He is related to the bull of Hehopetis. Most often Aten is represented as the round disk of the sun. The light and warmth from him was the source of all life. Unlike other gods he had no animal or human form. Because he is the sun disk ,and his rays give life, his temples were not covered and were open. There's a strong relationship between Aten and Ma-at, which is truth. The idea of truth here can be seen as what is natural, or from nature. This ideal for truth in nature makes sense due to the fact that the life giving rays of the sun disk are an essential part of nature. Therefore it was said that relationship of Aten and Ma-at was that Aten was living in truth. Aten officially becomes, One who is satisfied with Ma-At. As we've seen Aten was the god of no great consequence during the first part of the New Kingdom. But now to what seems to be a sudden move the king of Egypt changes his name and the location of the capital city of Egypt, all to worship this little-known god. Here's a man who rules all of Egypt. The greatest empire of the time. But was he indeed the ruler? When he took over as king as a young boy of 10 or 11 in 1375 B.C.80 there are factions that held great power and wanted to keep control of that power. Those who ran the administration, especially in the upper echelons, welded great power. These positions and government posts have been held by families for years, handed down from son the son. These families were nobles who generated great wealth. We can imagine that those families that were entrenched in the decision making process of the government felt that they were the true authority of the government. Noted historian Donald Redford claims that the young king, due to being sheltered and ignored as a youth, did not know these families. And because of a lack of confidence did not trust the people around him and preferred to replace them with his own people whom he trusted. Add the this the wealthy a...
