Famous People

When Amenhotep IV ascended the throne in the 14th century BC, he was not meant to be king. The unexpected death of his older brother thrust him into power, and within a few short years, he changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning "effective for the Aten." He moved the capital to a new, isolated city in the desert, Akhetaten (modern Amarna), and declared himself the sole intermediary between humanity and the divine. Even today, researchers debate whether the ancient Egyptian Akhenaten plague may have been a historical myth designed to explain the sudden abandonment of this utopian city. But it is the art of the Amarna period that has left the most indelible mark on history. Unlike the idealized, rigid