Akhenaten - Heretic Pharaoh or Visionary?
Akhenaten is an odd ball among Egyptian pharaohs. In a culture where adherence to tradition was a widely respected virtue, he skewed Egyptian belief right and left. As pharaoh, Akhenaten became a religious revolutionary, the so-called first monotheist in history.
Ancient Egyptians had always worshipped Re-Herakhty, the creator sun god as a supreme universal deity. Aten was the visible manifestation of this god, the solar disk, with all its beneficial aspects to nature and to the well being of all Egyptians. Each region in Egypt had their local gods and goddesses, who were more or less important in relation to the city associated with their worship. By the time the new king ascended to the throne as Amenhotep IV, during the Eighteenth Dynasty, the god Amen of Thebes had become a very powerful god. Amen...
