Akhenaten

We're still in the 18th Dynasty, but now we're going to talk about a pharaoh who became famous forever for something quite different. Akhenaten, who was Amenhotep IV at first, is known as a heretic who disregarded centuries of religious tradition. He eliminated all the previous deities and established Atenism, a new monotheistic faith that was centered around the veneration of Aten, the sun disc.

The king also founded Akhetaten, which later took the name Amarna, at the same time that he decided he required a new city to serve as his capital. Amarna also gave its name to a new, brief art movement that is still unmatched in Egyptian history.

All other facets of Akhenaten's rule suffered as a result of his obsession with Atenism. We don't know exactly when he died or who succeeded him because his last few years as pharaoh are poorly chronicled, but we do know that Atenism perished along with him. After Akhenaten's death, the Egyptians swiftly abandoned his new city after only 20 years of occupation and promptly undid all of his reforms.

We're glad everything worked out, since we might not have learned about him otherwise. In an effort to erase Akhenaten from history, his temples were destroyed after his passing and his name was omitted from monuments. And it was effective for 3300 years until the Amarna ruins were discovered during the 19th century.

Reign:

• 1353–1336 BC
  
• 1351–1334 BC (18th Dynasty of Egypt)

Predecessor: Amenhotep III
Successor: Smenkhkare