20 Facts about Akhenaten

20 Facts about Akhenaten

By - VIIVVEK SHHARMAA VASSHISHTHHA

Akhenaten was one of ancient Egypt’s most influential and controversial pharaohs. He is considered one of the world’s most important religious innovators. He was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty and he was the father of  Tutankhamun, husband to Queen Nefertiti.

Don’t forget to check out our article ” Akhenaten, the heretic Pharaoh” Here are some interesting facts about this controversial Pharaoh.

He was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt and ruled for 17 years.
Akhenaten was known as the “great heretic”.Early on in his reign he was known asAmenhotep IV, but he changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect his close link with the new supreme deity of his making.Akhenaten was married to Queen Nefertiti, one of the most famous of all ancient Egyptian women.Nefertiti was one of the most influential queens. Paintings show her conducting religious ceremonies with Akhenaten as an equal.Nefertiti’s mummy was never found. Archaeologist June Fletcher claimed she found Nefertiti’s badly-mutilated mummy in a side chamber of the Tomb of Amenhotep II in the Valley of the Kings. Most scholars are not convinced.Akhenaten elevated Nefertiti to divine status. Scholars suggest that she may have been only 12 when married to Akhenaten.Akhenaten halted foreign military campaigns and dramatically scaled down Egypt’s military defenses.He is noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten.Akhenaten claimed, “There is only one god, my father. I can approach him by day, by night.”Akhenaten could have been the first monotheist in all of history. According to Egyptian Mythology he descended from the gods who arrived on Earth at the time of Tep Zepi.Even today people still believe that this Pharaoh did in fact come from “The Stars”.Akhenaten, upon becoming Pharaoh ordered all the, the iconography of previous gods to be removed.According to writings by Akhenaten and poems that were written about him later on, he was visited by beings that descended from the sky, these beings told Akhenaten what he needed to do and how he needed to rule over his people.Akhenaten claimed to be a direct descendant of Aten and regarded himself to be divine and was himself a God, but not only did he believe himself to be a god, the whole nation worshiped him like one.Akhenaten ordered the construction of a new capital city which he called Amarna and he dedicated it to the sun.Akhenaten instituted changes in art and culture and one of the most notable changes was how he would be publicly depicted, not as a strong “untouchable” Pharaoh, but as he really was, “weak” , elongated skull, long neck, sunken eyes, thick thighs, long fingers, backward-turned knee joints, a potbelly and female-like breasts.After his reign the city of  Amarna was abandoned and temples to the sun were destroyed, images of Akhenaten were deliberately defaced.In 1907, the actual body of Akhenaten was discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Edward Ayrton.