STEVEN ZUCKER: So
around 1350 BC, everything changed
in Egyptian art. BETH HARRIS: When we
think about Egyptian art, we don't think of change. STEVEN ZUCKER: That's true. The Old Kingdom, the Middle
Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the transitional
periods between-- art is consistent for
almost 3,000 years. But there is this radical
break right around 1350. And it's because the ruler,
Akhenaten, changes the state religion. BETH HARRIS: He changes it from
the worship of the god Amun to a new god, a sun
god, called Aten. So he actually
changes his own name to Akhenaten, which
means Aten is pleased. The key is he makes him and his
wife the only representatives of Aten on earth. And so he upsets the
entire priesthood of Egypt by making him and his
wife the only ones with access to
this new god, Aten. STEVEN ZUCKER: And in
fact, after Akhenaten dies, Egypt will return to its
traditional religion. So this period is a very brief
episode in Egyptian history, but it also marks a
real shift in style. And this small stone plaque
that we're looking at, this sunken relief
carving-- which would have been placed in a
private domestic environment-- is a perfect example of
those stylistic changes. BETH HARRIS: Right. It would have been an
altar in someone's home, where they would have seen
Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti and their
relationship to the god Aten. This has always been one
of my favorite sculptures. It's so informal, compared
to most Egyptian art. We really have a
sense of a couple and their relationship
with one another and their relationship
with their children. And love and domesticity. STEVEN ZUCKER: So let's
take a close look. On the left, you have
Akhenaten himself. This is the pharaoh of
Egypt, the supreme ruler. You can see that he's
holding his eldest daughter, and he's actually getting
ready to kiss her. He seems to be holding her very
tenderly, supporting her head, holding her under the thighs. She seems to be, perhaps,
pointing back to her mother at the same moment. BETH HARRIS: We see Nefertiti
holding another daughter on her lap, pointing back
to Akhenaten, and yet a third daughter, the
youngest one, on her shoulder, playing with her earring. And I think it's
immediately apparent that there's something
wrong with their anatomy. If we look at the
children, or we look at Nefertiti
or Akhenaten, we see swollen bellies, very thin
arms, and elongated skulls, forms that have made
historians wonder whether there was something
medically wrong with Akhenaten. STEVEN ZUCKER: In fact, we
don't think that there was. We think that this is a
purely stylistic break. It was meant to distinguish
this new age, this new religion, from Egypt's past. BETH HARRIS:
Egyptian art had been dominated by rectilinear forms. Here, Akhenaten
seems to be demanding this new style dominated
by curvilinear forms. STEVEN ZUCKER: Look at
the careful attention to the drapery. There is a softness
throughout that is an absolute contrast to the
traditions of Egyptian art. But in some ways,
there are elements of traditional
Egyptian sculpture. BETH HARRIS: Right. We still see a composite
view of the body. A profile view of the face,
but a frontal view of the eye. STEVEN ZUCKER: Right. Or one hip is facing us. But the shoulders
are squared with us. So as much of the body is
exposed to us as possible, while the figures
are still in profile. So let's take a look at some
of the iconography here. This little panel
really tells us a lot. God is present. Aten is present, here
rendered as the sun disk. And from that sun-- which
has a small cobra in it, which signifies that this is the
supreme deity, the only deity. Akhenaten was a monotheist. And this was in such contrast
to the pantheon of gods that traditional Egyptian
religion counted on. Here Akhenaten says, no,
there is only one true god. So we can see the cobra. We can see the sun disk. And then we can see rays
of light that pour down. And if you look closely,
you can see hands at the ends of those rays,
except for the rays that terminate right at the
faces of the king and queen. And there, you see not
only hands, but also ankhs, the Egyptian sign of life. And so it's as if Aten is
giving life to these two people, and these two people alone. BETH HARRIS: Those rays of light
are holding those ankhs right at the noses, the breath of life
for Akhenaten and Nefertiti. We can see in the throne of
Nefertiti symbols of both Upper and Lower Egypt, indicating
that Nefertiti is queen of both. STEVEN ZUCKER: Akhenaten himself
is sitting on a simpler throne. It does give a sense of
her importance and the fact that they would
rule Egypt together.