CHAPTER XIX - EGYPT: THE AMARNA PERIOD AND THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY

Summary

THE PROBLEM OF A CO-REGENCY BETWEEN AMENOPHIS III AND AKHENATEN

Letters from Tushratta of Mitanni and Shuppiluliumash of Hatti show that on the death of Amenophis III his eldest surviving son, Neferkheprure Amenhotpe (Amenophis IV), who later in his reign took the name of Akhenaten, was accepted by these foreign princes as the new pharaoh. The problem remains whether he had been recognized by the Egyptians as the coregent of his father for some time previously. The matter has been much discussed in recent years, one body of opinion maintaining the orthodox view that Amenophis IV acceded only after the death of his father and ruled for his full term of seventeen years alone, the other interpreting ambiguous evidence, much of it recently uncovered, as revealing that the son had ruled with his father for a decade or more. No side has produced conclusive proof to convince the other, and a final decision will have to await the emergence of further evidence, perhaps in the field of comparative chronology.

The scheme of chronology adopted in this History admits of no overlap in the reigns of Amenophis III and his son; a coregency, however, must allow for a joint rule lasting some eleven years. The independence of the two courts and their officials would permit these alternative interpretations, but adjustments would have to be made in the case of certain events which are treated here as occurring consecutively, whereas they may have been coeval. Thus it should be borne in mind that tendencies in art and religion, for instance, which appear in the reign of Amenophis III and are described as anticipating the innovations of Akhenaten, may in fact be contemporary with them.