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Akhenaten

Akhenaten

7 9.9
An ancient Egyptian king who made Egyptians worship only the sun disk Aten
  • proper noun
  • /ˌɑːkəˈnɑːtən/
: Akenatón
  • Whatever we're looking at, this is not the pyramid of King Akhenaten.
  • Akhenaten the pharaoh

And there was an Egyptian pharaoh named Akhenaten who basically his name meant the worship of the Aten, which is the sun disk.

Examples

  • Worship of Amun and Mut was suppressed by Akhenaten (1360-1343), the heretical pharaoh who promoted a cult of the sun or Aten.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Which means that this structure predates the reign of Akhenaten by generations.

  • In that period, the capital was Thebes, and for a brief time in the fourteenth century B.C., it moved to Amarna when Akhenaten abandoned the old gods for his sun god, Aten.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Akhenaten, known for introducing the worship of Aten, changed the religious landscape of ancient Egypt.

  • The discovery of Akhenaten's tomb deepened our understanding of this radical pharaoh's beliefs.

  • Akhenaten ruled during a period when traditional Egyptian polytheism was replaced by a focus on the sun disk.

Synonyms

Akhenaton
vsAkhenaten
1 9.9

A ruler of ancient Egypt who rejected old gods and made the sun god Aten the main god

gives reign dates c.1353–1336 rather than a single death year
Amenhotep IV
vsAkhenaten
1 9.9

A king of Egypt known for changing the religion to worship the sun disc Aten

is the same historical figure but named differently in other sources
Ikhanaton
vsAkhenaten
9.9

An ancient Egyptian ruler who rejected old gods and promoted worship of the sun disc Aten

focuses on the shift to sun-disk worship while dating the end differently

Surface Forms

Akhenaten main

Etymology

The word Akhenaten breaks into Akhen meaning 'effective for' and Aten meaning the 'sun disk' god. He changed his name to show he served Aten, so the name helps you remember that he made the sun god the main god of Egypt.