Editing Akhenaten (section)

=== Legacy ===

With Akhenaten's death, the Aten cult he had founded fell out of favor: at first gradually, and then with decisive finality. Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun in Year 2 of his reign ({{circa|1332 BC|lk=no}}) and abandoned the city of Akhetaten.{{sfn|Dodson|2014|pp=245–249}} Their successors then attempted to erase Akhenaten and his family from the historical record. During the reign of Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the first pharaoh after Akhenaten who was not related to Akhenaten's family, Egyptians started to destroy temples to the Aten and reuse the building blocks in new construction projects, including in temples for the newly restored god [[Amun]]. Horemheb's successor continued in this effort. [[Seti I]] restored monuments to Amun and had the god's name re-carved on inscriptions where it was removed by Akhenaten. Seti I also ordered that Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Neferneferuaten, Tutankhamun, and Ay be excised from official lists of pharaohs to make it appear that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. Under the [[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt|Ramessides]], who succeeded Seti I, Akhetaten was gradually destroyed and the building material reused across the country, such as in constructions at [[Hermopolis]]. The negative attitudes toward Akhenaten were illustrated by, for example, inscriptions in the tomb of scribe [[Mose (scribe)|Mose]] (or Mes), where Akhenaten's reign is referred to as "the time of the enemy of Akhet-Aten".{{sfn|Hoffmeier|2015|pp=241–243}}{{sfn|Ridley|2019|p=415}}{{sfn|Mark|2014}}

Some Egyptologists, such as [[Jacobus Van Dijk]] and [[Jan Assmann]], believe that Akhenaten's reign and the Amarna period started a gradual decline in the Egyptian government's power and the pharaoh's standing in Egyptian's society and religious life.{{sfn|van Dijk|2003|p=303}}{{sfn|Assmann|2005|p=44}} Akhenaten's religious reforms subverted the relationship ordinary Egyptians had with their gods and their pharaoh, as well as the role the pharaoh played in the relationship between the people and the gods. Before the Amarna period, the pharaoh was the representative of the gods on Earth, the son of the god Ra, and the living incarnation of the god [[Horus]], and maintained the [[Maat|divine order]] through rituals and offerings and by sustaining the temples of the gods.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=55}} Additionally, even though the pharaoh oversaw all religious activity, Egyptians could access their gods through [[Ancient Egyptian religion#Official rituals and festivals|regular public holidays, festivals, and processions]]. This led to a seemingly close connection between people and the gods, especially the [[tutelary deity|patron deity]] of their respective towns and cities.{{sfn|Reeves|2019|pp=139, 181}} 

Akhenaten, however, banned the worship of gods beside the Aten, including through festivals. He also declared himself to be the only one who could worship the Aten, and required that all religious devotion previously exhibited toward the gods be directed toward himself. After the Amarna period, during the [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth]] and [[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt|Twentieth Dynasties]]—{{circa|270 years|lk=no}} following Akhenaten's death—the relationship between the people, the pharaoh, and the gods did not simply revert to pre-Amarna practices and beliefs. The worship of all gods returned, but the relationship between the gods and the worshipers became more direct and personal,{{sfn|Breasted|1972|pp=344–370}} circumventing the pharaoh. Rather than acting through the pharaoh, Egyptians started to believe that the gods intervened directly in their lives, protecting the pious and punishing criminals.{{sfn|Ockinga|2001|pp=44–46}} The gods replaced the pharaoh as their own representatives on Earth. The god Amun once again became king among all gods.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=94}} According to van Dijk, "the king was no longer a god, but god himself had become king. Once Amun had been recognized as the true king, the political power of the earthly rulers could be reduced to a minimum."{{sfn|van Dijk|2003|p=307}} Consequently, the influence and power of the Amun priesthood continued to grow until the [[Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt|Twenty-first Dynasty]], {{circa|1077 BC|lk=no}}, by which time the [[High Priest of Amun|High Priests of Amun]] effectively became rulers over parts of Egypt.{{sfn|Assmann|2005|p=44}}{{sfn|van Dijk|2003|pp=303–307}}{{sfn|Kitchen|1986|p=531}}

Akhenaten's reforms also had a longer-term impact on Ancient Egyptian language and hastened the spread of the spoken [[Late Egyptian language]] in official writings and speeches. Spoken and written Egyptian diverged early on in Egyptian history and stayed different over time.{{sfn|Baines|2007|p=156}} During the Amarna period, however, royal and religious texts and inscriptions, including the [[Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten|boundary stelae]] at Akhetaten or the [[Amarna letters]], started to regularly include more [[vernacular]] linguistic elements, such as the [[Article (grammar)#Definite article|definite article]] or a new [[possessive]] form. Even though they continued to diverge, these changes brought the spoken and written language closer to one another more systematically than under previous pharaohs of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]]. While Akhenaten's successors attempted to erase his religious, artistic, and even linguistic changes from history, the new linguistic elements remained a more common part of official texts following the Amarna years, starting with the [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth Dynasty]].{{sfn|Goldwasser|1992|pp=448–450}}{{sfn|Gardiner|2015}}{{sfn|O'Connor|Silverman|1995|pp=77–79}}

Akhenaten is also recognized as a [[Prophet]] in the [[Druze]] faith.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Druze|url=http://druze.de/|access-date=2022-01-18|website=druze.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741355693|title=Entrepreneurship and Religion.|date=2010|publisher=Edward Elgar Pub|editor-first=L.P. |editor-last=Dana|isbn=978-1-84980-632-9|oclc=741355693}}</ref><!--|access-date=6 January 2015-->