alternatehistory.com

The Realm of Millions of Years
The World of an Atenist Egypt

PREFACE

“… I decided to look around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on… And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can't see the sun at night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper. Several reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know?”
~ George Carlin

So… This is my timeline. It’s been knocking around in my head for some months, so now begins the laborious process of getting it from in there to on here. Hopefully, obligations such as school and work won’t interfere more than they have to in order to allow semi-regular updates, and more importantly those who read said updates find this TL enjoyable to read. Comments and (constructive) criticism are welcomed and encouraged (as are any questions, of course)!

As the title suggests, this is the alternate history of an Egypt where the religious (and political) reforms of the (in)famous pharaoh Akhenaten persists beyond his death. In fact, they will do more than persist; they will flourish, and the Atenist religion that comes to be institutionalized and firmly ingrained in Egyptian society by Akhenaten’s alt-successors will come to have a lasting and notable impact well beyond the borders of the Twin Kingdoms. Naturally, this will release a horde of butterflies so vast it risks blotting out the sun; but then I suppose I’ll be able to speculate in the shade. :cool:

The point at which the history of this world diverges from our own does not, in fact, take place during the reign of Akhenaten himself, but rather during the reign of his father, Amenhotep III. This pharaoh, Amenhotep III, was a giant in his day, but is often overlooked by history, which tends to cover ancient Egypt in a rather cursory manner in order to move on to his more “interesting” son. This is unfortunate, as Amenhotep’s life and reign without a doubt laid the groundwork on which Akhenaten would stage his revolution.

Amenhotep III ruled the Egyptian Empire at its height, in terms of territory, political clout, and possibly even its wealth. He was the first ruler of his dynasty who did not have to partake of a military campaign in the Near East. No Middle Eastern monarchs challenged Egyptian rule over the Levant while he reigns, not even the ambitious and famously belligerent Hittites. The great kings of Mesopotamia sent their daughters to him as tribute, and lesser princes scraped and bowed before him without hesitation. His armies of diplomats built a web of commercial and political alliances across the eastern Mediterranean, exercising the full extent of Egypt’s soft power after decades upon decades of his ancestors had flexed the nation’s military muscle. The Pax Aegyptica he oversaw allowed the wealth of three continents to pour into his coffers, and he was soon putting it to use. Amenhotep III was one of the most prolific builders in OTL Egypt’s history, out-done only by Ramesses II.

But even Ramesses II never dared to do that which Amenhotep did in the 30th year of his reign, during the celebration of his jubilee. While Egypt’s kings had long claimed to be the avatars of the god Horus on earth, Amenhotep III used his jubilee celebrations as a stage for an elaborate ceremony, symbolically (and later, through name changes, outright) announcing his metamorphosis into the creator deity: Amen-Ra. His devotion to the solar creator god (who he now literally WAS, as far as state theology was concerned) had manifested itself throughout his reign in the form of nods and honors bestowed here and there both upon the aforementioned deity and his more concrete manifestation, the Aten – the literal disk of the sun. Amenhotep named royal barges and palaces after the “Orb of the Dazzling Sun”, and by the time of his jubilee had adopted the Aten as a sort of personal totem. Clearly, it is evident that his heir’s fascination with the sun disk did not spring from nowhere.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, here… The jubilee and metamorphosis do not take place until 16 years after the point of divergence. So, let’s have a seat, sift through the sands of time, and celebrate a birthday that will go slightly differently from how it went in our world…
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