English Documentary: Pharaoh Akhenaten (Akhenaton)

English Documentary: Pharaoh Akhenaten (Akhenaton)
Pharaoh Akhenaten
This Pharaoh Akhenaten documentary is part of a series from The Learning Channel that profiles some of the great leaders of ancient Egypt.

Host and Egyptologist Bob Brier takes the viewer on a journey back through time to the reigning pharaohs of the country. This episode presents a biography of Akhenaten, who was a visionary and revolutionary. Born Amenhotep IV, he changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect his belief in Aten as a monotheistic god, rejecting the polytheistic tradition of his country.

The "Rebel Pharaoh" was also an artist, who broke from the art forms of the past, creating stylized sculpture and paintings.

Akhenaten was a pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, he ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten which is sometimes described as monotheistic, but henotheism would be a more accurate description, since he ranked the Aten above other gods but did not deny their existence.

Pharoah Akhenaten moved the capital from Thebes to the desert and named it the Horizon of the Aten. Progressively the kingdom was becoming weak as he pursued religion and art and allowing the army to dwindle.[1]