(Amenhotep IV, Neferkheperure’ Wa’en’re) (d. 1335 B.C.E.) Ninth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, called the “heretic pharaoh”
He reigned from 1353 B.C.E. until his death. Akhenaten has been called the first monotheist or the “heretic pharaoh” in some lists, because of his denial of the divine pantheons of Egypt. His throne name was Neferkheperure (translated as “Re’s transformations are perfect”), to which he added Wa’en’re (“the unique one of Re”).
Akhenaten served as coregent with his father, AMENHOTEP III (r. 1391–1353 B.C.E.), maintaining the usual cultic rituals until he married NEFERTITI, perhaps a cousin, and possibly a daughter of AYA (2) and Tiye, commoners. Alternatively, Nefertiti might have been a commoner granddaughter of YUYA and Tuya, the parents of Queen TIYE (1). The marriage was politically advantageous because Nefertiti’s family came from AKHMIN,a stronghold of aristocratic power needed by the pharaohs.
In the second year of his reign, Akhenaten began his worship of the solar god ATEN, a deity that had been evident in the royal structures of TUTHMOSIS IV (r. 1401–1391 B.C.E.), his grandfather, and AMENHOTEP III. Aten was a SOLAR DISK that shone on the Nile River, believed by some scholars to be a form of Re’-Harakhte. The young pharaoh renounced the name Amenhotep and called himself Akhenaten, the “Horizon of the Sun Disk” or “He Who is of the Service to Aten.” Nefertiti became Nefer-Nefru-Aten, meaning “Beautiful is the Beauty of Aten.”
In the fourth year of his reign, Akhenaten and Nefertiti visited a site on the Nile south of modern MALLAWI. There a new capital was constructed, called Akhetaten, “the Horizon of the Sun Disk.” This site is now known as el-’AMARNA, in honor of a tribe of Bedouins who settled there in the 1700’s C.E. Vast and marked by 14 perimeter stelae, the new capital was six miles long, centering on the royal residence and the temple of Aten. There were well-planned urban districts, pools, gardens, and a royal avenue that ran parallel to the Nile. An innovative brick bridge, designed to connect two separate buildings and containing an opening called the WINDOW OF APPEARANCE, where the ruler and his consort addressed guests and bestowed honors upon courtiers who had served with distinction, graced the royal avenue. The beautiful and unique “Amarna style” was used in decorating the capital, demonstrating a natural and free unison of the arts. Akhetaten was completed in the fifth or sixth year of Akhenaten’s reign.
Religious services in the capital were reserved for Akhenaten alone, although he appointed a high priest in the later years. Few others had access to the sacred precincts; even Nefertiti was relegated to minor roles in the daily rituals. Many ceremonies were held in the open sunlight, a custom that brought about complaints from foreign dignitaries. These ambassadors and legates from other lands attended the ceremonies in honor of Aten and suffered heatstrokes as a result.
Outside of the capital, however, the old gods of Egypt held sway. Akhenaten closed down some temples, confiscating the vast plantations of the priests. He also viewed himself as the lone mediator with Aten, thus injuring the great bureaucratic machinery that maintained Egypt’s vast government agencies. His destruction of temple plantations, sources of valuable food products, led Egypt toward economic ruin. Abuses by lesser officials and the weakening of established distribution processes started early in his reign.
In his eighth year, Akhenaten welcomed his mother, Queen Tiye, and his sister, BAKETAMUN, to the capital. They accepted a villa there and remained at Akhenaten’s side. He was still militarily active at the time, not having established his reclusive ways or his abandonment of Egypt as a nation. During this period he conducted a campaign south of ASWAN (in modern Sudan) and sent troops to Egyptian vassal states in the Mediterranean region. Mercenary troops maintained garrisons in vassal cities. The collection of correspondence from this era is called the ’AMARNA LETTERS. They demonstrate his military activities.
His family life was deteriorating, however. A second wife, KIYA, possibly a MITANNI princess originally named TADUKHIPA, bore him two sons and a daughter but then fell out of favor. A daughter by Nefertiti, MEKET-ATEN,is reported to have died bearing Akhenaten’s child, and by the 12th year of his reign, Nefertiti was no longer at his side. She was replaced by another one of her daughters, MERYT-AMUN (1). Nefertiti remained in the capital but resided in a separate villa, removed from religious and social affairs. Her demise is not documented. Some historical accounts state that she lived to counsel TUT’ANKHAMUN when he took the throne in 1333 B.C.E.
After Nefertiti’s exit from the palace, Akhenaten became even more involved in the service of Aten. He spoke of the god as a celestial pharaoh, using the sun disks and its illuminating rays as symbols of creation. Akhenaten’s hymn to Aten, discovered in the tomb of Aya in ’Amarna, provides the universal theme of worship that he tried to promote throughout the land. His agents, however, began a program of destruction that violated the other temples and shrines of Egypt, dismaying the common populace and making Aten unpopular.
SMENKHARE, a relative of Akhenaten, and the husband of Meryt-Amun, is believed by some scholars to have been Nefertiti in assumed guise, serving for a time as coregent. He succeeded Akhenaten in 1335 B.C.E. but ruled only two years, dying at the age of 20. Akhenaten died in his 18th year of reign, 1335 B.C.E., and was buried in ’Amarna. His remains were moved by priests when Tut’ankhamun was entombed and placed somewhere in THEBES. His capital was abandoned, and later rulers, such as HOREMHAB (1319–1307 B.C.E.), removed stones called TALATATS for other projects. Some 12,000 blocks from Akhenaten’s capital at ’Amarna have been gathered from a pylon built by Horemhab at KARNAK.
Akhenaten’s portraits intrigue modern scholars, depicting a grotesque figure with a sagging torso and elongated features. Some of these images indicate a disease, such as Frohlich’s Syndrome. It is possible, however, that these statues were Osirian in style, portraying the god of death in the stages of decomposition, a popular artistic device in certain eras. The statues correlate to other innovations of the ’Amarna style of art, a wondrously free and gifted method of expressing Egyptian metaphysical ideals. Egyptian LITERATURE of this time demonstrates the same creativity and limitless exploration of ideas. During Akhenaten’s reign the spoken language of Egypt was used in written texts, replacing the formal, classical language of former periods. ’Amarna is also famous for its potent beer, which has survived to this day. Using the recipe discovered in the ruins of the capital, breweries in Scotland and elsewhere are marketing that era’s refreshment.
Akhenaten has been called the world’s first monotheist, but he allowed other solar deities to be displayed in his capital at ’Amarna. He also declared himself a god, the son of Aten, and had a high priest dedicated to his cult, sharing his jubilee ceremonies with Aten. Akhenaten has been recorded as being a pacifist, oblivious to the needs of the empire. However, wall scenes at ’Amarna depict him and Nefertiti smiting Egypt’s enemies, and he did maintain garrisons in his territories.
The fact that Egypt entered a period of turmoil during his reign can be attributed to his attempt at religious reformation, a concept quite beyond the comprehension of the average Egyptian at the time. His choice of lesser ranked individuals, newcomers to power in his court, led to a dismal inability to grasp foreign affairs in their full context and to maintain the vast bureaucratic machinery that guided Egypt over the centuries, leading to chaotic abuses and confusion. Akhenaten was a recluse in ’Amarna for too long a period and was unable to communicate his own religious vision to the Egyptian people as a whole.
