Akhenaten’s Great Hymn to the Aten is one of the central religious works of the Amarna period. It is only attested in the grave of Ay in Amarna, Egypt, where the 12-column hieroglyphic inscription was chiselled into an entrance wall of the tomb. Until now, this sun hymn has been translated by remaining very close to the ancient Egyptian text. In the new adaptation presented here, this central statement of faith is recreated poetically in order to restore the text’s breadth and poetic richness to the translation. In addition, the Hymn is contextualised by establishing parallels with contemporary works. Other texts produced at the time of Akhenaten also contain the ideas expressed in the Great Hymn to the Aten, showing that these perceptions and motifs were well-known and widespread in the Amarna period. The volume is supplemented by a contribution on the contemporary importance of the sun in Mesopotamia and an essay on psalm 104 in the bible, which conveys Christian symbolism of the sun and nature.weiterlesen