Akhnaton , Oedipus , and Moses

Tutankhamen put modern archaeology on the map but his father , Akhnaton , is the focal point in recorded history that has obsessed almost anyone who goes past the "Boy King's" gold , pomp and circumstance . There really aren't many facts surmised from Eigtheenth Dynasty Egypt that aren't refuted with separate books and commentary . The story should be read as fiction , including all the innuendo and gossip which comes out every time a new dig discovers another closet of the story . I had the pleasure of having contact with Ahmed Osman , an author who wrote wonderful books that illustrated his theories about the lineage of Akhnaton ( "Moses , Pharaoh of Egypt" and "Stranger in the Valley of the Kings" among his better ideas).Ahmed has been involved in a movie , "Nefertiti" which seems to have been in production for eight years . The movie , supposedly , is further illustrating Osman's theories from his books which can be found in the "Book Burning" section of your local library .I flippantly suggested to Osman that he write his theory as fiction and then reap greater rewards.The movie is from the point of view of a historic drama and I have to wonder if it will ever see the light of day at all . Will the movie end up in the "film burning" section of the write off for the production company?.

Ahmed Osman isn't the first to write suggestive ideas about Akhnaton as Emanuel Velikovski wrote an exciting book called "Oedipus and Akhnaton" showing the many parallels between the two characters . Pauline Gedge , in her fictional epic , "The Twelfth Transforming" wrote the Velikovski theories into her fictional Akhnaton , evidently quite moved by his suggestions which were before the later Osman books . All of these books are well worth the read and have some nutritious fruit to enjoy if only as a voyeur in a strange land .Online I found others who had read the previous books and associated them together like a growing theory , which they became . Indeed the theories have grown like a wild fire , like a virus . The theories also include the last writings of Sigmund Freud which happened to be about Akhnaton . Freud theorized that Moses was probably an "Atenist" before becoming the "Moses" . Freud's book came out in 1933 , "Moses and Monotheism" ,a bad time to make suggestions contrary to Jewish Biblical history . Later ,Osman had continued on this train of thought except suggesting that Akhnaton was probably a Jew , his mother ,Tiye being the daughter of Joseph(the coat of many colors). Osman illustrated that Joseph was actually Yuya , a real mummy and grandfather to Tut . Ahmed's book , "A Stranger in the Valley of the Kings" was dedicated to proving this very point .

There were suggestions that Akhnaton might have attempted to have children with his own daughters . The offspring were called "Sherit" or of the kings body , suggesting that the children who died at birth as did the daughter , were produced by the Pharaoh of the time , "Who lived in truth", Akhnaton . Velikovski's earlier vision of Akhnaton having relations with his own mother was because his own mother retained the title "Keeper of the Concubines" and "The Great Wife" after the death of her husband , Akh's father Ammenophis III . The killing of his father is explained by a metaphorical killing by deleting Amenophis's name from many reliefs across Egypt as well as Akhnaton changing his own name from Amenophis IV to Akhnaton in the seventh year of his Pharaohship(probably part Co-regency with his father) .

The parallels between Creon of the Oedipus plays and Aye , the brother of Tiye and Pharaoh after Tut are very clear . Trying to fit in the sons of Oedipus , Polynices and Eteocles , has become a harder fit though the interesting fate of the second son , the second ruler ,Eteocles "Crowned with every Rite" as was Tutankhamen when his tomb was unearthed . The elder brother , Smenkhare , Polynices of the Oedipal story , had a shattered shrine , called by Davis a catafalque , which had not been made for the deceased , and a coffin covered with gold foil that had been cracked , exposing a crumbling mummy , poorly swathed, whose head stuck out of the crack.But this miserable place , showed too that somebody had administered rites, albeit poorly. While the mummies of Tutankhamen and Smenkhare were earlier found to be brothers , later theories have suggested that Nefertiti assumed the throne after Akhnaton's was deposed and took the name "Smenkhare" as well . This last theory would try to get "Antigone" , the sister out of the story . At least there are sisters in the story not to mention the Egyptian city of the hundred gated "Thebes" instead of the seven gated Thebes of Greece . The inclusion of the Sphinx and a riddle in a Greek tragedy , a sphinx that also represented Tiye , Akhnaton's mother , in her ancient characterization has to make you do a "double take" on the entire scenario .

Akhnaton , a theocratic dictator who legislated monotheism into ancient Greek is called the "Heretic " by his peers as he was systematically erased from Egyptian history as was the Pharonic line after him . Tutankh-Aten came to power and changed his own name to Tutankhamen , disowning his own father , Akhnaton , and bringing back polytheism to Egypt . His short reign is certainly questioned and theorised with explanations of a coup de tat or manipulation by his seniors . Whatever happened , the blood line of the Egyptian Pharaohs ended with Tut .If Atenism continued , it was undercover . If Akhnaton continued after the death of Tut , he couldn't use his own name and live in the open . His experiment with Theocracy and his first commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me ..." ( to paraphrase ) does seem similar to the advent of Jewish Law by Moses .

Osman , a Muslim , is not only suspect by Christians and Jews but by Muslims who hate Israel . His book "Out of Egypt" brought the words ".. a Zionist Plot " to the lips of Zahi Hawass , who has become quite the darling of television archaeology, as Egypt continues to dictate history politically and not by archaeological discovery.The DNA extractions planned for certain mummies , Yuya , Tut , and Amenophis III , in 2001 came to an abrupt end when it was found that what the Japanese scientist were searching for was the gene that would relate the mummies to each other and to Jewish heritage . The catalyst was Osman's theories . The case is still open .......................................................