Akhenaton’s many identities

Answers in Genesis has a new page entitled “Chapter 21: Akhenaten-and Nefertititi the Beautiful” . This is part of a series claiming to show “How Egyptian Archaeology confirms the Biblical Timeline.”

Naturally, the article doesn’t “confirm” anything of the kind, even for those who have never doubted for a moment that the Bible is a historical record of the early Jews rather than the writings of a god.

Indeed, it is rather cheering that AIG feel compelled to search out dull old scientific secular evidence. Blimey, it’s almost as if they suspect that all answers can’t be found in Genesis…..

My knowledge of the book of Genesis is close to absolute zero. Still, I would be surprised if it has a mention of Akhenaton and Nefertiti. My knowledge of Akhenaton and Nefertiti is hardly more comprehensive than my knowledge of Genesis, based as it is on Discovery Channel output and a liking for the beautiful sounds of their names.

Hence, I googled “akhenaton in genesis”, on the offchance that Google would come up with biblical Verse x that mentioned this specific Pharaoh. No luck with that project, as yet. But there are plenty of (hmm, what shall I call them, ah ..) original thinkers.

  • A book by Ralph Ellis claims that Adam and Eve were actually Akhenaton and Nefertiti.
  • Joseph Tasset claimed that Ahkenaton was Abraham.
  • Thomas Mann wrote a novel, Joseph and His Brothers, in which Abraham worked for Akhenaton. (Note that this has the decency to be a novel, rather than a wild claim, but the idea was apparently based on the work of 19th century German scholars)
  • In Moses and Monotheism, Sigmund Freud suggested that Moses was a follower of Akhenaton.
  • There’s a whole blog devoted to connecting Moses and Akhenaton. (I dare not mock, as it now seems that I am guilty of producing a blog post on the same demented topic) His or her theme is expressed in “Did Moses and the Ten Plagues Influence Akhenaten to Convert to Monotheism?” This certainly implies a belief that Akhenaton predated Moses.
  • The World of Jah has a complex comments discussion about whether Moses predated or post-dated Akhenaton.
    I am in awe at the detailed study of chronologies from thousands of years ago and am tempted to see this site as Answers in Exodus, which comes with the built-in advantages over its longer-established brother, AIG, of having a better soundtrack and no known currency with the religious right.

So far, Akhenaton has been revealed as Adam, Abraham, Abraham’s boss, a follower of Moses, and someone who was followed by Moses.

There may be a theme developing, here. All of Akhenaton’s noms de Bible start with A. Hmm. Might I lobby for Ajax, Alexander the Great, Aristotle and Archimedes? I know they’re not actually in the Old testament but they are really ancient.

I balk at reading the remaining 25,000 or so results. If you look for Answers in Genesis, it seems you may find many more than you bargained for, each one pretty well as valid as the next…..

Trailing in Barefoot Bum’s footsteps again

Taking the lead from Barefoot Bum’s post, I’ve tried to paste in the atheist blogroll in bits again. This is slice one. There are hundreds and hundreds of the buggers. Be very afraid, Answers in Genesis. (That’s a link to good HJhop discussion of its latest absurdities)

After various attempts to take the whole list and convert it to csv to strip out the “last posted” bit in the title, I gave up and went for viewing the source code – using the Firefox right click option that lets you choose to see the source of a selection – copying that and pasting it into WordPress visual view of the “Write post” window. Does it work? If you can see it and click on the links, yes.
(D’oh. HTML view, sorry…)
(((Billy))) The Atheist 1 2 3 Religious Comics 2000 Years of Deception 40 Year Old Atheist An Enlightened Observer A bordo del “Otto Neurath” A Division by Zer0 A geocentric view A Goat Called Nebulous A Hint of Neurosis A Human Mind A Positive view of Atheism A Voice Crying in the Metropolis A Whore in the Temple of Reason

A-Deistic AA Aardvarchaeology AASAUF Abandoning Eden About: Agnosticism / Atheism Aces Full of Links Action Skeptics After Faith Agni Setu Agnostic Atheism Agnostic Universe Blog Aidan Maconachy blog Al-Kafir Akbar! Alexander the Atheist Alex’s Heresies All that is, and all that shall be. Am I mad, or is the world? Amused Muse An Apostate’s Chapel An Atheist Woman’s Point Of View An Enlightened Observer An Insane Existence Anal Iced Bible Anatheist.net And Say We Did And That’s How You Live With A Curse Anders Rasmussen Blog Andrew Clapper on… Angels Depart Angry Astronomer Angry by Choice Answers in Genesis BUSTED! Anti Deity Militia Apple of Doubt Arcis Logos Arizona Atheist Ateistbloggen

AIG in the UK

The British can’t feel too smug in the face of American gullibility. Ken Ham is busy dipping into our own bottomless well of credulity, according to James Randerson in the Guardian. He’s been on a lecture tour of the UK and seems able to draw a few hundred people to a venue.

The operation in the UK is smaller but still significant, with an annual turnover of around £500,000. One report suggested it dispatches between 30,000 and 50,000 books, DVDs and videos each year.

Let’s hope that most of these DVDs and videos are pirate copies of “Lost” .
Or else that the word “dispatched” is being used in the sense of “disposed of humanely”. Landfill would be my first suggestion, although I know that’s not too ecologically friendly.