to follow this bizarre ritual — the stone was worn, polished by the oils of countless hands.) He snapped a shot, then had us hold our hands toward each other in a prayer gesture, like we were about to play pattycake. Snap, another picture. And finally, he had us keep our hands in that position but place them against the wall in the same spot we had previously touched. 

An armed policeman ran Duke and Wally through a series of strange motions — though they have no idea what it all meant

It was all quite amusing, though we’re not sure what exactly was the desired outcome. Perhaps it was an ancient spell for fertility — and if that’s the case, what a waste doing it on a couple of gays. 

We offered the cop a tip, known as baksheesh in Arabic, which he gladly pocketed. 

Admission to Luxor Temple costs 140 Egyptian pounds, or less than $9 at the time of this writing. –Wally

 

The Magical Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara

Home of the bewitching Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn — ancient magic spells cast to assure the pharaoh an eternal afterlife.

The Saqqara complex, about an hour south of Giza

South of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara lies one of Egypt’s most important Old Kingdom monuments, the Pyramid of Unas, whose walls are covered in ancient spells. 

What remains of the Pyramid of Unas, though, looks more like a crumbling mound of sand, stone blocks and debris than a royal pyramid. After walking past the Step Pyramid and being told that was unsafe to enter, Wally gestured to the collapsed structure before us, looking dubious, and asked our guide, “But it’s safe to go inside this one?”

“The texts carved into the walls include the Cannibal Hymn, which, strangely, describes the dead king consuming the gods themselves. ”

Built 80 years after the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the Pyramid of Unas is the smallest of the Old Kingdom pyramids. The complex was originally known as Nefer asut Unas, or Beautiful Are the Places of Unas, who was the ninth and final ruler of the Fifth Dynasty. 

A small mountain of rubble and sand are all that’s left of the Pyramid of Unas — but you can explore the tomb carved beneath it

Unas, Dos, Tres

Pharaoh Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years, succeeding Djedkare Isesi, who might have been his father. Little is known of Unas’ activities during his reign, which was a time of economic decline (perhaps he spent too much money on his tomb?). He died without an heir, and his daughter married his successor, a commoner named Teti, whom historians consider the founder of the Sixth Dynasty. Unas’ wives, Nebet and Khenut, were buried in a double mudbrick tomb called a mastaba, adjacent to his pyramid.

It’s hard to imagine that it’s safe to explore the tunnels and chambers under this crumbling mound

The Pyramid of Unas itself is over 4,400 years old, part of the Saqqara complex, a necropolis used by pharaohs for millennia. It remained unexplored until the French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero uncovered it in 1881. Excavations later took place between 1899 and 1901, leading to the discovery of the tomb of King Hotepsekhemwy, the first king of Egypt’s Second Dynasty (back around 2890 BCE) as well as numerous shaft tombs from the 26th and 27th Dynasties.

Doesn’t it look like Gaston Maspero, the French Egyptologist who rediscovered the pyramid, made a call on his cell phone inside the tomb?

Keep in mind that without the step pyramids of Saqqara, even in their sad current state of demise, there wouldn’t be the Great Pyramids of Giza. This is where the ancient architects tried out their designs, moving from mastabas to step pyramids and finally to the towering Wonders of the Ancient World that still stand to this day.

Access to the Pyramid of Unas is included with the 150 Egyptian pound (less than $10) admission to the Saqqara necropolis. Our guide Ahmed recommended that we visit this tomb in lieu of going inside the Pyramid of Khafre at Giza as Khafre’s doesn’t have any relief carvings inside. Wally and I ignored his advice and went inside the Pyramid of Khafre as well, which was an absolute highlight not to be missed.

These ancient hieroglyphics are actually the oldest known collection of spells and were used to grant the pharaoh life after death

It’s What’s Inside That Matters: The Pyramid Texts and the Cannibal Hymn

The ground-level entrance to the Pyramid of Unas is surrounded by an open metal railing located on the north side. Wally and I clambered down the low, narrow passage using an angled wooden ramp similar to the one at the Pyramid of Khafre. Once inside the depths of the tomb, there’s a small vestibule where it’s possible to stand, that leads to the antechamber and a pair of adjoining rooms.

Carvings of famine in the causeway in the Unas complex

What makes this tomb unique is that it was the first to feature the mysterious Pyramid Texts, the earliest surviving collection of religious spells. The texts offer instructions and the power to grant life after death. 

In the antechamber, the texts carved into the walls address the rebirth of Unas, his ascent into the sky and his mystical union with the sun god Ra (aka Re) as well as the fascinating Cannibal Hymn, which, strangely, describes the dead king consuming the gods themselves. Here are some of the more colorful excerpts:

A god who lives on his fathers,
who feeds on his mothers …

Unas is the bull of heaven
Who rages in his heart,
Who lives on the being of every god,
Who eats their entrails
When they come, their bodies full of magic
From the Isle of Flame …

Indeed, Khonsu [the Moon], who slaughters the lords, cuts their throats for Unas, and takes out for him what is in their bellies. He is the messenger whom he sends out to chastise.

Indeed, Shesmu [the wine-press god] cuts them up for Unas and cooks for him a meal out of them in his evening cook pots.

Unas is he who eats their magic, who swallows their spirits.
Their great ones are for his morning meal,
Their middle-sized ones for his evening meal,
Their little ones for his night meal,
Their old men and the old women are for his fuel.

Negotiating the afterlife was no small feat for an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and required some 700 incantations. Of these texts, 283 are inscribed on the limestone walls of the subterranean antechamber, or horizon room, and burial chamber of the pyramid. A third chamber known as the judgement room is devoid of inscriptions, indicating that the pharaoh couldn’t be aided by sacred texts when answering for his mortal deeds before Osiris, the lord of the afterlife.

Pharaohs didn’t want to give up the good life, so they had elaborate incantations carved in their tombs to assure a pleasant afterlife

The Pyramid Texts predate the more famous Book of the Dead. These spellbooks do not mean that death was the Ancient Egyptians’ main preoccupation. In fact, it’s just that they enjoyed life so much they took every means possible to continue feasting, hunting, playing games and the like in an everlasting paradise as a god beyond death.

To the west is the burial chamber with its black basalt sarcophagus symbolizing the fertile earth. The proximity of the Pyramid Texts to the deceased acted as afterlife insurance for the pharaoh. Incised on the white alabaster-lined walls of the burial chamber, ritual texts for the rebirth of the king refer to the sun’s rays as a ladder Unas could use to ascend to the heavens. 

The vaulted burial chamber ceiling is embellished with a pattern of stars (which looked more like starfish to Wally and me). When the burial chamber was excavated by Maspero, the sarcophagus was found to be empty, aside from an arm and skull fragments, still covered with skin and hair.

The ceiling of the burial chamber in the Pyramid of Unas is covered with stars

We were told to tip the men inside so they’d use their flashlights to reveal some of the carvings, which can only be seen with the lights off. As we entered the small room, another tour group was being shown the trick. Duke and I watched, squinting at the wall but not seeing anything. Eventually, we looked at each other, shrugged and moved on. –Duke

When you’re in Cairo, find a guide who’s not an ass like ours was — and spend an afternoon in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara