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==Great Temple== | ==Great Temple== | ||
The Great Temple of the | The Great Temple of the Aton was a temple located in the city of el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaten), Egypt. It served as the main place of worship of the deity Aton during the reign of the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten (c. 1353-1336 BCE). Akhenaton ushered in a unique period of ancient Egyptian history by establishing the new religious cult dedicated to the sun-disk Aton. The king shut down traditional worship of other deities like Amun-Ra, and brought in a new era, though short-lived, of seeming monotheism where the Aton was worshipped as a sun god and [[Akhenaton]] and his wife, [[Nefertiti]], represented the divinely royal couple that connected the people with the god.[3] Although he began construction at Karnak during his rule, the association the city had with other gods drove Akhenaten to establish a new city and capital at [[Amarna]] for the Aton. [[Akhenaton]] built the city along the east bank of the Nile River, setting up workshops, palaces, suburbs and temples. The Great Temple of the Aton was located just north of the Central City and, as the largest temple dedicated to the Aton, was where [[Akhenaton]] fully established the proper cult and worship of the sun-disk. | ||
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Temple was that there was no cult image of the god. Instead, the Temple was open-aired and had no roof, so that people worshipped the actual sun directly overhead as it traveled from east to west. In fact this was a common theme amongst all of the Aton temples; they were all arranged to direct worship towards the sky. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Temple_of_the_Aten Temple of Aten]</ref> | One of the most distinctive aspects of the Temple was that there was no cult image of the god. Instead, the Temple was open-aired and had no roof, so that people worshipped the actual sun directly overhead as it traveled from east to west. In fact this was a common theme amongst all of the Aton temples; they were all arranged to direct worship towards the sky. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Temple_of_the_Aten Temple of Aten]</ref> | ||