Were Moses and the Pharoah Akhenaten One and the Same? Modern historians and scholars, beginning with Sigmund Freud, have debated the controversial theory that Pharaoh Akhenaten, vilified and deposed for establishing monotheism in Egypt, was also Moses of the Exodus. After an exhaustive examination of evidence from a variety of sources, author Sheldon Lebold suggests that crucial pieces of the story have been overlooked. Through a thoughtful analysis of ancient texts, historical documents and contemporary research, Lebold not only presents the Legacy of Moses and Akhenaten from a Jewish perspective, but also demonstrates how one man's vision laid the foundations for Judaism as we understand it today. In this insightful book, Lebold describes Moses/Akhenaten as both a courageous leader and a great religious theorist. Documented in its pages are the life and ideals of a man who insisted that God could be experienced in the flow of history and that religion should be expressed through ethical actions. It is the story of the pharaoh who helped define and establish the religious and ethnic identity of the Jewish people.

Freud's last book, Moses and Monotheism, was published in 1939 during one of the darkest periods in Jewish history. This difficult book has frequently been vilified and dismissed because Freud claims that Moses was not a Hebrew but an Egyptian, and that the Jews murdered Moses in the wilderness. Richard Bernstein argues that a close reading of Moses and Monotheism reveals an underlying powerful coherence in which Freud seeks to specify the distinctive character and contribution of the Jewish people. It is this character that has enabled the Jewish people to survive despite persecution and virulent anti-Semitism, and Freud proudly identifies himself with it. In his analysis of Freud's often misunderstood last work, Bernstein goes on to shows how Freud expands and deepens our understanding of a religious tradition by revealing its unconscious dynamics.

The book consists of three essays and is an extension of Freud’s work on psychoanalytic theory as a means of generating hypotheses about historical events. Freud hypothesizes that Moses was not Hebrew, but actually born into Ancient Egyptian nobility and was probably a follower of Akhenaten, an ancient Egyptian monotheist. Freud contradicts the biblical story of Moses with his own retelling of events, claiming that Moses only led his close followers into freedom during an unstable period in Egyptian history after Akhenaten (ca. 1350 BCE) and that they subsequently killed Moses in rebellion and later combined with another monotheistic tribe in Midian based on a volcanic God, Jahweh. Freud explains that years after the murder of Moses, the rebels regretted their action, thus forming the concept of the Messiah as a hope for the return of Moses as the Saviour of the Israelites. Freud said that the guilt from the murder of Moses is inherited through the generations; this guilt then drives the Jews to religion to make them feel better.

Could Moses have been a real person and could that person have been the Crown Prince Tuthmose, son of Amenhotep III and brother to Akhenaten? Two of the ancient world's most enigmatic characters: Moses, who led the Israelites from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land, yet 'archaeologically' didn't exist, and Akhenaten, the heretical Pharaoh who overturned the religion of Egypt and was deliberately erased from history. Who were these two men and what was the legacy they left behind? To understand Moses and Akhenaten, it is necessary to understand the times they lived in, to establish how Moses came to be raised in a royal household, where he went when he left Egypt, what happened when he returned, how the circumstances of the Exodus occurred, and in which Pharaoh's reign did it take place. It is time to take a fresh look at whatever inscriptional evidence there is and re-evaluate the various texts that have survived. But before we do that, we need to understand why what we read in textbooks and encyclopedias today, is not really 'cast in stone'. This book is for the people who don't know Ancient Egypt, or who only have recollections from history lessons at school mixed with Hollywood's take on the whole thing, rather than for academics. It is written to be understood and enjoyed by everybody.

A reinterpretation of biblical and Egyptian history that shows Moses and the Pharaoh Akhenaten to be one and the same. • Provides dramatic evidence from both archaeological and documentary sources. • A radical challenge to long-established beliefs on the origin of Semitic religion. During his reign, the Pharaoh Akhenaten was able to abolish the complex pantheon of the ancient Egyptian religion and replace it with a single god, the Aten, who had no image or form. Seizing on the striking similarities between the religious vision of this “heretic” pharaoh and the teachings of Moses, Sigmund Freud was the first to argue that Moses was in fact an Egyptian. Now Ahmed Osman, using recent archaeological discoveries and historical documents, contends that Akhenaten and Moses were one and the same man. In a stunning retelling of the Exodus story, Osman details the events of Moses/Akhenaten's life: how he was brought up by Israelite relatives, ruled Egypt for seventeen years, angered many of his subjects by replacing the traditional Egyptian pantheon with worship of the Aten, and was forced to abdicate the throne. Retreating to the Sinai with his Egyptian and Israelite supporters, he died out of the sight of his followers, presumably at the hands of Seti I, after an unsuccessful attempt to regain his throne. Osman reveals the Egyptian components in the monotheism preached by Moses as well as his use of Egyptian royal ritual and Egyptian religious expression. He shows that even the Ten Commandments betray the direct influence of Spell 125 in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Moses and Akhenaten provides a radical challenge to long-standing beliefs concerning the origin of Semitic religion and the puzzle of Akhenaten's deviation from ancient Egyptian tradition. In fact, if Osman's contentions are correct, many major Old Testament figures would be of Egyptian origin.

A tale of adventure, conspiracy, and black magic amid the myths and mysteries of Ancient Egypt.

For thousands of years, our world has been shaped by biblical monotheism. But its hallmark—a distinction between one true God and many false gods—was once a new and radical idea. Of God and Gods explores the revolutionary newness of biblical theology against a background of the polytheism that was once so commonplace. Jan Assmann, one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient Egypt working today, traces the concept of a true religion back to its earliest beginnings in Egypt and describes how this new idea took shape in the context of the older polytheistic world that it rejected. He offers readers a deepened understanding of Egyptian polytheism and elaborates on his concept of the “Mosaic distinction,” which conceives an exclusive and emphatic Truth that sets religion apart from beliefs shunned as superstition, paganism, or heresy. Without a theory of polytheism, Assmann contends, any adequate understanding of monotheism is impossible. Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association