Preview

What Was Akhenaten's Accomplishments

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1427 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Was Akhenaten's Accomplishments
Lester Pecayo
Mr. Jason Whitmarsh
HUM 2020
12 April 2017
Life of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)
Amenhotep IV is the second son of Amenhotep the Magnificent and he was a pharaoh of Egypt. The time he reigned was during the New Kingdom period. The New Kingdom was known to be time of Egypt's prosperity; as a result, Amenhotep IV, who would later change his name to Akhenaten, was able to do whatever he wanted. This can include starting a religious revolution and ignoring your allies. After Akhenaten's reign, many of his projects were destroyed by other leaders in Egypt. Historians assumed that many leaders of cults hated Akhenaten because of the religious revolution he started. They hated him so much that they tried to erase everything that has
…show more content…
His very first project in the temple was to continue to decorate a gateway that had been begun during the reign of his father. The carvings on the decorated gateway showed the worshipping of the sun god Re-Horakhti which will be called Aten later. These carvings was the first indication historians have that Amenhotep IV was creating a new god. The new god Aten had been gaining popularity during his father's reign. At the third year of his reign, he started to announce that Aten is a new god who was a self-created god who renewed himself every day and could not be presented in human form. Aten could only be represented by the symbol of the sun …show more content…
After Meretaten, Meketaten was born, then Ankhesenpaaten, then Nefernefruaten Tasherit, then Nefernefrure, then, lastly, Setepenre. The holy royal family was often portrayed as hugging each other which was considered informal behavior in the Egyptian Art. By the way, he also had other wives which he had at least three other children. During 1342 B.C., a deathly plague has spread through the Middle East that Akhenaten received many requests for help from other kingdoms. It was certain that 1342 B.C. onward, Akhenaten's family has started dying. Innovations in art, religion, and language and other changes add up to a genuinely revolutionary spirit (Mertz 213). These caused uproars in the whole Middle East. Tutankhaten, the most famous pharaoh for people today, had worked hard to remove the bad reputation of Egypt by destroying many of Akhenaten's works. Because of Tutankhaten's actions, historians knew little of Akhenaten's death. Akhenaten may have been the heretic king, but he had interest in evolution of arts by distorting arts and breaking traditions from idealistic to more of a realistic

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    For centuries, the god Amun served as the pre-eminent god in New Kingdom Egypt, and his priests enjoyed privileges and power. However, Akhenaten revolutionised religious life with his adoption of the cult of Aten and the introduction of monotheism to Egypt. Along with this religious change came many others, Akhenaten changed Egypt’s foreign policy, art and architecture.…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Akhenaten believed that everybody should be happy. He peacefully lived in the new capital city Akhetaten but was unaware about what was happening outside of Egypt. Tushratta, the king of the Mittani (located in present-day Syria) sent a letter complaining that Akhenaten had sent gold-plated statues rather than sending statues made of solid gold. The Hittites, an empire located in Mesopotamia attacked Mittani. Even though the situation was desperate, Akhenaten refused to send troops to fight against the Hittites. Akhenaten died circa 1335 BC in year 17 of his reign. It is believed that Smenkhkare succeeded the throne. It is believed that Smenkhkare was either Akhenaten’s son or his cousin.…

    • 110 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Memphite In Akhenaten

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page

    The letter from the Memphite official Apy in Akhenaten’s fifth year, drafted just about five weeks before the date on the early boundary stelae at Amarna (see Chapter 6), signaled that the temple of Ptah and those of other deities in the capital were functioning normally. Nine months earlier (in year 4), a graffito was etched in the quarry area of Wadi Hammamat by an expedition that had been dispatched by Akhenaten to obtain bḫn, graywacke5 stone for a statue of the king. The leader of the expedition was none other than the high priest of Amun, named May.6 Minimally, this reference suggests that while the Aten temples in Karnak were functioning, the adjacent Amun temple was still operational with the high priest who had been appointed by Amenhotep…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The cult of Amun God of the air, the sun, and sky, was followed by Egyptians during the beginning Amenhotep’s reign. Worshiping more than one God is referred to as polytheism. After the first few years of ruling, Amenhotep shifted his beliefs to a monotheistic religion, worshiping one god in the cult of Aten, as opposed to the worshiping of multiple gods as Egypt was accustomed. This belief changed Egyptian culture during the reign of Akhenaten. “Amenhotep IV outlawed the old religion and proclaimed himself the living incarnation of a single, all-powerful, deity known as Aten” (Ancient History Encyclopedia). Akhenaten as a ruler used forced conversion by outlawing past beliefs. The cult of Aten was the belief that “Aten was a being who represented the God or spirit of the sun, and the actual solar disk. He was depicted as a disk with rays reaching to the earth” (Ancient Egypt: The mythology). It was then that Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten, “translated to mean `successful for' or `of great use to' the god Aten”. (Ancient History Encyclopedia). This belief can be closely related Jesus in Christianity, where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead three days later, just as Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten, both symbolize the rebirth of the Son of…

    • 1873 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Queen Tetisheri Influence

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ahotepp II quelled rebellion in upper Egypt during the war of the Hyksos. The Hyksos were a group of people who tried to take over and successfully did for quite some time. Although by the end of the 17th dynasty, Egypt had become a whole new place. Not only did Egypt have a new outlook for their country they also had a new capital,…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    King Tut And His Tomb

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page

    King Tut was a well known pharaoh who ruled Ancient Egypt for 10 years. He died from broken leg complications with a bone disease at the age of 19. From DNA tests, studies show that he actually married his half sister, and his parents were siblings.…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Akhenaton’s reign lasted from 1353 BC-1336 BC or 1351 BC–1334 BC (the dates are subject to debate). After 4 years of his reign he built a new capital of Egypt (Amarna) and dedicated the city to the supreme deity Aten. Akhenaton attempted to change the religion in Egypt and attempted to unite all of the traditional gods and goddesses of Egypt into one supreme deity (History records were careful not to mention Aten as a god but compared him to the sun and the stars to make him more important than a normal god.) Aten was the deity Akhenaton tried to convert everyone to. At the time many nobles changed their names to names related to Aten instead of names based on the traditional Egyptian gods. Akhenaton means: the effective spirit of Aten. His son Tutankhaten’s name means living…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Akhenaten, the so called "Heretic Pharaoh  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. Akhenaten's brief reign, of hardly more than sixteen years, happened at a difficult time in Egyptian history; a period in which the decline of the previously unparalleled Egyptian empire seemed inevitable. Many scholars maintain that Akhenaten was responsible for this decline, but evidence suggests that it had already started. Whatever his connection with the decline of the Empire, one aspect of Akhenaten's reign is indisputable: his religious reforms. Effectively discarding the beliefs of an Empire, Akhenaten denounced the existing polytheist religious…

    • 231 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Akhenaten is viewed as one of the most controversial Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The introduction of Akhenaten’s monotheistic views attributed to the decline of the Egyptian empire during his reign in the 18th dynasty. Akhenaten believed that Aten, the sun disk, was the one true god. This ideology was then adopted, though not willingly, throughout Egypt. Akhenaten focused the majority of his time into building temples and enforcing his new regime that he neglected his duties as Pharaoh. Consequently, Egypt’s boarders shrank and the citizens initiated revolts. Despite this, Akhenaten is seen as a revolutionary, being the starting point for major monotheistic religions such as Christianity.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To the average “peasant” the Pharaoh was a demigod, but to the various officers and political figures surrounding him he was no more than a man with power, and not even supreme power. This is immediately evident in the first narrative with the high priest of Amun, who from the very beginning (since Akhenaten was young) disdained the prince due to his physical appearance. As Akhenaten grew older and continued to stray from the required religious traditions the high priest had multiple meetings with Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye to chastise the prince’s upbringing, which displays the high priest’s view of the Pharaoh: not as an infallible demigod, but as merely a man who makes mistakes when raising his son. Likewise, this displays a “weakness” in the power of the Pharaoh; though he is king, he is still subject to the rule of Amun and the high priests. The various individuals Meriamun interviews themselves represent the different positions surrounding the Pharaoh: chief of police, general of the army, minister of the state, sculptor/architect, high priest (Amun and the One God), etc. Every narration includes brief descriptions of how they performed their duties, and in this manner Mahfouz gives the reader an idea of the day to day functions of the Egyptian…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Did Egypt Change

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Akhenaten was to transform Egypt from being a polytheistic society, to a monotheistic society in a few short years. Everyone was to worship his god, and anybody who said or thought otherwise would not be tolerated by the new ruling system. As much as people seemed to dislike their leader, what he did actually makes sense for what he was trying to accomplish, however, the way he went about it wasn’t the best. Polytheism doesn’t have a focus on one particular god or religion, and each has its own followers. The monotheistic concept meant that everyone would be worshipping the same deity, which would allow for unification of the citizens, and for the power to no longer be separated.…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Akhenaten was the Pharaoh of Egypt for 17 years during the Eighteenth Dynasty which took place from 1352 to 1336 B.C. He was born the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tyie. His was originally named after his father, Amenhotep IV, but decided to change his name during the fifth year of his reign. During that year he changed his name to Akhenaten, which means “horizon of the sun,” or can also be translated to “He who is of service to Aten.” He had six daughters, Merytaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Neferneferuaten-tasharit, Neferneferure, and Sotepenpre. Akhenaten was also suspected of having two more sons, Smenkhkare who succeeded him on the thrown, and Tutankhamun whom reigned after his brother. Both sons were born from different mothers. His first wife Neferiti, who was renamed to Nefernefruaten by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, which translated, means “beautiful is the beauty of Aten,” was also known as the “great royal wife” during the early years of his reign. He also had 3 consorts during…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Along with the new religion, another foolish decision he made was creating a new capital city. There were no capital cities in ancient Egypt before this time. During Akhenaten’s rule he created a capital city of Akhenaten. Many people flocked there, seeing the wealth of possibilities that it could hold. The reason that this new city’s formation was an issue was due to the cities that were “once-thriving administrative centers . . . stood idle” (Redford 153). These previously thriving cities were Thebes and Memphis. These cities were known far and wide to be religious and governmental centers. With the shift in religion the major buildings in these cities were torn down. Since these cities used to be very religious they were home to many statues and temples worshiping the old gods. The inhabitants of Thebes and Memphis lived in rubble after the king brought his new religion and tore down any reference to the old religion. Not only did the religious areas in these cities get destroyed, but since ancient Egypt was a theocracy, governmental buildings were also taken down and left desolate. Redford reiterates this when he explains that “temples and governmental offices had been virtually shut down” (153). Not many people stayed in those cities except for the ones with strong ties to those cities. There were very few things that the people in those areas could do for work, besides farming, since the government was now run out of Akhenaten. Explains how “great cities of Memphis and Thebes were no longer thriving centers as they had been for some 1,700 years” (Rupert…

    • 2026 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Akhenaten Art Style

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Pharaoh Amenhotep IV did not just change his name to Akhenaten and the religion of ancient Egypt creates the first known monotheism, but the artistic style made the immediate conversion from the traditional Egyptian style of depicting people with ideal physiques, to a unique and rather unsettling form. He utilized this art to show his objective of carrying out things abnormally.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Imhotep Myths

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page

    Imhotep is considered to have been an all-around genius. Imhotep was known as a vizier and overseer of works. The vizier was the Secretary of state, chief of justice attorney general, secretary of war. Duties of the overseer are building programs, labor relations, Imhotep took tax collector. The first person to get credit for step pyramids was Imhotep. He built the step pyramids as a tomb for his kings. The step pyramid was built at the site of Sakkara. Other occuImhotep took parts in was being a scientist, physician, and an artist. Generations worshiped Imhotep as a god. The legend said that he wrote “Edwin Smith Papyrus”, which deals with the diagnosis of medical problems. In conclusion, Imhotep was more than just a worshiped god.…

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays