By: Mary Ankrah
Among the Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty of Egypt found Amenhotep IV who ruled for 17 years. In the early years of his reign, he discontinued all traditional religion in Egypt and established the Aten as the monotheistic of Egypt. He is said to be “traditionally raised by his parents, Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy (1382-1344 B.C) by worshipping Amen, Akhenaten, however, preferred Aten, the sun god that was worshipped in earlier times.”[1] As such, he also disbanded the priesthoods of other gods and diverted all the revenues from the cults of these gods to maintain the Aten.
In order to show his loyalty to the god of Aten, Amenhotep IV also changed his name to Akhenaten (He Who is of service to Aten) and renamed Nefertiti his wife and queen to Nefer-Neferu-Aten (Beautiful is the Beauty of Aten). It was said also that Akhenaten built “some of the most massive temple complexes in ancient Egypt. In these new temples, Aten was worshipped in the open sunlight, rather than in dark temple enclosures as had been the previous custom”.[2]
According to history, few years later in his reign, Akhenaten and his wife with two of his daughters left Thebes, their old settlement to a new capital in middle Egypt, an uninhabited place where he reated his new city and named it Akhenaten-The Horizon of the Aten which is now known as Amarna. It is also believed that only the Upper echelons of the society which embraced the new religion that Akhenaten brought. Also, in reference to the rendition found in the tomb of Ay, the chief minister of Akhenaten, Akhenaten is also believed to have composed the “Hymns to the Aten”.[3]
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