How long did akhenaten rule egypt

By Laura Taronas Harvard University. In the long course of Egyptian history, few figures have been as polarizing as Akhenaten. All men had been but drops of water in the great current. Ikhnaton was the first individual in history. Akhenaten became best known to modern scholars for the new religion he created that centered on the Aten. In Akhenaten's new religion, this figure generally came to be represented as a sun disk and is best understood as the light produced by the sun itself.

Shortly after this first significant step, Akhenaten initiated a series of changes in Egyptian religion, art and writing that appeared to coincide with the jubilees of his deified father, Amenhotep III, and the Aten. What, then, was this new religion that motivated Akhenaten to upend so many elements of Egyptian society?

Scholars have argued in favor of monotheism, henotheism, agnosticism and almost everything in between. What is certain, though, is this new religion elevated the Aten to the position of state deity and centered largely on its worship. And it was used to adhere the elements of the composite statuary created at Amarna, and apparently to construct some balustrades from a three-dimensional mosaic of pieces. The combination of flourishing and inventive composite methods with the ubiquitous use of gypsum-based adherents has the appearance of an acceleration of technological change that constitutes a kind of breakthrough, whether or not it had any validity when Amarna and Amarna systems were abandoned.

The city offers a good deal of information about the spiritual concerns of its people, although the disparate evidence leaves many gaps and questions. As for involvement in the official Aten religion and the temples, officials presumably commissioned some of the temple statuary of the royal family or small-scale temple equipment at workshops distributed throughout one whole zone of the city.

Some of the society at least also seems to have had particular access to certain parts of the temple: the Stela Emplacement area toward the back is one example. Moreover, the huge bakeries attached to the Great Aten Temple, along with the many hundreds of offering tables in the temple, point to wide distributions of food, and these could be tied to broad accommodation within areas of the temple enclosure, possibly in connection with the festivals of the Aten promised on the boundary stelae.

In their homes, officials might exhibit devotion to the royal family as the children of the Aten, sometimes constructing small chapels in gardens alongside their houses for their own or perhaps neighborhood use.

From the perspective of the small finds attached to houses and burials of the wider populace, there is very little overt evidence of attention to the new god, although such attention might not be well manifested in such finds for a variety of reasons.

What is clear is that there was no absolute prohibition on other gods: material remains testify to continued interest in household gods like Bes and Taweret Recent excavations have revealed the long-unknown cemeteries of the general populace. In contrast, the recently excavated South Tombs Cemetery of the general populace shows ample evidence of use, probably holding about 3, individuals.

A few of these individuals had a coffin or a stela or a piece of jewelry While there was certainly no mention of traditional funerary religion involving Osiris in the royal or elite tombs, there was some variability in the South Tombs Cemetery: one burial had a coffin apparently representing the Sons of Horus.

The remains present many points of interest, but perhaps most surprising is the evidence of duress and poor diet well beyond that known for other typical New Kingdom populations. The profile of the population in terms of age at death also indicates to researchers that an as yet unidentified epidemic scoured the population.

Other cemeteries have been identified, and more excavation is anticipated. Nefertiti, Meritaten, the mysterious pharaoh Smenkhkare, and the female pharaoh Ankhetkhepherure—for whom the chief candidates in discussions so far have been Nefertiti and Meritaten, the eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti—and ultimately Tutankhaten Tutankhamun all have roles.

Energetic scholarly discussion of the events of this period and the identity, parentage, personal history, and burial place of many members of the Amarna royal family is ongoing. Apparently in the reign of Ramesses II, the formal buildings of Akhetaten were completely destroyed, and many of their blocks reused as matrix stone in his constructions at Hermopolis and elsewhere. The site had presumably been abandoned.

Hill, Marsha. Amarna Project. Milan: Silvana Editoriale, Arnold, Dorothea. See on MetPublications. Freed, Rita E. Markowitz, and Sue. D'Auria, eds. Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Gabolde, Marc, et al. Actes du Colloque le 18—19 novembre Montpellier: -, Kemp, Barry J. Murnane, William J. Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt.

Edited by Edmund S. Atlanta: Scholars Press, Seyfried, Friederike, ed. English version. Stevens, Anna. Oxford: Archaeopress, Vergnieux, Robert, and Michel Gondran. Paris: Arthaud, Visiting The Met? Taweret amulet with double head. Face from a Composite Statue, probably Queen Tiye.

Why Akhenaten chose to depict himself and others this way is a mystery. However recent study of a mummy found in KV 55, in the Valley of the Kings, which some believe is Akhenaten, show no signs of serious physical deformities. Kemp writes in his book that if it is true Akhenaten was not deformed then we have to look into the psyche of the man to find the answers to this mystery. He is one of a kind, on the edge. He wants you to feel uncomfortable and yet — as conveyed through the relaxed poses and overt affection for his family as found in some of the art to love him at the same time.

Regardless of whether or not Akhenaten wanted people to love him, recent research shows that the people who built his new city, out in the desert, paid a steep price. Recent research published in the journal Antiquity shows that the common people at Amarna suffered from nutritional deficiencies and a high juvenile mortality rate, even by the standards of the time.

The children had stunted growth, and many of the bones were porous due to nutritional deficiency, probably because the commoners lived on a diet of mostly bread and beer, archaeologist Anna Stevens told LiveScience in an interview at the time the research was published.

Researchers also found that more than three-quarters of the adults had degenerative joint disease, likely from hauling heavy loads, and about two-thirds of these adults had at least one broken bone as reported in the LiveScience story. The city of Akhetaten gradually crumbled back into the desert. His name and those of his immediate successors were omitted from official king-lists so that they remained virtually unknown until the archaeological discoveries at Akhetaten and in the tomb of Tutankhamun made these kings amongst the most famous of all rulers of ancient Egypt.

The British Museum. Great Russell Street, London. Tel: The British Museum is free to everybody and opens at 10am every day. Tel: A varied collection from Egypt consisting of approximately 36, objects dating from the Palaeolithic to the Roman period. Search term:.

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This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. The appeal of the Amarna period Some people are drawn by interest in Akhenaten himself or his religion, others by a fascination with the unusual art which appeals strongly to the tastes of modern viewers and provides a sense of immediacy rarely felt with traditional Egyptian representation.

Religious reforms The Egyptians had traditionally worshipped a whole pantheon of gods who were represented in human or animal form or as animal-headed humans. The art of the Amarna period Early in his reign Akhenaten used art as a way of emphasising his intention of doing things very differently. Horizon of the Aten.

The aftermath Akhenaten died in his seventeenth year on the throne and his reforms did not survive for long in his absence. Hands on History: Ancient Britain.