|
King Akhenaten made waves in ancient Egypt when he abandoned the old
religion of worshippiung many gods and goddesses. Instead, he proclaimed
that the sun god, Aton, was the only god. At one point, Akhenaten took Aton's
name as his own. During King Akhenaten's reign, he created a new capital city
and closed all temples not devoted to his god Aton. He went so far as to order
the removal of the names of the other gods from the temples. However, he died
before all this could happen. His wife, Queen Nefertiti, was as powerful as he.
She helped her husband set up cults and temples devoted soley to Aton. Akhenaten
and Nefertiti were hated among the Egyptian people. When they died, their names
were removed from inscriptions and their temples were torn down.
|