AKHENATON
AMENHOTEP IV (NEFERKHEPRURA-UA-ENRA)
XVIII Dynasty 1353-1335 BC
Name assumed by the Egyptian pharaoh Amenofi IV (1372-1354 BC) son of Amenofi III (1390-1353 BC) and Tiye, he ascended the throne after his older brother’s death.
Nefertiti was his main wife, and Kiya his “Very Loved”. Sovereign of the XVIII Dynasty of the New Reign, in his 17 years as an heretic pharaoh he assumed the name of the God of the Sun, with whom he identified himself.
After he imposed the worship of this divinity, the pharaoh moved the capital from Tebe to Akhetaton ( the Tell el-Amarna of today) that became the center of the new veneration, and he fought against some powerful priests who tried to keep alive the worship in God Ammone. Amenofi’s religious reformation had consequences on the Egyptian art, that passed from the usual stylized way to more natural features, and on religious literature that had a new development.
The prospering of this new culture nevertheless ended with the pharaoh’s death.
His successor Tutankhamon, moved the capital back to Tebe and established again the worship of God Ammone.

Royal Cartouche

                                                                                  
Wives: Nefertiti, Merytaten, Kiya, Mekytaten, Ankhesenpaaten
Son: Tutankhamon
Daughter: Merytaten, Mekytaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Merytaten-tasherit and others.

The period of Kingdom of Akhenaton
Hymn to the Sun by the Pharaoh Akhenaton