Why is Akhenaten sometimes described as the 'Heretic Pharaoh'?

Answer 1

He shunned the old belief systems of traditional Egypt and created the first largely monotheistic faith, that of the Aten (or the Sun). He moved the Egyptian capital to a new location, Akhetaten (aka Armana), which quickly fell in to decline after his death, Egypt swiftly returning to the 'old ways'.

Incidentally Atemism can be viewed as the basis of Christianty, as much of the symbolism and traditions are the same (for instance, bodies being buried east-west).

That's it in brief- email me if you'd like more details- hope this helps!

Answer 2

Akhenaten, possibly in a move to lessen the political power of the Priests, introduced the worship of one god, the Aten, or Sun disk. This meant that the Pharaoh, not the priesthood, was the sole link between the population and the Aten which effectively ended the power of the various temples.
It is interesting to note that when Akhenaten's successors, the generals Ay and Horemheb re established the temples of Amun they selected their priests from the military, enabling the Pharaoh to keep tighter controls over the religious orders.
The cult of the Aten is considered by some to be a predecessor of modern monotheism.

Later Pharaohs attempted to erase all memories of Akhenaten and his religion. Much of the distinctive art of the period was destroyed and the buildings dismantled to be reused. Many of the Talitat blocks from the Aten temples in Thebes were reused as rubble infill for later pylons where they were rediscovered during restoration work and reassembled.

Answer 3

Oh dear! Akhenaten, God bless his memory, believed there was only one God, Ra - the Sun God. This unfortunately lead to lots of religious strife in Egypt.

I'm not 100% up on the history/life of Akhenaten, but I think he was married to Nefertity [not sure of spelling]. Akhenaten built a new city somewhere out in the desert with new temples the lot, all dedicated to Ra.

When Akhenaten died, his widow, the very beautiful Nefertity was ignored and the city he built was abandoned. The Egyptians then returned to worshiping the pantheon of Gods and Goddesses they always had.

Funny thing about Ra - he was known to the ancient Egyptians as Allah! So now you know the truth. Allah = Ra the sun God of Egypt.

When Tor Hyadal sailed his magnificent replica Egyptian ocean going ship out into the Med from the Nile, he named it Ra - the Egyptians cheered the ship along the banks of the Nile with their women ululating - a fabulous sight.

Answer 4

Because he invented the idea of the single almighty god instead of the many gods that the Egyptians worshipped before him.
After his death they destroyed all traces of his reign and went back to their old gods.
But his idea was taken out of Egypt by the jews

Answer 5

He tried to make nonotheism the official religion of Egypt. I have just read a book that puts forward the theory that he was Moses.

Answer 6

Because he fought hard to try to get the Egyptian people to get rid of their original gods as he only believed in one god. He destroyed statues belonging to families... It was a bit like the Inquisition I suppose...

Answer 7

Because he introduced monotheism in Agypt and declared that the old gods should not be worshiped. That was one of the reasons he was murdered.

Answer 8

He gave up worshiping the old gods of Egypt, and worshiped only the sun god.

Answer 9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten