«Тахиййат»: Сборник статей в честь Н. Н. Дьякова

Does Aten Live On in Kawa (K ó wwa) m 49 n It was spelled with the Egyptian hieroglyphic determinative for ‘town’. The significance of Gm-’Itn as a town name was noted by James Henry Breast- ed even before he knew its exact geo- graphical location (1902/3, 107). Breasted mentioned the ‘remark- able incongruity, …Amon residing in the Aton-city!!’, (1902/3, 107). The common phrase ‘Amun of Gm-Aten’ must be one of the most paradoxical collocations of ancient times. It associated the godAmun with the sun disk Aten, his arch rival dur- ing the religious revolution and counter- revolution of the mid-14 th century B.C. The association of the god Amun with the Aten place-name appeared already in the temple of Tutankhamun in Kówwa, ( Macadam 1955, 29, 32 and 33). At that time the mutual hostility must have been intense. The phrase ‘Amun of Gm-Aten’ was still prominently displayed in the Kówwa temple of Taharqo almost 700 years after the religious turmoil of the 14 th century B.C. ‘Amun of Gm-Aten’ may be observed today on the west wall of the shrine of Taharqo from Kówwa in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In spite of massive rejection and the methodical destruction of Aten temples in the 14 th century B.C., Aten appears as a divinity in Nubia at the end of the seventh century B. C., see the banishment stela of Aspelta (Eide et al . 1994–2000, 1, 254). The geographical name Gm-’Itn may have survived against all odds down to the present time. Priese’s suggestion to this effect was examined above and found to be stronger than perhaps even he himself had suspected. The name Kówwa can be plausibly derived from Gm-’Itn . There is no rival etymology. Enshrined in the geographical name, Aten may now be traced across more than 33 centuries. In the process, his name seems to have been reduced from an ancient Yaata to a modern ( w ) a . If this is so, then the divine name of Aten lives on in the last syllable of Kówwa . Relief showing the name Gm-Aten on the west wall of the Taharqo shrine from Ków- wa, now in the Ashmolean Museum in Ox- ford. Acknowledged with thanks to the Ash- moleanMuseumand toDr. HelenWhitehouse Detail from the Shrine in the Ashmolean Museum (Thanks to Ré Phillips). Text: “Amun-Re‘ of Finding Aten. He gives all life and dominion”