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Donald B Redford, Akhenaten; The Heretic King. One would presume from Jouvenel that we would see this king employing foreigners as guards and engaging in High-low at all times. Here is the first hint that this is right:
This is really interesting. It offers an example of a organisation being created that effectively takes over the greater order.
Redford doesn't recognize it, but this is clear HLvM.
So, on the one hand he has inherited a multi-ethnic empire, on the other, he is clearly in a weak position.
And the king seems to know this.
Echoes of the Sun king, or the empire on which the Sun never sets.
Iconoclasm, as usual.
A blatant visualization of the centralization of an order.
Another indication of the relative weakness of the king.
The king's god is no longer one among many, but the only one.
Theology as reflection of Power
Epistemology following from theology
And of course the army is prominent in an order based upon heavy centralization.
While pretty ruthless domestically, he seems to have been utterly useless geopolitically.
Did the court understand the theological implications? Do you think any of the protestant rulers did thousands of years later?
This is a pretty hardcore absolutist narrative. There was no alternative elite opposed to Sun worship. It was created whole-cloth by Tutankhamen.
Its, again, instructive from an absolutist angle that the threat posed by the Hittities was the spur for such a great change within Egypt.
Horemheb's Edict of Reform seems like an interesting read.
This paints the picture of a cruel and insecure leader.
