The Amarna age may have only lasted fewer than 20 years towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, but this period of time saw a great change in the Ancient Egyptian Religious beliefs. Akhenaten, previously known as Amenhotep IV, launched a religion purely based on monotheism. He was famous throughout the world for his change in religion and was known to many as the Heretic King. Using a range of books, primary sources, articles and websites a hypothesis can be made. In this particular essay, the hypothesis is that Akhenaten was a religious visionary. He conveyed an idea of Atenism, which can be identified as ‘the first step in a logical evolution of religion from many minor gods to one major god.’ (www.sis.gov.eg/egyptinf/ history/html/akhen.htm) This essay will prove whether or not Akhenaten was a monotheist and if he was the first monotheist. Also it will confirm if the changes in the religion were unique and his relationship to the Aten.

According to many scholars and ‘The Great Hymn to the Aten,’ Akhenaten was believed to be a monotheist. Possibly not the first to believe in just one god, he was the first pharaoh to establish a religion that replaced the concept of polythe

Ramose also used the term, as he was a steward in the Temple of the Aten but was also a priest of Amun. This gives evidence that not only the term Aten was used, but there was a temple for the Aten before Akhenaten’s reign. Also a boat by the name of ‘Aten Gleams,’ was used by the Queen Tiy to sail over a lake built by her husband Amenhotep III. This suggests that the term was used many years before Akhenaten’s reign and that his changes were not unique but in fact used by pharaohs and priests other than himself.

Monotheism can be defined as ‘the belief in one omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient god who is above time and space’, (New Kingdom Egypt). According to this book also, Akhenaten was not the first pharaoh to practise monotheism. Although he was more likely to be exposed to the religious beliefs of his father, Amenhotep III, the existence of Akhenaten’s god the ‘Aten’ or the ‘Sun disk,’ posed many centuries before Akhenaten took to the throne. The Aten was simply depicted as an image of a sun disk that housed the Sun god Ra. Several centuries later, Thutmose IV (Akhenaten’s grandfather) was fascinated by the idea of the Aten and was often called ‘the Sun disk’ by his bureaucrats. Amenhotep III was also given a name and was known as ‘the Dazzling Sun Disk.’ This is evidence that not only did Akhenaten believe in the Aten and that the monotheistic practise was not only a ritual used by him.

Akhenaten’s people did not directly worship Aten. His people directed their prayers towards Akhenaten as to them he was the ‘physical son of the Aten’ and referred to him as being ‘a god on Eart

Some topics in this essay:
Aten Akhenaten, King Using, Amenhotep III, Sun Disk’, Akhenaten Aten, Tefnut Shu, Aten Akhenaten’s, Aten’ Akhenaten, IV Akhenaten, Encarta Encyclopedia, amenhotep iii, polytheistic religion, akhenaten’s reign, worship aten, hymn aten’, akhenaten aten, thutmose iv, changes religion unique, establish religion, ‘the belief, defined ‘the, ‘the hymn aten’, father amenhotep iii, defined ‘the belief,