♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
- What does it all mean?
This is where the archeology has been found.
Oh hi, how are you?
Look at that.
I need a planter.
♪ From the mountain tops ♪
A shrine to a belly button.
This is a rock of salt.
♪ He digs for clues ♪
Look at that!
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
No one gets into this place?
- No one.
- Let's, whoa, don't take me too far.
Now that's naked archeology.
♪ For his archeology ♪
♪ For his archeology ♪
♪ For his archeology ♪
You wouldn't think that in a wine store,
you can actually come up with a biblical mystery.
To everyone else, this is just a cigar.
To me, it's a bit of archeology.
The guy who came up with the idea,
Sigmund Freud, that this thing isn't just a cigar.
- Well, this is not exactly a cigar.
- He also had an idea about Moses, you know Moses?
Who parted the sea, who led the Israelites out of Egypt.
He says that Moses, isn't the big sh*t
that the Bible says he is.
He said, no, Moses, wasn't a follower of God.
He was a follower of a Pharaoh named Akhenaten.
When Akhenaten got kicked out,
Moses took all the slaves, ran out
and he was really setting up Atenism,
Akhenatenism, not Judaism.
- It's all so complicated. - Is it?
- He wrote the whole thing
in a book called "Moses and Monotheism".
Basically, what he's saying is Moses
is a sidekick, not an originator.
But what's the truth?
Didn't Moses introduce monotheism,
or was it Akhenaten and what can archeology tell us
about the birth of our belief in one God?
(bell rings)
- [Announcer] There's the bell!
Man, oh man, what a fight this is going to be!
- [Narrator] For the longest time, no one had ever heard
of Akhenaten or his legacy.
- What an imagination!
- [Narrator] But then, in the late th century,
archeologists digging the Egyptian ruin of Amarna,
discovered the massive coverup.
- I'm sure of that.
- [Narrator] Someone had tried to bury Akhenaten
in the sands of history forever.
Why?
Because back in the th century BCE,
Akhenaten his wife Nefertiti tried to switch Egypt
from polytheism to the belief in one God.
- Together, we bring Egypt to all of its glory.
- [Narrator] This discovery has caused many scholars
to say that Akhenaten's religion
was the real inspiration for the Bible.
And if Moses existed at all,
he was just one of Akhenaten's followers.
- But why, why does it matter? - For several reasons, look.
- [Narrator] If Moses was a follower
of Akhenaten's religion,
then that means Muslims, Jews and Christians
are just backdoor followers of Akhenaten.
- Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
- [Narrator] Historians agree
that Akhenaten inherited the throne in BCE.
- I know my duty, I promise.
- [Narrator] Around the same time
he married his first cousin, the legendary beauty Nefertiti.
- You mean everything to me.
- But then, five years into his reign,
Akhenaten and Nefertiti converted Egypt
to the belief in the sun god named Aten
which was represented by a circular golden disk.
But what did the Aten symbol stand for?
To find out more, I'm meeting with Michelle Moran.
So whenever I hear the word action, I will start.
Who has written several books on Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
We don't know that much about what
this religion was all about.
There's a song, there's an inscription
that seems to be very close.
- There is a hymn to Aten and in the hymn,
it talks about Aten as being the mother and father
of all creation, a male and female deity,
which wasn't represented by either male or female,
but just a disk of a sun.
- [Narrator] It's believed that Akhenaten wrote
the hymn himself.
And it's remarkably similar to Psalm in the Bible.
- And speaking of the book,
it wouldn't hurt you to use one some time
and check up on any point that you're not sure of.
- [Narrator] In it, he praises Aten
for being the sole creator of the world
and the creator of all creatures, including humankind.
In fact, there seems to be many similarities
between Aten and the God of Israel.
Both Aten and the Biblical God are singular gods
that combine both male and female energies into one.
Both are credited with creating light
and just like Moses taught the Israelites
that their God was the only God,
Akhenaten also told the Egyptians
that Aten was the only God.
- In your name, I bring peace and justice.
- [Narrator] You see, the pharaohs of Egypt
had always been allowed to choose a god
that represented them.
But they would've never suggested
that any of the gods in the Egyptian pantheon
were false idols.
But five years into his reign,
Akhenaten made a move that enraged the priest
of the Amun Cult.
- Betrayers!
- [Narrator] The most powerful group in ancient Egypt.
- Tell us, say what you told me!
- This was a huge and sweeping revolution
that changed the people's lives entirely.
Not only did they displace Egypt's old gods,
but they actually moved the capital,
the entire capital, to a place called Akhetaten
and which archeologists call Amarna
and create their entire city there dedicated to Aten.
- So this is like the president of United States
saying no more Washington, we're movin'-
- To Arizona. - Yeah.
- I can imagine there were a lot of people not best pleased.
- [Narrator] Amarna was built in the middle of Egypt
and to get there, I have to travel by ferry,
south along the Nile where the world doesn't look
like it's changed all that much from Akhenaten's time.
Inside the tombs at Amarna, I can't help
but notice how the art and architecture are different
from what I'd normally expect from Ancient Egypt.
Whereas most other Egyptian art
includes fantastical creatures
and idyllic representations of the pharaohs,
there's something very human
about the way Akhenaten and Nefertiti are depicted.
- The sculptor named Bek who's portraying the couples
as they really were.
So you have, for example,
an image of Nefertiti chowing down on a huge haunch of ribs,
or you have her having one
of her six children playing on her lap and playing with some
of the streamers coming from her crown.
- So what you're saying is
that they revolutionized religion,
they revolutionized art,
they revolutionized family relationships.
They changed everything.
- Absolutely everything.
- But maybe they went too fast.
- Anyone who tries to have a revolution too quickly
is gonna drown under the waters.
They were definitely remembered as heretics.
They are considered the heretic king and queen.
- [Narrator] Within years of their reign,
Akhenaten and Nefertiti were overthrown
by the powerful Amun Cult
and possibly even m*rder*d.
- You'll pay now, just as I said, with your heads!
- [Narrator] In fact,
when the Amun Priests took over control,
they rotated all the bricks in Akhenaten's temples
and painted the walls with tributes to their old gods
so as to wipe the royal couple
from the history books forever.
(trumpets tooting)
- Forwards!
- [Narrator] But now their story has prompted scholars
to believe the Bible was inspired by Akhenaten
and that Moses was just a priest in Akhenaten's temple.
- That's impossible.
No, please.
- [Narrator] According to this theory,
when the Cult of Amun m*rder*d Akhenaten and Nefertiti,
Moses decided to lead an army of true believers
into the Sinai Desert,
taking with him all of Akhenaten's best ideas.
To find out who influenced who,
I'm going to have to figure out who came first,
Moses, or Akhenaten.
- [Announcer] It won't be long now, folks!
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
- [Narrator] I'm looking for evidence
that can tell me who was the first to introduce
the organized belief in one God.
- [Announcer] And a left and a right,
he's waitin' for a chance at that famous right hook.
Look out!
- So far, I found out that Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti
championed the monotheistic religion in Egypt
back in the th century BCE.
This has caused some scholars to say that Akhenaten
was the original inspiration
for the Biblical story of the Exodus
and the first scholar to suggest this
was none other than Dr. Sigmund Freud.
Freud wrote a very famous book, "Moses and Monotheism",
the idea that Moses was an Akhenaten follower
and when the whole Amarna Period goes down,
Akhenaten, Nefertiti, they're m*rder*d.
Here's this one outta work. - Aten priest, perhaps.
- Aten priest, he says to the slaves, hey guys, follow me!
Goes to the desert, everybody's following.
And essentially Judaism is Atenism revised, right?
And of course, out of that flows Christianity,
Islam, and everything else,
- I feel that there's certainly a connection
between Moses and the monotheism
as it was practiced by Akhenaten and Aten worshiping.
Did that influence Moses?
Did that influence Judaism, Christianity?
It all depends on the date.
- Who's first is influencing the other guy.
- Yes.
- [Narrator] If Freud's right,
that would mean Moses led an Exodus out
of Egypt exactly when Akhenaten was overthrown in BCE.
But I don't buy Freud's theory at all.
- Let's look at it this way.
- [Narrator] My reading of the Book of Kings
clearly dates the Exodus to BC,
years before the first temple in Jerusalem was built
and exactly years before Akhenaten's reign.
But what's interesting is that the Bible says
that it took Moses and his followers exactly years
to cross through the Sinai Desert
and another hundred years to start gaining control
of the Land of Canaan, modern day Israel.
So if the Biblical timeline is right,
then I should be able to find some evidence
of a conquest of Canaan going on exactly
at the time of Akhenaten's reign.
And it just so happens that evidence exists.
(horn toots)
They're called the Amarna Letters,
stone tablets that were sent to Akhenaten
by desperate Canaanite kings, begging him to send them help
to defend against an attacking army of nomads.
- Your men ransack our homes and they are never punished.
- [Narrator] Now I want to find out what
these Amarna Letters really say.
So I'm on my way to The British Museum in London
to meet with curator, Dr. Irving Finkel.
- I've brought you, in this tray,
a selection of our Amarna Tablets,
because I know that's what you're interested in.
- [Simcha] And these are them?
- [Irving] And these are real specimen.
- Well, I thought they were a much bigger.
I thought you'd be coming in
with like a wheelbarrow or something.
- No, these are small, but perfectly formed,
but all these and about another
were discovered at Amarna by locals.
It was immediately apparent,
even though the script is often sometimes quite difficult,
that they were letters and that they were royal letters
to the king, my lord, to the king, my lord.
The bulk of these letters are to do with money and politics.
This is a typical example of one of these letters.
- You do read this?
- Sure I read it.
(speaking in foreign language)
- So this is amazing, he's reading a ,-year-old letter.
I don't read English that well.
The Amarna Letters clearly show
that Canaan was being att*cked by a group
of nomads called the Habiru
who had come out of the Sinai Desert
and started attacking the Canaanites.
Since the land of Canaan was under Egyptian protection
at the time, it makes complete sense
that the Canaanite Kings would send Akhenaten letters,
pleading for his support.
- Lots of the letters say, I need troops.
I need help.
Please send, please send, please send.
- That's understandable.
Here they are, these Canaanites.
They're being att*cked by these Habiru people.
They've been sucking up to the Egyptians for a long time-
- And they get nothing in return.
And the conventional idea is that Akhenaten
is reclining on his couch,
philosophizing about the structure of the universe
and there's only one God and not being interested
with all this of stuff and probably somebody came in
and said, you know,
there's a very urgent message, Your Highness.
If I read this, it looks like there's gonna be trouble.
Ah, leave me alone or something like this.
- [Narrator] The Amarna Letters prove
that at the time of Akhenaten's reign,
a conquest of Canaan was already underway
by an army of nomads called the Habiru.
- Can't you explain why that is so?
- [Narrator] Habiru, sure sounds like Hebrew.
Could Amarna's Habiru that conquered the promised land
be the Hebrew tribes that Moses led
through the Sinai Desert?
- This has been a very enlightening visit.
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
- I wanna find out who spread monotheism first,
Moses or Akhenaten.
I've just seen the Amarna Letters in London
and found out that at the time of Akhenaten's reign,
a conquest of Canaan was happening
that perfectly matches the conquest recorded in the Bible.
The Amarna Letters call the conquers of Canaan Habiru.
Who were they?
I've come to the ancient city of Lachish,
one of the Canaanite cities att*cked by the Habiru
during Akhenaten's reign.
It's here than a meeting with Ahmed Osman,
an expert in both Egyptian and biblical history.
It's mentioned in a Tel Amarna Letters,
the letters that were written to King Akhenaten,
saying, help us, help us, we're being att*cked.
And I thought, well,
Akhenaten, what better place than be in front of the city
which he didn't help.
- Yes, in fact, he didn't help anybody.
I mean, in Jerusalem and other locations in Canaan,
they all wrote letters to King Akhenaten asking him
to help them because they were att*cked
by some strange people called Habiru
and he was not interested to help them.
So he didn't care.
- A lotta people have speculated at these Habiru people
that are mentioned
in the Tel Amarna Letters are actually the Hebrews.
- Yes, I believe they were Hebrews.
Not necessarily meaning Israelites
because the Israelites are one tribe of the Hebrews.
- So not all Hebrews are Israelites,
but all Israelites are Hebrews.
- [Ahmed] That's it.
- If you find like bagels and lox
in his stomach you'll know.
- You will know, yes.
- Ahmed Osman believes that the Habiru nomads
that att*cked Canaan were actually Hebrews
that came out of the Sinai Desert.
This confirms the conquest of the promised land described
in the Bible.
You see, even though the Land of Canaan
had strategic importance for the Egyptians,
during his reign, Akhenaten ignored the Amarna Letters
and he let Canaan fall to the Hebrews.
Begging the question,
if Akhenaten wasn't against the Hebrew conquest,
could it be that he was actually for it?
He's not sending the cavalry.
- He does not send the cavalry.
In fact, he responds with requests for more glassware
for his table.
- Thank you for telling me that you're dying.
Can you send some more glass?
- I really like the gold plate.
- What do you make of that?
- That's a man who is completely self-absorbed.
- Some people speculate that this group is the Hebrews.
- I speculate that in my second book.
There probably is some sort of association between them.
- But if that's the case, if he's before Moses,
how can you have Hebrews of the gates in Canaan?
- That is a good question.
- People haven't figured it out, eh?
- No, they haven't.
- [Narrator] Since I found out that the Habiru nomads
who conquered Canaan were actually Hebrews,
I think I've also figured out why Pharaoh Akhenaten
refused to help the Canaanites.
- I was looking for love.
And I found it.
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
My quest to find out who was the first
to spread. monotheism has taken a turn.
Even though there's plenty of evidence that Akhenaten
and Nefertiti did start a monotheistic revolution in Egypt.
- I've had great monuments created for honoring you.
- There seems to be evidence
that a Hebrew exodus from Egypt might've influenced them.
You seem Akhenaten's grandfather might be able
to explain everything.
Akhenaten's grandpa was named Yuya
and his sarcophagus is now kept
at the Cairo Museum in Egypt.
Back in , Yuya's mummy was found buried
in the Valley of Kings,
alongside the top pharaohs of Egyptian history.
According to Ahmed Osman, Yuya is a Hebrew name,
not an Egyptian one.
You say, and you called your book
"Stranger in the Valley of the Kings" right?
- Yes.
- Here's this mummy of this guy named Yuya
and he was the grandfather of Akhenaten.
- Yes, in the tomb, they found his name spelled
in different ways,
but all the names have the Y.
- The Ya sound.
- Yes, the Egyptians relate the person's name
to the God he worshiped.
Yu, I mean Yu is a short of Yahweh or Jehovah or...
- Akhenaten named himself after his God, Aten.
Akhenaten's father was named after the Egyptian god Amun,
but Akhenaten's grandfather's name,
represents the God of Israel.
This is the name of the God of Israel built into a name
and it's clearly not Egyptian.
And you're the only guy who says,
here's a guy who doesn't fit in the Valley of Kings.
You're saying this, Yuya guy is not Egyptian.
- He is from the tribe of Jacob who came from Canaan.
And he's an Israelite, of course.
- Okay, now that's controversial, right?
- Okay, look at it, examine it and see
if I have enough evidence or not.
- So you're saying either, you know,
he doesn't look like Egyptian.
- No, if you look at his profile, he's a Semitic.
- Does he got a big nose?
- Yes.
- He's got the Semitic good looks.
- Yes.
- Okay, so bottom line about Yuya,
his name tells you he's a Semite.
His looks tell you he's a Semite.
- Yes.
- My search to find out whether Akhenaten's faith
in one God was influenced by Moses
might've just hit pay dirt.
Not only that the archeology confirm a Hebrew conquest
of the promised land at the time of Akhenaten's reign,
but now there's evidence
that Akhenaten's grandfather was Hebrew too.
The name, Yuya, suggests that both Akhenaten
and Nefertiti supported the conquest of Canaan recorded
in the Biblical books of Joshua and Judges.
The reason they supported a Hebrew conquest
was because they were closet Hebrews.
The patriarch of the family is known as Yuya.
I'm amazed at the utter closed mindedness
of so many Egyptologists.
The Ya sound is the God of Israel.
So if you see these guys
whose very names reflect their belief in an Egyptian way.
Now we can explain why he's not reacting to the Canaanites.
If you have a monotheist pharaoh, right?
He is gonna be supportive of the Habiru.
- Because he doesn't care if it's taken over.
- He doesn't care.
They're his ideological buddies.
- I think it's completely possible.
- So, anyway, that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it.
- It's a good one.
- It's a good one.
- That is, actually, it really is.
- So there it is.
Freud was wrong.
Moses, wasn't the priest of Akhenaten,
Akhenaten was a follower of Moses.
But what might just be the smoking g*n in my theory
is leading me back to Amarna.
You see, when archeologists uncovered the ruins
of Akhenaten's capital,
they also came across the tomb of a man named Merari.
Not only did Merari serve as a high priest
in Akhenaten's temple,
he was also Nefertiti's superintendent
and, as some experts believe,
Akhenaten's royal scribe.
So what does Merari have to do with anything?
Well, Merari is not only the name of one
of the three branches of Levite priests in the Jewish faith,
he's also the cousin of Moses himself.
The Bible specifically says
that the Merarites were priests in the tabernacle of God.
Is it just a coincidence
that Merari is a priest in the Bible
and the priest in Akhenaten's temple?
Or did Akhenaten turn to Moses' family
when he needed a high priest?
For me, when you add up the evidence,
it shows that Akhenaten's monotheism
was influenced by earlier Hebrew ideas.
You know, I gotta say,
the more I learned about this guy, Akhenaten,
the more I like him.
I don't think he was the inspiration for Moses.
I think he was inspired by Moses, but you know what?
He was willing to put his power where his mouth is,
he was willing to sacrifice everything for his beliefs.
He depicted God as light, Madonna would love this guy.
It's Kabbalah, little hands of warmth coming from heaven.
The more I learn about him, the more I like him,
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
♪ From a tall, tall land ♪
♪ He makes no apologies ♪
♪ For his archeology ♪
♪ He's a tall, tall man ♪
♪ From a tall, tall land ♪
♪ No apologies ♪
♪ For his archeology ♪
03x01 - Moses Vs. Akhenaton
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Show examines biblical stories and tries to find proof for them by exploring the Holy Land looking for archaeological evidence, personal inferences, deductions, and interviews with scholars and experts.
Show examines biblical stories and tries to find proof for them by exploring the Holy Land looking for archaeological evidence, personal inferences, deductions, and interviews with scholars and experts.