Akhenaten
Akhenaten came to power as the pharaoh of Egypt in either the year 1353 or 1351 BCE and reigned for roughly 17 years during the 18th dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom. Akhenaten became best known to modern scholars for the new religion he created that centered on the Aten. In Akhenaten’s new religion, this figure generally came to be represented as a sun disk and is best understood as the light produced by the sun itself. The king ascended the throne under his birth name, Amenhotep IV, but in his fifth regnal year, he changed his name to one that better reflected his religious ideas (Amenhotep = “Amun is satisfied,” Akhenaten = “Effective for Aten”). Shortly after this first significant step, Akhenaten initiated a series of changes in Egyptian religion, art and writing that appeared to coincide with the jubilees of his deified father, Amenhotep III, and the Aten.
What, then, was this new religion that motivated Akhenaten to upend so many elements of Egyptian society? The answers are rooted in uncertainties, leading Egyptologists to long debate the nature of Akhenaten’s transformation. Scholars have argued in favor of monotheism, henotheism, agnosticism and almost everything in between. What is certain, though, is this new religion elevated the Aten to the position of state deity and centered largely on its worship. Akhenaten further reshaped Egypt’s religious sphere through the persecution of some traditional gods, most notably Amun – Egypt’s state deity for much of the 18th dynasty. Sometime around his fourth regnal year, Akhenaten even dispatched agents to erase the names and images of certain gods from existing texts and monuments.
Akhenaten’s new approach to religion manifested itself in other facets of Egyptian culture, most notably the artistic sphere. The first works commissioned by the king appeared in the traditional Theban style, employed by nearly every 18th dynasty pharaoh preceding him. However, as he implemented new religious ideas, royal art evolved to reflect the concepts of Atenism. The most striking changes are seen in the appearance of the royal family. Heads became larger than in the traditional style and were supported by elongated and slender necks. The royal family took on a more androgynous appearance that sometimes even obscured the difference between Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. Their faces were characterized by large lips, long noses and squinting eyes, and their bodies displayed narrow shoulders and waists, small and somewhat concave torsos and large thighs, buttocks and bellies.
These steps toward cultural revolution culminated in Akhenaten’s decision to move Egypt’s capital from Thebes to a previously unoccupied site he named Akhetaten (present-day Tell el Amarna), meaning “the place where the Aten becomes effective.” In year five of Akhenaten’s reign he contended that he “discovered” the location of the new royal city. The king proclaimed that the Aten had manifested itself for the first time on the site and that the Aten had chosen this site for the king alone. Armana also seems to have been chosen because the cliffs that frame the new city resembled the Axt symbol, meaning “horizon.” In order to quickly construct the city, smaller building blocks, called talatat, were introduced that were easier for unskilled laborers to manage. Most of the township and administration buildings were completed roughly three years later.