“Great Hymn to the Aten”

Audience

It is difficult to determine the audience of the “Great Hymn,” the present version of which comes from a burial site. The extant text was obviously intended for the deceased Ay and Tiyi, for when they went forth to bask in the Aten’s radiance at dawn. This assumption seems logical in light of Akhenaten’s conception of the afterlife, which was austere in that he removed the elaborate Osiran elements. There is, however, no reason that the “Great Hymn” could not have been disseminated—wholly or in part—throughout Egypt, as Aten temples were also found in other cities, such as Memphis, in Lower Egypt.