Akhenaten, << `ah` kuh NAH tehn, >> ruled ancient Egypt from about 1353 to 1336 B.C. Queen Nefertiti was his wife. The pharaoh (king) Tutankhamun was his son by another wife. Akhenaten was a religious reformer, devoted solely to the worship of Aten, a sun god. He abandoned the state religion of Amun and changed his name from Amenhotep, his father’s name, to Akhenaten. He attacked the old religion, removed the name of Amun from monuments, and closed Amun’s temples. Akhenaten built a new capital at Amarna and called it Akhetaten, meaning horizon of Aten. After his death, many later pharaohs tried to destroy Akhenaten’s monuments.
See also Egypt, Ancient (The New Kingdom); Nefertiti.
