Akhenaten Impact On Egyptian Society

Great Essays
The impact of Akhenaten’s reign on Egyptian society

Egypt has forever been the home of revolution; with the falling of Mubarak being merely the most recent one. About 3400 years ago, throughout the 13th century BCE, a rather unusual revolution occurred in Egypt, which became, and has become a subject of enormous controversy. Though it was only a momentary revolution, it was believed to have had great impacts on Egypt’s society, or civilization. To be specific, I am talking about the revolution of Akhenaten; the individualistic legendary Egyptian Pharaoh, who arguably introduced the idea of monotheistic religion to humanity. The very fact that Akhenaten’s revolution is viewed as an interesting era in Egyptian history, and also because a huge amount of effort was put in order to eradicate this era from existence, leaves our modern historians to ponder many questions. To comprehend Akhenaten’s revolution and his affect on Egyptian society, one must recognise Akhenaten’s biography in conjunction to the citizens, traditions and culture of the Egyptian society as a whole throughout Akhenaten’s reign.

Born in and around 1379 or 1362 BCE, Akhenaten was the 10th monarch in the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt.
…show more content…
The time-frame during which Akhenaten dominated as king, Pharaoh and representative of Aten was the corner stones of developing non secular concepts. Throughout Akhenaten’s reign, within the Amarna era, cities were enraptured and creative work and magnificence modified. However, just what makes this era so revolutionary is that the truth of those forceful changes befell in such a brief period of your time. Akhenaten has actually affected the Egyptian tradition and therefore the overall Egyptian civilization, though it ought to even be noted that the traditional Egyptians weren 't proud of the changes and their rejection of his rule and orders, once his death

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Different types of rulers within each society heavily impacted and shaped Egypt and Mesopotamia’s respective religions. The Egyptian pharaoh was seen as god in human…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Code Of Hammurabi Essay

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Akhenaten was a pharaoh of Egypt during the New Kingdom. He ruled from 1350-1334 B.C. Akhenaten changed everything in Egypt. He was the most controversial pharaoh in Egyptian history. During his rule, the pharaoh was the symbol of Egypt. The art at this time was very uncreative. There were no signed pieces. He changed the style of temples from closed to open to the sun. He changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten. He believed that, “There is no god, but Aten”. Akhenaten moved the capital to Akhetaten. All of his followers built a brand new city in the desert. Akhenaten’s son, Tutankhamun, did not agree with any of his father’s changes. Overall, Akhenaten contributed a lot to Egypt. He was a key figure in their history.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This week we learned about the chapter, Egypt Under the Pharaohs in the Old, Middle, and New Kingdom. I will be cornering in on the art of the Palate of King Narmer, the Fragmentary head of Senuret III, and Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters. I will also be discussing “Egypt’s Golden Empire: The Warrior Pharaohs”.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Under his rule, Akhenaten paid little attention to outlying territory. There is record of city officials writing to Akhenaten, pleading for assistance with military operations and much needed resources, but no evidence of any reply from the pharaoh. In fact, Akhenaten was so caught up with his own ambitions that there is little evidence of regard to any cities except one of his construction, which was dedicated entirely to Atenism.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Egypt is known for its ancient history of many pharaohs including Tutankhamun “King Tut”, even though King Tut did not accomplish a lot during his reign due to his death at 18 he is the most famous pharaoh of all time. The discovery of his golden filled tomb in 1922 was one of the greatest archeology discoveries in the 20th century. His golden mask is a very known and a great symbol in ancient Egypt. Ramses II ruled Egypt for sixty-six years, which is the second longest period anyone has ruled Egypt until his death in 1213 BCE. Ramses II was the son of King Seti and Queen Mut-Tuy and had an older sister named Tia. During Ramses life time he had more than fifty wives and one-hundred children making his family one of the largest in Egyptian…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Akhenaten Beliefs

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Akhenaten’s ‘Worship of the Aten’ displayed concepts that were too anachronistically advanced for Ancient Egypt and its people. This resulted in the decline of the Ancient Egyptian Empire and Akhenaten’s purposeful exclusion from official records. Akhenaten founded a new religion that was completely divergent from the millennia old worship of Ma’at, moving the capital of Egypt and converting the Empire into a monotheistic society centred around the Aten - or sun. However the premise of the revolutionary Amarna Period was well before its time and its core elements served as the foundations for the most popular modern religion, Christianity, despite being the underlying reason for the Egyptian Empire’s downfall.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It’s clear that nature's effects on the people of ancient egypt translated into their agriculture, religion, and politics. As if because of the gods the nature manipulated the people into…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hatshepsut The Great Essay

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages

    From Ahmose, the man who removed the Hyksos from the land of Egypt, to Tutankamun, the boy king, the beautiful Queen Nefertiti, and the well known Rameses ‘The Great’, it becomes clear the Egypt had amazing leaders, however the focus of this essay is one exceptional Pharaoh, whom we are about to learn about. It was the year 1903 when archeologist Howard Cater entered tomb known as KV20. It was empty apart from for three empty sarcophagus for a pharaoh. The scholars had no idea at the time where the king’s mummy was or who the tomb belonged to. It was in a nearby quarry where they found the destroyed statues of a Pharaoh. The question that remained was what had the Pharaoh done to warrant such hate upon their own image. For the scholars of…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the year 1352 BC a pharaoh named Amenhotep IV came to power in Egypt. He inherited a peaceful nation at the height of its prosperity from his father Amenhotep III. However, he attempted to lead a religious, political and artistic revolution that was so disruptive that he was met with resistance from nearly every level. By the end of his sixteen year reign in 1336 BC he was known as Akhenaten and he had brought his nation to near collapse.…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Lorenz, “Akhenaten overthrew Egyptian polytheism in favor of the worship of a single god called Aten.” Lorenz also further discuss that the reason behind the religious revolution is unknown and that many historians have offered theories. According to his article, the first theory was that the Akhenaten’s religion was related to the Jewish religion and was inspired by Joseph or Moses. “Even though Akhenaten’s religion centered around one god, the major emphasis was on the Aten’s visibility, tangibility and undeniable realness,” Lorenz continues. The second theory was that the reasons for his religious reform were political. “During the time of Akhenaten’s rule, the priests become even more powerful and wealthy than the pharaohs,” Lorenz says. The last theory was that he was influenced by his family members, particularly his mother and wife and there were a certain trend in his family towards sun-worship. “The reasons for Akhenaten’s revolution still remain a mystery,” Lorenz…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The period started out with great pyramids being built, prosperity, and a strong central government. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.), the king began to lose his wealth, and the people began to focus the majority of their worship on the sun god; chaos broke out. Still the Nile River’s yearly patterns continued. It was the king’s choice to focus such a great amount of money on the pyramids. He cause his wealth to decrease, and with it his power. When the people saw his power declining, they chose to direct their worship elsewhere. As a whole the Egyptians brought their decline of power on to…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Akhenaten was a religious reformist. Akhenaten was viewed by the majority of Egyptian people as a heretic and upon his death he was completely wiped from his people’s history and his reign quickly forgotten under the new rule of his successor and son, Tutankhamen. Akhenaten was like no other pharaoh before him. He, from the first day of his reign in roughly 1353 BC, seemed set on changing an entire nation’s…

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People throughout the world know that Egypt is an ancient land, but many do not know that it has multiple dynasties existing in different eras or periods. The New Kingdom era, for example, emerged in 1539 B.C. and lasted until 1069 B.C. with three different dynasties of kings appearing (Wilkinson 2010: xxi). In the 470 years that the New Kingdom period of Egypt lasted, a highly stratified social organization of kingship existed alongside the powerful culture found within the state. The social organization was so highly stratified that the Egyptian state of the New Kingdom appeared to be wholly dominated by the use of kingship (Wilkinson 2001: 301). To analyze the social organization of kingship within the state of Egypt, three points have to be analyzed: the pharaoh, the chief queen, and the use of architecture.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The race and race ideology of Ancient Egypt has been a contested terrain since the nineteenth century. Scholars all over, especially in western parts of the world, have participated in researching what exactly the Ancient Egyptians were and how they viewed race in their culture. Ancient Egypt has been so controversial among many because of the incredulous knowledge they possessed that allowed them to create an abundance of early technologies and be one of the most advanced cultures of their time. When asking the question, “What race were the ancient Egyptians?”, typically most scholars will give one of three answers: Ancient Egyptians were African, Ancient Egyptians were Middle Eastern, or Ancient Egyptians were of European decent. In this…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Life In Ancient Egypt

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Today, Egypt’s high environmental, temperature, and migration levels are still the same as it was back in 1967 and even later than that. However, there are many other things that make this country what it is today. "For example, the expanded irrigation of desert areas after the completion of the Aswan High dam in 1970s; which has increased soil salinity and aided the spread of waterborne diseases”(Malefic, Asante; 2002 “Culture and Customs of Egypt. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press”). But, what about the evolutionary lines for both the governmental and religious cultural history of this country; do they play a big role in this country? As a matter of fact, I will discuss the differences between the two and how they related to…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays