Becoming God
Deification from Antiquity to the Present
Lecture 3: Amenhotep iii
Dr. Nickolas P. Roubekas
University of Vienna
Email: nickolas.roubekas@univie.ac.at
Amenhotep iii
In the Beginning: The Miraculous Birth
Amun-Re / Mutemwia / Thutmoses IV
‘She awoke on account of the aroma of the god and cried out before him... He went
to her straightaway, she rejoiced at the sight of his beauty, and love for him coursed
through her body. The palace flooded with the God’s aroma... The majesty of this
God did all that he desired with her... [Mutemwia declared] “Your dew fills my
body!” [God Amun-Re informs Mutemwia that the name of her child is]
“Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes. . . . He shall exercise the beneficent kingship in this
whole land, he shall rule the Two Lands [of Egypt] like Re forever”.’
Amenhotep’s Reign & Genealogy
• Ruled in the period of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069
BCE)
• The ninth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty
• Grandfather of king Tutankhamen
• Father of Akhenaten
• Reigned 1391–1353 BCE
The King’s Ka
the divine spirit of the king
shared with all pharaohs who came before and all
who would come after
molded as the “twin” of the king at birth
officially inherited at the coronation
the immortal creative spirit of divine kingship
the spirit of the creator and king of gods Amun-Re
himself
“Endowed with the divine force of ka, Amenhotep
III was son of the living God and a god himself
After the king’s death, the ka returned to heaven
What’s in a Name?
Birth Name: Amenhotep = Amun is at peace
Throne Name: Nebmaatra = Re, lord of truth = implicit
identification with the Sun God himself
Re
Horakhty (=horizon); Khepri (=dawn); Atum (=sunset);
Aten (= visible sun disk).
Amun
• The Hidden One
• Amun of Thebes
• Absorbed the energies and being of the divine Sun
Amun-Re & Amenhotep III
The Significance of the Sun
Egyptians viewed the sky as the surface of a cosmic ocean
above the air
The Sun travels on his “Dayboat.”
During the night, the Sun God sails on his “Nightboat” along
the underbelly of the cosmos called the “Duat” or netherworld.
The next morning, the Sun is reborn as Egypt’s creator and
life-giver.
The Sun’s daily movement through the sky was viewed as a
journey from birth to death.
His rebirth at dawn was made possible by merging with Osiris
in the underworld
The Opet Festival
Opet Festival: Structure, Aim, Importance
Stick fighting, trumpet blowing, acrobatic dancing,
butchering of animals, piles of food
Early summer = Nile inundation
Life recycle
Gift of the Sun and his representative on earth
The monarch was identified with the royal ka
Divine kingship was reborn
The king’s right to rule was reconfirmed
Sed (Jubilee) Festivals: Becoming Amun-Re
• Late April, 1361 BCE: 30th anniversary
• ancient rite renewing the powers and promoting
the divinity of the king
• All of Egypt was involved
• Dancing, singing, and jubilation
• An international affair
Celebrations & Symbolism
• “The king appeared gloriously at the great double
doors of his palace” (i.e., west of Thebes)
• “Lake of His Majesty”: sailing across the lake in
barks made to look like Re’s Dayboat and
Nightboat
• Gold jewelry, glittered in the glaring Egyptian sun
• 3rd jubilee: Amenhotep wears the shebyu collar—a
finely coiled double necklace = assimilation and
identification with his Father Amun-Re.
The Temple of Soleb
Modern Sudan
Dedicated to two gods: Amun-Re of Karnak and
Nebmaatra lord of Nubia.
Ante & Post Mortem Deification
Amenhotep III and his deification
Post or ante mortem?
Why does it matter?
What is at stake?
What are the different conditions and
consequences?
Politics or Religion?
• Why Amenhotep III wanted to be deified?
• Is it a political or a religious (or both)
phenomenon?
• What difference does it make?
• What did people believe?
• Which people?
• Centre and periphery
• Indigenous and foreigners
The role of the proclamation
• A rebel?
• A hero?
• A crazy person?
• Is Amenhotep’s deification important?
• To whom?
• Why and why not?
The function of deification
• Political stability
• Historical continuation
• Social cohesion
• Natural order
• Public imagination and/or reality
• The role of myth
Myth as Paradigmatic Truth
In my view we would do better to classify narratives
not by their content but by the claims that are
made by their narrators and the way in which those
claims are received by their audience(s).
• Class of stories that posses both credibility and authority: Myths
Authority: ‘claims are made not only to the status of truth, but what is
more, to the status of paradigmatic truth.’
Bruce Lincoln, Discourse and the Construction of Society (1989), pp. 24–36
Next: Alexander the Great