Akhenaten
A pharaoh abolishes the gods, moves the capital, and has it all undone after his death.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 17 years
- Known to
- ± 20 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
Amenhotep IV renames himself Akhenaten around 1353 BCE, elevates the sun disc Aten above all other gods and eventually suppresses their cults, closes temples, moves the capital to a virgin site at Amarna, and sponsors an art style of startling naturalism and distortion. Whether this counts as monotheism or as the exclusive worship of one god among many is argued. Within a decade of his death the old cults are restored and his name is struck from the king lists.