Egypt's Most Controversial Pharaoh | Absolute History

Akhenaten is ancient Egypt's most mysterious and puzzling pharaoh - for no apparent reason he destroyed the established religion of Egypt and moved 50,000 people to a lonely bay on the edge of the Nile, where he built a magnificent city from scratch. Why Akhenaten unleashed this astounding revolution has never been fully explained. Now the Egypt Detectives set about uncovering the real portrait of the rebel pharaoh.

[SPchildofGod]

I get a good laugh whenever I imagine background music being played by a guy lurking behind the Egyptologist

[shaheerasurvery]

Always awesome when Tywin Lannister narrates like a boss

[bluenoodles]

Just in case anyone was wondering, the thumbnail doesn’t depict Akhenaten but Ramesses II. Those colossal statues can be seen at Luxor. Pretty cool.

[billybatson]

Akhenaten's brother crown prince Thutmose was their father's, Amenhotep III, first born, who mysteriously died at a young age (as a result of the "Passover"), making Akhenaten next in line as Pharaoh. His reign began in 1353 BC, which is approximately the same time that the Exodus is estimated to have taken place. It makes perfect sense that Amenhotep III was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and that Akhenaten was inspired by the appearance of the "pillar of cloud" or "spirit and glory of the Lord", the flaming discs that fought off the Egyptian army all night long while the Red Sea parted for the Hebrews to cross into Sinai. Possibly he accompanied his father during the attack on the escaping Hebrews, or he may have heard about the incident after the fact. Seeing personally, or hearing about, the actual appearance of Aten, or "the sun disc", actually making a physical appearance and giving a display of his power, as Aten appeared to do while protecting the Hebrew army, may have shocked Akhenaten into deciding to worship Aten above all other gods. If there WAS ever an "Exodus", Amenhotep III fits perfectly into all the holes required for this position.

[marcussparticus]

Thanks for the upload, Pharaoh Akhenaten was the strangest of the Pharaoh's even the way he was depicted in Art

[robert-brydson-]

A study published in 2017 described the extraction and analysis of DNA from 151 mummified ancient Egyptian individuals, whose remains were recovered from Abusir el-Meleq in the Cairo Governate. The study was able to measure the mitochondrial DNA of 90 individuals, and it showed that Ancient Egyptians had the greatest affinity for modern Middle Eastern (Arab, Levantine and Anatolian) populations, and had significantly more affinity with south-eastern Europeans than with sub-Saharan Africans.

[jubalharshawmdphd]

DID AkhenAten's "vision" die with him??
Or did it carry on well into present day religions?

[pencilmen]

There is nothing rushed about high quality relief carving

[chrisbritt]

I'm second but I would like to hear the rest of this it seems like show was dropped off our way through there's any more to it I think I would like to hear more this I've always been fascinated by ancient history especially Egypt in history and also my own Celtic history as I am of Celtic descent

[arsonmcl]

I'm very much liking the music of the intro 🎶😂 NOiCe

[emmetsweeney]

Velikovsky explained it all a long time ago in his book "Oedipus and Akhnaton". Problem is, the academic establishment was not listening.

[WalterBurton]

You should put the original publication/air date on these. I'd like them more, anyway.

[noahfecks]

12:51 This dude reminds me of the drunk sea captain in the movie Jaws

[pencilmen]

Look at the relative size difference between him and Nefertiti and others. It's likely that the 10ft tall statue of him was life size. The Egyptian museum has a number of sarcophagi that would suit regular size people and a smaller number that are 10' long. He, his wife and children are depicted with the elongated heads (common amongst the Egyptian ruling class) but like many other Pharoahs, Akhenaten wore huge headdresses for a practical reason. Previous Pharoahs had themselves portrayed through perfect styalised images, he commissioned artwork that portrayed him and his family as they were, however strange they looked.
Egyptian artwork is full of people in different sizes.

[glendapeterson]

Anyone who wants to explore the relationship of Akhenaton, monotheism, and Moses, check out Freud's "Moses and Monotheism". The tension between religious power and secular, kingly power occurred many times in England we had Thomas Becket against the king. Henry VIII finally broke with established religion, but he wisely gave part of the spoils to his important nobles, which made them happier with the religious change. It was probably Akhenaten rather than Abraham/Moses who first thought up monotheism.

[VeegovonDOOM]

This guy was definitely the pharaoh during The Exodus. The Bible says the Hebrew's worked as slaves in mudbrick. This guy's rushed mudbrick building project fits that. The pyramids are built of stone. It's also no coincidence that this guy changed the Egyptian religion to the worship of one god, then the next pharaoh promptly changed it back to many.

[dariomroszczyk]

Have you NG heard about Exodus? Or Adon or Adonai? Red Sea crossing 1446 BC?

[magatism]

Incidentally the word ISRAEL is a derivative of the word "iisii-r-iar" in a sentence meaning : 'those exiled because of their sin'. Pharaohs Ramsès II and Merneptah used this sentence when talking about the exiled Akhenaton’s followers, , since by official decree his name could not be spoken.

[pshaw]

I can't help but wonder if the average Egyptian was even that aware of the change in religion.

[MikeScott-eziw]

Egypt is in Africa 🌍 it was known as kemet civilization not Egyptian civilization 💯 true facts