IV Atonism
Akhenaton thought of himself as the apostle of Atonism, and he exhibited a mystical devotion to his god. Yet Akhenaton was not the founder of the Aton cult, which may be traced to antecedents in Egypt’s earliest religious traditions.7 The Sinuhe story, recounting the death of Amenemhet I (ca. 1960 B.C.), states that the deceased Pharaoh ascended to heaven and was united to the disk of the sun (itn). While this may mean only that the sun disk was the abode of deity, it suggests the possibility that the Aton (sun disk) might itself become an object of worship.