AIA Archaeology Hour: “The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World”
On January 18, I listened to “The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World”, a talk given by Dr. Kara Cooney, a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA, which was hosted by the Northern Alabama chapter of the Archeological Institute of America (AIA). Cooney hosted Out of Egypt on the Discovery channel in 2009 and published the book The Good Kings in 2021, which covered the reign of five Egyptian kings. Cooney focused on three of these kings during her talk: Khufu Akhenaten, and Ramesses II.
Cooney emphasized a key difference between the Greek and Roman empires versus the Egyptian dynasties. While Greeks and Romans divinized rulers after death, setting up emperors like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Aurelius to become gods, the Egyptians divinized rulers during their lifetimes. Cooney noted how Americans “divinize” their favorite presidents like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Before describing the distinct tactics of each king to keep his power and prove himself as a god, Cooney gave an overview of ancient Egyptian culture. Although the kings were separated by 3000 years, their religion, political system, and language was mostly unchanged. The dynasty ensured that the kingdom stayed safe and stable as kings completed pious works to reveal truth and maintain harmony, called ma'at by the Egyptians. Cooney noted that many historians talk about ma'at in a positivist way, treating it as an innately good or noble concept. However, she believes ma'at was used by kings as a tool to preserve the dominant culture and maintain royal power. Kings were considered fully human yet fully divine, with every action, no matter how brutal, fully justified as an effort to preserve ma'at. Cooney emphasized that some ancient cultures are disproportionately characterized as violent, such as near eastern cultures like the Assyrians and Romans, and pre-columbian cultures like the Aztecs or Mexica, Maya, and Inka, yet Egypt was equally hostile towards its enemies and foreigners within its borders.
Khufu
Known as the power behind the Great Pyramid of Giza, the first with sides at a 54 degree angle, Cooney explained that Khufu “built the pyramid because he had to”. The reign of Khufu came near the end of the Fourth Dynasty. Sneferu, the father of Khufu, took three tries to build the first successful straight-sided pyramid, called the Red Pyramid at Dahshur. The Great Pyramid took 20 years to build and was intended to be “a weapon of stone... a weapon of the mind”. While historians may groan at the Ancient Aliens series on the History Channel giving wild theories about pyramid construction, Khufu might have been pleased that his project was too mind-blowing for modern people to comprehend. Unfortunately, this amazing architecture led to the downfall of the dynasty. Elite Egyptians needed to contribute funds to the construction of the pyramid and also built elaborate tombs for themselves. Later kings in the dynasty were forced to pay higher salaries and grant more political power to the nobility.
Akhenaten
The father of equally famous Tutankhamun, whose grave was rediscovered by British archeologist Howard Carter nearly a hundred years ago, Akhenaten began life as Amenhotep IV of the Eighteenth Dynasty. His own father, Amenhotep III, may have been the richest king in Egyptian history. To top his father’s record, Akhenaten decided to reinvent the kingship, starting with a new top-down religious system. Cooney cautioned against calling this a religious revolution, as it was not a grassroots movement but one led by the highest level of political power to support an authoritarian rule. The new religious system changed greatly over time, since Akhenaten made up the rules as he went along. Cooney called the new religious messaging a “prosperity gospel” where Akhenaten gave extravagant sacrifices to the sun. This fanatical religion served as a quick litmus test for loyalty among the nobility, as they were forced to dispose of polytheist tradition in favor of a monotheist system where the king and the sun were variations on the same god. Akhenaten erased aspects of the old religion by adding people of military and scribal ranks to the nobility to shut out the “old money” elite and literally chiseled away words, images, and statues portraying other gods in temples and public buildings. He even moved the capital to a new city, Akhetaten, and shut down the capital in Memphis. Archeologist Gretchen Dabs has analyzed skeletal remains recovered around Akhetaten and concluded that these workers likely died from malnutrition and overwork. Adding military members to the nobility was the undoing of this dynasty, as the generals soon took over the kingdom.
Ramesses II
As a general from a line of mercenaries who immigrated from the desert, Ramesses II used war to create income for the kingdom and maintain a loyal army. By spreading exaggerated heroic stories from battles and building a huge number of statues, even those originally made for previous kings, Ramesses II established a cult of celebrity culminating in his temple Abu Simbel, where people were encouraged to bring sacrifices and pray. He presented himself as one among the people, except that society would fail without him. In some ways, he was not wrong. With the among of nepotism required to control a large army, Ramesses II had too many children and was forced to construct what archeologists call KV5, a massive tomb for all his relatives. The Nineteenth Dynasty ended in a civil war as the relatives and descendents fought for the throne just as they had trained to fight Egyptian enemies.
Q & A
This section focused on questions about women rulers, monotheism in the Levant, and slavery. Cooney explained that five women ruled during the Egyptian dynasties, which was actually a lot compared to other empires. Women were chosen to keep dynastic families intact, as they were much less likely to kill younger male relatives, start civil wars to keep the throne, or produce a large number of children. As for monotheism, there is no archeological evidence for a connection between the religion of Akhenaten and early Judaism. Finally, Cooney reiterated her support for a theory that forced labor was used to build the city of Akhetaten, in contrast to a theory by another noted archeologist, Ray Johnson, who believed the bodies found near Akhetaten were plague victims. Cooney reminded viewers how the the line between slavery and peasantry is unclear through much of the ancient world. While the economy of the Egyptian dynasties were not based on slavery, unlike the Roman Empire, peasants faced the imprisonment of their families if they did not comply with forced labor. The bodies found at Giza were of skilled workers and craftsmen who could afford a comfortable lifestyle and a decent burial, but similarly oppressive working conditions could have existed there for unskilled laborers.