Figure 1: Head of Amenhotep III, father of Akhenaten (Photo courtesy of Smith, S.S. The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, 1998)

      There seems to be two schools of thought when it come to the pharaoh Akhenaten. On one side scholars such as D. Redford have portrayed him as a 'heretic king', going against everything that the old guard stood for in terms of religion and politics. On the flip side of the coin G. Hart feels that the elevation of the Aten to its supreme status was simply the culmination of the religious trends set in motion by the father of Akhenaten, Amenhotep III, and even earlier kings. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between, but each theory is actually somewhat correct. Let us turn to the history of the king that B. Kemp and others have called the first true historical figure we have evidence for and the only figure of note in the history of Egyptian religion.

      Amenhotep III (1391-1353 BC) reigned for nearly forty years, an extremely long time when compared to other pharaohs. He and his wife Queen Tiye had at least six children: two sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Thutmose V died at a young age and Amenhotep IV became the prince regent. The art and religion of Amenhotep III's rule will be discussed shortly, but it should be noted that in the celebrations of the three jubilees held in his 30th, 34th, and 37th regnal years it is noted that the king took pride in the fact that he had consulted the 'writings of old' for their planning(Epigraphic Survey , 1980). So, at least in politics it seems that Amenhotep III was quite traditional if not a bit conservative.

Figure 2: Statue of Akhenaten (Photo courtesy of Pharaohs of the Sun)             Figure 3: Stone relief block of Akhenaten as a sphinx (Photo courtesy of Pharaohs of the Sun)

      Amenhotep IV took the reins of power after his father's death in 1353 BC, though there is some debate whether there was a period of coregency between father and son. The confusion is based upon the possibly concurrent art programs of the two men. Whatever the case may be, Amenhotep IV began his reign with the deification of his father and his assumption into the Aten's disk. This event may have influenced the later growth in importance of the Aten religion. Suffice it to say that in these early years the pharaoh laid the groundwork for the eventual move to Amarna and the final overthrow of the old Egyptian pantheon.

      In the five or six years that he spent in Thebes, Amenhotep daringly built a temple to the Aten right alongside the temple to Amun, traditionally the greatest of the Egyptian deities. Though the structures were destroyed in the later return to orthodoxy under Tutankhamen's reign, we have evidence for these buildings through excavations and the reuse of the stone blocks that made up these structures. However, it was seemingly not enough for the king to challenge the old order; it was necessary to overthrow it. To accomplish this, he would need to establish his own religious capital, the center of the new religion. The city was, of course, Akhetaten or 'Horizon of the Aten'.

      After the move was complete, Amenhotep IV went through another conversion, this time changing his own name. He went from Amenhotep, meaning 'Amun is content', to Akhenaten or 'beneficial to the Aten'. Thus in one fell swoop the pharaoh becomes the unquestionable leader of this new religion and of the new city. One god, one pharaoh. This dream was kept alive for another 11 years after the move to Amarna, but this would soon change with the coming of Akhenaten's son Tutankhaten (1333-1323 BC) to the throne. It was he who changed his name to the more traditional Tutankhamen and left Akhetaten to return to Thebes. During the next few decades, Akhetaten was gradually abandoned and its temples defaced and ransacked for building materials. The revolution, if indeed it can be termed that, was short-lived at best.