The Great Hymn to Aten & Individual Idols

A masterpiece of Ancient World Literature, The Egyptian “Great Hymn to the Aten” is the longest of a set of hymn-poems written to the sun-disk deity Aten. Composed in the middle of the 14th century BC, it is attributed to the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten, who radically changed traditional forms of Egyptian religion by replacing them with Atenism. After understanding what Aten was to both the Pharaoh Akhenaten and the people of Kemet / Egypt in the 14th century BC - students created an individual idol - real or invented - and composed a hymn - a praise poem, for this idol. Writing at least 30 lines, of any length and rhythm, the hymn was made to instruct others to follow an idol. The instruction was to take the point of view and position of a Pharaoh with a people who are receiving the words as the words of the Per-aa, the anointed one. Students then shared hymns and decide as a class which idol will be the foundation of a new dynasty.