Essay about Akhenaten Heretic Man or Visionary Pharaoh

Pharaohs were governors of the Ancient Egyptian realm who broadcasted themselves as sons of gods who upheld Ma’at – the Egyptian order of life. Most pharaohs ruled in a typical and expected way carrying the beliefs of their ancestors- though not all ruled this way. Akhenaten of the 18th Dynasty New Kingdom was not an â€Å"archetypal† pharaoh as seen through his goal to change Egyptian religion from polytheism to monotheism and through his building project in Amarna. Though he used traditional means to incorporate his changes he did so in an atypical way. After all his attempts at reform all was forgotten when he died and Egypt returned to the religious beliefs it had beforehand. This essay will analyse historical evidence that demonstrates†¦show more content†¦Thus, as shown in the sources above, the religious changes Akhenaten implemented went completely against the ways of previous pharaohs providing proof that Akhenaten was not an archetypal pharaoh . Furthermore, Akhenaten sought to remove the power of the priesthood and so he moved the capital from Thebes to a new ground where he made a new capital for his own god Aten: Akhetaten or El-Amarna. This is categorically stated by English Egyptologist, Reeves (2001) who argues that El-Amarna was well structured and as mysterious as Akhenaten and his wife themselves. It is also said that Amarna was well suited topographically and precisely midway between the traditional Egyptian borders unlike Thebes which was the centre of Greater Egypt. The city didn’t solely bare the traditional temples but also included a higher class residential quarter in the South Suburb with large floor areas where many notable individuals lived including