Akhenaten Accomplishments

Akhenanten IV was the son of Amenhotep III and his queen Tiye. Akhenaten came to power in the 1353 BCE and reign in the eighteenth dynasty. Akhenaten was crowned Amenhotep IV and was left behind with a prosperous land. Akhenaten ruled Egypt in a way it had never been ruled before. He transformed centuries of polytheism into monotheism, relocated the capital of Egypt, and “created” a new style of art.

Akhenaten mad many wives during his reign. The first and most well-known wife of Akhenaten was Nefertiti. Nefertiti was the daughter of Ay, a tutor of the young boy Amenhotep. Nefertiti was introduced to the young prince when she and him were children. At the age of fifteen she was married to Amenhotep. During their fifth through ninth year of wed Amenhotep

There are numerous documents of the time from other nations, writing to Egypt asking for help and were all ignore by the Pharaoh. “Egypt was a wealthy and prosperous nation at the time and had been steadily growing in power since before the reign of Queen Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BCE). Hatshepsut and her successors, such as Tuthmosis III, employed a balanced approach of diplomacy and military action in dealing with foreign nations…” (Mark, 2014). Akhenaten ignore much of what happened not only outside the borders of Egypt by what was going outside his palace.

Ribaddi, king of Byblos at the time, was one of Egypt’s allies, sent many letters to the King. Byblos was under attack my Aziru of Amor, and eventually were defeated without the help from Egypt.1

Akhenaten felt that Aten required a location free from traditional cults and decided to build a city in his honor. The site was chosen in the desert surrounded on three side by cliffs and on the west the Nile. The site chosen is was el-Amarna. In the cliffs of the boundaries is sculpted the inscriptions in which Akhenaten justifies his reasons for a new city.