The New Kingdom is well known for its pharaohs and their great works, it's time that Egypt had, as in the Old Kingdom, the most imposing buildings around the world. During the New Kingdom Dynasty XVIII, in 1386 BC, Egypt enjoyed the greatest wealth in history and in fact, reaffirms that Amenhotep III was the richest man in the ancient world.

The birth of Amenhotep IV

Son of Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III was the husband of Queen Tiy and father of three princesses, and two children. The firstborn son was given the name of Tuthmosis and tradition should be the successor to the throne of Egypt. When another prince was given the name of his father became BC Amenhotep IV -1350-1334. Many studies have been done documentary is believed that Amenhotep IV was a young boy who was often not taken into account in court and in religious ceremonies.

Head of a statue of Akhenaten

This becomes really evident when the friezes on the walls of the monuments this character was excluded in the activities that would normally be participating with other members of the royal family.

There is no doubt that the young Amenhotep IV, despite having been excluded in many of the most important ceremonies, was a beloved child. You do not have skills in the absence of evidence of why it was not taken into account in their early years for such protocols leading to many and endless speculation on the part of researchers.

Prince Tuthmosis died before his father as his younger brother, Amenhotep IV, should take responsibility and be held before the Egyptian Empire. Having been recently taken into account, was the main point of attention and consideration. Amenhotep IV was soon thoroughly instructed in everything required for your new future but above all things, his studies emphasized the religious aspect and life in Egypt as the common people as the Pharaonic court life was immersed in religion, especially in the cult of Amon, Isis, Osiris and Horus.

Ascension to the throne and first-year reign

It is quite possible that shortly before the death of Amenhotep III has been a period of co-regency between the king and his son Amenhotep IV. These periods of regency consisted future monarch to give the opportunity to share some functions of a pharaoh.

The aim of this co-regency was to give a more effective preparation to succeed to the throne and excellent results was a common practice during the New Kingdom. These reasons given to believe that this happened with Amenhotep VI but could corroborate the evidence is insufficient.

Approximately in 1349 BC Amenhotep III died, one of the greatest rulers of Egypt. He left an empire full of material wealth and a stable political situation. This prosperity was the result of the traditional Egyptian military and political system. Everything was simple, the army conquered new lands, take the loot and economic regularly received tribute from the conquered territories in exchange for peace. This system was the basis of the Egyptian economy and emphasized during the reign of Tuthmosis III -1504-1450 BC-the greatest military conqueror in Egyptian history.

When Amenhotep IV took the reins of the Egyptian Empire is dedicated to complete works that his father failed to finish in life and married the now very famous Queen Nefertiti. There are two versions about the origin of this queen, one theory says that came from overseas, specifically Mitani, traditional enemies of Egypt.

At first glance one might think that this would be a simple strategy to maintain peace between the two kingdoms but there is the slightest doubt that the love they felt for one another was exceptional and unique, never seen before judging by the evidence found at Amarna. The other is the daughter of Ay official. The latter seems unlikely because sinister circumstances surrounding this character that cast doubt on a blood relationship between Nefertiti and him.

Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti in the early years of reign brought the world to several girls, some of them in addition to being princesses became his father's wives. The marriage between parents and children, brothers and sisters was very common among the Egyptians, was a way to keep her royal lineage unbroken to ensure the purity of the pharaohs, gods.

For these habits in his day were the most normal and where there was the slightest concept of incest, Amenhotep IV married several of his daughters. Probably Kiya, a secondary wife, is that Amenhotep IV became the father of Tutanjatón.

An unexpected change in history

The capital of Thebes, the most powerful religious center of the ancient world was full of temples of worship to the gods that each ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt was building in his honor. Generally if a king did not conclude a temple his son did it for him and then make their own schedules or built a new one.

In addition to completing the construction of his father and the tradition, Amenhotep IV at Karnak temples built four who dropped out of the line of tradition by the way they are represented physically and pharaoh making offerings to the god to whom these temples were dedicated . Unlike their predecessors did not devote their buildings to Amun but a little known god called Aten. In its initial condition this god was represented in a common way, with the body of man and animal head but during the reign of Amenhotep IV was given a new form, the solar disk.

The scandal of these anomalies was only a start, it was the beginning of a new religious cult that nobody expected and that broke all dogmatic schemes where finally the history of mankind took a new turn today is present in most religious beliefs.

Around the fifth year of his reign, Amenhotep IV declared that there was only one and supreme God, creator of life and all that exists. For the first time in history it represents and warrants monotheism. The ancient gods Amun and Osiris Isys were abolished and their churches closed and abandoned. Aten was only unlike the old gods, it was full of love for their children, men.

Gods were no longer eager to punish people, intimidate or oppress them, gods that only priests had access. Aton was in heaven and its blessed rays to everything he touched, Aten was for all the people of Egypt.

Another important change was that his name should no longer be called Amenhotep, then, their significance, Amun is pleased, it was not appropriate in the new religion. Called himself Akhenaten Server which means Aton.

These changes were too fast and not all easily assimilated. And priests by not having a polytheistic religion did not serve as mediators between gods and men. The great wealth that had not come back and do not represent any role in society Akhenaten himself was now the mediator between men and Aton. The temples of worship to the pagan gods were closed by decree and dismissed the priesthood by the king himself.

Traditionally, political power was fused with religious giving the priests a power so mighty that it was comparable to that of Pharaoh himself. With the new religion that was not so, Akhenaten was completely independent and was himself high priest in the religion of Aten.

In the tomb of Ay in the city of Akhetaten is an inscription of the Hymn to the Aten Akhenaten himself composed:

Let your holy light shines from the heights of heaven,

oh, living Aten,

beginning of a lifetime ...

How varied the world you've created

everything is mysterious ...

Designing the Earth with the desires of your heart,

while you were still alone,

the creatures were filled with men and ...

You are the one God,

shining in front of your incarnations as Aten

Living Sun ...

You created all things of this world in your image, who are the One;

cities, villages, fields, roads, the River [Nile].

The construction of a new capital

Because of its historical, Thebes could not be the capital of the new religion, was full of temples dedicated to Aten false gods and deserve a new, pure, free of fetishes. At the heart of the Empire, between Upper and Lower Egypt, Akhenaten before implementing the new religion found a wild place along the Nile As stated in one of the trails that border the city, the god Aten down from heaven and landed in the place he wanted to be built Akhetaten or the Horizon of the Aten, the name given to the new capital.

Seeing the mountains from Tell Al-Amarna, the modern name for Akhetaten-appreciated as the sun falls as Akhenaten presented it in its relief. It seems out of the bottom-rays that are associated with arms and ends at the hands holding the ankh, the cross of life. In a time like this Akhenaten may have chosen the new capital addition, the new universal fit and their god.

Akhetaten in more prosperous times was home to between 25000 and 50000 people. The city was designed for the pleasure of its inhabitants, therefore, Aten was kind. Beautiful gardens and comfortable houses were the sights of the new capital.

The temples were dark places accessible only to the priests and the pharaoh as the old worship of the Aten temples were absolutely all his followers, the sides were lined with trees and there was no roof so that the rays of Aten is posing on the faithful. The offerings to be made then were spread among the population, the fruits of God should be helpful for everyone.

In a relief shows the balcony of the occurrences where the royal family gives away gold ornaments to the residents of Akhetaten. Some researchers interpret the scenes of the pharaoh as a bribe so that citizens would support the religion that hypothetically would have had the expected success relies on a statue of the god Bes found in the city.

This theory loses its force if one takes into account that for the first time in Egyptian history the common people had direct involvement with God as the worship of Aten must have earned much sympathy and believers.

Aten arts

Another important change was made Akhenaten art. Due to an ancient belief the pharaohs were considered gods, were specifically represented in the Land of Horus, god of the sky. For this reason it does not matter age or height, or physical characteristics of the monarch, this should be represented with a unique and perfect, athletic body, tall and strong to dominate every opponent.

No matter the appearance of the Pharaoh, just be with these characteristics should represent idealized as their predecessors and were represented as were his successors. In the friezes of the temples you can see the pharaoh making offerings to the gods, battle scenes or the world beyond the art style.

Akhenaten changed the traditional rigid concept. When in 1925 Henri Chevrier, inspector of antiquities at Karnak discovered a colossal statues of a pharaoh who could not identify, he realized that in Egypt there occurred something strange, such statues were those of Akhenaten.

The new representation of Pharaoh went against the traditional style, had an elongated head, almond eyes, thick lips, a thin chin, an extremely long neck, wide hips and large thighs. In the workshop of sculptor Tutmés there is an inscription which says that Pharaoh himself taught his art. Additionally Akhenaten was not represented by destroying the enemy countries, now he seemed very intimate scenes with his wife Nefertiti and his daughters.

In temples the whole family was represented making offerings to Aten and receiving from him his blessings. Solar disk of the sun rays out and the end of each ray was completed with a hand holding the cross of life, the ankh.

These changes were applied not only to Pharaoh also the queen, princesses and other members of the court were represented in this new naturalistic style. There has been much speculation because of the physical appearance of Akhenaten even said that he suffered from several diseases including Fröhlich syndrome.

The most sensible theory is that Akhenaten had some specific characteristics that he wanted to emphasize through their statues and reliefs. His appearance was not exactly as shown in the works of his reign, it was just a way to give a new twist to the traditional artistic monotony. Evidence of this could be that Akhenaten was not the only one represented in this way, they were all individuals included in the scenes giving validity to this theory if we discard the possibility that the Pharaoh wanted to imitate.

Foreign Relations

Egypt had by tradition conquer foreign territories to expand its borders, manage trade in the Mediterranean and to receive large amounts of economic and tree species. Military campaigns were the key to success to the point that Nub, Egyptian word meaning gold, was the name of the current which had a Nubian viceroy authorized by Egypt to the Empire was constantly giving large quantities of gold.

This military practice was not used by Akhenaten, he believed he should not waste time this type of activity, his dedication should be a benevolent works of Aton and not war and death. For such reasons, Egypt began to lose control of foreign territories and weaken the economy and foreign policy.

In fact, a foreign leader sent a letter to Akhenaten complaining that his envoys were left standing in the sun and are not attending.

Akhenaten's death and restoration of the ancient cult

It is quite possible that due to the chagrin of the priests of the past caused by the new religion has given rise to multiple conspiracies against the Aten and the king himself. Around 1334 BC, in the year 17 of Akhenaten's reign, comes his sudden death, apparently killed for reasons of disgust in the ancient religious clergy besides the conspiracy could be supported by the political situation as an excuse.

The main suspect in her death is Oh for a number of facts that relate to other deaths after Akhenaten. Nefertiti disappears shortly after the death of her husband for what is believed was also killed.

It is thought that the king was originally buried in the royal tomb of Akhetaten but his followers, preventing attacks against Akhenaten decided to move the mummy to another remote location where it was not found.

Similar may have been the fate of the mummy of Nefertiti. In 1880, opposite the Royal Tomb Akhetaten mummy was found burned and some objects among which was a ring with the name of Nefertiti but it is possible that it was her body, are thought to be the remains of a Coptic mummy.

After a short regency of Smenjkare, Tutanjatón is married to his half-sister Anjesepaatón and converted to the new heirs of Egypt. The young Tutanjatón only was 9 when these events took place. Because of his age is no doubt that the directors acted through him making decisions according to their own interests.

In year 2 of his reign suddenly restored the old worship of Amun and other gods. To give more strength to the old religion, the pharaoh and his queen to change their names to Tutankhamun and Anjesenamón. It's hard to believe that Tutankhamun after having lived all his life in Akhetaten, having believed in the Aten as the only god, restored the worship of gods forbidden by his father, gods in which he himself believed.

For the time would have been only 11 years and was easily manipulated. This theory is strengthened when Tutankhamen died at 18 from a blow to the back of the head. It is very possible that he was killed by assuming that at that age he wanted to make their own decisions, possibly not very convenient for the powerful priesthood. Then Ay Anjesenamón marries against his will and becomes Pharaoh and, shortly thereafter, Anjesenamón also dies for unknown reasons.

Akhenaten's legacy

Akhenaten's story is viewed from two different points of view, one of them sees it as the first monotheist in history of mankind and taking into account the point of view of biblical archeology is believed that Moses may have inspired some of your thoughts on this pharaoh's religious texts.

The other view is more passionate, refers to a pharaoh Akhenaten and his only role was to create chaos in Egypt and therefore, their period of reign was nothing but a dark period of Egyptian history.

What is undeniable is that Akhenaten by his religion made fundamental changes in religious thinking that helped develop the concept of the divine, brotherhood and peace among men.