Why Akhenaten began worshiping the Sun. Halley’s Comet and the 1:6 resonance with Jupiter.What really happened in Egypt c1352 BC? © Nicholas Costa 2026

In 1352 BC, Egypt entered the ‘revolutionary’ Amarna Period, marked by Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (who became Akhenaten) abandoning traditional polytheism for the exclusive worship of the sun-disc Aten, and moving the capital to a new city called Akhetaten (Amarna). He introduced a distinctive naturalistic art style, a radical break from centuries of Egyptian tradition that ended after his death with the restoration of old gods and erasure of his legacy. Why was this?

Modern Egyptologists and historians simply allocate Akhenaten’s drastic changes to a combination of religious zeal and a calculated political move to centralize power by destroying the wealthy and politically influential Amun priesthood.

Key modern works that have shaped this flawed understanding include:

In Akhenaten: The Heretic King (1984) in which Donald Redford interprets Akhenaten’s reign as a tyranny, and argues that his contemporaries saw it as a rebellion. Whilst for Cyril Aldred he was as an “admirer” and an idealistic ruler. (Akhenaten: King of Egypt, 1988).

James K. Hoffmeier in his Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism (2015), argues that the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten was a “primitivist” rather than a radical innovator, seeking to restore the sun-god tradition of the Old Kingdom. Based on textual evidence and archaeological findings, Hoffmeier contends that Akhenaten experienced a personal, revolutionary conversion to the worship of Aten as the sole creator God.

Until relatively recently most published texts have ignored the possibility that Akhenaten’s actions were in fact the direct result of the onset of one or more natural catastrophes which resulted in a dust-veil event which obscured the sun.

This in fact is the correct interpretation.

Greek mythology knows of two key events c1352 BC which synchronizes with the rise of Akhnaten, and 1327 BC which synchronizes with the death of Tutankhamun. The focus of these myths is the birth of a giant named Tityus c1352 BC and his subsequent death at the hands of Artemis and Apollo or Zeus in c1327 BC. Tityus doubtless acts as a metaphor for a volcano in its eruptive phase.

The Volcanic Winter

A look at the events which occurred in 536 AD (now dubbed the volcanic winter) reveals distinct parallels to events in the Amarna era in Egypt in the 1300’s BC. Recent multidisciplinary research has integrated both paleoclimatology and bioarchaeology to reveal a “veiled” environment far grimmer than Akhenaten’s official art suggests.

The Byzantine historian Procopius in his History of the Wars wrote that in 536 AD : “the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, and throughout this whole time it seemed to be eclipsed, for the rays that it shed were neither clear nor such as it is accustomed to shed”. (History of the Wars Book IV, Chapter 14)

The phrase relates directly to historical descriptions of a persistent, eerie haze that occurred globally around 536 AD. This phenomenon is now acknowledged to have been was caused by either a massive volcanic eruption or cometary activity that created a dense dust veil in the atmosphere, leading to global cooling and dimming of the sun’s light.

One can discern exactly the same concerns in Akhenaten’s texts and imagery with its emphasis on the Aten above anything else.The Aten was none other than the disc of the sun. Evidence of atmospheric anomalies is embedded in the religious and artistic shift of the Amarna period. In the Hymn to the Aten for exmple textual descriptions emphasize the Aten as the visible source of light but that the “Earth is in darkness as if in death” and “Darkness hovers, earth is silent” (Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume II: The New Kingdom. 1976).

Late Antique Little Ice Age

The climatic anomaly in 536 AD lasted for approximately 18 months and had significant impacts, including: widespread famine, crop failures, global cooling events, social disruption, which correlated with the onset of the Justinian Plague. These events led directly to what has been termed the “Late Antique Little Ice Age” which lasted over a century and resulted in widespread societal collapse, famine, and population decimation.

The 3.2 kiloyear event

All these elements were equally present during the Amarna era. Ice core data shows a cluster of significant volcanic activity during the mid-14th century BC, with the year c1350 BC acting as a marker of the start of a 300-year period of widespread aridification and cooling in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East that is strongly associated with the Late Bronze Age collapse. This event is sometimes informally referred to as the 3.2 kiloyear event (currently cited as c1200 BCE, though the period of drought actually began earlier), and involved several key climate shifts.

Jason and the Argonauts

Scant attention has hitherto been placed upon Greek mythological chronology. The last eruption of Thera dated therefore to the time of the Argonauts which according to Jerome was between 1270 and 1261 BC.

Debate has been raging in recent years as to when the eruption of Thera occurred which has proved inconclusive and contradictory. The reality would appear, taking the Greek myths into account, to have been two distinct eruptions many centuries apart.

Halley’s Comet

Thera appears as part of the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Notably 1266 BC is when there was an apparition of Halley’s comet according to Yeomans and Kiang’s calculations and 1265 BC according to Jerome was the year of Voyage of the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece (Chronicon § B1265), the myth is evidently a metaphor for the apparition of the comet.

As stated the final eruption of Thera according to the myth occurred in 1261 BC (Jerome Chronicon § B1261). It is depicted in the story of the Argonauts, who following their quest for the Golden Fleece, visited the island of Anaphe. It was here that one of them, Euphemus, dreamed of a nymph who told him to throw a clod of earth (given by Triton) into the sea, which miraculously formed the island of Calliste (formerly Thera). (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, Book 4).

However many have erroneously focused upon Thera as the sole culprit relating to any major eruption which occurred in the second millenium BC.

This was not the case, for as the myth of Tityus and recent research reveal there was also an eruption during this period in a different location.

At the point when modern scholars place the start of Akhenaten’s reign in c1352 BC Greek mythology places the figure of the giant Tityus, who is evidently a volcanic metaphor.

At its core the myth of the birth of Tityus focuses upon the growth of an undersea volcano. His death by the arrows of Artemis and Apollo for attempting to ravage their mother Leto, and his link to Hera, locate him in firmly in Anatolia, more specifically within the Cos Nisyros volcanic arc. In mythological terms Samos is Hera’s island whilst Cos is Leto’s.

This is reinforced by noting that Tityus was directly associated with the amphibious bottom living conger eel. (Archestratus: Hedypatheia (Life of Luxury), mid-4th century BC.) The Mediterranean and Aegean waters surrounding Anatolia are natural habitats for the large European conger (Conger conger), which can grow up to 3 meters in length and weigh over 50kg.

Tityus is depicted as the grandfather of Euphemus (shout of triumph) one of the Argonauts who essentially was a metaphor for the eruption of Thera. Tityus’ location, as noted, was not Thera but within the Nisyros volcanic arc. This is reinforced by the myth which speaks of a clod of earth from Lake Tritonis in Libya being given as a gift by Triton to form Thera. As identified by the author the original lake Tritonis was none other than the sea in the region of Nisyros (see my Myrina’s Journey to Atltantis, 2024).

Is there any evidence of an eruption of an undersea volcano in the vicinity a this time?

Ice Core Records

Ice core records currently dated to c1361 BC and c1345 BC signify that there were two majoreruptions (GICC05 (Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005) WD2014 (WAIS Divide Project). The first was a major eruption indicated by significant sulfate spikes in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores. It has been conjectured that its decadal-scale climatic impacts may have destabilized the Nile monsoon system inherited by Akhenaton. A second massive eruption (or cluster) has been identified in ice-core and tree-ring records, currently dated c1345 BC. Estimates suggest this event injected approximately 14 teragrams of sulfur into the stratosphere—more than double the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. The culprits have yet to be identified, although both dates are within the magin off errorHowever ice core records currently dated to c1361 BC and c1345 BC signify that there were two majoreruptions (GICC05 (Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005) WD2014 (WAIS Divide Project) The first was a major eruption indicated by significant sulfate spikes in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores. It has been conjectured that its decadal-scale climatic impacts may have destabilized the Nile monsoon system inherited by Akhenaton. (Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt: A Study in Cultural Ecology, Karl Butzer, 1976).

A second massive eruption (or cluster) has been identified in ice-core and tree-ring records., currently dated c1345 BC. Estimates suggest this event injected approximately 14 teragrams of sulfur into the stratosphere—more than double the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. The culprits have yet to be identified. Both dates are within the margin of error to signify the possibility of a direct connection to the dates derived from the Greek myths of 1353 and 1327 BC.

Nisyros and Yiali

Generally when one looks at geological assessments of the volcano on Nisyros one is told the following: Nisyros, a volcanic island, has a history of ancient eruptions, forming its caldera 25,000-15,000 years ago, but its most significant ancient events include a massive ignimbrite eruption 165,000 years ago.

Recent work has uncovered new indicators for eruptions in the Nisyros-Yiali volcanic field. Researchers have identified specific events during the 2nd millennium BCE (2000–1000 BCE) using thermoluminescence (TL) dating and geomorphological evidence:

1. The Yiali Volcanic Eruption (dated c1460 BC ± some centuries)

Thermoluminescence dating of eruption ejecta on the island of Yiali revealed two significant volcanic eruptions. One is thought by the researchers to have occurred around c1460 BCE. This event is considered historically and archaeologically significant because it was distinct from the major Minoan eruption of Santorini (c. 1600–1627 BC) but occurred within the same general time frame of the Late Bronze Age. The study suggested that Yiali’s tephra (volcanic ash and rock) may have been previously misidentified as Santorini’s, potentially complicating the archaeological record of the Minoan civilization’s decline. Similarly a second eruption is conjectured to have occurred at an earlier date.

2. The formation of Stefanos Crater (c. 2000–1000 BCE) on Nisyros:
Geological and geomorphological evidence also indicates that a major hydrothermal eruption occurred on Nisyros approximately 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. This explosion created the Stefanos Crater, which remains the largest and most well-known hydrothermal crater in the world. This event was not magmatic (involving lava) but rather a violent ‘steam blast’ caused by the heating of groundwater by underlying magma, a process that continues to characterize the island’s current active hydrothermal system.  However because of its nature it is thought the latter would have had only a localised impact.(See papers by Ioannis Lirtzis: Significant Aegean Volcanic Eruption during the Second Millennium B.C. Revealed by Thermoluminescence Dating” 1996; “Provenance of Aegean Volcanic Tephras by High Resolution Gamma-Ray Spectrometry” 1992; “Archaeological/Archaeometrical Research at Yiali, Nisyros, Aegean” 1995/2018.)

Egyptian records indicate the demise of Akhenaten in 1334 BC exactly the same year as the calculated apparition of Halley’s Comet and the return to the worship of Amun as reflected in the subsequent reign of Tutankhamen who was earlier known as Tutankaten. Eusebius and Jerome note 1332 as the year in which war broke out in north Anatolia following Zeus’s abduction of the beautiful Ganymede (bright ruler). Ganymede was evidently a metaphor for Halley’s Comet.

The year of his demise 1327BC coincides exactly with the airburst over Ephesus as recorded on Hittite tablets, and attendant tidal wave and volcanic eruption. The effects of which was to see the rise of a triumphant pharaoh of Egypt who adopted the name Seti, a deitywho had hitherto been depicted as evil.

The god Seti or Seth was none other than a metaphor for an active volcano. Of great significance are the extant statues of Seti I with his two pals Seth and Sekhmet, the later a signiifiers for an incoming meteorite. (See articles by the author: Who was the Egyptian God Seth? and Who was Sekhmet? by Nicholas Costa 2024)

Concluding Synopsis:

Thutmose IV (c1404–1390 BC) : 1404 Thutmose IV’s Dream Stela, where the sun god, Horem-Akhet-Khepri-Re-Atum, appeared to him in a vision under the Great Sphinx. Apparition of Halley’s Comet. Near earth encounter of the comet. It enters a 1:6 resonance with Jupiter thereby producing heavier meteor showers and near earth bombardment in subsequent apparitions until the 9^th century BC. (See Sekhar (2014): “Resonant behavior of comet Halley and the Orionid stream,” published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science, which details the 1:6 and 2:13 resonances and their impact on meteoroids)

Amenhotep III (c1390–1352 BC) During his reign he dedicated hundreds of statues to Sekhmet, signified near earth bombardment of meteorites. The resonance effectively “bunched” particles together in space, increasing the density of the meteoroid stream and leading to more spectacular displays when Earth passed through the resonant regions. The 1:6 resonance plays a critical role in the structure of the Orionid meteor shower, which originated from Halley’s debris which helps explain why Orion features so prominently in so many of the Greek myths.

Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (c. 1352–1334 BC): Greek mythology cites this date in relation to giant Tityus/ volcanic eruption- dust veil. In response abandonsthe pharaoh Amun and worships Aten (sun) because of dust veil from the eruption obscuring the sun.

Tutankhamun (c. 1334–1327 BC): Akhenaten’s reign ends in exactly the same year as Halley’s Comet re-appears. Egyptian religion reverts to Amun (Halley’s comet).

Tutankhamen’s reign ends the same year as the airburst above Ephesus and subsequent volcanic eruption at Yali, c1327 BC.

Seti I: ruled from c1294. He named himself after the deity who was a signifier of an active volcano. Notably there exists an offering table in the Met Collection from his reign dedicated to both Seth and Nephtys (a metaphor for the sea coast).

Since by the time of his rule the volcano had become passive he and his successor Ramesses II were depicted as standing between Ptah (passive volcano), and Sekhmet (incoming bolide). All these deities act a signifiers for the power acquired by Egypt following the airburst at Ephesus, volcanic eruption. and tsunami.

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