How the "one god" concept REALLY began

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Jamusio EMP

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My computer doesn't have sound, but I assume that this is about the Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhenaton, who said their was one god, and it was Aton, the suns disc. He named himself Akhenaton because it meant 'useful to Aton. I got this from the Cartoon History of the Universe, which has been translated into Portuguese, Czech, Polish and Greek, and many more languages, so its not exactly unknown... Also the title seems sort of sensationalist, and this shouldn't be in the before 1900 section as alternative history maybe instead in discussion or on off topic instead.
 

yourworstnightmare

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My computer doesn't have sound, but I assume that this is about the Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhenaton, who said their was one god, and it was Aton, the suns disc. He named himself Akhenaton because it meant 'useful to Aton. I got this from the Cartoon History of the Universe, which has been translated into Portuguese, Czech, Polish and Greek, and many more languages, so its not exactly unknown... Also the title seems sort of sensationalist, and this shouldn't be in the before 1900 section as alternative history maybe instead in discussion or on off topic instead.
Yes, but the whoever made this video even got that detail wrong. Even though he was crowned Amenhotep IV, he reigned under the name Akhenaton, which mean the name Amenhotep would mean nothing to his followers. There's so many things wrong in that video.

The word Amen probably have pagan pre-Jewish roots. If we need to seek Egyptian roots, there was an Egyptian God named Amon (Amen), but the priesthood of Amon were among the worst enemies of the worship of Aton. In Hebrew the word aman means to nourish and make strong, and the word for faithfulness Emunah share the same root.
 
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My understanding is that the consensus among most scholars is to doubt a direct link between Atenism and Judaism. Although of course they do share a few similarities suggesting some Atenist influence- aside from the monotheism, they both banned idol worship and infanticide. The ban on infanticide is especially indicative IMO, since Jews and Egyptians were the only ancient cultures to ban it.
 
I thought that there are actually quite a few similarities between Atenism (or at least Egyptian culture in general) and early Hebraism. For one thing, Egypt is one of the only other places where circumcision was practiced.

The name "Moses" itself is obviously Egyptian in origin. It is the diminutive form of both Ramose (RMS) and Hormose (HRMS). This is significant in my opinion, since Manetho (himself a Greek from Egypt) records one version of the Moses story where Moses was actually named "Hermes", which could easily be a misinterpreted pronunciation of HRMS. The details of this version of the Moses story, while casting "Moses" in a somewhat more unfavorable light than the Biblical version (as would be expected, given its origin from the other side in the conflict), are mostly consistent both with the Biblical version and with what is known of the events surrounding Akhenaton and the rise and fall of Atenism.
 
IMHO, all Abrahamic religions are monistic, but so are Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. I suppose monotheism is a spectrum, from Islam being the most monotheistic, with the extreme focus and rules around Allah, and Christianity the least (the holy trinity makes all Christians at least quasi-tritheistic, while Catholothism is almost polytheistic with all its saints.)

I do not know enough about Atenism but from what I understand it, and Zoroastrianism, were the basis of Judaism and thus Abrahamic Religions.

BTW, the narrator sounds like a reasonably well informed but highly misguided black supremacist pseudoegyptologist.
 
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