Akhenaten

For other uses, see Akhenaten (disambiguation).

  • Akhenaten
  • Amenhotep IV
Amenophis IV, Naphurureya, Ikhnaton[1][2]
Statue of Akhenaten at the Egyptian Museum
Statue of Akhenaten at the Egyptian Museum
Pharaoh
Reign
  • 1353–1336 BC[3]
  • 1351–1334 BC[4]
PredecessorAmenhotep III
SuccessorSmenkhkare
Royal titulary
Horus name
  • Ka nakht qai shuti (Year 1–5)[5]
    Victorious bull, high of plumes[5]
    G5
    <h0
    E1
    D40    		 N29A28S9
    		h0>
  • Mery Iten (after Year 5)[5]
    Beloved of the Aten[5]
G5
it
n
ra
N36
Nebty name
  • Wer nesyt em Ipet Swt (Year 1–5)[5]
    Great of kingship in Karnak[5]
    G16wr
    r    		 swt
    n    		 iimit
    p    		 Q1t
    Z2
  • Wer-nesut-em-Akhetaten (after Year 5)[5]
    Great of kingship in Akhetaten[5]
G16
wr
r		 swtiiAa13
Axt
t pr		 it
n
ra
Golden Horus
  • Wetjes khau em Iunu shemay (Year 1–5)[5]
    Elevated of appearances in southern Heliopolis[5]
    G8U39Y1N28
    Z2    		 mO28W24
    O49    		 M27
  • Wetjes ren en Iten (after Year 5)[5]
    Who has elevated the name of the Aten[5]
G8
U39r
n
V10
n		 it
n
ra
Prenomen  (Praenomen)
Nefer-kheperu-Re, wa-en-Re (Year 1–17)[5]
The perfect one of the manifestations of Re, the unique one of Re[5]
M23L2
ranfrxprZ3rawa
n
Nomen
  • Imen-hetep(u) netjer heqa Waset (Year 1–5)[5]
    Amun is satisfied, god, and ruler of Thebes[5]
    G39N5<
    imn
    n    		 HtpR8S38R19
    		>
  • Akh-en-Iten (after Year 5)[5]
    The one who is beneficial to the Aten[5]
G39N5
it
n
ra		 G25x
n
Consorts
Children
FatherAmenhotep III
MotherTiye
Died1336 or 1334 BC
Burial
[6][7]
MonumentsAkhetaten, Gempaaten
Religion
Dynasty18th Dynasty of Egypt

Akhenaten (pronounced /ˌækəˈnɑːtən/ listenⓘ),[8] also spelled Akhenaton[3][9][10] or Echnaton[11] (Ancient Egyptian: ꜣḫ-n-jtn ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy, pronounced [ˈʔuːχəʔ nə ˈjaːtəj] ⓘ,[12][13] meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336[3] or 1351–1334 BC,[4] the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth year of his reign, he was known as Amenhotep IV (Ancient Egyptian: jmn-ḥtp, meaning "Amun is satisfied", Hellenized as Amenophis IV).

As a pharaoh, Akhenaten is noted for abandoning traditional ancient Egyptian religion of polytheism and introducing Atenism, or worship centered around Aten. The views of Egyptologists differ as to whether the religious policy was absolutely monotheistic, or whether it was monolatristic, syncretistic, or henotheistic.[14][15] This culture shift away from traditional religion was reversed after his death. Akhenaten's monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from lists of rulers compiled by later pharaohs.[16] Traditional religious practice was gradually restored, notably under his close successor Tutankhamun, who changed his name from Tutankhaten early in his reign.[17] When some dozen years later, rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors and referred to Akhenaten as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records.[18][19]

Akhenaten was all but lost to history until the late-19th-century discovery of Amarna, or Akhetaten, the new capital city he built for the worship of Aten.[20] Furthermore, in 1907, a mummy that could be Akhenaten's was unearthed from the tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings by Edward R. Ayrton. Genetic testing has determined that the man buried in KV55 was Tutankhamun's father,[21] but its identification as Akhenaten has since been questioned.[6][7][22][23][24]

Akhenaten's rediscovery and Flinders Petrie's early excavations at Amarna sparked great public interest in the pharaoh and his queen Nefertiti. He has been described as "enigmatic", "mysterious", "revolutionary", "the greatest idealist of the world", and "the first individual in history", but also as a "heretic", "fanatic", "possibly insane", and "mad".[14][25][26][27][28] Public and scholarly fascination with Akhenaten comes from his connection with Tutankhamun, the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and the religion he attempted to establish, foreshadowing monotheism.

  1. ^ Cohen & Westbrook 2002, p. 6.
  2. ^ Rogers 1912, p. 252.
  3. ^ a b c Britannica.com 2012.
  4. ^ a b von Beckerath 1997, p. 190.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Leprohon 2013, pp. 104–105.
  6. ^ a b Strouhal 2010, pp. 97–112.
  7. ^ a b Duhig 2010, p. 114.
  8. ^ Dictionary.com 2008.
  9. ^ Kitchen 2003, p. 486.
  10. ^ Tyldesley 2005.
  11. ^ Montserrat 2003, pp. 105, 111.
  12. ^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  13. ^ Loprieno, Antonio (2001) "From Ancient Egyptian to Coptic" in Haspelmath, Martin et al. (eds.), Language Typology and Language Universals
  14. ^ a b Ridley 2019, pp. 13–15.
  15. ^ Hart 2000, p. 44.
  16. ^ Manniche 2010, p. ix.
  17. ^ Zaki 2008, p. 19.
  18. ^ Gardiner 1905, p. 11.
  19. ^ Trigger et al. 2001, pp. 186–187.
  20. ^ Hornung 1992, pp. 43–44.
  21. ^ Hawass et al. 2010.
  22. ^ Marchant 2011, pp. 404–06.
  23. ^ Lorenzen & Willerslev 2010.
  24. ^ Bickerstaffe 2010.
  25. ^ Spence 2011.
  26. ^ Sooke 2014.
  27. ^ Hessler 2017.
  28. ^ Silverman, Wegner & Wegner 2006, pp. 185–188.