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v. tie, bind, fasten with a rope or cord

v. tie, bind, fasten; shackle

v. eat, consume food, dine

[Egyptian] The name of the visible solar disc in ancient Egypt. Originally a manifestation of the sun god, Aten (Aton) became the only true sun god during the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1367 - 1350 BCE). The sun gods Re and Atum lost much of their importance during this period. In some of the older sources, it is stated that Amenhotep, who later assumed the name Akhenaten, attempted to establish a monotheistic cult with Aten as the sole deity and that after his death Egypt returned to polytheism. However, Akhenaten held other deities in reverence too, and his Atenism was not entirely monotheism. He did build the city Akhetaten (modern Tel el-Amarna) and erected a huge Aten temple at Karnak, but the city was abandoned after his death and the temple of Aten was destroyed by his successors. Aten was depicted as a radiant solar disc with rays ending in hands holding the ankh symbols or in hands of blessing over the king and his family, but also as a winged sun disc. This disc was also subtended...
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Aten (Egyptian) The disk of the sun and its vivifying, light-giving beams. Extended during the 18th dynasty to become the basis of a new religion under Amenhetep III and his son Amenhetep IV. They endeavored to arouse a more devotional feeling in the life of the Egyptians in opposition to the rigorous formalistic worship prescribed by the priests of the time, with its animal sacrifices and rigid ceremonialism, stressing the most material aspect of the gods as represented in the popular mythology. Incense and flowers decked altars, instead of blood sacrifices; joyousness pervaded the new capital city, while architects and painters created new ideas in their works. However, his successor Tut-ankh-Amen, reinstated the worship of Amen-Ra under the direction of the priests. The worship of Amen or Ammon was an idea in conception far older than and philosophically and mystically superior to the conceptions which clustered about the newer worship of Aten. This newer worship, with the ideas woven into its meaning by the monarch and his wife, was not only a reform when contrasted with the rigid ritualism into which the worship of Amen had degenerated, but actually was an attempt to infill the minds of the Egyptian people with the joyousness of the solar orb itself as the vehicle of the recondite, secret, and highly mystical Amen, abstract and highly philosophical. This illustrates how a noble worship can become ritualistic and empty, and how a more sensuous but more joyous worship can be used in a revivalistic sense to awaken a new religious devotion in the hearts of the multitude.