Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-07-17

hotep Nv should have felt these>peace-
full i%nclinations, for he was King Of
Egypt and there stretched behind him a
long tradition of warlike monarchs and
vahquished tribes. He was the son Of
Amenhotep the Magnificent, whose
dauntless spear had flashed more thar.
ono in battle. But he wat the SOL
also Of Queen Thy, heroine Of . 70.
mance in 1900 B. G.. which il not SUR
passed by any. dramatic tale Of later
times.
Not the daughter Of a nobleman. "
at least not the daughter. Of the Esyp-
tian %aristocracy, Thy nevertheless found
such favor in the sight Of the dread
Pharaoh that he disresarded the strict
etiquette of the day and took her as his
wife. 1t happened to be that rarest
Of things among royalty, even in those
times, a love match. Throughout his
reign, Amenhotep III proved himself
devoted to his queen he consulted her
upon matters Of deep import, occasions
on which her wise counsel never failed
him. To please her he built the palaces
and pleasure gardens that won him the
title of Magnificent.
j 1t might be supposed that the son Of
such a capable and lovely woman would
be a bit unusual. The superstition
grows into certainty when you know
Thy to have been a Syrian and Worship
er of the Syrian sun.god, Atom. The
young Amenhotep ~, half Egyptian
and half Syrian, res9mbled his mother
more strongly than he did his father.
He inherited Tiy's broader religious
views, and, perhaps, the fact that he
was; half. foreign gave him the livelier.
appreciation Of the emotions and rights
of other nations.
Young Amenhotep had careful up.
bringing under the personal supervision
of his mother. Even in his early days
she taught him the beautiful sun, wor-
ship which at that time made the Syrian
nation an object of religious adherence
to the Egyptian priesthood, with its
sacred bull and its sacred cat, its Isis
and Osiris and lesser godlings. The
result of Tiy's instruction proved
startling. When Amenhotep the Mag
niicent died and had been escorted
magnifcently to his marvellous tomb, the
new Pharaoh electrified all Egypt and
Mortified all the religious cults by max
ing the worship of Atom the omcial
religion Of his realm.
Tributes to the Sun God .
Many "a time he must have doated
round the big pleasure lake built by
his father for his mother. More than
once he must have made these cool and
pleasant journeys on the queens barge,
a sumptuous structure covered with
goldleaf, which she had named Atom
glesms. Perhaps the name appealed
to him. At any rate, since he no longer
worshiped Ptah or the other Egyptian
gods, he. decided to have q name which
would proclaim him a devotee Of the
Syrian deity. So he changed his name
to Akhnaton.
The SUN god Atom came very near to
being an infinite deity, everywhere pres
ent, whose power made the earth and
al that it contained. Animation did not
worship the actual disk Of the sun. He
reverenced the something behind the
power Of the SUMS rays. the something
that had made the sun itself.
Contemplation of this supreme power,
which. poured SO many benefits upon the
world, made Animation feel that men
should try to. comprehend the deity
which held them in its benefcent grasp,
instead. Of sdevising meant to kill. "a
another. The thought Of infnity made
Hin impatient, too of the cumbrous
etiquette hedging the Egyptian court.
He felt how little was the glory o. eyen'
the mishtiest king on earth compared
with that glory Of which the earth was
but one manifestation. very pro-
! gressive aud: enlightened man, this far
away hoy who was born to the most
splendid throne Of the ancient world.
A new religion needs q new home.
Animation decided that religious matters
were more important than material
things. He felt more interest in the
growth sc his soulsthan q. the expanajon
Of his smpirs. Ths old cities. slessed
with their quaint gods and savage rod
dssses, we're not hne enough for this
Atom, who CLEANED behinds the sunlight.
Animation built himssltsa new capital.