Aten
Aten is a solar deity. It is associated with solar symbolism, often depicted as a sun disc. Aten appears in lists of solar deities across various traditions.
↻ synthesized from 17 sources
When
- First attested
- 3000 BCE
- Attested period
- -3000 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Worship advanced by Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) during the Eighteenth dynasty.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Shu, Ra-Horus, Sekhmet, Hathor, Khnum, Sopdu, Bast, Ka Sgni, Ka Sgni, Tefnut, Re, Ptahil, Sokar, Tatenen, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, Chaxiraxi, Amaterasu, Saulė, Päivätär, Beiwe, Bila, Wala, Bisal-Mariamma, Bomong, Pattini, Wurusemu, Tafukt, Shapash, Magec, Unelanuhi, Oüa Chill, Siqiniq, He'-koo-lās, Uwahci∙ł, Apep, Osiris, Horus, Khnum-Ra, Min-Ra, Ra, Isis, Two Ladies, Khepri, Atum, Bes, Apis, Khonshu, Aker, Anubis, Maahes, Set, Sobek, Thoth, Geb, Ptah, Onuris, Bennu, Min, Montu, Nefertem, Heru-ur, Ma'at, Im-ho-tep
- aspect of
- Ra
- syncretized with
- Ra-Horakhty, Ptah
Sources
Source passages
“Aten Solar deity”
#939 · extracted by claude-sonnet-4-6
“advanced the worship of the Aten, a deity whose power was manifested in the sun disk, both literally and symbolically. He defaced the symbols of many of the old deities, and based his religious practices upon the deity, the Aten”
#11562 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti usually depict the Aten prominently above that pair, with the hands of the Aten closest to each offering Ankhs. Unusually for New Kingdom art, the Pharaoh and his wife are depicted as approximately equal in size, with Nefertiti's image used to decorate the lesser Aten temple at Amarna.”
#15324 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“In the form of the sun disc Aten, the Sun had a brief resurgence during the Amarna Period when it again became the preeminent, if not only, divinity for the pharaoh, Akhenaten. Unlike other deities, Aten did not have multiple forms. His only image was a disk—a symbol of the Sun.”
#15389 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Aten, god of the Sun, the visible disc of the Sun”
#15404 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5