Akhenaten-The Heretic King

Akhenaten was historically noteworthy for to reasons:

 1. He was the father of King Tut 

 2. He started a new religion.

Akhenaten came to the throne as Amenhotep IV. In the fifth year of his reign he changed his name to Akhenaten.

Amenhotep means “Amun is content.”

In the first years of his reign, he built temples to the Aten, the divine solar disk.

Then, he abandoned the state’s gods including Amun-Re, changed his name to Akhenaten and moved the capital to Amarna.

Before Akhenaten, the Egyptians had worshiped a whole pantheon of gods. They were depicted as having animal heads.

Akhenaten constructed a new capital cit called Akhetaten, which means “Horizon of Aten.”

The architecture of the Amara period is different than that of previous kings. His builders used smaller blocks and mortar. Mortar was not used by previous kings.

History has shown that the artwork of the Amarna period is very appealing to Westerners; much more than the artwork of the previous periods.

Amarna is depicted as a Utopia by some authors. However, although there was much planning for the homes of the elite, the homes of the populace were poorly planned.

Akhenaten died in the 17th year of his reign. King Tut succeeded his father and the capital cit was moved back to Luxor.

In addition, the old religion was restored.