Akhenaten the Revolutionary

These years were also called The Amarna Interlude in ancient Egyptian history. And really, it was an interlude. Ancient Egypt's customs and traditions were somewhat suspended for that time when this very interesting pharaoh decided to change things a bit...

He succeeded his father Amenhotep III, who is the great-grandson of the military genius Thutmosis III (the Egyptian Napoleon, remember?). Amenhotep III reigned for almost 40 years and the ancient Egyptian empire saw a period of stability and prosperity with almost no wars.

She also outlived him for many years, keeping the prestigious title of Pharaoh's Mother during her son's reign.

After Amenhotep III died, his son took over not only the throne, but also the very ambitious artistic development that had been started. But he didn't just take it over, he molded it and changed it and made an entirely new style of ancient Egyptian art. In this, he is also my favorite pharaoh...

He was married to the enigmatic Nefertiti whom we don't really know much about. Her beauty is famous, and so is her mysteriousness. I guess those two qualities have gone hand-in-hand since the ancient days!

We do know that, like his own mother, she was from non-royal blood - her father was the Vizier Ay who would later take the throne after Tutankhamun's premature death. Nefertiti herself died mysteriously in year 12 of the reign, after having only daughters - she was replaced by one of them as The Great Royal Wife.

So far nothing is too out of the ordinary; he was just following in his father's footsteps that were considered a little bit different anyway. But then, after a few years, Akhenaten started to show his true colors...

What a Strange Little Man

Up until then, with a few exceptions, pharaohs were depicted as nothing short of grand. They were perfect figures of masculinity and strength: broad shoulders, strong physique and sharp features.

But Akhenaten decided that not only did he want his statues to show his true image, he sometimes exaggerated his faults. He was thought to have a condition that made him look somewhat feminine; he did not hide it in his statues.

The Revolution

My mother calls him the philosopher, and in a sense, he really was much more ethereal in nature than his very "military" predecessors. He did something that was quite unthinkable back then: he changed thousands-of-years-old religious traditions and instated a monotheistic cult centered on the sun-disk, the "Aten".

This is one of the earliest forms of monotheism, and ancient Egypt was now supposed to let go of all of their Gods and Goddesses and worship only the sun.

Mind you, the Aten was not even a separate deity at the time! It was just a part of other Gods and Goddesses who usually wore it on their heads.

Still, as nice as it would be to think that he did all of this out of philosophical ideals, it really was part of a greater strategy (a very smart one at that). As you know, the priesthood in ancient Egypt was extremely powerful. At times, they were even more powerful than the pharaoh. And at this particular time the priesthood of Amun was gaining a lot of power, too much for comfort.

With this tactic however, Akhenaten was able to cut out the priesthood in one sweep! He built his own temple for sun-worship, closed down the temple of Amun at Karnak and moved the capital city to an unknown place called Akhetaten - this is now modern-day Amarna.

And if you remember, temples generated quite a large revenue... and now that the temple of Amun was closed, who do you think got to keep their "finances"?

Brilliant!

At least it seems that way. Of course such huge changes in such deeply-ingrained belief systems would cause nothing but opposition and enmity. Still, who dare challenge Pharaoh? The ancient Egyptians had to keep their hate to themselves.

And even with his fair share of enemies he did have followers, and when he died he was given the due burial of any pharaoh of ancient Egypt. His tomb is at Amarna, although the mummy was never found.

He was succeeded briefly by a younger brother, and then by King Tutankhamun - we don't even know if he was Akhenaten's son or not. This is still one of Egypt's great mysteries!

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