This archive report was first published on 5 June 2020.
Published on June 5, 2020, by Philip Ochieng, a veteran journalist.
The Latin word 'fundus' is the etymological root of both 'funds' and 'fundamentals'. However, the concept of 'foundation' extends beyond these derivatives, encompassing the idea of establishing an institution or a social cause.
Imhotep founded the Great Pyramid, Plato founded the Academy, and Zeno founded Stoicism. Similarly, Akhenaten, also known as Moses, founded formal monotheism, which later spawned the three Western theisms.
Metaphorically, a foundation is the basic experience, idea, or attitude on which a social belief rests. In the case of monotheism, the Nilo-Coptic god Aten, imposed by Pharaoh Akhenaten, was the foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Lord Jethro, whose daughter Tharbis Akhenaten later married, sold him the idea of returning to Egypt to recapture his kingdom militarily. However, his ragtag army was routed, and he fled with many of the slaves into the desert, occasioning the biblical legend of Exodus.
It is a profound thought that the former pharaoh Akhenaten, the royal Copt later known pseudonymously as Moses, was the founder of formal monotheism. This idea has been declared 'heretical' by the newly wangled 'Judaeo-Christian tradition', but it is a concept that warrants further exploration.
