Monotheism

=====Atenism=====
{{Main|Atenism}}
[[File:La_salle_dAkhenaton_(1356-1340_av_J.C.)_(Musée_du_Caire)_(2076972086).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] and his family adoring the Aten]]
[[Amenhotep IV]] initially introduced [[Atenism]] in Year 5 of his reign (1348/1346 BCE) during the [[18th dynasty]] of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]]. He raised [[Aten]], once a relatively obscure Egyptian [[solar deity]] representing the disk of the sun, to the status of Supreme God in the Egyptian pantheon.<ref>{{cite book |first= Rosalie |last= David |year= 1998 |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt |publisher= Facts on File |isbn= 9780816033126 |page= 125 |via= [[Archive.org]] |url=https://archive.org/details/handbooktolifein00aros |url-access= registration }}</ref> To emphasise the change, Aten's name was written in the [[cartouche]] form normally reserved for Pharaohs, an innovation of Atenism. This religious reformation appears to coincide with the proclamation of a [[Sed festival]], a sort of royal jubilee intended to reinforce the Pharaoh's divine powers of kingship. Traditionally held in the thirtieth year of the Pharaoh's reign, this possibly was a festival in honour of [[Amenhotep III]], who some Egyptologists{{Who|date=January 2020}} think had a [[coregency]] with his son Amenhotep IV of two to twelve years.

Year 5 is believed to mark the beginning of Amenhotep IV's construction of a new capital, [[Akhetaten]] (''Horizon of the Aten''), at the site known today as [[Amarna]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Elsie |date=22 September 2017 |title=The Art of the Amarna Period |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1110/the-art-of-the-amarna-period/ |access-date=4 July 2020 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |quote=In Regnal Year 5, the pharaoh dropped all pretense and declared Aten the official state deity of Egypt, directing focus and funding away from the Amun priesthood to the cult of the sun disk. He even changed his name from Amenhotep ('Amun is Satisfied') to Akhenaten ('Effective for the Aten,') and ordered the construction of a new capital city, Akhetaten ('The Horizon of Aten') in the desert. Located at the modern site of Tell el-Amarna, Akhetaten was situated between the ancient Egyptian cities of Thebes and Memphis on the east bank of the Nile. |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502235323/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1110/the-art-of-the-amarna-period/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Evidence of this appears on three of the boundary [[Stele|stelae]] used to mark the boundaries of this new capital.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} At this time, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten (''Agreeable to Aten'') as evidence of his new worship.<ref name=":0" /> The date given for the event has been estimated to fall around January 2 of that year.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In Year 7 of his reign (1346/1344 BCE), the capital was moved from [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] to Akhetaten (near modern Amarna), though construction of the city seems to have continued for two more years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amarna Period of Egypt |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Amarna_Period_of_Egypt/ |access-date=2022-02-10 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en |archive-date=2022-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217140606/https://www.worldhistory.org/Amarna_Period_of_Egypt/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In shifting his court from the traditional ceremonial centres Akhenaten was signalling a dramatic transformation in the focus of religious and political power.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

The move separated the Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and from the traditional centres of worship, but his decree had deeper religious significance too—taken in conjunction with his name change, it is possible that the move to Amarna was also meant as a signal of Akhenaten's symbolic death and rebirth.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} It may also have coincided with the death of his father and the end of the coregency.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In addition to constructing a new capital in honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive [[Egyptian temple|temple]] complexes in ancient Egypt, including one at [[Karnak]] and one at Thebes, close to the old temple of [[Amun]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

In Year 9 (1344/1342 BCE), Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion, declaring Aten not merely the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, but the only God of Egypt, with himself as the sole intermediary between the Aten and the Egyptian people.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} Key features of Atenism included a ban on [[Cult image|idols]] and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} Akhenaten made it however clear that the image of the Aten only represented the god, but that the god transcended creation and so could not be fully understood or represented.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Aten &#124; Ancient Egypt Online |url=https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/amarnareligion/ |access-date=2022-08-05 |archive-date=2022-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821132419/https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/amarnareligion/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Aten was addressed by Akhenaten in prayers, such as the ''[[Great Hymn to the Aten]]'': "O Sole God beside whom there is none".

The details of Atenist theology are still unclear. The exclusion of all but one god and the prohibition of idols was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition, but scholars{{who|date=June 2019}} see Akhenaten as a practitioner of monolatry rather than monotheism, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshiping any but Aten.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Akhenaten associated Aten with Ra and put forward the eminence of Aten as the renewal of the kingship of Ra.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hart |first=George |title=The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-34495-1 |edition=2nd |page=39}}</ref>

Under Akhenaten's successors, Egypt reverted to its traditional religion, and Akhenaten himself came to be reviled as a heretic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Akhenaten: The Mysteries of Religious Revolution |url=https://arce.org/resource/akhenaten-mysteries-religious-revolution/ |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=ARCE |language=en}}</ref>