**AMENOPHIS III and IV** (Amen-hotep or Amen-hotep, rendered by the Greeks as Amenothés and Amenophis: "peace of Ammon"). — Pharaohs (7th and 8th) of the 18th Egyptian dynasty (1410–1358 B.C.).
**A. III.** — Adoptive son of Thutmosis IV, he ascended the throne at a young age and enjoyed a glorious and tranquil reign of 36 years (c. 1410–1375).
Except for a military expedition against the land of Kush, which brought him great profits and war spoils, including much gold, his foreign policy was peaceful. He pursued a far-sighted diplomatic course, continuing the policy of his predecessor. To counter Hittite expansionism, he allied himself with the Mitanni. He also sought alliances with Babylon and Assyria, and with Amurru. The pleas for aid from Syrian vassal princes to the pharaoh, in moments of peril, met only evasive responses or reprimands directed at the state disturbing the peace. Syria was increasingly slipping from Egyptian influence. When A. III died, the new Hittite power became a danger to Egypt, a threat exacerbated by the political indifference of his successor.
*Giustino Boson*
**A. IV.** — Son and successor of A. III; according to some, his mother Teje or Ti, associated in documents with A. III, was a Shumite. He married Nefret-Itj, daughter of the Babylonian king Burnaburiaš III (c. 1385–1361), and Taduhapa, widow of A. III and daughter of King Tušratta of Mitanni. Sickly, he died before the age of 35. He devoted his entire reign (1375–1358) to the religious reform for which he was called the "heretic" pharaoh: the propagation of the unitary cult of the solar disk, Aton.
"Among the pharaohs he was undoubtedly the most remarkable man" (*R. Kittel, Gesch. des Volkes Israel*, I, 7th ed., Stuttgart 1932, p. 355). Turning toward a form of universalist monotheism and a more spiritual religiosity, A. IV sought to AMMONITI (v.) and its priests, despite his father having built the majestic temple towers of Ammon at Thebes, and prescribed the worship of Aton alone, the sun god, under the image of the radiant solar disk, source of all life.
To this god of all, the life-giving and beneficent deity of mankind, A. IV composed a beautiful hymn of monotheistic tone ("O unique God, without equal...") preserved in many carved copies in the god’s temples, inscribed in full or in part on all the tombs of Tell el-Amarna, where the words "light, truth, love, life" resound incessantly: it is the most interesting religious document of ancient Egypt. This hymn, which many compare to Ps. 103 (104), shows analogies with the Babylonian hymn to Shamash (*P. Dhorme*).
A. IV assumed the name of *Ech-en-aton* ("he who is pleasing to Aton") and, after abandoning Thebes in the fourth year of his reign, built a new capital, *Achet-aton* ("horizon of Aton"), midway between Memphis and Thebes, about 10 km north of Hermopolis.
This center of the new cult, whose well-preserved remains were uncovered by excavations at Tell el-Amarna, built hastily of sun-dried bricks, did not survive A. IV. The reforming pharaoh gave fresh and original impetus to art: painting and sculpture modeled themselves on reality; fine examples are the portraits of A. IV with his mother, his wife Nefret-Itj, and his six daughters. In both art and thought, A. IV appears to us "modern."
The reform of A. IV, remarkable for its philosophical-religious significance, foundered at the death of the young and bold monarch. By attacking the cult of Amon-Ra—destroying its images and erasing its name, abolishing the priests of Ammon and confiscating their vast wealth—A. IV clashed with too many entrenched interests. Although his god was in reality the ancient solar deity of Heliopolis, Hor-achet (Horus of the horizon), and coincided with Ra, by placing him as the sole deity, A. IV offended fundamental Egyptian beliefs. His second successor and son-in-law, Tutanchaton, soon after his accession, hastened to change his name to Tutanchamun, return to Thebes, and restore the cult of Ammon. The disorder and political decline caused by the "Amarna period" were later remedied by the energetic pharaoh Hor-em-heb (c. 1340–1320).
For knowledge of the time, ideas, and methods of A. IV, the monuments and archival letters of Tell el-Amarna (
V. AMARNA) are invaluable
See Plate LXXXIV.**
**AMENTI** (Egyptian *jmn.tj.t* "the western land," Coptic *amenti*, Greek *ἀμέλθονθης*). — This is the name given to the region of the dead in ancient Egypt (*Plut., De Is.*, 20). An ancient Egyptian concept holds that the sun, rising at dawn in the east, finds death in the west, and the rising and setting of the sun is identified with the life of man. Like the sun, humans too must die, but like the sun, they will rise again to a new life. Later, the idea spread that the sun does not die but, having traversed the sky by day, descends in the night boat along the subterranean river; beneath the earth, no wind blows to propel the boat, but the souls of the dead swim through the river, dragging it toward the east, from where the sun emerges in the morning. The dead, as inhabitants of this region, are called "the westerners"; "first of the westerners" is Osiris. The aspect of the land is that of a turreted fortress; at its gates stand guardians. Within are the judges of souls, who examine the soul and weigh the heart, assigning reward or punishment according to merit or guilt. The soul, which at the death of man has been judged pure before the tribunal of Osiris, "shall live in eternity and shall not die a second time, but shall live after death like the daily sun."
Before the deceased is admitted to the blessedness of the second life, he must undertake a long journey through the underworld, taking part in the ceaselessly renewed struggle between the two principles of good and evil. In this struggle, he is aided by the prayers contained in the *Book of the Dead*, which have magical efficacy.
In keeping with the belief that the land of the dead lies in the west, corpses were placed in tombs with their faces turned in that direction; this practice is of great antiquity and is already noted at the beginning of the historical period.
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AMENZA. — A state of mental confusion with hallucinations of various kinds and motor restlessness; capable of complete recovery, it appears in acute form, predominantly in young individuals, in connection with cerebral intoxication during toxic or infectious diseases, endocrine or metabolic disorders, or excretory organ dysfunction, or episodically in the course of other mental illnesses. Particularly in the latter case or when the clinical picture is clearly secondary to clearly identifiable morbid causes, various authors prefer to speak of "amnesic syndrome."