Having caught up once more, I admit this is making me interested once more in ancient Egypt.
This may be off-topic, but it concerns precisely the same time period. Several years ago I bought a book entitled The Moses Mystery by Gary Greenberg, which argues that Moses was actually Akhenaten's chief priest (real name possibly Hormose or Ramose and transcribed as HRMS (or RMS), and misidentified by later Greek writers as Hermes, which later had the god-name element Ra or Hor(us) removed, leaving the name Moses), who was driven south of Egypt after Akhenaten's death and purge of the Atenist priesthood, and who later organized a rebellion involving several disaffected groups after the death of Horemheb, which was later mythologized into the Exodus.
I found the argument unconvincing, I think his attempts to link biblical and Egyptian chronology are strained at best. But he does point out numerous correlations between historical accounts of Akhenaten's reign, and those of his immediate successors (including those accounts found in Josephus), and the biblical account of Moses and his times, which had been ignored by almost all Egyptologists, for what appear to be emotional reasons -- namely that Atenism and early Judaism could not possibly be related, it was just not possible.
As I said, I was not convinced by his arguments, but they are certainly intriguing.
Having caught up once more, I admit this is making me interested once more in ancient Egypt.
Though personally, I've always found the "The Hebrews were/made up part of the Hyksos" argument to be far more compelling and plausible, but that's another matter entirely.
Hmmm. In my latest reading on Hebrew origins, I had come to understand that a major theory amongst archaeologists now is that the Hebrews were Canaanites; that they coalesced in hill towns in Canaan (some of which have been found, indicatively without the pig bones that are found in similar towns elsewhere), and then swept down from the hills to take the rest of the land, and weren't invaders from outside at all.
They then would have told tales of themselves as a separate people to build political identity in their struggles against their neighbours.
You may have already covered this... But what is the effects of Atenism on the Nubians to the south? (if they exist at the current time that is...), I know the Nubians often copied Egyptian culture, so is Atenism having an effect?
For the moment, no, Atenism is not having a pronounced effect aside from the fact that the temple of Amen-Ra at Jebel Barkal was targeted in Iahames' purge. However, Nubia is part of the Egyptian Empire, and interestingly it's far more integrated than Retjenu. While Retjenu is a patchwork of petty kingdoms swearing fealty to Egypt (with the presence of Egyptian garrisons reinforcing that loyalty), Nubia is ruled directly by the "Viceroy of Kush" (though there are some independent tribes in the eastern mountains, whose members are regularly recruited as mercenaries), meaning that it's kept on a much shorter leash - it's status is just short of being ruled directly as an Egyptian sepat (nome/province) in fact.
Should be pretty interesting. I'll be looking forward! Rebellions are always fun.During the OTL reign of Akhenaten, a rebellion did occur in a gold-mining region of Nubia called Ikuyta (sound familiar? from the last update, perhaps?), and that's about it. The rebellion was put down, and the records are pretty damn silent after that. That rebellion will still occur in TTL, right on schedule in 1334 BCE (we're currently at about 1343 BCE, FYI), and I will be showing how it unfolds in this alternate reality. Let's just say a certain someone will be travelling to Ikuyta and their experiences there may give them various ideas...
Will Egypt expand any further soon? Or it'll stay more or less the same size it is for now.
So for the most part, they remain unchanged by recent developments? It'll be interesting to see, maybe in 200 years or so, what Nubia is like by then. Perhaps the alienation from their Atenist Egyptian overlords (if, indeed, Atenism succeeds to the fullest) would create a wholly independent Nubian identity - similar to that of Kerma, I guess. Of course, the flip side would be that Atenism (if accepted by the Nubians) actually unites the Nubians further into the fold of mainstream Egypt, monotheistic religions tend to be a big unifier.
Just my thoughts though...
Should be pretty interesting. I'll be looking forward! Rebellions are always fun.
Excellent *Tents Fingers*
Pfft, the late Russian Empire or 19th century Mexico are still far cooler than some cruddy Egyptians.
Pfft, the late Russian Empire or 19th century Mexico are still far cooler than some cruddy Egyptians.
Somehow, The Realm of Millions of Years has to end this way. I would give all my internets.And that even more awesome than that is ancient Egyptians IN SPACE.
Ancient Egyptians in Alpha Centauri. Why? I don't know, therefore ALIENS.
The Egyptians have launched a spaceship! It will arrive at Alpha Centauri in 1976 AD.
Obviously the ship will be named Akhenaten, in true Civilization fashion...