Editing Akhenaten (section)

=== Coregency with Amenhotep III ===

There is much controversy around whether Amenhotep IV ascended to Egypt's throne on the death of his father Amenhotep III or whether there was a [[coregency]], lasting perhaps as long as 12 years. [[Eric H. Cline|Eric Cline]], [[Nicholas Reeves]], [[Peter Dorman]], and other scholars argue strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favor of either no coregency or one lasting at most two years.{{sfn|Reeves|2019|p=77}} [[Donald B. Redford]], [[William J. Murnane]], [[Alan Gardiner]], and [[Lawrence Berman]] contest the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father.{{sfn|Berman|2004|p=23}}{{sfn|Kitchen|2000|p=44}}

Most recently, in 2014, archaeologists found both pharaohs' names inscribed on the wall of the [[Luxor]] tomb of vizier [[Amenhotep-Huy]]. The [[Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt)|Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities]] called this "conclusive evidence" that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least eight years, based on the dating of the tomb.{{sfn|Martín Valentín|Bedman|2014}} However, this conclusion has since been called into question by other Egyptologists, according to whom the inscription only means that construction on Amenhotep-Huy's tomb started during Amenhotep III's reign and ended under Akhenaten's, and Amenhotep-Huy thus simply wanted to pay his respects to both rulers.{{sfn|Brand|2020|pp=63–64}}