Akhenaton accounted it sinful to shed blood or to take away the life which Aton gave. No sacrifices were offered up in his temple; the fruits of the earth alone were laid on the altars. He had already beaten the sword into a ploughshare. When his allies and his garrison commanders in Syria appealed for troops, he had little else to send them but a religious poem or a prayer addressed to Aton.
Hard things are often said about Akhenaton. One writer dismisses him as an "æsthetic trifler", others regard him as "a half−mad king"; but we must recognize that he was a profoundly serious man with a great mission, a high−souled prophet if an impractical Pharaoh. He preached the gospel of culture and universal brotherhood, and his message to mankind is the only vital thing which survives to us in Egypt amidst the relics of the past.
'T is naught That ages, empires, and religions there Lie buried in the ravage they have wrought; For such as he can lend, they borrow not
Glory from those who made the world their prey; And he is gathered to the kings of thought Who waged contention with their time's decay, And of the past are all that cannot pass away.
He remains to us as one of "the inheritors of unfulfilled renown",
Whose names on earth are dark But whose transmitted effluence cannot die So long as fire outlives the parent spark. . . .
He believed in the "one and only god", Aton, whose power was manifested in the beneficent sun; the great deity was Father of all mankind, and provided for their needs and fixed the length of their days. Aton was revealed in beauty, and his worshippers were required to live beautiful lives the cultured mind abhorred all that was evil, and sought after "the things which are most excellent"; it shrank from the shedding of blood; it promoted the idea of universal brotherhood, and conceived of a beautiful world pervaded by universal peace.
The chief source of our knowledge of Akhenaton's religion is his great hymn, one of the finest surviving versions of which has been found in the tomb of a royal official at Tell−el−Amarna. It was first published by Bouriant, and has since been edited by Breasted, whose version is the recognized standard for all translations.
CHAPTER XXVI. The Religious Revolt of the Poet King
"Other notable vegan-leaning leaders include the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten who banned animal sacrifice because he thought it was sinful to take away any given life by the Aten god."
Even after reviewing these claims I still ponder over this depiction of Akhenaten allegedly sacrificing a duck.
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^ I was under the impression that the polemic against shedding blood, specifically referred to the blood of men/humans. Animal sacrifice was an integral part to Egyptian priestly rituals. The animal consecrated to the sun deity was the duck or goose and the relief above shows Akhenaten offering up the duck. Though, I guess one can sacrifice without shedding blood if you break the neck of the animal.
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26252 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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but at the moment its just speculation.
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