Concept

Akhenaten

Overview

Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Akhenaton, Echnaton, and Khuenaten (Ancient Egyptian: ꜣḫ-n-jtn ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy, pronounced [ˈʔuːχəʔ nə ˈjaːtəj] , meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Originally named Amenhotep IV (Ancient Egyptian: jmn-ḥtp, meaning "Amun is satisfied", Hellenized as Amenophis IV), in the fifth year of his reign he adopted the name "Akhenaten".

As a pharaoh, Akhenaten is noted for abandoning the traditional, polytheistic ancient Egyptian religion, and introducing Atenism, or worship centered around Aten. The views of Egyptologists differ as to whether the religious policy was absolutely monotheistic, or whether it was monolatristic, syncretistic, or henotheistic. This culture shift away from traditional religion was reversed after his death. Akhenaten's monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from lists of rulers compiled by later pharaohs. Traditional religious practice was gradually restored, notably under his close successor Tutankhamun, who changed his name from Tutankhaten early in his reign. When, some dozen years later, rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors and referred to Akhenaten as "the enemy of Akhetaten", "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records.

Akhenaten was all but lost to history until the late 19th-century discovery of Amarna, or Akhetaten, the new capital city he built for the worship of Aten. Furthermore, in 1907 a mummy that could be Akhenaten's was unearthed from the tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings by Edward R. Ayrton. Genetic testing has determined that the man buried in KV55 was Tutankhamun's father, but its identification as Akhenaten has since been questioned.

Akhenaten's rediscovery and Flinders Petrie's early excavations at Amarna sparked great public interest in the pharaoh and his queen Nefertiti. He has been described as "enigmatic", "mysterious", "revolutionary", "the greatest idealist of the world", and "the first individual in history", but also as a "heretic", "fanatic", "possibly insane", and "mad". Public and scholarly fascination with Akhenaten comes from his connection with Tutankhamun, the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and the religion he attempted to establish, foreshadowing monotheism.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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From this city many go abroad in various directions, some to one city and others to another, and when they have dug up the bones of the oxen they carry them off, and coming together they bury them in one single place. In the same manner as they bury the oxen they bury also their other cattle when they die; for about them also they have the same law laid down, and these also they abstain from killing.
Herodotus, The History of Herodotus — Volume 1
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Dr. _Castel_ [83] tells us, that in _Coptic_ this City is called _Manphtha_; whence by contraction came its Names _Moph_, _Noph_.
Isaac Newton, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended
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There are seven classes of people among the Egyptians—priests, warriors, herdsmen, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters, and pilots. Their warriors are called Calasiries or Hermotybies. The Hermotybies number, when they are most numerous, a hundred and sixty thousand. None of these learn any business or mechanical art, but apply themselves wholly to military affairs.
Herodotus, The Boys' and Girls' Herodotus
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Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Monotheism.

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