Timeline of Akhenaten

By chandlec
  • Period: 1370 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Life of queen Nefertiti

    Wife of Akhentaten
  • 1358 BCE

    Possible co-regency between Amenhotep III and Akhenaten

    It’s still a debate amongst historians and researchers, whether Akhenaten was crowned the prince after his father’s demise. It’s also believed that he shared the throne with Amenhotep III even before the latter’s death.
  • 1353 BCE

    Amenhotep III death

    The previous Pharaoh to Akhenaten, his father Amenhotep III ruled democratically and with peaceful relations with neighbouring kingdoms
  • Period: 1353 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Reign of Akhenaten

  • Period: 1353 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Decline in peaceful relations of neighbouring kingdoms

    He did little to help the neighbouring allies of Egypt recover from situations of acute political crisis. It’s also believed that Akhenaten’s relationship with Tushratta, the ruler of Mittani turned sour later. Even in few of Tushratta’s messages, discovered recently, the ruler has complained of being deceived by the Pharaoh. It’s said that Akhinaten had sent him statues which were not made of gold, but were gold-plated.
  • Period: 1353 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Spouses of Akhenaten

    Akhenaten married Nefertiti during the early part of his reign. Historians claim that the couple had six daughters. Few sources also say that the Pharaoh had another wife by name Kiya. It was also recently discovered that Akhenaten had a son with one of his biological sisters. The child was later known as Tutankhamen who was also a pharaoh.
  • Period: 1353 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Revolution of art

    The art of Akhenaten's time featured a new realism showing the close link between the king who was favored by god and the ordinary people. Paintings showed intimacy and motion, designs featured the naturalness of the surroundings including vegetation and frolicking animals, and royal women played a more prominent role in art.
  • Period: 1353 BCE to 1292 BCE

    Amarna Period

  • 1350 BCE

    Birth of Ankhsenamun

    Daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaten
  • 1350 BCE

    Modified temples for the god Aten

  • 1348 BCE

    Amenhotep IV changes name to Akhenaten

  • 1348 BCE

    Change to monotheistic religion

    He outlawed the ancient religion of Egypt, closed the temples, and proscribed all religious practice
  • Period: 1348 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Decline in political power

    From his new palace he issued his royal decrees but seems to have spent most of his time on his religious reforms and neglected the affairs of state and, especially, foreign affairs. Vassal states, such as Byblos, were lost to Egypt, and the hopes which foreign rulers had expressed in continuing good relations with Egypt were disappointed. Few of Egypt’s allies repeatedly asked for the Pharaoh’s help to capture the kingdom of Hittite, but the latter had refused to send his troops.
  • Period: 1348 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Decline in economic power

    Akhenaten was neglecting domestic and foreign affairs. The economy had begun to collapse, and the empire was falling into bankruptcy and resulted in enormous loss of Egypt’s wealth and prestige. Those who had once sold statuary or amulets or charms outside of temples no longer had a job, as the selling of such objects was illegal and those who worked in, or for, those temples were also unemployed. He also diverted the funds meant for other gods and cults towards the service of the sun god.
  • Period: 1348 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Decline in military power

    Military power collapsed as there was very little ruling towards the army from Akhenaten
  • 1346 BCE

    Expansion into new capital of Akhetaten

    The new king abandoned the palace at Thebes and built a new city, Akhetaten (`the horizon of Aten’) on virgin land in the middle of Egypt.
  • Period: 1346 BCE to 1336 BCE

    Destruction of religion of Amun

    In his new capital in Amarna, Akhenaten retired from the world and devoted himself to his new religion. In rebellion against the old religion and the powerful priests of Amun, Akhenaten ordered the eradication of all of Egypt's traditional gods. He sent royal officials to chisel out and destroy every reference to Amun and the names of other deities on tombs, temple walls, and cartouches to instill in the people that the Aten was the one true god.
  • 1344 BCE

    Military campaign

    Contrary to the conventional view of a ruler who neglected Egypt's international relations, Akhenaten is known to have initiated at least one campaign into Nubia in his regnal Year 12, where his campaign is mentioned in Amada stela and on a separate companion stela at Buhen.
  • 1336 BCE

    After the death of Akhenaten

    The priests of Amun were anxious to regain their old religion and their power, and the Egyptian people wanted their lives back to the way they had been. By the time of Tutankhamun, the great city at Amarna was abandoned, and what was left of the royal family and their subjects had moved back to the administrative center at Memphis. Akhenaten's name and images of the Aten sun disk were ordered removed from monuments and official king lists. His temples were dismantled and the stone reused.