Egyptologists debate the exact meaning of Akhenaten, his new personal name.

While the city continued to be built, in years five through eight, construction work began to stop in Thebes. It is indeed the very reverse of the shape produced by hydrocephalus.’6 Derry’s final conclusion was that the remains were those of a man no more than twenty-three, or at the most, twenty-four years of age when he died. Egyptologists are fairly certain about his six daughters, who are well attested in contemporary depictions. It is also clear that the tomb was re-entered at a later time, almost certainly during the 20th Dynasty. Nevertheless, this conclusion was not accepted by Aldred: ‘We may here limit comment upon Derry’s report to two observations. It is widely accepted that there are strong stylistic similarities between Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten and the Biblical Psalm 104, though this form of writing was widespread in ancient Near Eastern hymnology both before and after the period. References to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father, were partly erased since they contained the traditional Amun form of his name: Nebmaatre Amunhotep. Indeed, a cache of royal jewelry found buried near the Amarna royal tombs (now in the National Museum of Scotland) includes a finger ring referring to Mut, the wife of Amun. [44][45] In Akhenaten's case, Meritaten, for example, recorded as Great Royal Wife to Smenkhkare, is listed on a box from Tutankhamun's tomb alongside pharaohs Akhenaten and Neferneferuaten as Great Royal Wife. [228] This suggests that she enjoyed unusual status for a queen. Representations are more realistic, expressionistic, and naturalistic,[213][214] especially in depictions of animals, plants and people, and convey more action and movement for both non-royal and royal individuals than the traditionally static representations. [204], Archaeological discoveries at Akhetaten show that many ordinary residents of this city chose to gouge or chisel out all references to the god Amun on even minor personal items that they owned, such as commemorative scarabs or make-up pots, perhaps for fear of being accused of having Amunist sympathies. However, some signs already pointed to the growing importance of the Aten. Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun in Year 2 of his reign (c. 1332 BC) and abandoned the city of Akhetaten. ", "Lorenz, Maegara "The Mystery of Akhenaton: Genetics or Aesthetics, "Ancient DNA: Curse of the Pharaoh's DNA", National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, "Amarna Age Chronology and the Identity of Nibh ̆ururiyain the Light of a Newly Reconstructed Hittite Text", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, "A Frail King Tut Died From Malaria, Broken Leg", "How ancient Egypt shaped our idea of beauty", "Preliminary Notes Upon the Problem of Akhenaten", Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun's Family, The Long Coregency Revisited: the Tomb of Kheruef, Royal Relations, Tut's father is very likely Akhenaten. I approach him, the things which he has made. Egyptologists, such as Aidan Dodson, consider this year twelve celebration to be the zenith of Akhenaten's reign. Eric Cline, Nicholas Reeves, Peter Dorman, and other scholars have argued strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favour of either no coregency or a brief one lasting at most two years. [77][78], "Crowned in Heliopolis of the South" (Thebes), Around the same time he changed his royal titulary, on the thirteenth day of the growing season's fourth month, Akhenaten decreed that a new capital city be built: Akhetaten (Ancient Egyptian: ꜣḫt-jtn, meaning "Horizon of the Aten"), better known today as Amarna.

[169][170][171], Egyptians worshipped a sun god under several names, and solar worship had been growing in popularity even before Akhenaten, especially during the Eighteenth Dynasty and the reign of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father. Artists started to depict him with the trappings of pharaos, placing his name in cartouches – a rare, but not unique occurrence, as the names of Ra-Horakhty and Amun-Ra had also been found enclosed in cartouches – and wearing a uraeus, a symbol of kingship.

In fact, the king has reflected on them as follows, "Everything you have said is not friendly. Early in his reign, Akhenaten had conflicts with Tushratta, the king of Mitanni, who had courted favor with his father against the Hittites. A copy of the speech survives on one of the pylons at the Karnak Temple Complex near Thebes. [132][133] Based on depictions and artifacts from the tombs of Meryre II and Tutankhamun, Smenkhkare could have been Akhenaten's coregent by regnal year thirteen or fourteen, but died a year or two later.