Coregency with Amenhotep III There is much controversy around whether Amenhotep IV ascended to Egypt's throne on the death of his father Amenhotep III or whether there was a
coregency, lasting perhaps as long as 12 years.
Eric Cline,
Nicholas Reeves,
Peter Dorman, and other scholars argue strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favor of either no coregency or one lasting at most two years.
Donald B. Redford,
William J. Murnane,
Alan Gardiner, and
Lawrence Berman contest the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father. In 2014, archaeologists found both pharaohs' names inscribed on the wall of the
Luxor tomb of vizier
Amenhotep-Huy. The
Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities called this "conclusive evidence" that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least eight years, based on the dating of the tomb. However, this conclusion has since been called into question by other Egyptologists, according to whom the inscription only means that construction on Amenhotep-Huy's tomb started during Amenhotep III's reign and ended under Akhenaten's, and Amenhotep-Huy thus simply wanted to pay his respects to both rulers.
Early reign as Amenhotep lV . Akhenaten took Egypt's throne as Amenhotep IV, most likely in 1353 or 1351 BC. It is unknown how old Amenhotep IV was when he did this; estimates range from 10 to 23. He was most likely crowned in
Thebes, or less likely at
Memphis or
Armant. The beginning of Amenhotep IV's reign followed established pharaonic traditions. He did not immediately start redirecting worship toward the
Aten and distancing himself from other gods. Egyptologist Donald B. Redford believes this implied that Amenhotep IV's eventual religious policies were not conceived of before his reign, and he did not follow a pre-established plan or program. Redford points to three pieces of evidence to support this. First, surviving inscriptions show Amenhotep IV worshipping several different gods, including
Atum,
Osiris,
Anubis,
Nekhbet,
Hathor, and the
Eye of Ra, and texts from this era refer to "the gods" and "every god and every goddess". The
High Priest of Amun was also still active in the fourth year of Amenhotep IV's reign. Second, even though he later moved his capital from Thebes to
Akhetaten, his initial
royal titulary honored Thebes—his
nomen was "Amenhotep, god-ruler of Thebes"—and recognizing its importance, he called the city "Southern Heliopolis, the first great (seat) of Re (or) the Disc". Third, Amenhotep IV did not yet destroy temples to the other gods and he even continued his father's construction projects at
Karnak's
Precinct of Amun-Re. He decorated the walls of the precinct's
Third Pylon with images of himself worshipping
Ra-Horakhty, portrayed in the god's traditional form of a falcon-headed man. Artistic depictions continued unchanged early in Amenhotep IV's reign. Tombs built or completed in the first few years after he took the throne, such as those of
Kheruef,
Ramose, and
Parennefer, show the pharaoh in the traditional artistic style. In Ramose's tomb, Amenhotep IV appears on the west wall, seated on a throne, with Ramose appearing before the pharaoh. On the other side of the doorway, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are shown in the window of appearances, with the Aten depicted as the sun disc. In Parennefer's tomb, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are seated on a throne with the sun disc depicted over the pharaoh and his queen. While continuing the worship of other gods, Amenhotep IV's initial building program sought to build new places of worship to the Aten. He ordered the construction of temples or shrines to the Aten in several cities across the country, such as
Bubastis,
Tell el-Borg,
Heliopolis, Memphis,
Nekhen,
Kawa, and
Kerma. He also ordered the construction of a large temple complex dedicated to the Aten at Karnak in Thebes, northeast of the parts of the Karnak complex dedicated to Amun. The
Aten temple complex, collectively known as the Per Aten ("House of the Aten"), consisted of several temples whose names survive: the Gempaaten ("The Aten is found in the estate of the Aten"), the Hwt Benben ("House or Temple of the
Benben"), the Rud-Menu ("Enduring of monuments for Aten forever"), the Teni-Menu ("Exalted are the monuments of the Aten forever"), and the Sekhen Aten ("booth of Aten"). Around regnal year two or three, Amenhotep IV organized a
Sed festival. Sed festivals were ritual rejuvenations of an aging pharaoh, which usually took place for the first time around the thirtieth year of a pharaoh's reign and every three or so years thereafter. Egyptologists only speculate as to why Amenhotep IV organized a Sed festival when he was likely still in his early twenties. Some historians see it as evidence for Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV's coregency, and believed that Amenhotep IV's Sed festival coincided with one of his father's celebrations. Others speculate that Amenhotep IV chose to hold his festival three years after his father's death, aiming to proclaim his rule a continuation of his father's reign. Yet others believe that the festival was held to honor the Aten on whose behalf the pharaoh ruled Egypt, or, as Amenhotep III was considered to have become one with the Aten following his death, the Sed festival honored both the pharaoh and the god at the same time. It is also possible that the purpose of the ceremony was to figuratively fill Amenhotep IV with strength before his great enterprise: the introduction of the Aten cult and the founding of the new capital Akhetaten. Regardless of the celebration's aim, Egyptologists believe that during the festivities Amenhotep IV only made offerings to the Aten rather than the many gods and goddesses, as was customary.
Name change Among the last documents that refer to Akhenaten as Amenhotep IV are two copies of a letter to the pharaoh from
Ipy, the
high steward of
Memphis. These letters, found at
Gurob, informing the pharaoh that the royal estates in Memphis are "in good order" and the temple of Ptah is "prosperous and flourishing", are dated to regnal year five, day nineteen of the
growing season's third month. About a month later, day thirteen of the growing season's
fourth month, one of the
boundary stela at Akhetaten already had the name Akhenaten carved on it, implying that the pharaoh changed his name between the two inscriptions. Amenhotep IV changed his
royal titulary to show his devotion to the Aten. No longer would he be known as Amenhotep IV and be associated with the god
Amun, but rather he would completely shift his focus to the Aten. Egyptologists debate the exact meaning of Akhenaten, his new
personal name. The word "akh" () could have different translations, such as "satisfied", "effective spirit", or "serviceable to", and thus Akhenaten's name could be translated to mean "Aten is satisfied", "Effective spirit of the Aten", or "Serviceable to the Aten". Gertie Englund and
Florence Friedman arrive at the translation "Effective for the Aten" by analyzing contemporary texts and inscriptions, in which Akhenaten often described himself as being "effective for" the sun disc. Englund and Friedman conclude that the frequency with which Akhenaten used this term likely means that his own name meant "Effective for the Aten". Some historians, such as
William F. Albright,
Edel Elmar, and
Gerhard Fecht, propose that Akhenaten's name is misspelled and mispronounced. These historians believe "Aten" should rather be "Jāti", thus rendering the pharaoh's name Akhenjāti or Aḫanjāti (pronounced ) in Ancient Egypt.
Founding Amarna Around the same time he changed his royal titulary, on the thirteenth day of the
growing season's
fourth month, Akhenaten decreed that a new capital city be built: Akhetaten (, meaning "Horizon of the Aten"), better known today as Amarna. The events Egyptologists know the most about during Akhenaten's life are connected with founding Akhetaten, as several so-called
boundary stelae were found around the city to mark its boundary. The pharaoh chose a site about halfway between
Thebes, the capital at the time, and
Memphis, on the east bank of the
Nile, where a
wadi and a natural dip in the surrounding cliffs form a silhouette similar to the "
horizon"
hieroglyph. Additionally, the site had previously been uninhabited. According to inscriptions on one boundary stela, the site was appropriate for Aten's city for "not being the property of a god, nor being the property of a goddess, nor being the property of a ruler, nor being the property of a female ruler, nor being the property of any people able to lay claim to it." Historians do not know for certain why Akhenaten established a new capital and left Thebes, the old capital. The boundary stelae detailing Akhetaten's founding is damaged where it likely explained the pharaoh's motives for the move. Surviving parts claim what happened to Akhenaten was "worse than those that I heard" previously in his reign and worse than those "heard by any kings who assumed the
White Crown", and alludes to "offensive" speech against the Aten. Egyptologists believe that Akhenaten could be referring to conflict with the priesthood and followers of Amun, the
patron god of Thebes. The great temples of Amun, such as
Karnak, were all located in Thebes and the priests there achieved significant power earlier in the
Eighteenth Dynasty, especially under
Hatshepsut and
Thutmose III, thanks to pharaohs offering large amounts of Egypt's growing wealth to the cult of Amun; historians, such as
Donald B. Redford, therefore posited that by moving to a new capital, Akhenaten may have been trying to break with Amun's priests and the god. blocks from Akhenaten's Aten temple in
Karnak Akhetaten was a planned city with the
Great Temple of the Aten,
Small Aten Temple, royal residences,
records office, and government buildings in the city center. Some of these buildings, such as the Aten temples, were ordered to be built by Akhenaten on the boundary stela decreeing the city's founding. The city was built quickly, thanks to a new construction method that used substantially smaller building blocks than under previous pharaohs. These blocks, called
talatats, measured by by 1
ancient Egyptian cubits (), and because of the smaller weight and standardized size, using them during constructions was more efficient than using heavy building blocks of varying sizes. By regnal year eight, Akhetaten reached a state where it could be occupied by the royal family. Only his most loyal subjects followed Akhenaten and his family to the new city. While the city continued to be built, in years five through eight, construction work began to stop in Thebes. The Theban Aten temples that had begun were abandoned, and a village of those working on
Valley of the Kings tombs was relocated to the workers' village at Akhetaten. However, construction work continued in the rest of the country, as larger cult centers, such as
Heliopolis and Memphis, also had temples built for Aten.
International relations , titled
A Commissioner Murdered. In this letter,
Rib-Hadda of
Byblos informs the pharaoh of the death of Pawura, an Egyptian commissioner. , London The
Amarna letters have provided important evidence about Akhenaten's reign and foreign policy. The letters are a cache of 382 diplomatic texts and literary and educational materials discovered between 1887 and 1979, and named after Amarna, the modern name for Akhenaten's capital Akhetaten. The diplomatic correspondence comprises
clay tablet messages between Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, and Tutankhamun, various subjects through Egyptian military outposts, rulers of
vassal states, and the foreign rulers of
Babylonia,
Assyria,
Syria,
Canaan,
Alashiya,
Arzawa,
Mitanni, and the
Hittites. The Amarna letters portray the international situation in the
Eastern Mediterranean that Akhenaten inherited from his predecessors. In the 200 years preceding Akhenaten's reign, following the expulsion of the
Hyksos from
Lower Egypt at the end of the
Second Intermediate Period, the kingdom's influence and military might increased greatly. Egypt's power reached new heights under
Thutmose III, who ruled approximately 100 years before Akhenaten and led several successful military campaigns into Nubia and Syria. Egypt's expansion led to confrontation with the Mitanni, but this rivalry ended with the two nations becoming allies. Slowly, however, Egypt's power started to wane. Amenhotep III aimed to maintain the balance of power through marriages—such as his marriage to
Tadukhipa, daughter of the Mitanni king
Tushratta—and vassal states. Under Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, Egypt was unable or unwilling to oppose the rise of the Hittites around Syria. The pharaohs seemed to eschew military confrontation at a time when the balance of power between Egypt's neighbors and rivals was shifting, and the Hittites, a confrontational state, overtook the Mitanni in influence. Early in his reign, Akhenaten was evidently concerned about the expanding power of the
Hittite Empire under
Šuppiluliuma I. A successful Hittite attack on Mitanni and its ruler Tushratta would have disrupted the entire international balance of power in the Ancient Middle East at a time when Egypt had made peace with Mitanni; this would cause some of Egypt's vassals to switch their allegiances to the Hittites, as time would prove. A group of Egypt's allies who attempted to rebel against the Hittites were captured, and wrote letters begging Akhenaten for troops, but he did not respond to most of their pleas. Evidence suggests that the troubles on the northern frontier led to difficulties in
Canaan, particularly in a struggle for power between
Labaya of
Shechem and
Abdi-Heba of
Jerusalem, which required the pharaoh to intervene in the area by dispatching
Medjay troops northwards. Akhenaten pointedly refused to save his vassal
Rib-Hadda of
Byblos—whose kingdom was being besieged by the expanding state of
Amurru under
Abdi-Ashirta and later
Aziru, son of Abdi-Ashirta—despite Rib-Hadda's numerous pleas for help from the pharaoh. Rib-Hadda wrote a total of 60 letters to Akhenaten pleading for aid from the pharaoh. Akhenaten wearied of Rib-Hadda's constant correspondences and once told Rib-Hadda: "You are the one that writes to me more than all the (other) mayors" or Egyptian vassals in EA 124. What Rib-Hadda did not comprehend was that the Egyptian king would not organize and dispatch an entire army north just to preserve the political status quo of several minor city states on the fringes of Egypt's Asiatic Empire. Rib-Hadda would pay the ultimate price; his exile from Byblos due to a coup led by his brother
Ilirabih is mentioned in one letter. When Rib-Hadda appealed in vain for aid from Akhenaten and then turned to Aziru, his sworn enemy, to place him back on the throne of his city, Aziru promptly had him dispatched to the king of Sidon, where Rib-Hadda was almost certainly executed. In a view discounted by the 21st century, several Egyptologists in the late 19th and 20th centuries interpreted the Amarna letters to mean that Akhenaten was a
pacifist who neglected foreign policy and Egypt's foreign territories in favor of his internal reforms. For example,
Henry Hall believed Akhenaten "succeeded by his obstinate doctrinaire love of peace in causing far more misery in his world than half a dozen elderly militarists could have done," while
James Henry Breasted said Akhenaten "was not fit to cope with a situation demanding an aggressive man of affairs and a skilled military leader." Others noted that the Amarna letters counter the conventional view that Akhenaten neglected Egypt's foreign territories in favour of his internal reforms. For instance,
Norman de Garis Davies praised Akhenaten's emphasis on diplomacy over war, while
James Baikie said that the fact "that there is no evidence of revolt within the borders of Egypt itself during the whole reign is surely ample proof that there was no such abandonment of his royal duties on the part of Akhenaten as has been assumed." Indeed, several letters from Egyptian vassals notified the pharaoh that they have followed his instructions, implying that the pharaoh sent such instructions. The Amarna letters also show that vassal states were told repeatedly to expect the arrival of the Egyptian military on their lands, and provide evidence that these troops were dispatched and arrived at their destination. Dozens of letters detail that Akhenaten—and Amenhotep III—sent Egyptian and Nubian troops, armies, archers, chariots, horses, and ships. Only one military campaign is known for certain under Akhenaten's reign. In his second or twelfth year, Akhenaten ordered his
Viceroy of Kush Tuthmose to lead a military expedition to quell a rebellion and raids on settlements on the Nile by Nubian nomadic tribes. The victory was commemorated on two stelae, one discovered at
Amada and another at
Buhen. Egyptologists differ on the size of the campaign:
Wolfgang Helck considered it a small-scale police operation, while
Alan Schulman considered it a "war of major proportions". Other Egyptologists suggested that Akhenaten could have waged war in Syria or the
Levant, possibly against the Hittites. Cyril Aldred, based on Amarna letters describing Egyptian troop movements, proposed that Akhenaten launched an unsuccessful war around the city of
Gezer, while Marc Gabolde argued for an unsuccessful campaign around
Kadesh. Either of these could be the campaign referred to on Tutankhamun's
Restoration Stela: "if an army was sent to
Djahy [southern Canaan and Syria] to broaden the boundaries of Egypt, no success of their cause came to pass."
John Coleman Darnell and
Colleen Manassa also argued that Akhenaten fought with the Hittites for control of Kadesh, but was unsuccessful; the city was not recaptured until 60–70 years later, under
Seti I. Overall, archeological evidence suggests that Akhenaten paid close attention to the affairs of Egyptian vassals in Canaan and Syria, though primarily not through letters such as those found at Amarna but through reports from government officials and agents. Akhenaten managed to preserve Egypt's control over the core of its Near Eastern Empire (which consisted of present-day Israel as well as the Phoenician coast) while avoiding conflict with the increasingly powerful and aggressive Hittite Empire of
Šuppiluliuma I, which overtook the Mitanni as the dominant power in the northern part of the region. Only the Egyptian border province of
Amurru in Syria around the
Orontes River was lost to the Hittites when its ruler
Aziru defected to the Hittites; ordered by Akhenaten to come to Egypt, Aziru was released after promising to stay loyal to the pharaoh, nonetheless turning to the Hittites soon after his release.
Later years , as depicted in the tomb of
Meryre II. Egyptologists know little about the last five years of Akhenaten's reign, beginning in These years are poorly attested and only a few pieces of contemporary evidence survive; the lack of clarity makes reconstructing the latter part of the pharaoh's reign "a daunting task" and a controversial and contested topic of discussion among Egyptologists. Among the newest pieces of evidence is an inscription discovered in 2012 at a limestone quarry in
Deir el-Bersha, just north of Akhetaten, from the pharaoh's sixteenth regnal year. The text refers to a building project in Amarna and establishes that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were still a royal couple just a year before Akhenaten's death. The inscription is dated to Year 16, month 3 of
Akhet, day 15 of the reign of Akhenaten. Before the 2012 discovery of the Deir el-Bersha inscription, the last known fixed-date event in Akhenaten's reign was a royal reception in regnal year twelve, in which the pharaoh and the royal family received tributes and offerings from allied countries and vassal states at Akhetaten. Inscriptions show tributes from
Nubia, the
Land of Punt,
Syria, the
Kingdom of Hattusa, the islands in the
Mediterranean Sea, and
Libya. Egyptologists, such as
Aidan Dodson, consider this year twelve celebration to be the
zenith of Akhenaten's reign. Thanks to reliefs in the
tomb of courtier
Meryre II, historians know that the royal family, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their six daughters, were present at the royal reception in full. However, historians are uncertain about the reasons for the reception. Possibilities include the celebration of the marriage of future pharaoh
Ay to
Tey, celebration of Akhenaten's twelve years on the throne, the summons of king
Aziru of
Amurru to Egypt, a military victory at
Sumur in the
Levant, a successful military campaign in Nubia, Nefertiti's ascendancy to the throne as coregent, or the completion of the new capital city Akhetaten. Following year twelve,
Donald B. Redford and other Egyptologists proposed that Egypt was struck by an
epidemic, most likely a
plague. Contemporary evidence suggests that a plague ravaged through the Middle East around this time, and ambassadors and delegations arriving to Akhenaten's year twelve reception might have brought the disease to Egypt. Alternatively, letters from the
Hattians might suggest that the epidemic originated in Egypt and was carried throughout the Middle East by Egyptian prisoners of war. Regardless of its origin, the epidemic might account for several deaths in the royal family that occurred in the last five years of Akhenaten's reign, including those of his daughters
Meketaten,
Neferneferure, and
Setepenre.
Coregency with Smenkhkare or Nefertiti Akhenaten could have ruled together with
Smenkhkare and
Nefertiti for several years before his death. Based on depictions and artifacts from the tombs of
Meryre II and Tutankhamun, Smenkhkare could have been Akhenaten's coregent by regnal year thirteen or fourteen, but died a year or two later. Nefertiti might not have assumed the role of coregent until after year sixteen, when a stela still mentions her as Akhenaten's
Great Royal Wife. While Nefertiti's familial relationship with Akhenaten is known, whether Akhenaten and Smenkhkare were related by blood is unclear. Smenkhkare could have been Akhenaten's son or brother, as the son of
Amenhotep III with
Tiye or
Sitamun. Archaeological evidence makes it clear, however, that Smenkhkare was married to
Meritaten, Akhenaten's eldest daughter. For another, the so-called
Coregency Stela, found in a tomb at Akhetaten, might show queen
Nefertiti as Akhenaten's coregent, but this is uncertain as the stela was recarved to show the names of
Ankhesenpaaten and
Neferneferuaten. Egyptologist
Aidan Dodson proposed that both Smenkhkare and Neferiti were Akhenaten's coregents to ensure the Amarna family's continued rule when Egypt was confronted with an epidemic. Dodson suggested that the two were chosen to rule as Tutankhaten's coregent in case Akhenaten died and Tutankhaten took the throne at a young age, or rule in Tutankhaten's stead if the prince also died in the epidemic.
Death and burial reconstituted from pieces discovered in his original tomb in
Amarna, now in the
Egyptian Museum, Cairo Akhenaten died in his 17th year year from wine docket evidence found at Amarna. and was initially buried in a
tomb in the
Royal Wadi east of Akhetaten. The order to construct the tomb and to bury the pharaoh there was commemorated on one of the
boundary stela delineating the capital's borders: "Let a tomb be made for me in the eastern mountain [of Akhetaten]. Let my burial be made in it, in the millions of jubilees which the Aten, my father, decreed for me." Akhenaten's burial chamber can easily be detected in his
Royal Tomb of Akhenaten since it is the only tomb which was fully finished; the rest of the tomb consists of unfinished rock cut tomb chambers and rooms which were likely meant to inter other members of the royal family such as his queen Nefertiti. However, work on the tomb stopped when the Egyptian royal family later moved to Thebes and abandoned Amarna under Akhenaten's son Tutankhamun about 3 years after Akhenaten's death. In the years following the burial, Akhenaten's sarcophagus was destroyed and left in the Akhetaten necropolis; reconstructed in the 20th century, it is in the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo as of 2019. Despite leaving the sarcophagus behind, Akhenaten's mummy was removed from the royal tombs after Tutankhamun abandoned Akhetaten and returned to Thebes. It was most likely moved to tomb
KV55 in
Valley of the Kings near Thebes. This tomb was later desecrated, likely during the
Ramesside period. Whether
Smenkhkare also enjoyed a brief independent reign after Akhenaten is unclear. If Smenkhkare outlived Akhenaten, and became sole pharaoh, he likely ruled Egypt for less than a year. The next successor is thought by some to be Nefertiti or Meritaten ruling as
Neferneferuaten, reigning in Egypt for about two years. She was, in turn, probably succeeded by Tutankhaten, with the country being administered by the
vizier and future pharaoh
Ay. While Akhenaten—perhaps along with Smenkhkare—was most likely reburied in tomb KV55, the identification of the mummy found in that tomb as Akhenaten remains controversial to this day. The mummy has repeatedly been examined since its discovery in 1907. Most recently, Egyptologist
Zahi Hawass led a team of researchers to examine the mummy using medical and
DNA analysis, with the results published in 2010. In releasing their test results, Hawass's team identified the mummy as the father of Tutankhamun and thus "most probably" Akhenaten. However, the study's
validity has since been called into question. For instance, the discussion of the study results does not discuss that Tutankhamun's father and the father's siblings would share some
genetic markers; if Tutankhamun's father was Akhenaten, the DNA results could indicate that the mummy is a brother of Akhenaten, possibly Smenkhkare. Moreover, according to the genetic research KV55 cannot be maternal grandfather of the
two daughters of Tutankhamun, who are believed to be children of Akhenaten's daughter,
Ankhesenamun. Juan Belmonte notes three possible resolutions of this problem: either (1) Tutankhamun fathered the two princesses by different consort(s), (2) KV55 is not Akhenaten but Smenkhkare (option considered by Belmonte to be the most probable) or (3) KV55 is indeed Akhenaten
but he was not biological father of Ankhesenamun because of Nefertiti's
extramarital affair (which Belmonte describes as "historical speculation, possible but improbable").
Legacy With Akhenaten's death, the Aten cult he had founded fell out of favor: at first gradually, and then with decisive finality. Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun in Year 2 of his reign () and abandoned the city of Akhetaten. Their successors then attempted to erase Akhenaten and his family from the historical record. His name was erased from monuments, with later pharaohs often calling him "the enemy of Akhetaten". During the reign of Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the first pharaoh after Akhenaten who was not related to Akhenaten's family, Egyptians started to destroy temples to the Aten and reuse the building blocks in new construction projects, including in temples for the newly restored god
Amun. Horemheb's successor continued in this effort.
Seti I restored monuments to Amun and had the god's name re-carved on inscriptions where it was removed by Akhenaten. Seti I also ordered that Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Neferneferuaten, Tutankhamun, and Ay be excised from official lists of pharaohs to make it appear that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. Under the
Ramessides, who succeeded Seti I, Akhetaten was gradually destroyed and the building material reused across the country, such as in constructions at
Hermopolis. The negative attitudes toward Akhenaten were illustrated by, for example, inscriptions in the tomb of scribe
Mose (or Mes), where Akhenaten's reign is referred to as "the time of the enemy of Akhetaten". Some Egyptologists, such as
Jacobus Van Dijk and
Jan Assmann, believe that Akhenaten's reign and the Amarna period started a gradual decline in the Egyptian government's power and the pharaoh's standing in Egyptian's society and religious life. Akhenaten's religious reforms subverted the relationship ordinary Egyptians had with their gods and their pharaoh, as well as the role the pharaoh played in the relationship between the people and the gods. Before the Amarna period, the pharaoh was the representative of the gods on Earth, the son of the god Ra, and the living incarnation of the god
Horus, and maintained the
divine order through rituals and offerings and by sustaining the temples of the gods. Additionally, even though the pharaoh oversaw all religious activity, Egyptians could access their gods through
regular public holidays, festivals, and processions. This led to a seemingly close connection between people and the gods, especially the
patron deity of their respective towns and cities. Akhenaten, however, banned the worship of gods beside the Aten, including through festivals. He also declared himself to be the only one who could worship the Aten, and required that all religious devotion previously exhibited toward the gods be directed toward himself. After the Amarna period, during the
Nineteenth and
Twentieth Dynasties— following Akhenaten's death—the relationship between the people, the pharaoh, and the gods did not simply revert to pre-Amarna practices and beliefs. The worship of all gods returned, but the relationship between the gods and the worshipers became more direct and personal, circumventing the pharaoh. Rather than acting through the pharaoh, Egyptians started to believe that the gods intervened directly in their lives, protecting the pious and punishing criminals. The gods replaced the pharaoh as their own representatives on Earth. The god Amun once again became king among all gods. According to van Dijk, "the king was no longer a god, but god himself had become king. Once Amun had been recognized as the true king, the political power of the earthly rulers could be reduced to a minimum." Consequently, the influence and power of the Amun priesthood continued to grow until the
Twenty-first Dynasty, , by which time the
High Priests of Amun effectively became rulers over parts of Egypt. Akhenaten's reforms also had a longer-term impact on Ancient Egyptian language and hastened the spread of the spoken
Late Egyptian language in official writings and speeches. Spoken and written Egyptian diverged early on in Egyptian history and stayed different over time. During the Amarna period, however, royal and religious texts and inscriptions, including the
boundary stelae at Akhetaten or the
Amarna letters, started to regularly include more
vernacular linguistic elements, such as the
definite article or a new
possessive form. Even though they continued to diverge, these changes brought the spoken and written language closer to one another more systematically than under previous pharaohs of the
New Kingdom. While Akhenaten's successors attempted to erase his religious, artistic, and even linguistic changes from history, the new linguistic elements remained a more common part of official texts following the Amarna years, starting with the
Nineteenth Dynasty. Akhenaten is also recognized as a
Prophet in the
Druze faith. == Atenism ==