1. Pharaoh liked Joseph’s plan and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. (Gen 41:37-46)
1. This would not have been the first time that Amenhotep III had promoted a commoner to a royal status with broad-ranging responsibilities:
1. Redford says that Amenophis son of Hapu was a commoner who Amenophis III "promoted because of the soundness of his counsels" to a position of responsibility over the whole population. (47)
2. Desroches-Noblecourt says that Amenophis, son of Hapu, was made a hereditary prince. She also says that the inscriptions on his statues at Karnak show that he was set up to be the intermediary between the people and the god Amun. (119)
3. Aldred says that giving Amenophis, the son of a certain Hapu, "a man of no account, so we are asked to believe", a funerary temple among the royal mortuary temples was a "unique honor". (164-165)
2. There is quite a bit of evidence that Akhenaten ruled alongside Amenhotep III for many years:
1. Aldred says that proponents of a long co-regency between the two rulers believe that Akhenaten’s reign must have begun in Year 28 of Amenhotep’s reign. (260)
2. Aldred says that the co-regency of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten is believed to have lasted eleven or twelve years. (173)
3. Aldred says that Akhenaten and Amenhotep III are both shown together, each with their respective Masters of Works, in a pair of diptychs at Aswan [See Figure 13]. The older of the pair is from the earliest months of Akhenaten’s reign, while the newer one was carved after the Aten’s name change, around Year 9 or so. Aldred speculates that they "chose this same location eight years later to record another stage in the progress of the mighty works of the Aten cult". (92-94)
4. Aldred speculates that the two jubilees of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten are so unlike any others in Egyptian history, yet so much like each other, that "one wonders, in fact, whether the two jubilees did not coincide." (266)
5. Aldred says that Akhenaten appeared in some of the oldest scenes in the tomb of Khereuf, which showed the events of the first and third jubilees of Amenophis III, and was old enough to be made in the orthodox style. (92)
6. Aldred says that Ramose’s tomb, which shows Akhenaten in the early days of his reign, also shows Si-Mut as being the Fourth Prophet of Amun, a position he held from Years 20 through 34, at which time he was promoted to Second Prophet by Amenophis III. Aldred says this shows that Akhenaten had to be ruling before Amenophis III had completed his reign. (177-178)
7. Aldred says that the Amarna Letters addressed to Amenhotep III is evidence that he still ruled as Pharaoh for some time after the settling of Akhetaten. (191)
8. Aldred says that Griffith, and others, believed that the stele found at Akhetaten of Amenophis III and Tiye, having the late name of the Aten [See Plate 26], shows that they lived in Akhetaten well into Akhenaten’s reign. (66-67)
9. Desroches-Noblecourt says that there is a double lintel in the tomb of Huya that shows the two royal families together, one on each side. [see Figure 84] (144) She also says they were shown together in an unfinished relief where Akhenaten was pouring a drink for Amenhotep III. [see Figure 85] (146)
10. Redford says that there was a "marked lack of continuity" in Akhenaten’s court. (149) Aldred describes this, too. (172-173) [Could this imply that the "old guard" were not available to him, as they were still on their old posts?]
3. The breadth of Akhenaten’s rule seems to have been restricted:
1. Redford believes that Akhenaten left the running of the country, foreign and domestic, to other people, so that he could focus on his "program of cultic reform". (167-8, 233)
4. The limited scope of Akhenaten’s rule could explain how the co-regency could avoid overlapping responsibilities between the two courts:
1. Aldred lists the difficulties that a co-regency presents, including the overlapping of powers, the division of responsibilities, and the rivalry between two cults. (173)
2. Akhenaten, like some kind of domestic appointee, called Pharaoh, "Father". [See above]
2. Joseph was put in charge of Pharaoh’s court, and his command directed the Egyptians. (Gen 41:34, 41:40)
1. Similarly, Akhenaten’s command of the labor force was through the nobles and courtiers:
1. Aldred quotes the Gebel-es-Silsila stele, "Verily, the nobles, the courtiers and the leaders of the superintendents [will act] as the controllers of the labour force…". (88)
3. Joseph’s rule was distinguished from Pharaoh’s only by who actually sat on the throne. (Gen 41:40)
1. Similarly, Akhenaten’s rule was distinguished from Pharaoh’s only by who actually was the Ruler of Thebes:
1. Aldred says that when Akhenaten came to power he used the same name as Amenhotep III, except that instead of using the epithet ‘Ruler of Thebes’, he replaced it with ‘Divine Ruler of Thebes’. (20-21)
2. Does this mean that Akhenaten’s rule of Thebes was a "qualified" rule, while Amenhotep III’s rule was absolute? Did Akhenaten ever go on to claim the un-qualified title of Ruler of Thebes? Did Amenhotep III’s successors ever claim this title?]
4. Pharaoh gave Joseph his signet ring, dressed him in fine linens, put a gold chain about his neck, and drove him about in a chariot while they cried "Abrek" (bow the knee) before him (Gen 41:42-43)
1. There seems to be evidence that most of these items were in common use at this time:
1. Aldred shows that Nefertiti had a signet ring [Plate 5].
2. Aldred mentions the granting of "gold shebu collars of honour" (92, 163, 90), and quotes Akhenaten instructing someone to "put gold around his neck to the top of it". (304)
2. [Role of Chariot - See above.]
3. [Thought: Could "Abrek", Abraham, and the ‘Abiru be related, as they all share the ABR root?]
5. Pharaoh gave Joseph a name: Zaphenath-paneah. (Gen 41:45)
1. It was a common practice at the time to give Egyptian names to Asiatics who were being promoted to high office:
1. Redford says that when Asiatics were being promoted to high office they "were sometimes given Egyptian names, usually compounded with the name of the reigning king." (28) [Also, see above - compounded name]
2. I do not have the skills to evaluate whether or not it would be possible to come up with an acceptable translation of Akhenaten’s name that could be shared with Joseph’s:
1. A footnote in Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures says that Zaphenath-paneah is, "Egyptian for ‘God speaks; he lives’ or ‘creator of life’". (66)
2. Aldred translates Akhenaten’s name, Neferkheperure-Wa’enre, as, "Good like the forms of Re (God), the Only One of Re (God)". (47)
6. Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife: Asenath, the daughter of a priest of On. (Gen 41:45)
1. Akhenaten’s wife’s parents are unknown. Although it might be easy to suggest that Nefertiti was the daughter of a priest of On, we cannot know for certain whether she was or not:
1. Redford says that Nefertiti’s parentage is unknown. (78)
2. Aldred says her parentage is unknown. (221-222, 260)
3. Aldred says that some think she could be Ay’s daughter because his wife Tey was called Nefertiti’s ‘Nurse’ and ‘Governess’. (222)
4. Aldred says that Ay was referred to as the "Priest Ay" because of his title ‘Father of the God’. But an alternate meaning of this title is father-in-law of the king, which is part of the reason why some think that he is Nefertiti’s father in the first place. (221) (It obviously can’t mean both at the same time.)
2. Nefertiti, without regard to her father, seems to have been a priestess of On in her own right:
1. Redford says that in the Hwt-bnbn Nefertiti is the only high priest making the offerings to the sun-disc in this temple and porch. (28) He says that this temple, and its bnbn-stone, are related to the solar cult at Heliopolis. (72) [See Figure 7 (77)]
2. Aldred says that the Mansion of the Ben-ben was "a temple devoted principally to the use of Nefertiti". The reliefs in this temple showed her "dominating the ritual". He goes on to say that, "The Ben-ben stone was originally the sacred fetish of the sun-cult in Heliopolis". (265)
3. Redford suggests that the focal point of Nefertiti’s temple, the bnbn-stone, was actually that unusual single obelisk that Thutmose IV had erected at Karnak and had dedicated to Re-Harakhty (God of the Sun). (74-75) [I’m not sure why I mention this, but it does seem to help tie it all together.]
3. Nefertiti’s prestige would have secured Akhenaten’s position in the royal house:
1. Aldred says that Nefertiti was called "The Heiress" and was probably close enough to the direct line of descent to have been made a Chief Wife. (222-223)
4. Akhenaten shows definite signs of having been influenced by Heliopolis:
1. The Cambridge Ancient History says, "A feature of religious thought during the Eighteenth Dynasty is a preponderance in the influence of the sun cult, whose center at Heliopolis, the Biblical On, was the chief seat of its theologians." (86)
2. Aldred says, "it was the teaching of Heliopolis (On of the Bible) that… profoundly influenced" Akhenaten. (259)
3. Redford says that many of Akhenaten’s innovations are presumed to be inspired by Heliopolis. (138)
4. Aldred says that Akhenaten promised to bury the Sacred Mnevis bull of Heliopolis at Akhetaten, rather than the Apis bull of Memphis. (260)
5. Aldred says that Akhenaten was surrounded by many Heliopolitans, like May, Bek, and Pawah the High Priest of On. (260)
6. Aldred says that Akhenaten called Karnak ‘the Heliopolis of the South’. (89)
5. The names "Asenath" and "Nefertiti" are different, but could be related:
1. The NIV Study Bible says that Asenath probably means "She belongs to… Neith". (68)
2. I certainly don’t know much about linguistics, but if it is indeed valid to de-couple the "Ase-"from the "-nath", then it does not require much variance to go from "Nefertiti" to "Neith". This seems to me to be similar to the type of variance found in the Amarna tablets for other Egyptian names.
