Pharaoh Akhenaten

The Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten or originally whose name was Amenhotep IV had a great effect on Egypt's history. He dramatically changed the religious views of the Egyptians. He also changed the status of Egypt and its wealth.

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This Pharaoh started out as a young ruler he was only about as old as a teenager when his dad, Amenhotep III died. His mother Queen Tiy wanted him to take over and so he did. He only became Pharaoh because of his older brother's untimely death. As a child he was the out cast of the family and scientist are thinking that he had a genetic disease called Marfan Syndromehe and his daughters both showed the sign of having it. Akhenaten's wife and queen was the famous Nefertiti. Akhenaten was nick-named the "heretic" pharaoh, his reign is said to be only sixteen years long. While he lived only from approximately 1352 b.c. to 1336 b.c. (Romer)

Akehenaten's huge change to the Egyptian society was the religious part. He took a major polytheistic nation and mad it monothiestic to honnor Aton the sun disk god. In his reign the richness and power of Egypt was falling but some people would say that it had started to happen before his reign.


Romer, John.The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited. Canbridge University Press, New York;2007