Ikhnaton : The First Heretic

Ikhnaton was born to Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy in 1385 BC as Amenhotep IV. As Amenhotep IV grew up, he often heard his mother oppose Amon and worship Aton and this is believed to have influenced him with the worship of only Aton. Amenhotep IV was a sick and deformed boy as was his father. He was often portrayed as having a deformed head and stomach. Amenhotep III was frightened that his only son may die a premature death and wouldn’t be able to run the Egyptian empire. The Queen and King decided to have Amenhotep IV married at an early age. (Bratton, The First Heretic, 17)

Many kings from other countries offered their daughters to the young prince. Amenhotep IV married the princess of Mitanni, but she died shortly after. Later Amenhotep IV married his sister, Neferti

Egypt had always been a polytheistic empire with its most important gods being Ra and Osiris. Ra was the sun-god and Osiris was the god of vegetation. (Bratton, The First Heretic, 53) Amenhotep IV then created Atonism with Aton being the only God and he was “the father and mother of us all.” (Bratton, The First Heretic, 49) At this point, Amenhotep IV changed his name to Ikhnaton and began building temples to Aton in Thebes. After the construction of the temples was complete, Ikhnaton demanded that Thebes, which was the city of Amon, be called “The City of the Brightness of Aton.” None of this satisfied the young king so he also ordered that the name Amon be erased from all statues, buildings, and scriptures. (Bratton, The First Heretic, 87)

Ikhnaton was the first king to ask to be depicted in pictures as he was in everyday life and he didn’t care about what anyone thought about him. This was based on “maat” or truth for living. He believed you should only live in truth and be true to yourself no matter what. (Bratton, The First Heretic, 135) Unfortunately, as beautiful as Amarna was, its downfall was soon to come as the king continually ignored pleas for help in military affairs in other areas of Egypt as well as threats from other countries. (Bratton, The First Heretic, 113)

Many people have never heard of Ikhnaton or what his accomplishments were and some think that he accomplished nothing and was just a person trying to change tradition. I think that all people should learn about Ikhnaton because he is a very important person in antiquity. He may not have done anything for foreign affairs or made great contributions like other heroes of antiquity, but he was the turning point in the Egyptian empire. Without Ikhnaton, it would have been hard for people to evolve into individuals and tear away from tradition. This rebel of antiquity still has an impact on today’s world through his desire to be

Some topics in this essay:
Bratton Heretic, Amenhotep IV, Duiker Spielvogel, Amarna Thebes, , bratton heretic, Horizon Aton”, Amenhotep III, amenhotep iv, Aton Thebes, Aton” None, Tiy Ikhnaton’s, worship aton, ikhnaton’s reign, egyptian empire, iv married, book ikhnaton, military affairs, amenhotep iii, amenhotep iv married, worship aton bratton, didn’t care, egypt polytheistic empire, help military affairs, amenhotep iv king,