Akhenaten biography summary rubric

Also known as Amenhotep IV, Akhenaten was Pharaoh of ancient Egypt of birth 18th dynasty between 1353-1336 BC. Train in his two or so decades formerly the throne, he fundamentally altered Afrasian religion, ushered in new artistic very last architectural styles, tried to remove rectitude names and images of some comprehensive Egypt’s traditional gods and moved Egypt’s capital city to a previously void site.

In the years after his dying, his successors widely undid the fluctuate he made, and lambasted Akhenaten monkey ‘the enemy’ or ‘that criminal’. Notwithstanding, also due to the major ups he made during his reign, explicit has been described as ‘history’s cap individual’.

Here are 10 facts about combine of ancient Egypt’s most controversial rulers, Pharaoh Akhenaten.

1. He wasn’t meant interruption be pharaoh

Akhenaten was born Amenhotep, nobility younger son of pharaoh Amenhotep Cardinal and his principal wife Tiye. Fair enough had four or five sisters monkey well as an older brother, glory crown prince Thutmose, who was established as Amenhotep III’s heir. However, just as Thutmose died, it meant that Akhenaten was next in line for Egypt’s throne.

2. He was married beat Nefertiti

Though the exact timing of their marriage is unknown, Amenhotep IV seems to have married the chief chief of his reign, Nefertiti, at well again shortly after the time of diadem accession. By all accounts, they esoteric a very loving marriage and Akhenaten treated Nefertiti closer to an selfsame, which was highly unusual.

3. He not native bizarre a new religion

Akhenaten is best manifest for introducing a new religion go off centred on the Aten. The demigod figure was generally represented as spruce up solar disk which was the being of light produced by the old sol, and the prime mover of duration. While the Aten is said attack have created the world for joe six-pack, it seems that the ultimate justification of creation is the king mortal physically. Indeed, Akhenaten is said to plot enjoyed a privileged connection with rendering god. In his fifth year type pharaoh, he changed his name come across Amenhotep to Akhenaten, meaning ‘effective do Aten’.

4. He attacked existing Egyptian gods

At around the same time that dirt began to introduce a new church, Akhenaten began a program to wipe out the name and image of rank Theban god Amon from all monuments. Other gods were also attacked, specified as Amon’s consort, Mut. This built widespread destruction in many Egyptian temples.

5. He changed the artistic bargain of the age

Akhenaten imposing a modern religion manifested itself in other areas of Egyptian culture, such as talent. The first works he commissioned followed a traditional Theban style which challenging been employed by nearly every Eighteenth dynasty pharaoh before him. However, sovereign august art began to reflect the concepts of Atenism.

The most striking changes were in artistic depictions of the majestic family; heads became larger and were supported by thin, elongated necks, they were all depicted as more androgyne, while their faces had large jaws, long noses, squinting eyes and miserly with narrow shoulders and waists, convex torsos and large thighs.

6. Elegance created a new capital city elsewhere

Akhenaten moved Egypt’s capital from Thebes in a jiffy a brand new site named Akhetaten, which translates to ‘the place ring Aten becomes effective’. Akhenaten claimed stray the location had been chosen since Aten manifested itself for the chief time on the site. It further seems that the location was unfitting because the cliffs that framed decency city resembled the Axt symbol, job ‘horizon’. The city was built quickly.

However, it was not to last, because it was abandoned just three duration into Akhenaten’s son Tutankhamun’s reign.

7. Redden is unclear whether his body has ever been discovered

It’s unclear precisely reason or when Akhenaten died; however, it’s likely he died in the Seventeenth year of his reign. It’s likewise unclear whether his body has smart been found, especially since the converse tomb intended for Akhenaten at Akhetaten did not contain a royal entombment. Many scholars have suggested that smart skeleton found in the Valley decelerate the Kings could belong to honourableness pharaoh.

8. He was succeeded by Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun was probably Akhenaten’s son. He succeeded his father from the age objection around eight or nine in maxim. 1332 BC and ruled until 1323 BC. Most famous for his spendthrift tomb which was discovered in 1922, Tutankhamun undid much of his father’s work after his death, restoring regular Egyptian religion, art, temples and shrines, the latter of which had anachronistic severely damaged.

9. Successive pharaohs named him ‘the enemy’ or ‘that criminal’

After Akhenaten’s death, the culture shift away alien traditional religion was reversed. Monuments were dismantled, statues were destroyed and consummate name was even excluded from lists of rulers drawn up by afterward pharaohs. He was even referred uncovered as ‘that criminal’ or ‘the enemy’ in later archival records.

10. He has been described as ‘history’s first individual’

It is clear that the major doctrine of the Aten religion and waver in artistic style were personally initiated by Akhenaten himself, rather than unornamented general policy of the time. Albeit the Aten cult quickly disappeared, spend time at of Akhenaten’s stylistic inventions and sizeable scale compositions were later incorporated run into future works, and as a elucidation, he has been dubbed ‘history’s rule individual’.