Crown Prince Amenhotep IV
People at Malkata - Malkata Palace City - Thebes - The PlacesAt First
Who: Prince Amenhotep
What: Second son of Amenhotep III and Chief Royal Wife Tiye
Where: Presumed to have spent most of his young life with his Royal Family in Malkata Palace on the West Bank of Nile at Thebes
When: Unknown
Then
Who: Crown Prince Amenhotep
What: His brother Crown Prince Thutmose died and it is presumed that Amenhotep stepped in to his brother’s roles and took over the title of Crown Prince as well as possibly being sent to study with the Priests of Ptah in Memphis; even thinking that the Crown Prince became a High Priest himself is not unheard of
Where: Thebes and Memphis
When: Approx. 1364 BC
After That
Who: Co-Regent Pharaoh Amenhotep IV
What: The Crown Prince was elevated by his father to the role of co-Regent, presumably to prepare him for his own Reign
Where: Capital City remained in Thebes and he was probably based here and then travelled between Memphis
When: Approx. 1361 BC
And Finally Pharaoh
Who: Pharaoh Amenhotep IV : ‘Amun is content’
What: Ruler of Egypt
Where: Capital City in Thebes at some points from his late father’s Malkata Palace
When: Approx. 1353 BC
But Then
Who: He changed his name to Pharaoh Akhenaten
Where: He moved his Capital City was moved from Thebes to Pharaoh’s specifically designed new Capital called Akhetaten: Horizon of the Aten
When: After Year 5 of his Reign approx. 1348 BC, he changed his name to celebrate his single God, the Aten, By Year 7 of his Reign he moved in to Akhetaten, Capital City in 1346 BC
Akhetaten, Horizon of the Aten
The New Capital City
Akhenaten’s Art
Amenhotep’s early commissions for art work remained similar to those of his fathers and other previous Pharaohs. Egypt’s artwork used a Squared Grid which allowed all art and hieroglyphs to remain strict in their forming of the picture writing; whether on papyrus or on a Temple Wall.
In Amenhotep’s 1st year of his reign he was erecting Chapels and commissioning art work specific to the God Aten at Karnak Temple, Thebes. Under his specific direction, artwork became entirely new. Literally revolutionised. The artisans were to depict who and what they saw as realistic
The difference was as though you compared night and day to each other : He had made the transformation to Akhenaten
Was Akhenaten ill?
– a protruding stomach with heavily curved hips and thighs
Yet his associated Mummified Remains do not conform to this image when x-rayed. Was this solely to represent himself as the receiver of the God Aten’s Solar Rays? Or did he make his own Reliefs and artform stand out so that the people noticed him for his new individual religion and ideas? Was the outrageous a concept for announcing the change?
Certainly, despite his successor’s efforts to erase the memory of Akhenaten and his “heretic” religion; he is still well known and discussed in Egyptological and Historical terms
His New Religion
Family Life
His Great Royal Wife: “Nefertiti” : Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, Queen consort of Egypt : “Beautiful are the Beauties of Aten, the Beautiful one has come”; Hereditary Princess; Great of Praises; Lady of Grace and Sweet of Love; Lady of The Two Lands; Main King’s Wife, his beloved; Great King’s Wife, his beloved; Lady of All Women; and Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt
His Children with Nefertiti: Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenamun, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, Neferneferure, Setepenre
His Children with Kiya: Tutankhaten
He probably had other Lesser Wives and other children
Beginning of the End?
The change of Religion not only alienated the people as they missed their palpable Deities but also caused an economic downturn as many business’ catered for the worshipper’s needs and this was a popular way to make a living. Suddenly their livelihood was gone and as such it festered and created much resentment towards the Royal Family and the new religion with the God Aten.
Away from the majority of the populace, hidden in his new Capital City Pharaoh was isolated from his people’s problems and could not garner the mood.
Wrapped up in Atenism
Around Year 10 of the reign, Akhenaten began a campaign that changed the Aten’s name from meaning the Supreme God or higher than any other God to The Only God; he changed the hieroglyphic word “Gods” to “God” alone, erasing the names of all other Deities from Temples, Tops of Obelisks, Chapels, within the Diplomatic Archive and Reliefs; especially those of God Amun and Goddess Mut.
In saying this, not everything changed or was forced to change by Pharaoh:
His own city was failing
The average person who lived in Akhetaten City suffered with nutritional deficiencies; there was a high child mortality rate; the children who survived infancy were stunted in their growth; the adults had degenerative joint disease with broken bones being common to over two thirds
Nefertiti’s Demise
1.) did she die in Year 12 of the Reign as her name ceased to be recorded from what they have left to review
2.) did she change her name and rule with Akhenaten as co-Regent?
3.) did she fall from grace with Akhenaten and was demoted to a lower wife?
Akhenaten’s Demise
Tutankhaten later changed his own name to honour the Deities he brought back from extinction, to Tutankhamun.
Akhetaten, the Horizon of the Aten, was abandoned within a few decades and Pharaoh Akhenaten’s reign was voided from the King Lists of Egypt; his image and cartouche were removed from all Monuments; his Temples were dismantled and the building stone was reused in the foundation cores of other royal building projects.
Under the Order of Pharaoh Horemheb, Akhetaten City was dismantled between 1320 – 1292 BC and what remained was left to crumble back in to the desert sands.