Akhenaten Influence On Egypt

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Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV was the Pharaoh of Egypt in the 18th century. He was married to Nefertiti and had six girls with her. Four of them died at a young age from an unknown disease. However, they are believed to have passed away from a plague that was going around Egypt at the time. He also had a few other wives, but they were unnamed. He ruled Egypt for seventeen years and was known as a rebel king because he made some of the biggest changes in all of Egyptian history. Before Akhenaten became king, he was the son of a king. He was one of the younger children of Amenhotep III and Chief Queen Tiye. Although he was not the next in line for the throne, as a result of his older brother Thutmose passing away, Akhenaten was …show more content…
Some say that he actually shared the position with his father for a few years, but there is not enough evidence proving it. In the first three to five years of his Kingship, he changed the main God, the capital, his name and art form. His reasons for changing the god from Amon to Aten were because he received a vision from Aten showing him a sun disc between two mountains. He felt that the God was guiding him to make this vast change. He believes that the God, Aten, was the Sun disc. He then changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten to show his respect to Aten. He chose the name Akhenaten for himself, which means ‘successful for’ or ‘of great use to’ the god Aten. He also changed the name of his wife, Nefertiti, to Neferneferuaten; which gives the meaning of “beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a beautiful woman has come.” The name of Neferneferuaten never caught on and until this day people still call her by her birth name.
Many people during his senate also changed their names to show their support and respect towards Aten as well. In this new monotheistic religion created by Akhenaten, they were only allowed to worship one God, Aten. It is believed that Akhenaten is to have gotten inspired by Joseph or Mose. However, Akhenaten 's religion centered on one god, it was not limited to the monotheistic culture and was nothing like the Israelites. There were still other god’s but
…show more content…
But, Akhenaten had always been different than the ones in his family. He was also not shown in more family portraits in the leadership of his father, Amenhotep III. He had a disfigured look that made him appear much different than others. He is believed to have Marfan Syndrome, which is a disease that you mostly inherit from your parents. It affects your height, arms, legs, and causes loose jointedness, flat feet, nearsightedness, dislocated lens and stretch marks on the skin with unknown reasoning. All side effects have appeared in Akhenaten. This was a hereditary disease that is believed to have been passed down to Akhenaten 's daughters. As his years started to come to an end, it is unclear what happened in the eighteenth dynasty.
Akhenaten died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC in Egypt and now rests in the Royal Tomb of Akhenaten (KV55) that stands in the city of Akhetaten that still stands today. It is believed that Akhenaten 's face mask was torn in his tomb and his name was destroyed, but nothing was taken. All precious objects were not touched. It is believed that people with a religious or a political motivation have done it due it not being

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