Assess Akhenaten's religious reforms.

Akhenaten created a monotheistic religion, with Aten being the only god allowed to be worshipped. During his reign, only the temples dedicated to Aten were running and all other temples were abandoned and left dark and empty. He changed his name from Amenhotep (meaning Amun is satisfied) to Akhenaten (He who is serviceable to the Aten) to emphasise his break with Amun. The plural ‘gods’ was never used again during Akhenaten’s reign from year 5 onwards. The Hymn to the Aten refers to Aten as a “sole god” and “the lord of all of them”. This monotheistic religion was extremely revolutionary, as thi

Most of the features of Akhenaten’s religious reforms prove to contribute significantly to the demise of the Atenist religion. The monotheistic religion, although revolutionary, dissatisfied the Egyptian people, and his relationship and co-regency with the Aten created problems when the people could no longer worship the Aten through Akhenaten after his death. Akhenaten’s wrongly placed motivation and the diminished importance of the previously powerful priesthood would have also created aggravation and resentment, as would have the move to a new capital city. Hence, although the general idea of a monotheistic religion was truly revolutionary, the important details of the cult were inattentively planned, greatly accounting for the failure and collapse of the Atenist religion.

Akhenaten created a much stronger and intense relationship between himself and Aten. Unlike other chief deities, the Aten was not associated with a divine family – rather, Akhenaten claimed that he and his wife Nefertiti were directly linked to the Aten, Akhenaten being Aten’s living son. In the Hymn to the Aten, it states – “save thy son Nefer-Kheperu-Re Wa-er Re [Akhenaten]… who came forth from your body: the king… Akh-en-aten… and the chief wife of the King… Nefertiti.” He further created the concept that the king was the only person through whom prayers and petitions to the diety could be delivered. Statues and images of old gods were now replaced by scenes of the royal family. All of these scenes show the sun-disc of Aten shining down on them, ext

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