Читаем Akhenaten полностью

Weigall genuinely admired Akhenaten, but he did not hold the same dogmatic belief in his universal rightness as Breasted.

The Life and Times of Akhnaton was first published in book form in 1910. It developed from a series of articles written for non-speeialist journals and maga­zines to feed public interest in the discovery of the mysterious Amarna royal tomb, KV 55, in 1907. The Life and Times of Akhnaton was an instant huge success, a bestseller. Going through various impressions and revisions and in print throughout the 1920s and 1930s (the second edition fortunately coincided with the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb), it was translated into French, German and Dutch, received scores of reviews in every sort of newspaper and periodical, and was read by the public, scholars and writers of fiction. Kees' translation was one of Thomas Mann's main Egyptological resources when researching his quar­tet of Joseph novels, partly set at Akhenaten's court.²² Reviewers noted that The

Life and Times of Akhnaton is a novel as much as a history, but it is worth remember­ing that it was a ground-breaking book for its day, a bold attempt at a new kind of biography. Weigall wrote in a florid, breathless, almost journalistic style that even in 1910 was regarded with some amusement and made reviewers question his book's scholarly weight. 'The Heretic King of the Egyptologists is a fascinating figure, and Mr Weigall has written a fascinating book about him. Whether or not all the details are historically accurate is of little consequence', observed one.*'³ Whatever its genre, The Life and Times of Akhnaton succeeded in making the reign of Akhenaten seem not only interesting but also extremely relevant to the times. The headlines over the review in Reynold's Newsletter (25 September 1910) say a lot: PRIMAL IDEALISM. TOLSTOY IN THE PURPLE. 'The reign of Akhenaton has special interest for the modern world', said the reviewer in The Daily News (2 April 1910). The Pall Mall Gazette (26 April 1910) agreed:

the career of a man with such lofty conceptions was well worth telling. When it is added that this pharaoh was also the apostle of naturalness, of the simple life and of domestic joys, that he was a patron of art and a poet, it will be seen that, properly handled, the story of his life is of absorbing interest.

To add further public appeal and avoid the book becoming too preachy, Wei­gall injected plenty of exciting archaeology. As Inspector of Antiquities he had been personally involved in several relevant excavations - the opening of the tomb of Tiye's parents, of the mysterious burial in KV 55 (see Plate 2.4), and the tomb of Akhenaten's successor Horemheb. Weigall had a gift for vivid descrip­tion and these parts of the book still read very well. The light, non-academic style of The Life and Times of Akhnaton belies how much effort Weigall put into the research for it, although he never intended his book to be the definitive history but rather 'a sketch to introduce the gent, to people', as he wrote to Hortense. Undeservedly, the influence of his book gets less attention than Breasted's more sober and 'scholarly' work, and Weigall himself has been dismissed as a phantast and 'hieroglyphically almost illiterate'.²⁴ As we shall see, the influence of The Life and Times of Akhnaton is still very much with us.