Akhenaten was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who reigned about 3,500 years ago in the 18th dynasty. He made some major alterations to various aspects of Egyptian culture, the most notable one being his religious revolution. Akhenaten's reformation was meant to convert Egyptian polytheism, belief in Amun-ra, the god of gods, in favour of the worship of a single god, Aten the sun disk. He was seen as a reformer because his religion focused one god, but his major emphasis was on the Aten's realness and existence. By being able to see ones god, it provides a level of reality as opposed to believing the words of others. He was viewed as a tyrant for taking his religion too far, denying the existence of other gods, and destroying any evidence of the past religion of Amun-ra including the name of his own father.
Even his name before embarking on this deity revolution was Amenhotep IV. In his 5th year of reign he rejected this name meaning “Amun is satisfied”, he changed it to Akhenaten, meaning “the living image of Aten”. Egyptians once followed several gods and goddesses, each of which had its own priests, temples, shrines and rituals. Akhenaten ordered the construction of a new capital city known as Amarna “the horizon of the sun” to escape priesthood of Amun-ra. Everything in Thebes was packed up and Akhenaten and his followers left for Amarna. By centralizing himself as the creator of the new god Aten, Akhenaten gave himself control over both politics and religion, two of the most powerful control schemes to exist. This was the first religious reformation in history, and the kingdom was unsure and untrusting of Akhenaten’s sole decisions.
His promotion of one deity has earned him the title of "The Heretic Pharaoh". He became incapable of tolerating other gods and the name and image of Amen-Ra was destroyed. Akhenaton claimed he was the only human that could commune