20/05/2026
The Icon of Akhenaten and the holy family
The word Icon is mainly a Greek word derived from a word that means I see or I resemble,It was mainly used in Coptic art depicting the holy family with other religious scenes.In Coptic art an icon represents the ecclesiastical that depicts mainly the holy family along with other religious scene.
In Egyptology the word or architectural element of the icon may slightly in concept from that in coptology. The term icon is applied here mainly because the very special characteristics of the stelae that do not apply here and because of the depiction of Akhenaten and his family together reminding us with the holy family scenes. Thus it could be mentioned that according to some scholars the term icon could be applied on this monument because the very special characteristics of the Stela that not applied here, while others agreed on the similarity in subject between the royal family of Akhenaten and the holy family that was considered the main subject in most of the Coptic icons.
The difference between the Stela and the icon can be mentioned in the following points :
The first difference is the theme that they both depict as the Stela depicts funerary, religious, or dedicatory scenes as we knew from the different types of Stela, while on the other hand the icon depicts religious, daily life or even secular scenes. The second difference between the Stela and the icon is the main parts of each of them as for the Stela it was usually divided into the lunette followed by the main scene that in turn was followed by the text, those parts are missed in the icon. The third difference is that this sort of Egyptian icon was kept in private chapels of Amarna houses, while stelae on the other hand were kept either in tombs or temples. Thus the icon could be defined as a frame which takes either square or rectangular shape and it includes a religious scene.
The importance of this icon / Stela as it is showing an intimate moment from the daily life of the royal family under the protection of god Aten.
We called the Stela of the royal family here as a holy family because this Stela is considered a personification of god Aten into this family since the people used to worship god Aten through the royal family, as the family of Akhenaten was the only link between Aten and people on earth.