1. Akhenaton An intellectual, philosophical, revolutionary.
Akhenaton’s religious hymn to the god Aten.
Akhenaton became pharaoh in 1353 B.C. When he did, he made a bold decision. He lifted a sun god named Aten to the highest status a god could have. Akhenaten’s name means, “living spirit of Aten He then closed the temples of other gods. By doing this, he attempted to promote the worship of one god for the first time in Egyptian history. He is known by many historians as the world’s first monotheistic (belief in 1 god) ruler.
Class Discussion: What effect do you think this would have had on the Egyptian population? Do you think they would have approved, or disapproved?
Akhenaten ruled for 17 years. Akhenaten was an intellectual and philosophical revolutionary who had the power and wealth to indulge his ideas. However, the ancient Egyptians were a deeply religious people who loved their ancient traditions and were not ready to embrace such radical changes. It would not be until the Christian era that the Egyptians would finally reject the old gods in favor of a single universal deity.