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Explain The Changes From The Reign Of Akhenaten

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During the New Kingdom Egypt, the 18th dynasty gave way to religious, social, and political tensions due to the changes in the religious beliefs and practices. The most significant of these changes came from the reign of Akhenaten, formally Amenhotep IV, who religious reform to monotheistic beliefs caused upheaval in both Egypt and its allies. One of the most prominent tensions caused by Akhenaten’s conversion to monotheism was with the religious powers of ancient Egypt New Kingdom (1570 BCE-1051 BCE) specifically, the religious cult of Amun. The Cult of Amun was the most powerful religious cult in the New Kingdom, with the god coming into prominence at the start of the 18th dynasty as the new king of the gods, however, was mentioned in religious …show more content…

Akhenaten let the worship of multiple gods continue, stating that “All the gods are aspects of the sun, so the sun must be worshipped by both humans and gods.” But around the ninth year of his rule, he closed all of the old temples of the gods and banned the worship of polytheism altogether. Barbara Watterson states that this was “. a very serious matter, for these institutions played an important part in the economic and social life of the country.” By closing the temples, he centralised his own power by claiming to be the only mediator between the Aten and humans, but he also damaged the economy of Egypt as there was not as much money coming in to support the building projects of the pharaoh. Building projects such as moving the capital city from Thebes to the new city in modern-day Amarna, then called Akhetaten, was an enormous shift that would’ve drained the economy. The city was dedicated to the worship of the sun disc, Aten and was the area that the royal family stayed. This move would’ve been met with upheaval and protest due to the capitals Memphis and Thebes traditionally being dedicated to the gods,

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Akhenaten, previously known as Amenhotep IV, was one of the most controversial Pharaohs to rule Egypt. As pharaoh, Akhenaten changed the polytheistic religion of Egypt to a monotheistic religion devoted to the Aten, which was depicted as a sun disk. The Egyptians despised this radical idea, but were forced to change their religion, art and their overall way of life. His reign began at around 1353 BC in the 18th Dynasty, following the death of his father Amenhotep III, and lasted until 1336 BC. His father’s reign was peaceful and prosperous, leaving Akhenaten with an Egypt of immense power and wealth.

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Naram Sin, Augustus and Akhenaton were three different rulers who veered off the common traditions of the time periods they lived in. Naram Sin was different from other Mesopotamian ruler in that he asserted his power through claiming himself as a God. Akhenaton attempted to religiously convert Ancient Egypt from a religion with a wide set of Gods to a single God, the Aten. Augustus portrayed himself as a perfect human being who would bring the height of Rome. Naram Sin, Augustus, and Akhenaten were ancient rulers from different time periods, yet they were similar in that they all shifted away from their era’s traditional beliefs and artworks.

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Akhenaten’s changes to ancient Egypt’s religion were more important than his changes to ancient Egypt’s art. Akhenaten, an Egyptian pharaoh of the New Kingdom originally known as Amenhotep IV, was known for his radical religious changes centred around the worship of Aten, the sun disc, making a brief but significant departure from traditional polytheism in Ancient Egypt. Akhenaten’s introduction of Aten worship elevated the sun disc to supreme deity and advocated the idea of monotheism, the act of believing in a single all-powerful god, over traditional polytheism, the act of believing and worshipping many gods/deities. This new belief marked a profound theological shift in Ancient Egypt. By centralising religious authority around himself and

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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.

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Even though this happened, Akhenaten is still important in history because he change Egypt from polytheistic to monotheistic, built seven structures at Karnack including the temple “Rud-menu” and Gempaaten, and made a new capital called Amarna and it was based off the sun. He was born in 1380 B.C. and in Egypt. He lived in a land that everyone was worshipping the god Amun. Amun was the most worshipped god in this time period He was said to be deformed and had Marfan’s syndrome there was a 50-50 chance that his children would get it too. His face and others body parts were elongated and he was shaped like a woman.

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Akhenaten's Sed festival seemingly acted as the christening of a new age, and most Egyptologists recognize a connection to the “theocracy of Aten.” When Akhenaten made his move to Thebes and celebrated the Sed, he broke with the identity of Egypt itself and began the Amarna Period, a radical departure from nearly 1,500 years of recorded Egyptian

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He made massive changes to religion and heavily invested in creating new cities and temples to honor Aten. According to J. Hill from Ancient Egypt online, Akhenaten built several structures during the early part of his reign while he was still using the name Amenhotep. These temples included Rud-menu, a palace and a complex named Gempaaten where the royal family spent their winter months. It's also noted here that the name change was during the “fifth or sixth year” of his reign at which point Akhenaten started to heavily build, invest and promote the one god Aten to turn Egypt from a multi-god pantheon to a monotheism.

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Akhenaten had a very interesting and surprising life. He had many strengths and weaknesses, and very interesting biographical information. He also had many great accomplishments in his life. Akhenaten’s biographical information is the most interesting pharaoh and he had the most interesting family out of all the pharaoh’s there ever was. Akhenaten’s wife was the famous queen Nefertiti, and it is said that his son was the most famous pharaoh but not a pharaoh with lots of accomplishments named King Tutankhamun or King Tut.

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Akhenaten was a devoted man that put all of his faith in the god Aten, who was the god of the sun disk. The pharaoh was originally known as Amenhotep the fourth but changed his name to Akhenaten, which meant “He who serves Aten.” Akhenaten was a strong believer in his god that having another gods name in his name was unacceptable to him. After the pharaoh fully devoted himself to his god, he tried to bring other people in worshipping Aten by developing a temple at Thebes. Although, people’s faith in their gods was much stronger and they refused to worship Aten, Akhenaten did not give up.

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The religious beliefs centered on the worship of numerous deities who signified various features of ideas, nature and purposes of power. Religion played a part in every aspect of the lives of the ancient Egyptians because life on earth was seen as only one part of an eternal journey, and in order to continue that journey after death, one needed to live a life worthy of continuance. So, the information about what did religion affect and how did religion affect the lives of the ancient Egyptians will be provided in this paper. First of all the belief in many gods and goddesses was crucial part of everyday life in ancient Egypt.

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One of the biggest changes Akhenaten made was shifting the primary worship away from the god Amun, and focused on the god of the sun, Aten. His father also ordered the images of other Egyptian gods be destroyed, which upset many Egyptians. After giving the order to destroy all images, Akhenaten also had the temples of the different gods destroyed or closed. Although the Egyptian people were probably happy to hear of Akhenaten’s death, his young son was not ready to ascend to the throne (“King Tut”

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