As a rule, when they say about a ruler that he was a reformer, then a positive meaning is put into it. This is true when reforms lead to the development of the state and the improvement of people's lives. But ill-considered reforms can sometimes lead to disaster. So it happened with the pharaoh Akhenaten, who, striving for renewal, almost destroyed Ancient Egypt of the era of the New Kingdom.
The second son of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who was named after his father, was not supposed to rule. This honor was intended for his older brother, Thutmose. However, he died while his father was still alive, so in the middle of the XIV century BC (this time refers to the period of the New Kingdom, which lasted from 1550 to 1069 BC), Pharaoh Amenhotep IV ascended the throne of Ancient Egypt. He inherited a difficult legacy. On the one hand, Egypt was drowning in luxury. In neighboring countries, there was even a saying that there is as much gold in Egypt as there is sand in the desert. But on the other hand, the foreign policy situation became more and more tense. In the north, a strong rival appeared - the Hittite kingdom, which lay claim to dominion in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. In the Asian provinces there were unrest against the central government. And within the country, contradictions were growing between the old nobility and the new aristocrats who had curried favor from the lower classes. In short, the country needed a strong leader.
External threat
Amenhotep IV began to deal with state affairs during the time of his father, as his co-ruler. Over the past few years, he realized that power belongs to those who are ready to fight for it. And therefore, from the very beginning of his independent rule, he took an extremely tough position both in foreign and domestic politics. To begin with, he stopped sending generous gifts to the rulers of neighboring powers, as his father had done. This caused outrage from the traditional ally of Egypt - the Babylonian kingdom. The king of Babylon, Burna-Buriash II, indignantly wrote to Amenhotep IV: "If you cannot be as generous as your father, then at least half came!"
He refused to send gifts to the king of the Hittites. Moreover, he did not even respond to his letter with congratulations on the accession to the throne. Perhaps in this way he was trying to demonstrate the strength and independence of his country. But the effect turned out to be the opposite. The offended Hittites began to actively support the unrest in the Asian possessions of Egypt. Many local princes eagerly flew under the wing of a new strong empire. Moreover, there was no substantial aid from Egypt to resist the Hittite onslaught. Gradually, Amenhotep IV had fewer allies. Even traditional friends - Babylon and the kingdom of Mitanni - began to orient themselves towards the Hittites.
Wanting to save gold on gifts to foreign rulers, Amenhotep IV brought the situation to the point that the flow of income from the provinces to Egypt was sharply reduced. So the economic power gained by his father was virtually lost. The new pharaoh did not immediately understand that it is not enough to take a tough position - you need to be able to defend it. And for this Amenhotep IV was not ready. He was in no hurry to send troops to the Asian provinces; he was extremely reluctant to engage in diplomacy. As a result, he simply fell out with almost all the states in the district, without achieving any benefits for himself. But this was not a matter of weak character. He simply considered the solution of internal problems to be a much more serious task. And there were plenty of them.
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Priests vs. Pharaoh
The most influential people in Ancient Egypt were the priests. They were not only engaged in the administration of religious rituals, but were at the same time a kind of guardians of traditions. In addition, it was the priesthood that received a significant part of the treasures that came to Egypt from the conquered peoples. Possessing great authority and wealth, while relying on the hereditary Egyptian nobility, the priests felt they had the right to impose their will even on the pharaohs, who, from their point of view, behaved incorrectly.
Amenhotep IV categorically did not like the priesthood. First, his stubborn and firm nature immediately indicated that he would not be able to manipulate.
Secondly, his mother Teie was in constant conflict with the priests. The fact is that Teie did not belong to the Egyptian royal family. And according to some reports, she was not even Egyptian at all, originating from somewhere in Palestine. By marrying her, Amenhotep III inflicted a strong insult on the noble Egyptian families, who pretended to attach their daughters to princesses.
But not only that - Teie was also distinguished by a sharp mind, which irritated the priests even more. In fact, she was not only a wife, but also the closest adviser to Amenhotep III. She took part in diplomatic negotiations and had a huge influence on politics. Especially in the last years of Amenhotep III's life, when he was seriously ill and did little to do business. Of course, she retained her influence with her son. And this meant that the position of the priestly estate could seriously shake.
Deeply offended, the priests almost openly called the marriage of Amenhotep III with Theia illegal. And Amenhotep IV, respectively, illegitimate and does not have any rights to the throne. The alliance of the priesthood with the nobility threatened a conspiracy. To maintain his power, Amenhotep IV needed a strong and unexpected step. And he invented it.
"Orphans" of the Sun
The name Amenhotep is translated from ancient Egyptian as "Amon is pacified". This was the name of the pharaohs to emphasize their connection with higher powers. The god Amon-Ra was one of the most revered in the era of the New Kingdom. Naturally, the priests who served him had indisputable authority. Amenhotep IV decided that if it was impossible to replace the priests (this would require unleashing a real civil war within the country), then the supreme god should be replaced. From the very beginning of his reign, he began to promote the cult of the previously unpopular god Aten, who personified the solar disk.
Amenhotep proclaimed himself the high priest of Aten. And in the 3rd year of his reign, he began to build a temple for the new supreme god in the Egyptian capital Thebes (modern Luxor). The priests initially greeted this initiative with ridicule. But when, in the 4th year of his reign, Amenhotep IV declared himself a living incarnate god, and the solar disk - his natural "icon", the ridicule was replaced by anxiety.
The emergence of a new cult opened the way up for a multitude of lower-class people who had no chance of a career under the dominance of the old priesthood and nobility. These people were called "nemkhu" ("orphans"), and they were ready to do anything in order not to miss their chance. Now they became priests of Aton - and, seeking to curry favor with the Pharaoh, they served their god (and their master) with a fury that turned into blind fanaticism.
Religious reform and nature helped. Around 1380 BC, the volcano Santorini erupted on the island of Thira in the Aegean Sea. Volcanic ash clouds covered the sky over Egypt for several days. Now the priests of Aton and the Pharaoh himself reminded of this event, saying that it was a sign from the sun god, angry that the Egyptians had forgotten him.
Repression in the name of god
In the 6th year of his reign, the final break of the reformer pharaoh with the priesthood of Thebes took place. Amenhotep IV officially announced the name change and was now called Akhenaten, which meant "useful to Aton." Members of his family and high dignitaries also received new "ideologically consistent" names.
Without stopping there, Akhenaten announced the creation of a new capital. The place of Thebes was now to be taken by the city of Akhetaton ("Horizon of Aton"), hastily built 300 kilometers from the old capital in literally 2 years. A huge temple of Aton and several palaces were erected there for the pharaoh and his family. Money now began to flock here.
By the 12th year of his reign, Akhenaten felt that power was completely in his hands, and began full-scale repression. From now on, the cult of any gods, except for Aton, was prohibited in Egypt. In fact, Ancient Egypt became the first monotheistic empire in history.
Temples were closed, the names of the gods were scraped off all wall paintings. The Theban priests, who had lost their former influence, suddenly found themselves on the street. And nemkhs, who faithfully served Aton, received more and more new privileges.
They were given huge land holdings, hunting and fishing grounds. In the name of the sun god, more and more temples were erected throughout the country. Workers were driven to these construction sites, who were forced to work for wear and tear in order to erect gigantic structures in the shortest possible time. Pharaoh Akhenaten used the simplest methods of persuasion - anyone who disagreed with the new order was declared the enemy of the only true god and was sentenced to death. The scale of these repressions is difficult to assess, since the number of those executed was not recorded anywhere. But many researchers believe that under Akhenaten, Ancient Egypt turned into a real totalitarian state, in which it was frankly scary to live.
Enemy of Akhetaton
In fact, only the new capital, Akhetaton, lived well under Akhenaten.
Here art developed rapidly, encouraged by the pharaoh. Really impressive sculptures, palace wall paintings and stone reliefs were created. The Egyptian language also developed, in which numerous hymns were written to the glory of a single God. By the way, the authorship of one of them is attributed to Akhenaten himself.
But throughout the rest of the country, a dull discontent with Akhenaten's reforms was ripening, threatening to turn into an open uprising. Now the pharaoh had to fight not with one priestly estate, but with virtually the entire Egyptian people, who did not want to give up the gods of their ancestors for some unknown reason. The forces that Akhenaten relied on inside Egypt were extremely small. To suppress the unrest, he even had to import mercenaries from the Greek islands. However, this did not give the desired effect. Then the pharaoh made concessions to the opponents of the cult of Aton. And then he met a wave of misunderstanding from his faithful nemkhs, who finally turned into fanatics. In fact, Akhenaten himself drove himself into a situation where any of his actions only led to a complication of the situation. The contradictions were too sharp. In addition, the economic crisis in the country was growing.
Akhenaten held the throne for about 18 years. Little is known about the circumstances of his death, but a number of historians quite reasonably assume that he was poisoned by conspirators whose names have not come down to us. After his death, Pharaoh Smenkhkara did not rule for long, and then the son of Akhenaten, well known to all Tutankhamun, ascended the throne. It was he who abandoned his father's religious reform and returned to worshiping the old gods. However, he could not fix other mistakes of the parent. Egypt fell into decay, and the XVIII dynasty of the pharaohs, to which Akhenaten belonged, died out. The revival of the state had to be dealt with by the next generation of rulers to whom the reformer left a legacy of a whole range of problems. It was not for nothing that he was subsequently cursed, and they tried not to mention his name, using the nickname "Enemy from Akhetaton."
Victor BANEV
Beautiful queen
Akhenaten is known not only for his reforms, but also for the fact that he was married to one of the most beautiful women in history - the legendary Nefertiti. Already during her lifetime she was referred to as "Perfect", and her images adorned temples throughout the country. One of the main mysteries for historians is its origin. According to some reports, Nefertiti was born in the kingdom of Mitanni. Although, perhaps, she was still an Egyptian. Akhenaten and Nefertiti passionately loved each other, and this love is sung in numerous images preserved after the destruction of Akhetaton. The queen warmly welcomed her husband's religious reform and was an ardent follower of Aten. Perhaps it was because of this that a discord later occurred between the spouses - Nefertiti did not approve of the indulgences that Akhenaten began to allow. In the last years of his reign, there is no mention of the queen, although it is known thatthat she was alive. The burial place of the beautiful Nefertiti also remains a secret. Her mummy was never found. But more recently, archaeologists announced that with a 90% probability the queen was buried in the tomb of her adopted son Tutankhamun. Studies have shown that behind one of the walls of the tomb hides a previously unknown room, in which, quite possibly, Nefertiti's mummy rests. It will be possible to verify this version only when scientists can enter the secret room. It will be possible to verify this version only when scientists can enter the secret room. It will be possible to verify this version only when scientists can enter the secret room.