Essay about Akhenaten: Heretic Man or Visionary Pharaoh?

A woman becoming Pharaoh had been almost unheard of in ancient Egypt until Hatshepsut was born. Hatshepsut was the second daughter of the pharaoh, Thothmes I. After her sister, Neferu-khebit, died, Hatshepsut was the next heir to the throne unless a male married her and became Pharaoh. After Thothmes passed away, Hatshepsut fearfully, yet confidently, claimed the throne and commenced one of the most successful She-Pharaoh reigns ever recorded. Pauline Gedge’s Child of the Morning explained the social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of ancient Egypt’s society during Hatshepsut’s reign as Queen and Pharaoh.

Akhenaten is often not credited as being one of the great pharaoh’s of ancient Egypt; his name is not as recognized as his son, Tutankhamen. However he deserves acknowledged for being a revolutionary leader. Akhenaten is most well-known as being a spiritual enthusiast and instigator of revolution within the kingdom of Egypt. Many historians have recognized Akhenaten with being solely responsible for developing a religious revolution in Egypt. Nevertheless his struggles defined as the first true effort at instituting a monotheistic state in a polytheistic society, his efforts were not eternal. The reasoning behind his decisions to change Egypt's faith is still observed though to this day. “Today most historical resources believe Akhenaten

Amenhotep IV commenced his reign in 1353 BCE and was of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. When Amenhotep IV came to power, the priests of Amun had been gradually growing in power and were almost equal with the royal house in terms of wealth and influence. During the 5th year of his reign he outlawed the ancient religion which was centered on the worship and offerings to many Gods in particular those of the composite deity Ra-Amun-Horus (Ra- daytime sun, Amun- underworld sun, - Horus- the sunrise). He then changed his name to Akhenaten, proclaiming himself to be the living incarnation of the all-powerful, single deity known as ‘Aten’ (The visible sun). Traditionally, as described in the Coffin Texts of the Middle kingdom, the ‘Aten’ was the name for the sun-disk and in the "Story of Sinuhe", Amenemhat I is described to have soared into the sky, uniting with the Aten, his creator. The early stages of "Atenism" was as a henotheistic religion (devotion to a single god but recognising the existence of others), but quickly developed into a monotheistic system where the worship of all other Gods was banned, including the making and worship of idols, allowing only the rayed sun-disk to be displayed as a representation of ‘God’, for the ‘Aten' was the sole deity. Ordinary people could not worship the Aten

Akhenaten, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, had big shoes to fill when he stepped up to the throne. His father, Amenhotep III, had helped restore their country to its former glory by being a diplomat. Amenhotep negotiated with bordering nations to provide stable political alliances, and trade routes. Egypt,

The Egyptians believed that their pharaohs were the reincarnation of the sun god Re, the chief god who held the most power of all of the gods. This was believed because the pharaohs had immense power, governed huge areas of lands, and controlled vast resources such as gold and slaves. The pharaohs also elevated their status by building huge structures to the gods that seemed to transcend their earthly life, such as the pyramids and temples. The pharaohs used ordinary Egyptians to build the pyramids, not slaves, because the Egyptians wanted to please the god king so they would be guaranteed a place in the afterlife. The pharaohs also conquered thousands of square miles of land through military victories which seemed almost impossible for mere mortals. Similarly, the Mesopotamian kings were believed to be the sons of gods. The god the kings were related to depended on the city state’s main god, which was usually Anu. The king was also the chief priest which continued the relationship, keeping them close to the gods. The kings took on massive public works projects as well as military conquests which further cemented this belief. Because of the importance of the gods to these societies, their leaders were raised to a “godly” status as a reflection of their significance and as a result of their many accomplishments, which also gave the people a more tangible connection to the gods.

The history of ancient Egypt is divided into three blocks of time referred to as kingdoms. The kingdoms were named as the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. This essay highlights the differences among the three kingdoms in terms of politics, economics, sculpture, and architecture.

During the reign of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Egyptian civilization became developed and powerful. Also, during the New Kingdom the life of Egyptians changed in a different aspects. One of the changes was renewed traditions. Another change that happened was a rise of a new aristocracy “whose wealth was acquired through warfare and the winning of the lands which they received from the pharaoh” (Western Civilization, pg.31).

As a result, Amenhotep III soon shifted attention and investment of resources to various solar deities/cults including Nekhbet, Thoth, Hathor, Ptah, and largely developed interest in the Aten “the dazzling sun disk”. His self-deification as Amun and later Aten as discussed by Jan Assman, aside from reinforcing control of territory, was a direct political challenge to the power of the Amun priesthood, as evident through his depiction at the Soleb temple with the horns of Amun. In his identification and claims to be an incarnation ofAmun, a main deity, who he no longer fell subject to the Amun priesthood’s religious will, but rather was in a more dominant position over them, further reasserting his authority as Pharaoh-god. Influences of Aten were starting to feature prominently as religious symbolism, such as the replacing of the neb glyph/ traditional depiction of the solar boat with new iconography and epithets on royal regalia; and adding Aten to names of buildings, royal barges and even his daughter, Bakenaten. This rebellion endured and most possibly shaped his son,

Religious life was tied to social life in every aspect, and the Egyptian year was based around religious festivals. These festivals stopped under Atenism, and the people of Egypt were introduced to a new tradition: the procession of Akhenaten and Nefertiti mirroring the sun moving across the sky. However, this new tradition was not capable of adequately replacing the traditions of the past: “The festivals of the past which had divided the year and provided the stops and starts which powered day-to-day living were removed; and they do not seem to have been replaced-despite the fact, as Barry Kemp has observed that ‘worship of the sun provides a ready-made set of calendrical feasts [in the form of] the solstices and equinoxes.’ The progress of the king along the Royal Road, however splendidly orchestrated, offered but a poor substitute.” Egyptians lived their lives based around the various festivals of their gods, and in removing these festivals, Akhenaten removed a piece of culture he could not replace. Maat, the Egyptian concept of order controlled by the pharaoh meant that every single part of daily life was touched by the introduction of the new religion. Thebes, the cultural center of Egypt, was abandoned by the pharaoh, and he moved life to Akhenaten. For Egyptians outside of the city, what they experienced of Atenism was a loss of traditions they had followed for generations, and these changes did not bode well for a long-lasting

Upper and Lower Egypt were united for the first time under one ruler, however, this would come to an end around 2200 B.C.. In much of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Pharaoh was often depicted as almost larger than life, with great power and much of Egyptian art is a celebration of his accomplishments. The formation of a royal absolutism occurred during this period, with the Pharaoh and a small-centralized administration, composed mainly of royal kin and relatives, overseeing all aspects of Egyptian life. The Pharaoh was looked at as a living god among the Egyptian people, who assured the success of Egypt as well as its peace. "The Pharaoh belonged both to the world of the gods and the world of men, and he was seen as a bridge between them. Some of the local deities represented various aspects of nature, such as the earth and the sky, or the Nile and it's gifts of fertility. So the king, living in their midst, could bring the Egyptians into a harmonious relationship with their divinities and with the forces of nature upon which their whole existence depended" (Hawkes 43).

This book is being written by one of the famous author in the history world. This biographical book describes the life of pharaoh named Akhenaten. Much story has been told about who Akhenaten is. Some people claimed that Akehnaten might be suffering from genetic disorder disease and some speculated that he might be a woman. This book also describe Akhenaten as a heretic as he sought to impose its people to really worship one God and even change the country in any way of his own. In this evaluation book, Nicholas Reeves point out some issues with the existing perspectives of

When Amenhotep IV rose to power, his first move was to shift the royal residence of the pharaoh and his wife to Akhetaten. He then changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect the dramatic change which he intended to bring to the religious theology. The most distinctive characteristic about this era is that Akhenaten converted the religion from one that worshipped many deities to a monotheistic

During each period, there is always a leader who changes a basic component of society: a king or ruler. We find characteristics of leaders as well as what changes they made in the ancient and medieval period. It is important to study ancient history because we can learn the mistakes and impacts of the decisions they made. During the time periods, organization depended upon the leader that brought change to the state. The organization of government relied upon the role of certain individuals or groups.

Tell el-‘Amarna, the city built by Heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten was located between Luxor and Cairo along the Nile. The city was occupied during the reign of Akhenaten and abandoned after his death by his son, Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Although the city was along occupied for a short period of time, archaeologists have been able to reconstruct a fairly accurate representation of the city. However, because the city was associated with Aten and the religion of the heretic king, the city was partially destroyed and nearly all evidence of the culture during the reign of Akhenaten was destroyed. Although the Egyptian people attempted to erase this pharaoh from history, the city tells the story of the time through the few pieces of art, the tombs, and the city plans. The articles written by Croker and one of the ones written by Kemp discuss the value of architecture and how it related to status within the society of the time. The other articles written by Ikram, and Kemp, Stevens, Dabbs, Zabecki, and Rose discuss the art, religion, and ritual practices. The city of Amarna was created on the basis of abandoning the old gods in favor of the worship of a single god, Aten. Societies in ancient history were based primarily on religion, and while archaeologists try to use Amarna as a basis for the study of New Kingdom Egypt because the religions changed Amarna should not be used as a template. Akhenaten aimed to abandon the old ways

The Egyptian city of Amarna was a capital built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten which was abandoned shortly after his death in 1332 BCE. The city of Amarna was where Akhenaten pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the devotion of the power of the sun god, the Aten. It remains the largest accessible living site of Ancient Egypt. It is a key to the history of the religious experiences of Egypt and to a fuller extent the life of an egyptian. There is no other site like it. The website mentions that the site is in danger of encroachment. This sounds very interesting to me and I’d like to see how the life of an Egyptian was at the time. I don’t know much about the Egyptians, but I’d like to learn more