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In 1353 or possibly 1351 BCE, Amenhotep IV ascended to the throne of Egypt. In the fourth year of his reign, he changed his name to Akhenaten. He created a new monotheistic religion devoted to a single god named the Aten.
It was common in ancient Egypt for gods to merge identities, and Akhenaten may have been attempting to ease Egyptians into the idea of sun worship by associating the Aten with gods that were already familiar. An early representation of Amenhotep IV as the king can be found on the tomb's walls of a royal scribe named Kheruef (TT 192).
He created a new monotheistic religion devoted to a single god named the Aten. However, the pharaoh’s loyalty was not enough, and soon Akhenaten required that all of Egypt adopt his new god and abandon their old pantheon in favor of sun worship.
An upright commemorative slab from his early reign, known as a stela, describes Akhenaten's plan to erect a building that would be dedicated to the deity he called “Ra-Horakhty in his name of Shu, who is the Aten.” This early version of Akhenaten’s god was a composite of the Aten and the Egyptian gods Ra and Horus, the sun god and sky god.
In the fourth year of his reign, he changed his name to Akhenaten. He created a new monotheistic religion devoted to a single god named the Aten. However, the pharaoh's loyalty was not enough, and soon Akhenaten required that all of Egypt adopt his new god and abandon their old pantheon in favor of sun worship.
Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten and defied tradition by establishing a new religion that believed that there is but one god; the sun god Aten.
His monotheistic religion was based on the Aten, who is a single god. The pharaoh's loyalty was not enough, however, and shortly Akhenaten ordered the country to stop worshipping its old gods and instead switch to the sun. In the course of his reign, this religion consumed him, and he brought about remarkable changes.
What religious reforms did Akhenaten make? Early in his reign, Akhenaten identified himself with the sun god Aton and elevated the cult of Aton above the worship of most other gods, including Amon, the king of the gods. Akhenaten saw himself as Aton's earthly manifestation.
In a revolutionary gesture, he declared that there was only one god and introduced monotheism for the first time in the history of the world. By introducing the Aten as the one and only god, he shattered the foundations of the religious society built around temples, priests and gods.
Because the walls no longer had to support heavy, ten-to-twenty ton roof slabs, a new architectural standard was established: the huge blocks of stone previously used to erect temples and royal edifices were replaced by standard-sized stone bricks—Talatats—which had the advantage of being quicker to build with.
In just under two decades on the throne, Akhenaten imposed new aspects of Egyptian religion, overhauled its royal artistic style, moved Egypt's capital to a previously unoccupied site, implemented a new form of architecture and attempted to obliterate the names and images of some of Egypt's traditional gods.
He instituted a new religion, abolished the priestly class, moved the seat of government, and introduced a new public arts style. Yet most of these changes met with resistance and had to be reversed after his death.
Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaton, meaning "the Servant of Aten" early in his reign. Whereas his father, Amenhotep III, had sought to reduce the increasing power of the priesthood, Akhenaton practically dismantled it. Akhenaton started his reign as most Egyptian kings.
Akhenaten was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt. He is famous for changing the traditional religion of Egypt from the worship of many gods to the worship of a single god named Aten.
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton) Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaton, meaning "the Servant of Aten" early in his reign. Whereas his father, Amenhotep III, had sought to reduce the increasing power of the priesthood, Akhenaton practically dismantled it.
Changes in Art. This period of change during Akhenaton's reign has become known as "The Armana Revolution" or "The Armana Interlude". Besides the changes involving the king's position and title, the religious movements and the capital there was a new artistic style used as well.
Akhenaton started his reign as most Egyptian kings. But fairly early in his reign he introduced a monotheistic worship of Aten, the Sun God. At first he attempted to place temples for next to temples for other gods. Eventually he closed all the other temples and took their revenues.
When the first portraits of Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti was uncovered they were thought to represent two women because of Akhenaton's body style. Akhenaton's sculptures usually show him with an elongated neck, protruding belly and a lower body form more closely related to the way women were depicted.
As the only one with access to the god, Akhenaten established himself as a god-king and became the first king to be called Pharoah. New Capital at el-Armana. In a move to further distance he created a new capital at Akhenaton now known as el-Armana.
Bek, AAkhenaton's "Chief Sculptor and Master" proclaims in a stele that the king told the artists to create "what they saw". This led to the development of a more realistic style in the official art that in many cases continued on after Akhenaton's time. Akhenaton's Physiognomy.
After Akhenaton's death the backlash forced his son, Tutankhamen to reverse the move to monotheism and return to the worship of many gods.
Amenhotep’s Luxor Temple and the 250 statues that he commissioned show us that his reign was focused on impressing the rich and powerful people who surrounded him. This is based on who was intended to see the Luxor temple and what impression the temple would have left on its audience. Historians cite Akhenaten and Tutankhamun as the source of radical change in Egyptian history (Berman, 2001), when
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Tutankhamun was the twelfth king of the 18th Egyptian dynasty. His reign can be seen as a period of religious transition to the extent of that he reverted back to the traditional Egyptian religion after his predecessor’s radical revolution and laid the foundations for future rulers. However, it has been observed that many of the actions that were made during his reign were not made by him, instead by his advisors. Tutankhamun’s reign can be seen as a period of religious transition but only to a
Culture Spanning approximately 1550 to 1070 BCE, the New Kingdom of Egypt represents a golden age, one which was almost the opposite of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt in terms of its accomplishments. Some of the most prestigious names of ancient Egypt come from this period, such as Hatsetshup, the female pharaoh, Thutmose III, Ramses II, the last warrior pharaoh of the New Kingdom, King Akhenaten, the sun worshipper, his beloved wife
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