[i] “…Moses…”

“The cartouche of Akhenaten’s god and heavenly father, the Aten, bore the name Imram. In the Bible, Moses is referred to as the son of Amram, the Hebrew equivalent.

The name of the Egyptian deity Aten transliterates into the Hebrew word Adon.  Adon, which is translated by English Bibles as “the Lord” (and Adonai, translated as “my Lord”) is used along with Jehovah (Yhwh) in the Bible as the exclusive personal names of God. Moreover, in ancient times, the name Jehovah (Yhwh) was written, but never spoken. Whenever the written name Jehovah (Yhwh) was to be read out loud, Adon (Aten) was voiced instead. The written form of Adon is infrequent, however, its limited usage is significant, especially in the first six books of the Bible (See under “LORD” in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance), where it is reserved for the following applications alone: Moses addresses God using the title Adon/Aten (Exodus 4:10,13; 5:22; 34:9; Numbers 14:17; Deuteronomy 3:23; 7:26; 10:17); Moses, himself, is addressed both by Aaron (Ex.32:22; Num.12:11) and by Joshua (Numbers 11:28) using the title Adon/Aten; and Joshua also addresses God using the title Adon/Aten (Joshua 5:14 b; 7:7). As mentioned above, there is an established relationship between the literature of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty and the Bible. Psalm 104 is an embellishment of the Hymn to the Aten which was found by archaeologists at the city of Akhetaten.”

http://www.domainofman.com/ankhemmaat/moses.html

“Recent and non-Biblical view places Moses as a noble in the court of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. A significant number of scholars, from Sigmund Freud to Joseph Campbell, suggest that Moses may have fled Egypt after Akhenaten’s death (ca. 1334 BC) when many of the pharaoh’s monotheistic reforms were being violently reversed. The principal ideas behind this theory are: the monotheistic religion of Akhenaten being a possible predecessor to Moses’ monotheism, and the “Amarna Letters”, written by nobles to Akhenaten, which describe raiding bands of “Habiru” attacking the Egyptian territories in Mesopotamia.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[ii] “…Amenhotep III…”

“Amenhotep III, meaning Amun is Satisfied was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1391 BC-December 1353 BCE or June 1388 BCE to December 1351 BC/1350 BCE after his father Thutmose IV died. Amenhotep III was the son of Thutmose IV by Mutemwia, a minor wife of Amenhotep’s father.  Amenhotep III fathered two sons with his Great Royal Wife Tiye, a great queen known as the progenitor of monotheism via the Crown Prince Tuthmose who predeceased his father, and his second son, Akhenaten, who ultimately succeeded him to the throne.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[iii] “…Akhenaten…”

“Akhenaten, meaning Effective spirit of Aten, first known as Amenhotep IV (sometimes read as Amenophis IV and meaning Amun is Satisfied) before his first year, was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheistic worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this.

Amenhotep IV succeeded his father after Amenhotep III’s death at the end of his 38-year reign, possibly after a coregency lasting between either 1 to 2 or 12 years. Suggested dates for Akhenaten’s reign (subject to the debates surrounding Egyptian chronology) are from 1353 BCE – 1336 BCE or 1351 BCE – 1334 BCE Akhenaten’s chief wife was Nefertiti.

His religious reformation appears to have begun with his decision to celebrate a Sed festival in his third regnal year – a highly unusual step, since a Sed-festival, a sort of royal jubilee intended to reinforce the Pharaoh’s divine powers of kingship, was traditionally held in the thirtieth year of a Pharaoh’s reign.

Year eight marked the beginning of construction on his new capital, Akhetaten (‘Horizon of Aten’), at the site known today as Amarna. In the same year, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten (‘Effective Spirit of Aten’) as evidence of his shifting religious perspective. Very soon afterward he centralized Egyptian religious practices in Akhenaten, though construction of the city seems to have continued for several more years. In honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive temple complexes in ancient Egypt, including one at Karnak, close to the old temple of Amun. In these new temples, Aten was worshipped in the open sunlight, rather than in dark temple enclosures, as had been the previous custom. Akhenaten is also believed to have composed the Great Hymn to the Aten.

Initially, Akhenaten presented Aten as a variant of the familiar supreme deity Amun-Ra (itself the result of an earlier rise to prominence of the cult of Amun, resulting in Amun becoming merged with the sun god Ra), in an attempt to put his ideas in a familiar Egyptian religious context. However, by Year 9 of his reign Akhenaten declared that Aten was not merely the supreme god, but the only god, and that he, Akhenaten, was the only intermediary between Aten and his people. He ordered the defacing of Amun’s temples throughout Egypt, and in a number of instances inscriptions of the plural ‘gods’ were also removed.

Aten’s name is also written differently after Year 9, to emphasize the radicalism of the new regime, which included a ban on idols, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten, who by then was evidently considered not merely a sun god, but rather a universal deity. It is important to note, however, that representations of the Aten were always accompanied with a sort of “hieroglyphic footnote”, stating that the representation of the sun as All-encompassing Creator was to be taken as just that: a representation of something that, by its very nature as something transcending creation, cannot be fully or adequately represented by any one part of that creation.”

This Amarna period is also associated with a serious outbreak of a pandemic, possibly the plague, or polio, or perhaps the world’s first recorded outbreak of influenza, which came from Egypt and spread throughout the Middle East, killing Suppiluliuma I, the Hittite King.  Influenza is a disease associated with the close proximity of water fowl, pigs and humans, and its origin as a pandemic disease may be due to the development of agricultural systems that allow the mixing of these animals and their wastes.

Some of the first archaeological evidence for this agricultural system is during the Amarna period of Ancient Egypt, and the pandemic that followed this period throughout the Ancient Near East may have been the earliest recorded outbreak of influenza. However, the precise nature of this Egyptian plague remains unknown and Asia has also been suggested as a possible site of origin of pandemic influenza in humans. The prevalence of disease may help explain the rapidity with which the site of Akhetaten was subsequently abandoned. It may also explain why later generations considered the gods to have turned against the Amarna monarchs. The black plague has also been suggested due to the fact that at Amarna the traces of the plague have been found.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[iv] “… Nefertiti…

“Nefertiti (pronounced at the time something like *nafratiːta) (c. 1370 BCE – c. 1330 BCE) was the Great Royal Wife (or chief consort/wife) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. She was the mother-in-law and probable stepmother of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Nefertiti may have also ruled as pharaoh in her own right under the name Neferneferuaten briefly after her husband’s death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is doubted by the latest research. Her name roughly translates to “the beautiful (or perfect) one has arrived”. She also shares her name with a type of elongated gold bead, called “nefer”, that she was often portrayed as wearing. She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlin’s Altes Museum.

Nefertiti’s parentage is not known with certainty, but it is now generally believed that she was the daughter of AY later to be pharaoh. Another theory that gained some support identified Nefertiti with the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa. The name Nimerithin has been mentioned in older scrolls, as an alternative name, but this has not yet been officially confirmed. It has also been suggested that Nefertiti was a daughter or relative of Amenhotep III, or of the high Theban nobility. Another theory places Nefertiti as the daughter of Sitamun, half-sister of Amenhotep III. Queen Iaret was Sitamun’s mother. Iaret held important hereditary titles that ceased to exist after the ascension of Amenhotep III. Sitamun is elevated to Great Royal Wife beside Tiye but there is no indication that she ever had children and if so with whom. There is some evidence based upon the titles of each of these women that suggests that they were somehow related to one another in her family… Her name means “beautiful one”. Nefertiti only worshiped one god by the name of Aten. Depending on which reconstruction of the genealogy of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs is followed, her husband Akhenaten may have been the father or half-brother of the Pharaoh Tutankhaten (later called Tutankhamen).

She had six known daughters with the Pharaoh Akhenaten. This is a list with suggested years of birth:

• Meritaten: Before year one or the very beginning of year one.(1356 BC).
• Meketaten: Year 1 or three (1349 BC).
• Ankhesenpaaten, later queen of Tutankhamun
• Neferneferuaten Tasherit: Year 6 (1344 BC)
• Neferneferure: Year 9 (1341 BC).
• Setepenre: Year 11 (1339 BC).”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[v] “… Tutankhamun…”

“He was the son of Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, and his minor wife Queen Kiya. Queen Kiya’s title was “Greatly Beloved Wife of Akhenaten” so it is possible that she could have borne him an heir. Supporting this theory, images on the tomb wall in the tomb of Akhenaten show a royal fan bearer standing next to Kiya’s death bed, fanning what is either a princess or more likely a wet nurse holding a baby, which would indicate that the wet nurse was holding the boy-king-to-be.

Tutankhamun was only nine or ten years old when he became pharaoh, and reigned for approximately ten years, making him nineteen years old at death. In historical terms Tutankhamun significance stems from his rejection of the radical religious innovations introduced by his predecessor Akenhaten and that his tomb, uniquely, in the Valley of the Kings was discovered almost completely intact — the most complete ancient Egyptian tomb ever found. As Tutankhamun began his reign at such an early age, his vizier and eventual successor Ay was probably making most of the important political decisions during Tutankhamun’s reign.”

–– Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[vi] …”Brothers of the Snake”…

“It cannot be overemphasized that the serpent or snake plays no role in the teachings or ritual of regular Freemasonry. Its introduction as a fastener for masonic aprons is easily seen as the work of regalia manufacturers. That said, the symbolic usages of the snake are of interest to students of religion, esoterica, and of history.

On the other hand, George Oliver writes that the serpent is a “significant symbol in Freemasonry : Moses’ rod changed into a serpent, “The serpentine emblem of Masonry… is a bright symbol of Hope; for the promised Deliverer will open the gates of Heaven to his faithful followers by bruising its head, and they shall enter triumphantly, trampling on its prostrate body.” “A striking emblem of Christianity triumphant; and bearing an undoubted reference to the promise made to Adam after his unhappy fall.” In mainstream Christian beliefs, the snake represents temptation and evil: the snake is the servant of Satan. But it has also had its more positive significance.

In ancient Egyptian mythology the world was created by four powers, one of which was the sun god Amun-Ra who took the form of a snake and emerged from the water to inseminated the cosmic egg, the kneph, which was created by the other gods. In another story, a god named Hathor transformed himself into a poisonous snake called Agep and killed Seth. He also guarded the wheat fields where the spirit of Horus was said to live, bringing the sheaf of wheat to be regarded as the symbol of rebirth. W. Bro. H. Meij suggests that this is the root of the masonic usage of an ear of corn in the Fellowcraft degree.

In Greek mythology Zeus freed two eagles which met at the centre of the world, sometimes called the navel of the earth, which is guarded by a snake called Pytho. The symbol Serpens Candivorens, a snake biting its tail, represents the unending cycle of nature between destruction, and new creation, life and death. The Greeks called this figure Ouroboros. Chinese mythology maintained that the world was surrounded by two entwined snakes, which symbolized the power and wisdom of the creator. In another legend the Buddha was attacked by a snake which bound itself seven times around his waist. Due to the inner strength of the Buddha, the snake could not kill him but instead became his follower.

Astrologers, or those interested in the historical development of astrology, will point out that some systems include a thirteenth sign of the zodiac known as Ophiuchus Serpentarius, the Serpent Holder. This constellation lies between Sagittarius and Libra, somewhat over Scorpio. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this constellation was called Alpheichius. Known as the “God of Invocation”, this house was named after the legendary healer, Ophiuchus (Asclepius). The two serpents in his hands later replaced the twin ribbons around the caduceus which became a symbol for physicians.”

— Reference:  freemasonry.bcy.ca/symbolism/serpent.html

[vii] “…assassinated by the Priests of Amen…”

“The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun was the highest ranking priest in the priesthood of the ancient Egyptian god Amun.

“Maya” was the High Priest of Amen until year 4 of Akhenaten. Redford speculates that Maya is short for Ptahmose and that Ptahmose served from the end of the reign of Amenhotep III until the beginning of the time of Akhenaten.

“Parennefer” was the High Priest of Amen during the reigns of Tutankhamen and Horemheb.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[viii] “…Moses…”

“(The Exodus of Hebrew slave from Egypt, led by Moses) may have occurred around 1400s BC, since the Amarna letters, written ca. forty years later to Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) indicate that Canaan was being invaded by the “Habiru” — whom some scholars in the 1950s to 1970s interpret to mean “Hebrews”.

Exodus 34:29-35 tells that after meeting with God the skin of Moses’ face became radiant, frightening the Israelites and leading Moses to wear a veil. Jonathan Kirsch, in his book Moses: A Life, thought that, since he subsequently had to wear a veil to hide it, Moses’ face was disfigured by a sort of “divine radiation burn”.

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org