Akhenaten #2 - San Jose, CA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Metro2
N 37° 20.008 W 121° 55.376
10S E 595414 N 4132409
This sculpture is located in San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and is one of at least two depicting Akhenaten at this Museum.
Waymark Code: WMN450
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/23/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Dorcadion Team
Views: 1

The placard accompanying this sculpture indicates that it is replica of an original held Luxor Museum in Egypt. This replica is displayed on the 2nd floor of Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in the same room as another replica of Akenaten. See WMN3Y5.
The placard informs us that at the beginning of Akhenaten's religious revolution, he was depicted with "highly stylized features, such as an elongated head, full hips and a slender torso.... Later the art takes on a more naturalistic quality and Akhenaten appears to be more realistic images of himself and his family."
This piece just depicts his face which has mostly a blank appearance.

Wikipedia (visit link) adds:

"Akhenaten ... known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV (sometimes given its Greek form, Amenophis IV, and meaning Amun is Satisfied), was a pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monotheistic or henotheistic. An early inscription likens the Aten to the sun as compared to stars, and later official language avoids calling the Aten a god, giving the solar deity a status above mere gods.

Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, yet in the end it would not be accepted. After his death, traditional religious practice was gradually restored, and when some dozen years later rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhenaten himself as "the enemy" in archival records.

He was all but lost from history until the discovery, in the 19th century, of Amarna, the site of Akhetaten, the city he built for the Aten. Early excavations at Amarna by Flinders Petrie sparked interest in the enigmatic pharaoh, whose tomb was unearthed in 1907 in a dig led by Edward R. Ayrton. Interest in Akhenaten increased with the discovery in the Valley of the Kings, at Luxor, of the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who has been proved to be Akhenaten's son according to DNA testing in 2010. A mummy found in KV55 in 1907 has been identified as that of Akhenaten. This man and Tutankhamun are related without question, but the identification of the KV55 mummy as Akhenaten has been questioned.

Modern interest in Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti, comes partly from his connection with Tutankhamun, partly from the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and partly from ongoing interest in the religion he attempted to establish."
URL of the statue: Not listed

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Metro2 visited Akhenaten #2 - San Jose, CA 11/12/2014 Metro2 visited it