CultureNorth Africa

Akhenaten and one god

1,354 BCE – 1,337 BCE

A pharaoh abolishes every god but the sun disc

In depth

Whether this was the world's first monotheism is disputed — it can equally be read as the king making himself the sole channel to the divine, and so breaking the back of priestly power. The art of the period is strikingly naturalistic, almost caricatured, in sharp contrast to the rigid style before and after. His son was Tutankhamun, who restored the old order.

For children

Pharaoh Akhenaten closed the temples of all Egypt's gods and declared that only the sun disc Aten existed. He built an entirely new capital in the desert. When he died, the Egyptians tore it down and returned to the old gods.

Connects to

Hatshepsut1,480 BCE – 1,459 BCE
Ramesses II1,280 BCE – 1,214 BCE
The Exodus1,251 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org