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

[00:00:00] G'day guys, Elliot here. Welcome back to Anthology Of Heroes. It has been a while but I'm glad to say

[00:00:05] I've finally settled back into Melbourne, Australia and managed to dig myself out of the mountains

[00:00:10] of Ikea boxes to get this episode recorded. For any new listeners, in this show we share

[00:00:16] gritty stories of figures and events that changed world history. And today we're coming up blazing

[00:00:21] with a story I've been itching to share with you guys for a long time. If you're listening to a

[00:00:26] History Podcast, I've got a pretty good idea that you're into Ancient Egypt. I know that because

[00:00:32] for many kids, myself included, it was the pyramids and their towering exotic pharaohs that lit the

[00:00:38] spark of interest in history. You can see white, right? An ancient civilization so different from

[00:00:44] ours, one so imposing and advanced that seemed to just vanish beneath the sands, waiting to be

[00:00:50] rediscovered one day. You know one fact that still makes me go wow every time I hear it?

[00:00:55] Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt, is closer to our time as in 2024 than she is to the date when

[00:01:03] the great pyramids were initially built. I mean the oldest hieroglyphics we've identified are from

[00:01:08] around 3000 BC. That's 5000 years ago. Egypt was the first real nation state. It lasted for over

[00:01:17] 3,000 years. That's what tripled the duration of the Roman state and so far still longer than

[00:01:24] our own western civilization. Growing up I remember I had one of those big thick DKI witness books,

[00:01:30] you know the ones I mean right? They're full of pictures of huge crumbling temples, brilliantly

[00:01:34] coloured hieroglyphics and bizarre animal headed gods. What kid wouldn't be into that? Flicking

[00:01:40] through the pages there was a famous gold mask of Tutankhamen, the boy king, the towering

[00:01:45] monoliths of Ramses II and the beautiful carved bust of Queen Nefertiti. But there's one figure

[00:01:52] you won't find in those books, a pharaoh named Arcanathan. In fact if the ancient Egyptians had

[00:02:00] that way we would never know he existed at all. Before this pharaoh's body was even cold his

[00:02:07] statues were being smashed to pieces, his religious edicts erased and the very record of his life

[00:02:13] scrubbed from the imperial record. As soon as he was gone it was like everyone just wanted to

[00:02:18] pretend he was never there. Why? What did this man do to warrant such hatred? Did he deserve it?

[00:02:27] Over the course of the next two episodes you'll learn the incredible lost story of pharaoh Arcanathan.

[00:02:33] I promise you this is a wild one full of incest, religious cults, body dysmorphia,

[00:02:39] lost temples, vanity and above all power. It's also an unfinished story because of how

[00:02:46] intensely his memory was damned there are tons of gaps in Arcanathan's story. Gaps that every

[00:02:52] specialist group you can think of has slotted into fill. Arcanathan has been called the first gay man,

[00:02:59] the first monotheist, the first trans person, a role model for modern families and the patron

[00:03:05] saint of pedophiles. He's inspired the works of feminist artist Frida Kahlo and has been a

[00:03:10] point of fascination for psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud who speculated that the pharaoh had

[00:03:16] been a mentor for the biblical figure Moses. Afrocentrists point to him as a missing link to

[00:03:21] forgotten deeds of black Africans while Nazis declare him a partial Aryan, a forefather of their

[00:03:28] racial purity policies. There are people who point to him as the first communist, a man who envisioned

[00:03:34] a new utopia for his people but just as many others would describe his vision more akin to

[00:03:39] that of Kim Jong-il's dystopian North Korea. By the end of this series whatever you think

[00:03:45] of him I think you'll agree with Egyptologist James Henry Breasted who called him the first

[00:03:50] individual in history. For a person we know only by fragments of statues and chips of

[00:03:57] smashed tablets his personality oozes through the dusty passages of time. This is going to be a

[00:04:03] two-part series, the first episode is going to focus predominantly on the rediscovery of this

[00:04:08] pharaoh and of his father Amano Tep III. To know Arcanathan you've really got to know his

[00:04:13] dad because the son's rule was in many ways the evolution of his father's vision just cranked up

[00:04:20] to 11. For this episode we're lucky enough to have some primary sources, a collection of clay

[00:04:26] tablets collectively referred to as the Amano Letters that record communication between Amano

[00:04:32] Tep III, Arcanathan and neighboring kings. I found these tablets so interesting because some of

[00:04:38] them are just so so petty. They were written thousands of years ago in a language that died

[00:04:44] out long ago but the contents of them wouldn't look out of place in a Reddit comment section today.

[00:04:50] Ego, sex, threats and squabbling over money we really never do change do we?

[00:04:56] As a warning this episode makes passing references to incest. So let's get started.

[00:05:02] The story of the most hated man ever to rule ancient Egypt.

[00:05:06] Arcanathan, the heretic pharaoh. Part one like father like son.

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[00:05:49] I'm Ken Harbaugh host of the new Medal of Honor podcast from Evergreen Podcasts

[00:05:53] brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum.

[00:05:58] In each three-minute episode we'll learn about a different service member who distinguished

[00:06:02] him or herself through an act of valor. We'll include stories from the civil war to Iraq and

[00:06:07] Afghanistan and from all branches of the military. We'll talk about service members

[00:06:12] who were overlooked for the medal at first due to their race or religion and about those

[00:06:17] who were celebrated at the time. We'll hear stories of soldiers like Audie Murphy,

[00:06:22] future Hollywood star who mounted a burning tank to hold off German infantry in World War II,

[00:06:28] and people like Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War Army doctor and the only woman to

[00:06:33] receive the Medal of Honor so far. Learn about these heroes and more wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:06:41] It's the year 1887 in a mud bank on the east side of the Nile River, a peasant digger at the sandy soil.

[00:06:52] Behind her a wooden cart piled high with slabs of mud brick,

[00:06:57] ancient building material that made excellent fertilizer. Little did that woman know

[00:07:03] that 3200 years ago in that very spot stood an ancient post-war war.

[00:07:09] This spot stood an ancient post office in an Egyptian city unlike any other.

[00:07:15] As the wind whipped up the sands, the woman pulled her headscarf down to shield her eyes

[00:07:20] just as a shovel hit something hard and hollow. It wasn't mud brick. Her heart stopped dead

[00:07:26] as she excitedly dug at the ground heaving up a wooden box, a box that hadn't been touched

[00:07:32] by human hands for over three millennia. Her mind raced as she dragged the heavy

[00:07:37] chest from the earth. What lay inside? Gold, silver, jewels? But as she ripped the ancient

[00:07:44] lid from its hinges her heart sank. Blocks. Old clay blocks with strange triangles drawn on them.

[00:07:53] Pulling out the first layer and peering beneath was just as disappointing. Every one of them looked

[00:07:58] the same. With a heavy heart she tossed the tablets back into her cart. Many broke but

[00:08:03] who cares. Whatever they were they didn't look valuable and they certainly weren't gold.

[00:08:09] Perhaps she'd get a few pennies for them at the market. As she kept digging for the mud brick,

[00:08:14] the woman had no idea that in the back of her cart lay the key to illuminating the darkest

[00:08:18] chapter in Egyptian history. A period that modern historians call the Amana period.

[00:08:26] By the turn of the 20th century Egyptology had come a long way. The discovery of the

[00:08:31] Rosetta Stone had paved the way for the reading of hieroglyphics. While the unearthing of the enormous

[00:08:38] Abus symbol temple had lit Europe on fire. The discovery seemed endless. Almost every day

[00:08:45] another enormous immaculate statue was hauled from the grounds of this ancient land.

[00:08:51] All around Europe but especially in France and England, rich young men left the comfort

[00:08:56] of their chateaus and flocked to the mysterious land of Egypt. Never since the crusade had so many

[00:09:02] rich Europeans departed into Muslim lands in such great numbers. All wanting to carve their name

[00:09:08] in the history books, their destination was usually two places. The mouth of the Nile,

[00:09:13] where under the shade of the pyramids and the watchful gaze of the Sphinx they could

[00:09:17] search for fame in the ruins of Memphis or Giza. Or the southern city of Luxor where the

[00:09:24] Middle Temple's kingdom capital of Thebes once stood. But what lay in between? In 1799,

[00:09:32] when Napoleon's soldiers trampled through Egypt, one of his cartographers was taken by a sprawling

[00:09:37] ruin on the east bank of the Nile. Located seemingly in the middle of nowhere was a large,

[00:09:44] well-planned city that he guessed may have housed up to 50,000 people at one point.

[00:09:49] The nomads squatting at it called it Amarna after their clan name but none had any cluess to the

[00:09:56] history of it. Smack bang in the middle of the traditional northern and southern capitals of

[00:10:01] ancient Egypt, the city seemed purpose-built and when the sun's delicate rays reached over

[00:10:06] the crumbling yellow cliffs it all but confirmed it. The city was put here for a reason.

[00:10:12] After sketching what became the very first map of the city, the cartographer and his army

[00:10:17] moved on and for almost a hundred years the forgotten city of Arcatartin lay slumbering,

[00:10:24] its secrets simmering beneath the sands. It was only when in 1887 a local peasant woman sold some

[00:10:31] clay tablets to an antique dealer that interest in the mysterious city was renewed. Sir Flinders

[00:10:38] Petrie, a silvered British archaeologist and pioneer in Egyptology, was tipped off to the

[00:10:44] arrival of several strange crumbling tablets through a friend of his at the Cairo Museum.

[00:10:50] As soon as the aged lord cast his eyes over the tablets he knew they were unusual.

[00:10:56] The language on the Amarna letters, as we'll refer to them going forward, was cuneiform,

[00:11:01] the oldest written language in human history, originating from the modern areas of Iran and

[00:11:07] Iraq. To find something within the borders of ancient Egypt that weren't written in hieroglyphics

[00:11:12] was already unusual but that was just the start of the mystery. Petrie scooped up the tablets and

[00:11:18] bought them before his academic friends who could read cuneiform. They could make out some words

[00:11:23] but told him the dialect was peculiar and varied. Sub-tablets were inscribed in different languages

[00:11:29] including a loan letter in a Syrian dialect known as Harian. Petrie was shocked to learn that

[00:11:35] this was the only long form account of this language ever discovered. Realising now the

[00:11:40] importance of what these tablets could contain Petrie raced through the antique shops of Cairo

[00:11:45] frantically trying to buy up every one of the fragile artifacts and translate them before

[00:11:50] their secrets were lost for good. Once he'd secured as many as he could he took the next

[00:11:54] desert caravan to where they were found and soon arrived at Amarna. Before Petrie's arrival

[00:12:01] there had been speculative interest in the area. Everyone seemed to know that something had stood

[00:12:06] there once but with Petrie's open checkbook one of the first real excavations began. Busying

[00:12:13] himself in the ruins he began sketching what he found and what he saw surprised and disturbed him.

[00:12:19] A seasoned Egyptologist Petrie was used to the usual portraits of Amun Raa the Falcon god,

[00:12:26] Wajit the Snake god or Isis the Divine Protector but these deities were nowhere to be found.

[00:12:33] Likewise the portraits of strong proud athletic pharaohs were missing.

[00:12:38] As the sands of Amarna revealed their ancient secrets the reoccurring find was a portrait of a man.

[00:12:45] At least he thought he was a man though he was no pharaoh Petrie recognised. His skull was long

[00:12:51] and oval shaped like an alien, his lips plump and feminine and his eyes long almost

[00:12:57] arm and shaped slits. In his physique he seemed almost malnourished, he had a sagging

[00:13:03] punch of a stomach, thin arms and calves and wide womanly hips. After a few moments staring into

[00:13:11] the ancient face of the pharaoh perhaps Petrie wished to look away to avert his gaze. The

[00:13:17] pharaohs obscene proportions and sinister smiles seemed to whisper love me but fear me.

[00:13:25] Labours swore in Arabic as they hoisted the enormous statue from its sandy tomb

[00:13:30] as Petrie looked the figure up and down. Who was this person with such a warped body? Were

[00:13:37] these statues accurate representations and even if they were why would a pharaoh choose to betray

[00:13:43] himself in such a way? Accompanying the figure in almost every scene with a small circular disc

[00:13:50] clearly meant to represent the sun and from it came rays of light with peculiar grasping hands and

[00:13:57] fingers many of which clutched an ink the symbol of life. Whatever the circular disc was one thing

[00:14:05] was clear the light it gave was reserved only for this figure and his family. The public who

[00:14:11] were noticeably portrayed with the usual Egyptian anatomy were not worthy of receiving the light

[00:14:17] instead they worship the royal family who in turn worship the disc.

[00:14:23] By the time Petrie returned to Ammanah the news of the stone tablet had made waves.

[00:14:27] Tourists and rubber-neckers flocked to the backwater eager to see this odd looking figure.

[00:14:33] There were no paths set up so they trudged over local crops

[00:14:37] and farmers hoping to reduce foot traffic defaced and destroyed many of the ancient reliefs.

[00:14:43] Petrie's sketches are now the only records of these artifacts that had survived for over three

[00:14:48] millennia. Speculation ran ripe as to what was wrong with this figure did he have some ailment?

[00:14:56] Some speculated that he suffered from Marfan syndrome a condition shared by Abraham Lincoln

[00:15:01] that resulted in slender frames with unusually long wiry limbs. Others insisted it was

[00:15:07] clearly a woman who had wished to look like a man for whatever reason. The truth would soon be

[00:15:13] revealed and it was much stranger than anyone could have imagined.

[00:15:22] Long before the times of Caesar or even Alexander the Great it was the kingdom of

[00:15:27] Egypt that reigned supreme. Like the sands of the desert where its citizens made their home

[00:15:32] the kingdom was almost timeless. Empires rose and fell around it and though occasionally humbled

[00:15:39] the kingdom always rose again. By the time of the 18th dynasty of what historians now refer to as

[00:15:46] the New Kingdom Egypt as a state was already thousands of years old. The 18th dynasty was

[00:15:52] one built on foreign conquest stable government and cultural splendor. Its founder had come

[00:15:58] to power after wrestling control back from a foreign dynasty that had come to dominate Egypt over

[00:16:03] the preceding centuries. In the not too distant past the kingdom of Egypt had teetered on the brink of

[00:16:09] total annihilation. Occupied by foreign rulers and losing most of their territory a succession

[00:16:15] of great warrior kings and queens had fought an outnumbered war and against all the odds

[00:16:21] had reclaimed their ancient throne. A dynasty born in blood. This return of the king moment

[00:16:28] was accompanied by a significant shift in power from the northern capital Memphis to a newer southern

[00:16:34] capital Thebes. Ancient Egypt with polytheistic meaning they worshipped many gods but everyone

[00:16:41] had a deity they favored and for Pharaoh Amano tep the third that god was Amun the creator god

[00:16:48] sometimes he's also called Amun Ra after his merge with Ra the sun god. The sudden elevation

[00:16:54] of Thebes as a national capital had been primarily responsible for the sudden explosion in popularity

[00:16:59] of Amun Ra. It was taken for granted that Amun's favor had been pivotal in their dynasty's success

[00:17:05] in reclaiming the throne and for that the creator god was owed their eternal loyalty

[00:17:10] and there were few as devoted to Amun Ra as Amano tep the third. Pharaoh Amano tep the third

[00:17:17] stood as a pinnacle in an already prosperous dynasty sometimes called Amano tep the magnificent

[00:17:23] we only have to count his surviving statues to know this guy was a big deal the world today

[00:17:28] has more statues of him than any other pharaoh the scale of his building projects too had not

[00:17:33] been seen since the ancient time of the pyramids like reeds and the Nile foreign kings of every

[00:17:39] color and stature bow low before Amano tep the magnificent. His empire shared the world stage

[00:17:45] with a couple of big players Babylon Assyria the Matani and the Hittites to name a few

[00:17:52] and though the rulers of this ancient VIP club referred to each other as brother each of them

[00:17:58] begrudgingly acknowledged Egypt as the jewel in the crown in one of the Amano letters we see King

[00:18:04] Tushrata of the Matani right from his empire in northern Syria to Amano tep the third quote

[00:18:11] for me all goes well for you may all go well for your household for your wives for your sons

[00:18:18] for your nobles for your warriors for your horses for your chariots and in your country may all go

[00:18:22] very well we can easily imagine the oh so uninterested Amano tep the third motioning

[00:18:28] is caught scribed to hurry along as the letter was read out to him waiting for Tushrata to get

[00:18:32] to the point the letter continues quote may my brother send me unworked gold in very great

[00:18:38] quantities and much more gold than he sent to my father in my brother's country gold is as

[00:18:44] plentiful as dirt there it was the tacit acknowledgement that Egypt was richer and therefore mightier

[00:18:51] according to the archaeological record Amano tep the third undeniably possessed a truly staggering

[00:18:57] amount of gold on a single temple a surviving work order shows an order the 3.25 tons of gold

[00:19:05] let alone bronze copper or any other precious stones Amano tep the third lived in a world

[00:19:10] of opulence that was completely alien to the population he ruled vast palace complexes adorned

[00:19:17] with exotic vibrant textures and walls literally covered in frescoes of him arm in arm with the gods

[00:19:24] the trappings of power pervading every corner of his sprawling palaces golden ebony tables that

[00:19:29] hosted an opulent array of intricately blown glass perfume bottles and silver trays overflowing

[00:19:35] with dates figs and jars of honey his sexual appetite to was voracious the imperial harem

[00:19:42] overflowed with women from all over the world including one lovely lady whose name meant

[00:19:48] i promise i'm not making this up she whose nights on the town are numerous

[00:19:55] every one of Amano tep senses was indulged basking in such opulence is easy to understand

[00:20:01] his bold reaction when anyone dared to compare themselves to him as they're equal captured in

[00:20:07] another one of the Amano letters he responds to a request for one of his daughters to marry

[00:20:12] the Babylonian king you can almost hear Amano teps incredulity as he writes quote from time

[00:20:19] a memorial no daughter of the king of Egypt is given to anyone a response which clearly didn't go

[00:20:25] well as the Babylonian king replied quote when i wrote about marrying your daughter in

[00:20:30] accordance with your practice of not giving a daughter you wrote to me saying from time a memorial

[00:20:35] no daughter of the king is given to anyone why not you're a king you do as you please were you to

[00:20:41] give a daughter who would say anything women gold spices slaves all were provided to the great

[00:20:48] pharaoh and if he would grace you with so much as a thank you well consider yourself blessed

[00:20:54] this kind of ego had not sprung up overnight by the year 1383 Amano tep had ruled for over 30 years

[00:21:02] Amun Ra had clearly blessed him with an unusually long life and as he approached his third decade

[00:21:07] of rule the king floored with the idea that he was a cut above pharaohs of the past to celebrate

[00:21:14] his upcoming jubilee he held lavish expensive festivals that sometimes lasted months and while

[00:21:20] the public no doubt loved the day off as much as we do they must have noticed the spectacles were

[00:21:24] becoming just stranger navigating the bustling streets of thebes high priests ceremonially

[00:21:31] paraded statues of Amun the creator god and Ra the falcon headed god of the sky and pressed

[00:21:37] in between them was the image of Amano tep himself sometimes he wore the gods clothing

[00:21:43] other times he took on their aspects their powers a pharaoh underlining his closeness to

[00:21:49] the gods was nothing new the pyramid age was long in the past and without these colossal structures

[00:21:55] to remind the subjects of their subservience pharaohs demonstrated to the subjects their physical

[00:22:00] and spiritual closeness to the gods as a way of proving their right to rule but soon statues

[00:22:05] of the pharaoh progressed past him sitting alongside the gods now it seemed the pharaoh

[00:22:10] wished to be represented as a god pharaohs were understood to be the intermediary between

[00:22:17] the gods and the mortals but Amano tep wanted to be seen as one of them from a young age the

[00:22:23] pharaoh seemed to harbor a bit of an obsession with the cosmos particularly the sun he favored the

[00:22:29] gods or their aspects were related to the sky or the sun amun the creator of the solar system

[00:22:35] moot amun's wife and mother of the world and their son consu god of the moon and if an

[00:22:41] average egyptian citizen stopped to admire one of Amano tep's colossal statues that adorned

[00:22:46] their streets they'd notice not always but sometimes a glowing orb stamped on the king's body

[00:22:53] the orb was known as the artan aten the artan was nothing new for egyptians

[00:23:02] ra was usually pictured with the artan above his head almost like a halo there wasn't all

[00:23:07] that much mythology behind the disc itself and this allowed the pharaoh to construct his own

[00:23:11] narrative it was there where he would return to rule after his sovereignty on earth came to an end

[00:23:19] increasingly Amano tep the third began to identify personally with the artan for a pharaoh that

[00:23:25] blazed brighter than all others it only seemed to make sense to select this symbol to symbolize

[00:23:30] his reign something that his young son arc an artan would have observed as Amano tep the

[00:23:37] third aged his megalomania grew for his chief consort a woman called tea he constructed an

[00:23:43] enormous man-made lake at a hometown his statues sprung up in every major city from memphers to thebes

[00:23:50] to Amano tep there was nothing he could not achieve no challenge too difficult no province

[00:23:55] too distant for his light to reach so much so that he soon added a new title for himself

[00:24:02] the dazzling sun disk high priests found their services altered by the pharaoh to include prayers

[00:24:09] not four but two the artan around the year 1383 bc Amano tep the third celebrated his jubilee

[00:24:18] 30 years on the throne was a momentous and rare achievement and one that only seemed to prove

[00:24:23] his divinity in thebes along the west bank of the Nile a truly lavish procession took place

[00:24:30] this festival had been years in the making no expense was spared like the sun crossing the sky at

[00:24:36] dawn Amano tep and his entourage set off down a stone highway that connected the two enormous

[00:24:41] temples crowds pushed and shoved jostling for a view many who couldn't make the journey to

[00:24:47] the capital instead paid a friend to bring a small statue in hope that the magic of the

[00:24:53] ceremony would rub off in the statue and be transferred to the owner the entire length

[00:24:58] of the road was girded by stone sphinxes over 10 000 in total priests of a moon walked alongside

[00:25:04] the pharaoh throwing out rings bangles and necklaces gifts for the commoners to remember the occasion

[00:25:11] thebes was alive rhythmic drumbeats pulsed in the aroma of incense wafted over the

[00:25:16] procession as heavy statues suspended in litters trailed behind members of the public thronged

[00:25:22] forward jostling for a chance just to touch the stone statues and the pharaoh's personal bodyguards

[00:25:28] looked on their hands on their club for any signs of disobedience Amano tep the third draped in rich

[00:25:34] cottons and silks threaded with gold led the parade ale was passed out freely and as the crowd

[00:25:40] got maria the young arc norton Amano tep's son observed with wide-eyed wonder the flocking

[00:25:48] crowds the sounds the towering temple columns the colors the gold who else but a god could arrange

[00:25:54] such a spectacle this he must have seen was true power and pivotal to it all was the artan

[00:26:02] shining bright in the sky its golden rays stroked the brow of his father as the road ended the

[00:26:08] procession reached an enormous gateway leading to another temple this time the crowd was held

[00:26:13] back from here Amano tep marched on alone one innocent looking fresco painted for the occasion

[00:26:20] even recorded the moment of the pharaoh's divine conception his mother Muhtem Wia and his father

[00:26:27] tap most the fourth in the imperial bed chamber but wait a minute that wasn't tap most it was

[00:26:33] a moon rah dressed up as tap most if picturing the pharaoh's mother copulating with a literal

[00:26:40] god was too subtle for anyone we're uh lucky enough to know that Muhtem Wia really enjoyed the

[00:26:47] encounter as the plaque below tells us quote she awoke because of the god sent and cried out

[00:26:54] with pleasure before his majesty she rejoiced at the side of his beauty and the love of him

[00:26:59] suffused her body by now in a state of ecstasy Muhtem Wia swooned over the god exclaiming

[00:27:05] how great is your power your sweet fragrances stiffen all my limbs after the deed was done a moon

[00:27:11] rah presumably while he waited for his uber told the queen quote Amano tep ruler of thebes is the

[00:27:18] name of this child i have placed in your womb he shall exercise potent kingship in this entire

[00:27:23] land he shall rule the two lands like rah forever through the dimly lit palace Amano tep walked

[00:27:30] to the inner sanctum for an entirely new ritual his personal meeting with his father a moon rah

[00:27:38] after a brief delay having received divine instructions the pharaoh emerged who was adoring

[00:27:43] public on an elevated platform adorned in a dazzling set of new garments the somber and

[00:27:49] serious king who had marched into the temple re-emerged energized sprightly and youthful

[00:27:55] though subtle this change was symbolically profound new statues were unveiled to the public

[00:28:01] and in them Amano tep the third took on a new appearance the pharaoh appeared leaner stronger

[00:28:07] almost reborn cartoon like eyes large lips and high cheekbones graced his continents his face

[00:28:14] his whole person had been rejuvenated from his mystical communion with the god a moon had

[00:28:21] quite literally blessed the pharaoh so close was their bond every bit of this ceremony had

[00:28:27] been preplanned even the material for these new statues were quarried from specifically selected

[00:28:33] red and gold quartzite stones that were known to sparkle and dance in the light the public must

[00:28:39] have shielded their eyes nearly blinded by the dazzling rejuvenated image of their king

[00:28:45] in his statues metaphor and propaganda the message Amano tep the third wish to convey was that

[00:28:50] he had surpassed the role of a king or a pharaoh no longer was he just these people's ruler he

[00:28:57] needed the status of their god the jubilee festival more than any other would have been where the young

[00:29:03] arc nathan would have observed the truly staggering power that one man could wield

[00:29:09] unbeknownst to the drunken crowd the teens observations would later usher in one of the

[00:29:14] darkest moments in their history under the glowing light of the art in

[00:29:20] Amano tep the third would celebrate a second and even a third jubilee festival but none

[00:29:24] would be as grand as the first he may not have wanted to acknowledge it but his kingdom was

[00:29:29] dipping into a recession Amano tep had been an unusually insular ruler for a dynasty that had

[00:29:36] muscled their way back into power he had led exactly zero foreign campaigns and even to his

[00:29:42] vassals he was aloof and distant no foreign booty combined with this obsession with building well

[00:29:49] let's just say money was getting a little tight egypt was the greatest power in the region but that

[00:29:54] didn't mean the pharaoh could sit idle in his ivory tower but an even more pressing issue was

[00:30:00] weighing on his mind for everything that his communion with amun ra had provided him there

[00:30:05] was one thing that he was denied time contrary to the towering youthful athlete shown in his statues

[00:30:13] Amano tep the third was arthritic overweight and old painful abscesses and dry sockets in between

[00:30:20] his teeth put him in a perpetually cranky mood and by the time he hit his mid 40s succession was

[00:30:25] on his mind his heir apparent tutmo's had died at an early age and though Amano tep had many

[00:30:32] wives including two of his own daughters he had only one living son his name was Amano tep the fourth

[00:30:40] but to make things easier to follow we've used and will continue to use the name he's known by today

[00:30:46] arcana as we get into arcana stories there are going to be big chunks that are still missing

[00:30:52] and as you'd expect from a figure so controversial there are many different opinions as to what

[00:30:56] took place in these gaps for the sake of keeping the story moving i'm not going to stop each

[00:31:01] time this happens instead i'll pick the one that makes the most sense as always all the sources

[00:31:06] i've used on our website anyway it seems likely that young arcana and co-ruled with his father for

[00:31:12] some years as the heir apparent the teenager would have needed to catch up quickly we can only

[00:31:18] speculate about how he felt towards his father on a father son level but he certainly must

[00:31:22] have idolized him in the fragments of freezes and statues from this period if the teenager

[00:31:28] harboured any plans for his revolution by this point he kept them to himself depictions and portraits

[00:31:35] followed the royal line fairly normal depictions of the young prince showing him praising a moon

[00:31:41] the first event that arcana and formally resided over with his father's funeral

[00:31:45] like all good pharaohs Amano tep the third had long prepared for his death

[00:31:49] and the same splendor that accompanied him through life would guide his soul back to

[00:31:53] the art and where he would rule fraternity shoulder to shoulder with subjugated vassal kings and weeping

[00:32:00] foreign emissaries arcana and watched a procession of high officials ceremoniously pulling like sled

[00:32:06] dogs the gilded heavy coffin of his father towards his enormous mortuary temple in the valley of the

[00:32:13] kings as a chance and incense faded arcana and found himself as the sole ruler of the most

[00:32:19] powerful kingdom in the world his father's reign had been the most splendid in a millennia

[00:32:26] but arcana had already planned to eclipse it something truly revolutionary was coming to egypt

[00:32:32] we often hear about the individuals who took the oath of office to become the chief executive

[00:32:50] but what about the other people who play a role in each administration are the events that may

[00:32:54] not be as well known but that contribute to the reshaping of the office of the american presidency

[00:33:00] on the president seats of the united states we explore each administration beyond just the person

[00:33:05] holding the high selected office in order to better understand the history that brought us to the

[00:33:09] modern day presidency i hope you'll join me on this journey through the annals of presidential

[00:33:14] history presidencies can be found anywhere fine podcast can be found and is a proud member

[00:33:19] of the evergreen podcast network history is the greatest adventure story but does it

[00:33:28] ever leave you wondering what the women were doing all that time this is lori from the her half of history

[00:33:34] podcast and the answer is that some women were seizing power or escaping slavery or spying for

[00:33:41] their country or creating artistic masterpieces while countless others were doing the laundry

[00:33:46] getting married and wondering why their clothes don't have more pockets if you would like to

[00:33:51] hear the stories of women doing all of those things check out her half of history at her

[00:33:55] half of history dot com or wherever you get your podcasts

[00:34:01] when my brother a man who tep the third went to his fate it was reported when i heard what was

[00:34:07] reported nothing was allowed to be cooked in a pot on that day i myself wept and sat wrote to

[00:34:14] a shrata king of the matani he continues on that day i took neither food nor water i grieved

[00:34:20] saying let even me be dead or let 10 000 be dead in my country and in my brother's country 10 000

[00:34:27] as well but let my brother whom i love and whom loves me be alive as long as heaven and earth

[00:34:34] this mournful account is another one of the amana letters showing the reaction of other kings

[00:34:38] learning about the death of amana tep the third from tush rata's letter we learned that this

[00:34:43] vip club of kings were eager to welcome their new brother arkhanaten into the fold

[00:34:49] egypt's vassal kings were even more sycophantic it's very easy to imagine the smug grin stretching

[00:34:56] across the face of the teen as he read the correspondence from the king of a small city

[00:35:00] in modern lebanon another amana letter records quote i fall at the feet of the king my lord

[00:35:07] seven and seven times i am the dirt beneath the sandals of the king my lord my lord is

[00:35:12] the sun who comes forth over all lands day by day very quickly the arrogance of the teenage pharaoh

[00:35:19] emerged already considering himself above these petty kings arkhanaten quickly made a poor impression

[00:35:26] on them forcing their messages to stand out in the sun something foreign kings found bizarre and

[00:35:32] insulting one wrote to arkhanaten saying quote why should messengers be made to stay constantly

[00:35:38] out in the sun and so die in the sun if staying out in the sun means profit for pharaoh then let

[00:35:44] the messengers stay out and let him die right there in the sun but for pharaoh himself there must be a

[00:35:49] prophet in other words kill my messages if you wish but at least have a good reason for doing so

[00:35:56] but the new pharaoh cared little for the braying of barbarian kings to bask in the light of his

[00:36:01] father the artan was a privilege even if they didn't understand it arkhanaten saw his father's

[00:36:08] rule as a pinnacle so rather than supplant it he aimed to be a continuation of it but with one key

[00:36:14] difference within the sacred temple of thebes where his father's jubilee festival concluded he built a

[00:36:20] new wing not within the temple itself or even near it arkhanaten's new wing was constructed to the

[00:36:26] east of the temple meaning the morning rays would greet his structure first named gempa artan

[00:36:34] meaning the artan is found this was a deliberate snub to the high priests of amun and within this

[00:36:40] hastily built structure were the first representations of how he wished to be seen though as father had

[00:36:46] toyed with new forms of representation arkhanaten took it to the next level the young pharaoh and

[00:36:52] his immediate family were deliberately portrayed as different from all others the cartoon like eyes

[00:36:58] of his father's likeness were distorted further stretching them even longer and adding a sloping

[00:37:04] brow the pharaoh's face was lean and his cheekbones raised and elongated the pursed thin

[00:37:11] lips of previous kings were replaced with plump extended lips that curved around into a slight

[00:37:16] smile but it was a pharaoh's body that was the strangest where his father showed himself

[00:37:22] as lean and muscular arkhanaten once again emphasized how different his body was from others

[00:37:29] a long snake like neck elongated skull thin wiry limbs in a punching belly arkhanaten was breaking

[00:37:36] new ground no other pharaoh had cast himself in such a way and none ever would again equally

[00:37:44] as strange was the prominent role his wife nephetiti played in royal imagery few other

[00:37:50] pharaohs pictured their consorts and for that matter their children alongside them but from the

[00:37:55] offset arkhanaten seemed to have intended for his entire family to be the center of the new cult

[00:38:02] from the fragments that survive we see the royal family portrayed in a much more intimate manner

[00:38:08] nephetiti sits on his lap twisting a head around to kiss the pharaoh his children always

[00:38:13] pictured naked with extremely long bald heads play at their feet as the life-giving rays of

[00:38:19] the art and shine down on the blessed family perhaps most shockingly a tiny fragment seems to

[00:38:26] show nephetiti and arkhanaten getting into bed together a shocking almost pornographic image

[00:38:32] of the monarch one can only wonder if there's a plaque that went with this one also the first

[00:38:38] question is why why did arkhanaten choose to take this path for reasons that aren't clear

[00:38:43] to us arkhanaten was not on good terms with the priesthood of amun even his egomaniac father

[00:38:49] had kept the priests of his patron god close by but the teen seems to have spurned them from the

[00:38:54] get go it could be that he felt genuinely spiritually connected to the art and felt amun was nothing

[00:39:00] but a relic of the past but it seems more likely that he resented the power this priesthood had

[00:39:06] over his kingdom and rejecting their god was the quickest way to new to them patience was not

[00:39:12] an attribute bestowed on arkhanaten zealously he began numerous building projects imitating

[00:39:17] his father but the quality was lacking the shimmering quartzide his father utilized had to be quarried in

[00:39:23] nubia and that would take too long instead arkhanaten had court artisans create his likeness in

[00:39:29] sandstone a softer weaker stone that was cheaper and quicker to work with by the time of his third

[00:39:36] year on the throne he celebrated his own jubilee festival one that took a profoundly different

[00:39:41] tone to his father's surviving inscriptions tell us that the festival was not to celebrate

[00:39:46] arkhanaten but the art in itself the government line was that his father had not really died

[00:39:53] instead his spirit had merged with the art and where he would rule fraternity the art and ruled

[00:39:59] the celestial kingdom and hand in hand archanaten ruled the earthly one in the fourth year of his

[00:40:06] rule archanaten formally changed his name for simplicity i've been calling him archanaten

[00:40:12] but up until this moment his birth name had been amanotep the fourth not anymore

[00:40:18] pharaohs had numerous names entitled throughout their life but changing one's birth name was

[00:40:23] unprecedented amanotep the fourth a name which meant a moon is pleased became archanaten

[00:40:30] meaning effective for the artan nephatiti too adopted a new moniker nepho nepharaten

[00:40:38] meaning beautacious are the beauties of the artan what were the citizens of his empire to think of

[00:40:43] these profound changes did the new pharaoh really expect them to turn their back on generations

[00:40:48] of traditions on a whim for the commoners the intrigues of the king were a world away from their

[00:40:54] daily life each pharaoh had their own patron god and they had theirs as long as they paid

[00:40:59] their taxes well life went on but archanaten wasn't content with the artan being just

[00:41:05] another god in the city of thebes temples to various gods blotted out the skyline

[00:41:11] long ago had the temple replaced the pyramid as the ultimate symbol of majesty and the towering

[00:41:17] structures that thebes devoted mostly to amoon blocked the rays of the artan figuratively and

[00:41:23] literally if the population was to truly embrace the artan as their one true god it could never

[00:41:29] happen here the taint of amoon was too strong archanaten had clipped the wings of their moon

[00:41:35] priesthood but the sheer scale of their cult meant he could only do so much what he needed was a

[00:41:41] clean slate a break from the past virgin ground where his new religion could be nurtured and

[00:41:48] so the search began for a new capital city founded in honor of an eternally dedicated to

[00:41:54] the artan in his fifth year of rule archanaten and his entourage assembled on a dry patch of earth

[00:42:01] halfway down the nile on the east bank ferra archanaten lay the foundation stone for his new

[00:42:06] city full of excitement his mind raced this was much more than a city to him this was a new

[00:42:13] empire a new religion a new order on paper it was dedicated to the artan but really it was

[00:42:20] about himself and his father by now he'd set up the foundations however wobbly of his new religion

[00:42:27] a multitude of high priests had begun rituals of offering for the artan in the open air temples

[00:42:33] plates of meat and fruit were piled highest nourish the hungry sun as he made his daily journey

[00:42:38] across the horizon scribes had written lengthy prayers and blessings for and about the artan

[00:42:45] though many were ripped straight from existing dedications to a moon the people feeling all these

[00:42:50] roles were new men bureaucrats raised up from some obscure posting who now owed their careers to

[00:42:56] archanaten and should they wish to maintain their cushy lifestyle had a vested interest in

[00:43:01] the success of this new religion the spot chosen for the capital was strategically placed in the

[00:43:07] middle of the two ancient capitals memphis and thebes like everything archanaten did this

[00:43:13] placement was symbolic here he could start afresh it was an area free from the gods of old memphis

[00:43:19] or new thebes as the warm fingers of the artan crept slowly over the mountains bathing the

[00:43:26] pharaoh in light he declared triumphantly that in this location would be the new capital of

[00:43:31] his eternal religion a place where false gods were banished and where the artan would reign

[00:43:37] forever and ever he christened it arcataten meaning the horizon of the art rapidly the city began to

[00:43:44] take shape with archanaten's vision meticulously guiding the placement of each brick in egyptian

[00:43:50] mythology there is life and there is the afterlife as the sun rises in the east and sets in the

[00:43:56] west the traditional burial sites for egyptian pharaohs was on the west bank of the nile

[00:44:01] in the valley of the kings there in the dusky twilight under the watchful eye of asiris god

[00:44:07] of the underworld a deceased pharaoh would navigate the perils of judgment day and hopefully arrive

[00:44:12] at the field of wreaths paradise but archanaten changed this too one of the first buildings he

[00:44:18] created was his royal tomb sitting on the east bank of the nile he decreed that wherever he died

[00:44:24] it was here he was to be buried soon an elaborate though rushed tomb was completed it was enormous

[00:44:32] far too big for one man and that was because arcanaten was building for the future this site would

[00:44:38] be the new valley of the kings where the body of all his heirs would remain after their souls

[00:44:43] made their final journey to join the artan in that vein an equally large open top temple to

[00:44:49] the art and was constructed every one of these buildings was strategically placed so that when

[00:44:54] the artans golden fingers clawed over the mountain range each morning they first illuminated the pharaohs

[00:45:00] administration further proved that he was indeed beloved by the artan deliberately contrasting

[00:45:06] the dark incense filled temples of a moon these new temples had an open roofing after

[00:45:12] all this was a city for the artan the solar rays that he sent down were a gift and one

[00:45:17] that should not be squandered all these changes probably left the public a little bewildered

[00:45:23] not to mention foreign diplomats who were left scratching the heads trying to figure out what this

[00:45:27] artan expected of them but just like his father arcanaten cared not a bit for the opinions

[00:45:33] of foreign kings too ignorant or barbaric to understand his religion both arcanaten and his

[00:45:40] father had known nothing but prosperity and stability they had squandered the lessons of

[00:45:45] their ancestors who had reconquered egypt by the skin of their teeth bathed in the warmth of the artan

[00:45:51] the pharaoh was hell bent on unraveling everything his ancestors had built this he knew was the will

[00:45:58] of the artan and the artan must be obeyed well guys that is where we leave things for today

[00:46:06] we'll be back in two weeks to finish this story if you've enjoyed this episode please don't

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[00:46:25] free and easy to listen to to all of the show's patrons thanks so much for sticking with me

[00:46:30] through the break and finally quick shout out to our justinian tier members Seth Tom Sam Claudia

[00:46:36] Angus and John cheers guys see you on the next one a new story gets shared by a friend on social

[00:46:44] media or you catch a tweet that really makes your blood boil but how do you separate fact from fiction

[00:46:52] that's the premise behind disinformation a 10 part series from evergreen podcasts and emergent

[00:46:59] risk international coming this fall to an end to disinformation wherever you get your podcast

[00:47:05] and remember don't believe everything you read hello we have this superb podcast called we didn't

[00:47:14] start the fire the only podcast started by billy joel it is the most original fascinating and

[00:47:19] random way to learn the story of the 20th century oh pretty darned random and we are joined by some

[00:47:25] pretty incredible guests i only wrote stuff that i wanted to hear if it turned out to be a hit

[00:47:30] it was pure dumb luck with me katie puckrick and me tom fordice this is we didn't start the fire

[00:47:36] the only podcast started by me billy joel