Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests Elizabeth Frood, Richard Parkinson and Kate Spence discuss the Pharaoh Akhenaten, the ruler who brought revolutionary change to ancient Egypt. During his reign, Akhenaten embarked on a profoundly radical project: he set out to transform his people's deepest religious beliefs, moving from a polytheistic tradition to the elevation of a single solar god, Aten. The changes in art and architecture that followed have led some to call him 'history's first individual'. Despite his successors' attempts to obliterate him from the historical record, Akhenaten - and his wife Nefertiti - have been an endless source of fascination and speculation.Richard Parkinson is an Egyptologist at the British Museum; Elizabeth Frood is a Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Oxford; Kate Spence is a Lecturer in the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt at the University of Cambridge.
Transcript
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| 0:45.6 | I hope you enjoy the program. Hello the Pharaoh Akenaten has been described |
| 0:51.6 | as history's first individual, a saint, tyrant, utopian |
| 0:56.2 | and rebel. He came to the throne in 1353 BC. With his queen Nefetiti he transformed ancient Egypt, new temples were built, artisans created |
| 1:07.0 | revolutionary images of the human body, and a new capital was founded away from the old |
| 1:11.5 | citadals of thieves and Memphis. |
| 1:13.2 | But perhaps most radical of all he replaced Egyptian Polytheism with the worship of |
| 1:17.8 | one god, the Sun god Arten. |
| 1:19.8 | For this, Archanaten's successors try to erase him from history, yet it remains an endless source of interest and speculation. |
| 1:28.0 | We need to discuss Arkanaten and our Elizabeth Frud, lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Oxford, Kate Spence, lecturer in |
| 1:36.2 | the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt at the University of Cambridge, and Richard Parkinson, Egyptologist |
| 1:41.9 | at the British Museum. Richard Parkinson, Egyptologist at the British Museum. |
| 1:43.4 | Richard Parkinson, can you introduce us to Akhenaten and place it? |
| 1:47.7 | He comes to the throne after possibly the wealthiest period in Egyptian history, era of peace, huge prosperity, great |
| 1:56.6 | extravagance under his father Amin Hotepe the third. And he comes to the throne in 1353 as really possibly the second son he comes to the |
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