Does Shu personify space in inscriptions from Akhenaten's reign?
HELP. I've surfed everywhere and I can't find a translation of the inscriptions attributed to Parennefer. Want to cite the source. Pretty important piece of evidence. So hard to find. Were we all aware of Parennefer prior to my post?
If you want evidence for gods other than Aten during the Amarna period, the paper I linked to above argues that Akhenaten was the personification of
Shu and Nefertiti was the personification of
Tefnut in these following excerpts:
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Sir Alan Gardiner,
Egypt of the Pharaohs
(London: Clarendon Press, 1961), 218;Gunn further states that: “The chief purpose of this name seems to establish the equation Aten = Shu =Horakhty = Re, which proclaims the identify of the Aten with the other purely solar gods of Egypt from the beginning of history, and so consolidates and legitimizes his position as the supreme god,” (BattiscombeGunn. “Notes on the Aten and His Names,” in: JEA 11 [1923], 174)
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According to Assmann, Amarna theology presents concepts concerning the disc’s aloneness and uniqueness; its remoteness and hiddenness; its remoteness and nearness; and its role in creating life and being worshipped by this life.
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Generally in Egyptian theology to be alone
refers to a state of “deficiency” or “primeval existence.”
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Being alone is what led the creator god, Atum, to make his children. The Amarna theology rejects this tradition of negativity, and instead embraces the idea of aloneness and uniqueness, in that the sun is alone on its journey through the sky.
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In this new cosmic conception the sun moving through the sky becomes the sole basis of what is said about god; worship of only what the human eye can observe.
The idea of sunlight plays the most prominent part in the new theology. The sun is remote in that it rises above all of the earth. Yet its light shines down onto earth, making it both remote and accessible and near, so near you can feel its heat on your skin. According to Assmann, Amarna texts utilize the words nfrw, “beautiful,” and mrwt , “beloved,” as synonyms for the word stwt , “rays.” This simple change strongly reinforces the idea that the new theology interprets the light that shines down upon the earth from the god as being “a form of” the god’s physical presence and, in turn, allows it to reveal his beauty and love, while entrancing all whose eyes fixate upon its rays.
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According to Assmann, light is “luminous air” that creates living space and is also dependant on the sun. Without the sun, there is no light. Moreover, without the movement of the sun, there is no time. As Assmann relates, “time, required by all life to realize itself (hpr), and the breath of life (tAw n anh), which animates everything with the force of life, stream from the sun through its rays and movement into the created world, continually bringing it forth and keeping it alive.”
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The idea of the sun being the creator and sustainer of life is also where the theorized identification of Akhenaten and Nefertiti as Shu and Tefnut, the first children of Atum or Re,originates.
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The theology of Shu and Tefnut comes from the Old Kingdom, and states that the god Atum created the twin primeval deities, brother and sister, Shu and Tefnut through masturbating.
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Shu received the name anx, “life” and nHH, “forever,” and Tefnut received mAat, “truth,” and Dt, “evermore.” It is a combination of the elements of Shu and Tefnut that ensured the continuation of the world. Assmann argues that this is the only Egyptian theology that creates a divine triad of 1:2, one parent and two children. (As opposed to the traditional two parents, one child.) Thus the Aten (Atum) is the parent, the creator, and Akhenaten and Nefertiti are his children (Shu and Tefnut).
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This could explain Nefertiti’s prominence and activities as being the female counterpart to that of Akhenaten, since she was necessary to the divine triad.
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THE TOMB OF APY
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The tomb of Apy is located in the southern cluster of tombs. It too faces west, and is in the same area as the tombs of Mahu and Rames. This offering scene from the entrance to the tomb of Apy depicts Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Meretaten, Meketaten and Ankhsenpaaten orientated facing left (Figure 46). The Aten is placed in the upper left corner of the composition. Its double cartouches appear directly to the left, accompanied by its titles and several more cartouches to the right. An offering table sits at the left of the composition, directly under the Aten. The king and queen are posed alike, both lifting trays with cartouches of the Aten. The cartouches lifted by Akhenaten are flanked by standing figures of the primeval god Shu, identified by the characteristic crown also seen on the heads of colossi statues of Akhenaten as Shu from the gm pA itn at Karnak (Figure 47).
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The cartouches of the Aten lifted by Nefertiti are accompanied by a seated female figure wearing the tall blue crown.
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I believe that Akhenaten is represented as Shu in these small figures, and Nefertiti is represented as Tefnut. Behind the queen three princesses lift sistra with their right hands,shaking in unison. The king wears the xprS crown, and Nefertiti wears the tall blue crown.
