When you read this short text (less than 10 pages), you almost immediately imagine yourself in a biblical atmosphere. At first glance, it is a paean to the creator of all things. In very poetic language, that creator – the solar disk Aten - and its work are incensed, highlighting how it animates everything. The label 'hymn' is therefore well deserved. But the sting is in the tail: in it the writer of this hymn is called the son of God and the only one who knows God. If you know that the official writer of this text is the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, then suddenly the poem of praise turns into a propagandistic pamphlet and we are left somewhat sobered.
So we are talking about that infamous, "heretical" pharaoh, who reigned from c. 1353 to c. 1336 and who was formerly regarded as the inventor of monotheism. Various studies are still appearing about his exclusive sun disc cult and Egyptologists are therefore far from agreeing on how to interpret this special period in Ancient Egyptian history (see the review in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads .com/review/show/5448758873). There certainly is a political-propagandistic aspect to it, but even apart from that, this text exudes an exceptional poetic power, and the spiritual message that everything in our world is one, is remarkable to say the least.