Amenhotep IV: The Rebel 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

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,

Amenhotep III’s reign is often referred to the “Golden Age”, a time of political stability and economic prosperity for Egypt. With an abundance of tribute, booty, and access/exploitation of natural resources in conquered areas of Nubia, and its sphere of influence in Syria-Palestine; Egypt’s affluence only flourished. This enabled Amenhotep’s expanse/magnificent building programs, also resulting to advances in art and religion. Furthermore, changes in the importance and role of the queen progressed in this period; to the extent of Tiye’s deification, as evident in the temple at Sedeinga, built in dedication to her worship. Despite Amenhotep III’s reputation as a great diplomat, the effectiveness of his

When Akhenaten took over the throne he made many religious changes. Firstly, he changed the religion from polytheism to monotheism. The people of Egypt have traditionally worshipped many Gods who were in human or animal forms, but when Akhenaten took over he introduced the idea of worshipping in one God; Aten or sun-disc (BBC). This shows he is a visionary because he is one of the first people in history to introduce such an idea. Now many religions worship one God, but the first person to ever think of this idea was Akhenaten, which shows he thought ahead of his time and developed a new trend. Moreover, he changed the temples to being open to more people and not just high priests. He introduced a new form of temple which had open roofs so the sunlight can shine on the worshippers. The temple was more open to the public and more accessible. In modern society areas of worship are open to the public, this is similar to what Akhenaten tried to accomplish. He tried to show that a place of worship

Akhenaten did not reign for a long period of time. He died in his eighteenth year of his reign due to unknown causes. However, the changes he made did not last long due to the sentiments of the strong Amen priesthood and the angry Egyptians whose traditions were destroyed by Akhenaten. His name and reign were erased from the royal records of the Egyptian Pharaohs. His city, Akhetaten, was dismantled by his successor and the stones were moved to Thebes for the building of other monuments. His religious and governmental reformations were undone, and the religious capital was back to Thebes with polytheistic beliefs. To add salt to wound, his coffin was defaced and his royal nameplate was erased. It was believed to be an ultimate disgrace to a Pharaoh as this punishment was meant to keep his soul from recognizing his body in the Afterlife and his soul would wander around forever without being able to reincarnate.

Akhenaten came to the throne as Amenhotep IV.Early in his reign, the new pharaoh began to revise Egypt's religious system. The kingdom's broad pantheon of deities was now reduced to the sun god Aten. The worship of other

Amenhoter III was Akhenaten’s father. Contrary to what Drake presents he was neither the motivator, nor the example for Akhenaten’s new religion. Amenhoter was however very religious and took an invested interest in the housing of Egyptian deities and their properly.10 Akhenaten began his reign normally, and did not have objections to multiple gods of Egypt according to what records we have. This is another aspect Drake does not present accurately. He depicts Akhenaten as a youth, discussing how he will change Egypt religiously with Nefertiti. Nor does it appear Akhenaten had any problems with the city of Thebes in which he resided.11 However, at some point he had a revelation that all the other gods had “ceased operation,” and now only aten

Ramsses the II Have you ever imagined if you were in control of 100,000 men. Also being able to demolish a single army in a single battle . Ramsses II is easily one of the most powerful pharaoh in the 19th Dynasty and most likely the world. Ramsses was born in 1303 B.C. He also grew up in the royal court of Egypt.

Prior to Akhenaten’s 4th year of reign he did things much as his father’s had done before him, meaning building temples and statues in order to represent the Pharaohs grandness by his control of people in building these grand structures. Amenhotep III and Nefertiti change their names in the 4th year of his reign. Amenhotep forever becoming known as Akhenaten, (Aten is satisfied) from here until his death, and Nefertiti following her husband then became known as Nefernefruaten-Nefertiti. Changing his name from Amenhotep IV to occurred a month before he wrote: “being the documented day this was his recant of the first time he rode his chariot into the city of Akhetaten as Amenhotep IV, had carved it into the Boundary Stele contained within the first proclamation (Amarna Project Boundary Stele 2014:3). By year 7(some say 8) of his reign the capital was officially

Be that as it may, King Amenhotep IV took craftsmanship to an entire diverse level and I believe contributed more. Statues turned out to be considerably more realistic. Rather than worshiping

During Akhenaton and the Armana period, and not long after Nebamun was laid to rest, a revolution occurred which greatly affected society, religion and artistic style. During this time Amenhotep IV, who later changed his name to Akhenaton, abandoned any worship of most of the Egyptians gods favoring only Aton. Identified with the sun disk, Aton was declared the universal and only god by Akhenaton. Akhenaton removed the name Amen from all inscriptions, his father’s name as well as his own. He also enraged the priests by emptying the great temple and moving the capital to a site he naming it Akhetaton after his new god.

Ramses had a harsh and profound life, yet he was able to accomplish, build, and expand so many ideas across Egypt and even into today. Ramses II made most decisions based on his involvement whether that was war, politics, or ruling. Egypt had to rely on Ramses II to be Pharaoh when his father died. This step in which Ramses had to take at the age of 19 was hard to fulfill with only some training by his father. Ramses was able to accomplish many innovations that have survived to be around today. As ruler Ramses was also the leader of his army and led many battles including the famous war between the Egyptians and Hittites. Ramses created the first treaty to be written down after a war. Ramses has been known to be one of the most profound

Amenhotep IV was the first pharaoh to challenge the Egyptian culture and religious beliefs. His decision to make Aten, “The God of the Sun Disk”, the only god, took power away from the temple priests. Before Amenhotep IV made the changes, Egypt practiced polytheism not only worshiping the Sun Disk God, but around 12 other gods with roles such as fertility, the sky, the Nile River, childbirth, etc. With Egypt practicing monotheisms the temple priest have lost control of any political or religious gain they once held. This will be the first time Egypt practices monotheism. In making this change Amenhotep IV became known as Akhenaten, “Shining Spirit of Aten”. Becoming Akhenaten was not the only changes reflected from his reign as pharaoh.

Day 573 I have been pharaoh for some time now. My people have started building my temple.I know it will take a long time but it’s so I can live my life when I’m dead. I need to make Egypt more powerful. I will be the best pharaoh of Egypt. They will all remember me. I have to get more land I can do that if we take over more land.

“She believed the city hidden in rock would protect her from the past. Until it threatened to destroy her future.”As one of the most spectacular sites of the new wonders of the world, the city of Petra was once a deserted area of land with nothing but stone and sand, later transformed to a thriving environment for 30,000 Nabataeans to live their day-to day lives. In being built by the Nabatean architects as early as the 5th century BC in Ma’an Governorate, Jordan, many individuals continue to pose great questions such as, how the sight was carved and how there barely any signs of erosion. These wonders lead historians to focus on the various aspects of the most crucial element of every site: its geography. In particular, was there any reasoning behind its location to be hidden on the side of rocks and long trails? Why was it carved into the sand-stone rather than just constructed piece by piece as the ancient egyptians? How did they take advantage of their location through techniques in Civil engineering? More importantly, while the city is diffused around the dry landscape of Jordan, many argue that there are perfectly logical reasonings as to why the Nabatean architects chose to use the uninhabited location.