The Pharaohs Of The 18th Dynasty

However, the Amun priesthood soon controlled 1/3 of all of Egypt’s wealth, warranting them a significant amount of power which rivalled that of the Pharaoh- in interpreting Amun’s will which even the Pharaoh himself was obliged to obey.

Another significant pharaoh was Ramses II, he also helped made Egypt stronger through his military strength, architectural knowledge, and even his religious beliefs. Specifically Ramses II military was

Akhenaten was an Egyptian king during the New Kingdom and he tried to change the Egyptian religion. In the readings the document titled The Great Hymn to the Aten describes why king Akhenaten tried to change the ancient religion, and why this ended up being very important later on. What he tried to do was change the Egyptian religion by introducing something similar to monotheism. Though the main reason for this significant change was, according to the readings, “He ordered this change to downgrade the influence of the rich priests of Amen-Re, the local deity from Thebes who rose to national prominence in the New Kingdom and became Re (the sun god)” (Readings, p.23). So he basically did this because of rich priests from Thebes’s growing influence

Religion was a significant issue throughout the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Amarna period, and shortly after it. Within the infantry stage of the new pharaoh Akhenaten’s reign, he had turned the customary polytheistic religion worshiped by citizens for many years into a monotheistic worship of the Aten, a god represented by the sun disk. Furthermore, Akhenaten possessed such strong beliefs for the god Aten that he created a new city, Amarna, where all could worship Aten, singularly. Akhenaten's obsession caused the devotion of the Aten to become more of a cult than a religion. Within the Great Hymn to the Aten Akhenaten states that only he “knows” Aten, meaning when citizens pray to Aten, they are not allowed to pray directly

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

Akhenaten, originally known as Amenhotep IV, was the ruler of Egypt during the Armena Period of the 18th Dynasty. Although he only reigned for 17 years, the changes he made to Egypt’s religion, economy and politics affected many. This made him very well known. The motives of his decisions are still relatively unsure today, however the reformation of religion had a great impact on society as it influenced so many aspects of Egyptian life. Akhenten introduced the concept of a monotheism religion, trying to focus Egypt’s worship on only one god, the Aten. Part of this religious revolution, Akhenaten built a new capitol city (called Akhetaten) dedicated to the Aten. He also wanted to lessen the power of the Amun priesthood. Akhenaten completely renovated Egyptian art. Finally he neglected his role and obligations within foreign affairs. It is believed that these changes had an overall negative effect on Egypt.

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

Ahmose I reigned from 1550 to 1525 BC.Ahmose means “The Moon is Born.” He was the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom. During his reign Egypt was finally and completely liberated from the Hyksos. He was a boy when he assumed the throne, having lost his father Seqenenre Taa II and his brother Kahmose within three years of each other. His mother was Queen Ashotep, a powerful woman who was perhaps his co-regent during his early years. During his early years the Hyksos may have evan gained some ground (Ahmose).

In Burton MacDonald’s book entitled, Ancient Ammon, he states that Ammon, or Amun was one of the most powerful gods in ancient Egypt. At the height of Egyptian civilization he was called the “King God”. He was originally an Ethiopian or Libyan godliness, whose reverence eventually spread all over Egypt, a section of the northern coast of Africa, and several parts of Greece, the Greeks called him Zeus Ammon. According to MacDonald, in the countries where his reverence was first established he was worshiped in certain respects as the supreme divinity, is clear from the fact, that the Greeks

and given the name Tutankhaten, meaning "the living image of Aten." At that time ancient Egypt was going through great social and political troubles. King Tut’s father had forbidden the worship of many gods in favor of worshiping one, Aten, the sun disk which is part of the sun god Ra. For this, he is known as the "heretic king." Historians differ on how powerful the change from polytheism to monotheism was or whether it was King Akhenaten only trying to elevate the sun god Ra to more power above the other gods. But as I was reading it looked like King Akhenaten was trying his best to reduce the power of the priests and shift the traditional temple-based economy to a new regime run by local government administrators and military commanders so he could have a more say in what was going on in

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.

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 the dynastic era, temple priests constantly impugned the authority of the pharaoh. To negotiate with the local priests, the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amenhotep IV bought about a new tradition to the people of ancient Egypt; this belief was called polytheism (Fiero 53). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, polytheism is defined as “the belief in many gods.” There are almost two thousand gods in the Egyptian pantheon including Osiris, the god of the underworld, Isis, the goddess of Heaven, and Horus, the sky god. But of the identified Egyptian gods, the one Amenhotep IV made most significant of them all was Aten, the god of the sun (Fiero 53).

The earliest religious belief for the Egyptians is the sun god Amon. Amon considered greater than any other deity in the Egyptian pantheon. This god role was called the sun god and creator of heaven and earth. The Egyptians believe that Amon gave sunlight and made it possible the cultivation of crops. The Egyptians viewed the sun’s daily ascent in the east as symbolic of the god’s rebirth”.

Religion was one of the most crucial factor that made the Egyptian monarch seem so powerful. An Egyptian king, Pharaoh, often viewed as a son of god or a person that chosen by the god. Every Pharaoh believed that god was the one who made them succeeded. God made them so powerful in the eyes of their own people. Everything their king said was the final called to them. According to the video, Ahmose believed that god was the one who grounded him an empire. God speak to him and help him received his victory. Hatshepsut also used god to gained trust from her people. Not only did god speak to her, but god is her father. Her beauty and perfection were granted from god.