Akhenaton was a Ruler of Egypt during the period known as the 18th Dynasty.
He ascended to the throne as Amenhotep IV, succeeding his father Amenhotep III.
Akhenaton’s brief reign, of around 16 years, occured during a difficult time in Egyptian history and many Egyptologists and other commentators maintain that Akhenaton was primarily responsible for this decline, though there is some evidence to suggest that it had already begun before his reign.
The Aton
Akhenaton, possibly in a move designed to lessen the political power of the Priests, introduced the worship of one god, the Aton , or Sun disk.
This meant that the Pharaoh, not the priesthood, was the sole link between the population and the Aton which effectively ended the power of the various temples.
This also signified the first known form of monotheism in known history. Interestingly, when Akhenaton’s successors, Ay and the general Horemheb re-established the temples of Amun they selected their priests from the military, enabling the Pharaoh to keep tighter controls over the religious orders.
Akhetaton
When Akhenaton established his new religion he built an entire city dedicated to the Aton, complete with a necropolis and royal tomb .
This city was Akhetaton, the Horizon of the Ateon, and at the peak of Akhenaton’s reign over 20,000 people lived there.
This city was built in middle Egypt, perhaps chosen as it was an area not tainted by the worship of other gods.
After the death of Akhenaton the city was abandoned, and the old religions which had been suppressed quickly re-established their control over Egypt.
It is thought that this return was started by the shadowy figure of Smenkhkare, and completed by Tutankhaton who changed his name to Tutankhamon and moved his capital from Akhetaton to Memphis.
Akhenaton is, perhaps, unfairly depicted by history as not being a particularly successful Pharaoh.
Records seem to indicate that he allowed true Egyptian influence to dwindle, but this may not be true.
These ideas come from famous Amarna letters found in Akhetaton, in which Egyptian vassal cities were pleading for assistance, however no replies remain intact.
As there are no surviving records of Egyptian territory being lost at this time, it is quite possible that Akhenaton was a skilled politician who did not require the military might that some of his predecessors had found essential.
Erasure of Akhetaton
Later Pharaohs attempted to erase all memories of Akhenaton and his religion.
Much of the distinctive art of the period was destroyed and the buildings dismantled to be reused.
Many of the Talitat blocks from the Aton temples in Thebes were reused as rubble infill for later pylons where they were rediscovered during restoration work and reassembled.
It is interesting to note that this destruction was directed at Akhenaton personally and not the Aton itself which would return to it’s former place in the lower end of the Egyptian religious hierarchy.
The backlash against the religion of Akhenaton led to the widespread destruction of his palaces and temples. Work began on dismantling Akhetaton shortly after it was abandoned.
Restoration work on the great pylons of Ramesses II at Karnak showed that they used ‘recycled’ Aton temples for the filling.
This has left modern Archaeologists with the worlds biggest jigsaw puzzle.
A section of a temple wall has now been restored and is on display in the Luxor Museum .
