In thus mutilating his father’s name Akhnaton did not in any way intend to disparage his forbears. He was but desirous of utterly obliterating Amon from the memory of man, in order that the true God might the better receive acceptance. He was proud of his descent, and, unlike most of his ancestors, he showed a desire to honour the memory of his father. We have seen[63] how one of his artists, Bek, represented the figure of Amonhotep III. upon his monument at Aswan. Huya, Queen Tiy’s steward, was authorised by Akhnaton to show that king upon the walls of his tomb;[64] and in the private temple of Queen Tiy, it will be remembered that there were statues of Amonhotep III.[65] Likewise, the earlier kings of the dynasty received unusual recognition. An official named Any held the office of Steward of the House of Amonhotep II.;[66] and there is a representation of Akhnaton offering to Aton in “the House of Thothmes IV. in the City of the Horizon.”[67] Upon his boundary tablet Akhnaton refers to Amonhotep III. and Thothmes IV. as being troubled by the priesthood of Amon.
It would seem from the above that there were shrines dedicated to Akhnaton’s ancestors in the City of the Horizon, each of which had its steward and its officials; and it is probable that Akhnaton arranged that a memorial shrine of the same kind should be erected for himself against his death, for we read of a personage who was “Second Priest” of the king.[68] It was his desire in this manner to show the continuity of his descent from the Pharaohs of the elder days, and to demonstrate his real claim to that title “Son of the Sun” which had been held by the sovereigns of Egypt ever since the Fifth Dynasty, and which was of such vital importance in the new religion. It was in this manner that he claimed descent from Ra, who was to him the same with Aton; and just as the great religious teachers of the Hebrews made careful note of their genealogies in order to prove themselves descended from Adam, and hence in a manner from God, so Akhnaton thus demonstrated the continuity of his line in order to show his real right to the titles “Child of Aton” and “Son of the Sun.”
The City of the Horizon of Aton must now have been a very city of temples. There were these shrines dedicated to the king’s ancestors; there was the temple of Queen Tiy; there was a shrine for the use of Baketaton, the king’s sister; there was the “House of putting the Aton to Rest,” where Queen Nefertiti officiated; and there was the great temple of Aton, in which probably were included other of the buildings named in the inscriptions. The great temple may here be briefly described, as the reader has so far made the acquaintance only of the building belonging to Queen Tiy.