The pharaohs were rulers of the ancient Egyptian kingdom who presented themselves as sons of the gods who supported Ma'at, the Egyptian order of life. Most pharaohs ruled in a typical and expected way carrying with them the beliefs of their ancestors, although not all ruled in this way. Akhenaten of the New Kingdom of the 18th Dynasty was not an “archetypal” pharaoh, as seen from his goal to change Egyptian religion from polytheism to monotheism and his building project at Amarna. Although he used traditional means to incorporate his changes, he did so in an atypical way. After all his attempts at reform, everything was forgotten when he died and Egypt returned to the religious beliefs it had previously. This essay will analyze the historical evidence demonstrating his religious changes, the significance of his building project at Amarna, and the consequences of his death. Akhenaten went completely against previous views of the New Kingdom of Egypt – that Amun-Re is the god of gods. Instead he implemented Aten which is the "sun disc" above Ra's head and forced this religion on his people. A fact recognized by an American university history professor, Damen (2013), who states that by the third year of Akhenaten's reign a great change in Egyptian religion began. First, Akhenaten changed his name from Amunhotep IV to honor his own god Aten by ridding his name of the god Amun-Re. Akhenaten also removed the word "gods" from the inscriptions and replaced it with "god" and destroyed some temples and monuments of Amun, thus declaring war on the dominant religious authority of his time {Damen (2013)}). An educated opinion by the oft-cited English historian and Egyptologist Weigall (1910) insinuates that Akhenaten "opposed heroism and loved naturalness" tel...... middle of paper ....../www. usu.edu/markdamen /1320Hist&Civ/chapters/10AKHEN.htm [Accessed: March 27, 2014].Gore, R., 2001. PHARAOHS OF THE SUN: Historical Reference Center. [online] Web.b.ebscohost.com. Available at: [Accessed 17 April 2014].Lichtheim, M. and Fischer-Elfert, H., 2006. Ancient Egyptian literature. 1st ed. Berkeley: University of California PressReeves, CN 2001. Akhenaten, Egypt's False Prophet. New York: Thames & Hudson.Weigall, AEPB 1970. The Life and Times of AkhnAten, Pharaoh of Egypt. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.Virtual Tour No. 4- Akhenaten and the religion of Aten. 2014. [online] University of Southern California. Available at: [Accessed 17 April. 2014].