Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tony Costa <tmcos AT rogers.com>]

Walter wrote:

> >Dear Tony,
> >
> >Here's a quote illustrating that "some" individuals
> thought pharaoh was a
> >"god" in a clay tablet letter written in Akkadian
> (Babylonian) to Pharaoh
> >Akhenaten by one of his vassals :
> >
> >"Say to the king, my lord, my GOD, my Sun, the
> breath of my life: Thus
> >Zimreddi, the mayor of Sidon. I fall at the feet of
> my lord, GOD, Sun,
> >breath of my lfe,...7 times 7 times." (p. 230. EA
> 144. "Zimreddi of Sidon."
> >William L. Moran. _The Amarna Letters_. Baltimore.
> John Hopkins University
> >Press. 1987)

I can see a vassal using this kind of language, but do
we find this kind of language used by the Egyptians
themselves in regards to the Pharoah? As Peter Kirk
has already mentioned, Akhenaten was unlike the other
Pharoahs as was his religious reforms in promoting the
worship of the Aten alone. After the death of
Akhenaten, Egypt abandoned his reforms and returned
back to the worship of Amun-Re. Thus Akhenaten was
certainly an exception when one speaks of the
Pharoahs.

Tony Costa