"Hymn to the Sun" by Akhenaten

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Hymn to the Sun

Pharaoh Amenhotep (later Akhenaten) (1379 or 1362—1350 or 1333 BC: b. & d. Egypt)

Translated from the Ancient Egyptian by John L. Foster

Transcribed from Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities (ed. J. R. Benton & R. Di Yanni) (2005)

 

I

When in splendor you first took your throne

high in the precinct of heaven,

O living God,

life truly began!

 

Now from eastern horizon risen and streaming,

you have flooded the world with your beauty.

You are majestic, awesome, bedazzling, exalted,

overlord over all earth,

      yet your rays, they touch lightly, compass the

lands

to the limits of all your creation.

There in the Sun, you reach to the farthest of those

you would gather in for your Son[*], whom you love;

Though you are far, your light is wide upon earth;

and you shine in the faces of all

who turn to follow your journeying.

 

II

When you sink to rest below western horizon

earth lies in darkness like death,

Sleepers are still in bedchambers, heads veiled,

eye cannot spy a companion;

All their goods could be stolen away,

heads heavy there, and they never knowing!

Lions come out from the deeps of their caves,

snakes bite and sting;

Darkness muffles, and earth is silent:

he who created all things lies low in his tomb.

 

III

Earth-dawning mounts the horizon,

glows in the sun-disk as day:

You drive away darkness, offer your arrows of shining,

and the Two Lands[†] are lively with morningsong.

Sun’s children awaken and stand,

for you, golden light, have upraised the sleepers;

Bathed are their bodies, who dress in clean linen,

their arms held high to praise your Return.

Across the face of the earth

they go to their crafts and professions.

 

IV

The herds are at peace in their pastures,

trees and the vegetation grow green;

Birds start from their nests,

wings wide spread to worship your Person;

Small beasts frisk and gambol, and all

who mount into flight or settle to rest

live, once you have shone upon them;

Ships float downstream or sail for the south,

each path lies open because of your rising;

Fish in the River leap in your sight,

and your rays strike deep in the Great Green Sea[‡].

 

V

It is you create the new creature in Woman,

shape the live-giving drops in Man,

Foster the son in the womb of his mother,

soothe him, ending his tears;

Nurse through the long generations of women

to those given Air[§], you ensure that your handiwork prospers

When the new one descends from the womb

to draw breath the day of its birth,

You open his mouth,

make him aware of life newly given,

for you determine his destiny.

 

VI

Hark to the chick in the egg,

he who speaks in the shell!

You give him air within

to save and prosper him;

And you have allotted to him his set time

before the shell shall be broken;

Then out from the egg he comes,

from the egg to peep at his natural hour!

and up on his own feet goes he

when at last he struts forth therefrom

 

 

VII

How various is the world you have created,

each thing mysterious, sacred to sight,

O sole God,

beside whom is no other!

You fashioned earth to your heart’s desire,

while you were still alone

Filled it with man and the family of creatures,

each kind on the ground, those who go upon feet,

he on high soaring on wings,

The far lands of Khor[**] and Kush[††],

and rich Black Land of Egypt.

 

VIII

And you place each one in his proper station,

where you minister to his needs;

Each as his portion of feed,

and the years of life are reckoned him.

Tongues are divided by words,

natures made diverse as well,

Even men’s skins are different

that you might distinguish the nations.

 

IX

You make Hapy[‡‡], the Nile, stream through the underworld,

and bring him, with whatever fullness you will,

To preserve and nourish the People

in the same skilled way you fashion them.

You are Lord of each one,

who wearies himself in their service,

Yet Lord of all earth, who shines for them all,

Sun-disk of day, Great Lightener!

All of the far foreign countries—

you are the cause they live,

For you have put a Nile in the sky

that the might descend upon them in rain—

He makes waves on the very mountains

like waves on the Great Green Sea

to water their fields and their villages.

 

X

How splendidly ordered are they,

your purposes for this world,

O Lord of eternity, Hapy in heaven!

Although you belong to the distant peoples,

to the small shy beasts

who travel the deserts and uplands

Yet Hapy, he comes from Below

for the dear Land of Egypt as well.

And your Sunlight nurses each field and meadow:

when you shine, they live,

they grow sturdy and prosper through you.

You set seasons to let the world flower and flourish—

winter to rest and refresh it,

the hot blast of summer to ripen;

And you have made heaven far off

in order to shine down therefrom,

in order to watch over all your creation.

 

XI

You are the one God,

shining forth from your possible incarnations

as Aten, the Living Sun,

Revealed like a king in glory, risen in light,

now distant, now bending nearby.

You create the numberless things of this world

from yourself, who are One alone—

cities, towns, fields, the roadway, the River;

And each eye looks back and beholds you

to learn from the day’s light perfection.

O God, you are in the Sun-disk of Day,

Over-seer of all creation—your legacy

passed on to all who shall ever be;

For you fashioned their sight, who perceive your universe,

that they praise with one voice

all your labors.

 

XII

And you are in my heart;

there is no other who truly knows you

but for your son, Akhenaten.

May you make him wise with your inmost counsels, wise with your power,

that earth may aspire to your godhead,

its creatures fine as the day you made them.

Once you rose in shining, they live;

when sink to rest, they shall die.

For it is you who are Time itself,

the span of the world;

life is by means of you.

 

Eyes are filled with Beauty

until you go to your rest;

All work is laid aside

as you sink down the western horizon.

Then, Shine reborn! Rise splendidly!

my Lord, let life thrive for the King!

For I have kept pace with your every footstep

since you first measured ground for the world,

Lift up the creatures of earth for your Son

who came forth from your Body of Fire!

---

[*] Son of the sun: the pharaoh. In this case, Akhenaten himself.

[†] The Two Lands: Upper and Lower Egypt

[‡] The Great Green Sea: the Mediterranean Sea

[§] Air: life

[**] Khor: Syro-Palestine

[††] Kush: Nubia

[‡‡] Hapy: god of the Nile’s flooding