The Akhenaten's reign: an egyptological delirium! Abstract: The reign of Akhenaten is one of the most controversial of all Egyptian history since only about the co-regency with Amenhotep III there are more than 1200 books and academic articles that have been written. He has thus become the center of many other controversies: although he had only (six) daughters he would be the father of Tutankhamun (a boy!) despite the fact that the latter had clearly stated to be the son of Amenhotep III, although he had worshiped the sun under different shapes (Aten, Re, Amun) he would be the true father of monotheism that inspired the biblical myth of Moses as well as the Jewish god Adon "Lord", a plagiarism of Aton, although he was the sovereign pontiff of Egypt, a delegation of priests of Amun would have plotted a religious rebellion in order to remove the heretic worship of Aton, etc. All this doesn't seem seriousness. The only way of knowing the (historical) truth is to use a chronology anchored on absolute dates (coming from astronomy). Thus the precise dating of this period confirms historical testimonies: Amenhotep III (1383-1345) reigned 11 years beside his eldest son Amenhotep IV (1356-1340) and was the father of Tutankhamun (1336-1327) born in 1347 BCE. The chronology 1 of the reigns from Amenhotep III to Tutankhamun (Amarna period) is at present highly controversial (co-regencies are highlighted): King: Amenhotep III Akhenaten Semenkhkare Neferneferuaten Tutankhamun highest date: 38 17 1 3 10 Carbon 14: 1397-1359 1359-1345 1345-1342 1345-1342 1342-1333 Dodson 1388-1348 1360-1343 1346-1343 1346-1343 1343-1333 [Gertoux] 1383-1345 1356-1340 1340-1338 1338-1336 1336-1327 Grimal 1390-1352 1352-1338 1338-1336 1338-1336 1336-1327 Helck 1379-1340 1340-1324 1324-1319 1324-1319 1319-1309 Hornung 1402-1364 1364-1347 1351-1348 1351-1348 1347-1338 Kitchen 1386-1349 1356-1340 1342-1340 1342-1340 1340-1331 Krauss 1390-1353 1353-1336 1336-1334 1334-1333? 1333-1323? Malek 1391-1353 1353-1337 1338-1336 1338-1336 1336-1327 Redford 1410-1372 1372-1355 1335-1335 1335-1335 1355-1346 Vandersleyen 1387-1348 1359-1342? 1341-1339? 1342-1341? 1339-1329 von Beckerath 1388-1350 1355-1337 1338-1335 1338-1335 1335-1325 The dating of Akhenaten's reign is highly fluctuating: 1372-1335 without co-regency with Amenhotep III for Redford, but 1340-1324 for Helck or 1360-1343 with 12 years of co-regency with Amenhotep III for Dodson. As the accuracy on dates is about +/- 15 years according to the Carbon 14 dating 2 , the year 1 of Amenhotep III has to be between 1412 and 1382 BCE and his reign lasted at least 37 years according to the highest date. The short period 1360-1330 BCE is one of the best documented about Canaan, Palestine and Egypt through the Amarna letters (almost 400), but paradoxically some parts remain controversial 3 because of the following: ! Most protagonists are rarely mentioned by name but almost exclusively by their title (king, mayor) or function (ruler, commissioner). ! The boundaries of some small countries (Amurru, Palestine) have been very volatile. ! Transcription of Egyptian names into Akkadian is often quite confusing 4 . For example 1 M. DESSOUDEIX – Chronique de l'Égypte ancienne Paris 2008 Éd. Actes Sud pp. 293-316. 2 C.B. RAMSEY, M.W. DEE, J.M. ROWLAND, T.F. G. HIGHAM, S.A. HARRIS, F. BROCK, A. QUILES, E.M. WILD, E.S. MARCUS, A.J. SHORTLAND - Radiocarbon - Based Chronology for Dynastic Egypt in: Science Vol 328 (10 june 2010) pp. 1554-1557. 3 D. KAHN – One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward: The Relations between Amenhotep III and Tushratta, King of Mitanni in: Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism, Ideology and Literature (Brill, 2011) pp. 136-152. 4 The land of Mitanni (Hittite) is called Meteni (Egyptian), !anigalbat (Assyrian), Aram-Naharaim (Hebrew), Naharina "[between the] rivers [Tigris and Euphrates]" (Babylonian), Neherine (Egyptian), Mesopotamia "between rivers" (Greek). The people of Mitanni are called !urri.