Michael Matthew Groat PhD's Genealogical Database
Individuals: 97,713 Families: 61,838
Gedcom Last Modified: December 14, 2025 00:59:10
Amenhotep Akhenaton IV, 10th Pharaoh 18th Dynasty
- Preferred Name: Amenhotep Akhenaton IV, 10th Pharaoh 18th Dynasty[1] [2] [3] [4]
- Gender: M
- Death: BET 1336 BC AND 1334 BC in Atonville, Akhetaren, Middle Nile, Egypt at LATI: N7 LONG: E0
- Birth: 1427 BC in Thebes, Egypt at LATI: N5.6977 LONG: E2.6421
- Burial: in Armarna, 5 Km out of Akhetaten
- http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: 10th Pharaoh of the 18th DynastyBET 1351 BC AND 1334 BC
- FSID: L6LD-SF6
- Notes:
=== Life Sketch ===
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten
Akhenaten (pronounced /ˌækəˈnɑːtən/),[8] also spelled Echnaton,[9] Akhenaton,[3][10][11] (Ancient Egyptian: ꜣḫ-n-jtn ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy, pronounced [ˈʔuːχəʔ nə ˈjaːtəj],[12][13] meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336[3] or 1351–1334 BC,[4] the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth year of his reign, he was known as Amenhotep IV (Ancient Egyptian: jmn-ḥtp, meaning "Amun is satisfied", Hellenized as Amenophis IV).
As a pharaoh, Akhenaten is noted for abandoning Egypt's traditional polytheism and introducing Atenism, or worship centered around Aten. The views of Egyptologists differ as to whether the religious policy was absolutely monotheistic, or whether it was monolatry, syncretistic, or henotheistic.[14][15] This culture shift away from traditional religion was not widely accepted. After his death, Akhenaten's monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from lists of rulers compiled by later pharaohs.[16] Traditional religious practice was gradually restored, notably under his close successor Tutankhamun, who changed his name from Tutankhaten early in his reign.[17] When some dozen years later, rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors and referred to Akhenaten as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records.[18][19]
Akhenaten was all but lost to history until the late-19th-century discovery of Amarna, or Akhetaten, the new capital city he built for the worship of Aten.[20] Furthermore, in 1907, a mummy that could be Akhenaten's was unearthed from the tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings by Edward R. Ayrton. Genetic testing has determined that the man buried in KV55 was Tutankhamun's father,[21] but its identification as Akhenaten has since been questioned.[6][7][22][23][24]
Akhenaten's rediscovery and Flinders Petrie's early excavations at Amarna sparked great public interest in the pharaoh and his queen Nefertiti. He has been described as "enigmatic", "mysterious", "revolutionary", "the greatest idealist of the world", and "the first individual in history", but also as a "heretic", "fanatic", "possibly insane", and "mad".[14][25][26][27][28] The interest comes from his connection with Tutankhamun, the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and ongoing interest in the religion he attempted to establish.
Family
Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their children
See also: Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt family tree
The future Akhenaten was born Amenhotep, a younger son of pharaoh Amenhotep III and his principal wife Tiye. Akhenaten had an elder brother, crown prince Thutmose, who was recognized as Amenhotep III's heir. Akhenaten also had four or five sisters: Sitamun, Henuttaneb, Iset, Nebetah, and possibly Beketaten.[29] Thutmose's early death, perhaps around Amenhotep III's thirtieth regnal year, meant that Akhenaten was next in line for Egypt's throne.[30]
Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti, his Great Royal Wife. The exact timing of their marriage is unknown, but inscriptions from the pharaoh's building projects suggest that they married either shortly before or after Akhenaten took the throne.[11] For example, Egyptologist Dimitri Laboury suggests that the marriage took place in Akhenaten's fourth regnal year.[31] A secondary wife of Akhenaten named Kiya is also known from inscriptions. Some Egyptologists theorize that she gained her importance as the mother of Tutankhamun.[32] William Murnane proposes that Kiya is the colloquial name of the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa, daughter of the Mitanni king Tushratta who had married Amenhotep III before becoming the wife of Akhenaten.[33][34] Akhenaten's other attested consorts are the daughter of the Enišasi ruler Šatiya and another daughter of the Babylonian king Burna-Buriash II.[35]
This limestone relief of a royal couple in the Amarna style has variously been attributed as Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Smenkhkare and Meritaten, or Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun.
Akhenaten could have had seven or eight children based on inscriptions. Egyptologists are fairly certain about his six daughters, who are well attested in contemporary depictions.[36] Among his six daughters, Meritaten was born in regnal year one or five; Meketaten in year four or six; Ankhesenpaaten, later queen of Tutankhamun, before year five or eight; Neferneferuaten Tasherit in year eight or nine; Neferneferure in year nine or ten; and Setepenre in year ten or eleven.[37][38][39][40] Tutankhamun, born Tutankhaten, was most likely Akhenaten's son, with Nefertiti or another wife.[41][42] There is less certainty around Akhenaten's relationship with Smenkhkare, Akhenaten's coregent or successor[43] and husband to his daughter Meritaten; he could have been Akhenaten's eldest son with an unknown wife or Akhenaten's younger brother.[44][45]
Some historians, such as Edward Wente and James Allen, have proposed that Akhenaten took some of his daughters as wives or sexual consorts to father a male heir.[46][47] While this is debated, some historical parallels exist: Akhenaten's father Amenhotep III married his daughter Sitamun, while Ramesses II married two or more of his daughters, even though their marriages might simply have been ceremonial.[48][49] In Akhenaten's case, his oldest daughter Meritaten is recorded as Great Royal Wife to Smenkhkare but is also listed on a box from Tutankhamun's tomb alongside pharaohs Akhenaten and Neferneferuaten as Great Royal Wife. Additionally, letters written to Akhenaten from foreign rulers make reference to Meritaten as "mistress of the house." Egyptologists in the early 20th century also believed that Akhenaten could have fathered a child with his second oldest daughter Meketaten. Meketaten's death, at perhaps age ten to twelve, is recorded in the royal tombs at Akhetaten from around regnal years thirteen or fourteen. Early Egyptologists attribute her death to childbirth, because of the depiction of an infant in her tomb. Because no husband is known for Meketaten, the assumption had been that Akhenaten was the father. Aidan Dodson believes this to be unlikely, as no Egyptian tomb has been found that mentions or alludes to the cause of death of the tomb owner. Further, Jacobus van Dijk proposes that the child is a portrayal of Meketaten's soul.[50] Finally, various monuments, originally for Kiya, were reinscribed for Akhenaten's daughters Meritaten and Ankhesenpaaten. The revised inscriptions list a Meritaten-tasherit ("junior") and an Ankhesenpaaten-tasherit. According to some, this indicates that Akhenaten fathered his own grandchildren. Others hold that, since these grandchildren are not attested to elsewhere, they are fictions invented to fill the space originally portraying Kiya's child.[46][51]
Early life
Akhenaten's elder brother Thutmose, shown in his role as High Priest of Ptah. Akhenaten became heir to the throne after Thutmose died during their father's reign.
Egyptologists know very little about Akhenaten's life as prince Amenhotep. Donald B. Redford dates his birth before his father Amenhotep III's 25th regnal year, c. 1363–1361 BC, based on the birth of Akhenaten's first daughter, who was likely born fairly early in his own reign.[4][52] The only mention of his name, as "the King's Son Amenhotep," was found on a wine docket at Amenhotep III's Malkata palace, where some historians suggested Akhenaten was born. Others contend that he was born at Memphis, where growing up he was influenced by the worship of the sun god Ra practiced at nearby Heliopolis.[53] Redford and James K. Hoffmeier state, however, that Ra's cult was so widespread and established throughout Egypt that Akhenaten could have been influenced by solar worship even if he did not grow up around Heliopolis.[54][55]
Some historians have tried to determine who was Akhenaten's tutor during his youth, and have proposed scribes Heqareshu or Meryre II, the royal tutor Amenemotep, or the vizier Aperel.[56] The only person we know for certain served the prince was Parennefer, whose tomb mentions this fact.[57]
Egyptologist Cyril Aldred suggests that prince Amenhotep might have been a High Priest of Ptah in Memphis, although no evidence supporting this had been found.[58] It is known that Amenhotep's brother, crown prince Thutmose, served in this role before he died. If Amenhotep inherited all his brother's roles in preparation for his accession to the throne, he might have become a high priest in Thutmose's stead. Aldred proposes that Akhenaten's unusual artistic inclinations might have been formed during his time serving Ptah, the patron god of craftsmen, whose high priest were sometimes referred to as "The Greatest of the Directors of Craftsmanship."[59]
Reign
Coregency with Amenhotep III
There is much controversy around whether Amenhotep IV acceded to Egypt's throne on the death of his father Amenhotep III or whether there was a coregency, lasting perhaps as long as 12 years. Eric Cline, Nicholas Reeves, Peter Dorman, and other scholars argue strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favor of either no coregency or one lasting at most two years.[60] Donald B. Redford, William J. Murnane, Alan Gardiner, and Lawrence Berman contest the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father.[61][62]
Most recently, in 2014, archaeologists found both pharaohs' names inscribed on the wall of the Luxor tomb of vizier Amenhotep-Huy. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities called this "conclusive evidence" that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least eight years, based on the dating of the tomb.[63] However, this conclusion has since been called into question by other Egyptologists, according to whom the inscription only means that construction on Amenhotep-Huy's tomb
Akhenaten - Facial Reconstruction
Akhenaten, also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, Ikhnaton, and Khuenaten, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth
=== A IV ===
Also known as Akhenaten, father of King Tutankhamen
=== Death ===
Wikipedia states death at 1335 bc
Preferred Parents:
Father: Nebma'atre' Amenhotep 9th King of the 18th Dynasty III, b. ABT 1401 BC in Egypt d. 1351 BC
Mother: Tiye bint Yuya, Queen of Egypt, b. 1398 BC in Akhmim, Upper Egypt d. 1338 BC in KV35, Valley of the Kings, Thebes, Egypt
Family 1: NN bint Šatiya de Enišasi,
Family 2: Tyuju Tutankhaten, b. BET 1456 BC AND 1396 BC
Family 3: NN bint Burna-Buriash II de Babylon,
Family 4: Younger Lady bint Amenhotep III III, b. 1394 BC in Egypt
Family 5: Kiya Miriam or Meryamon, Princess of Egypt, b. 1325 BC in Thebes, Egypt d. in Atonville, Akhetaren, Middle Nile, Egypt
Family 6: Rainha Nefertiti Queen of Egypt, b. ABT 1370 BC in Thebes, Egypt d. ABT 1330 BC in `Amārinah, Al Wusţá, Sudan
- Ankhesenpaaten Egypt Heiress II, b. 1370 BC
- Meritaton bint Akhenaten, b. 1356 AC d. 1310 AC
Family 7: Tadukhipa bint Tushratta de Mitanni, b. ABT 1365 BC in Wassukkani, Mitanni, Northern Messopotamia d. in Pharaoh's Palace, Memphis, Egypt
Sources:
- Title: PEDIGREE - Kiya-Tasherit also known as Kuja-Tasherit
Publication: Name: http://fabpedigree.com/s047/f358652.htm;
- Title: The Book of Adam and Eve, also called the conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, a book of the early Eastern Church, translated from the Ethiopic, with notes from the Kufale, Talmud, Midrashim, and other Eastern works"
Author: https://archive.org/stream/bookofadameveals00malaiala/bookofadameveals00malaiala_djvu.txt
Publication: Name: https://archive.org/stream/bookofadameveals00malaiala/bookofadameveals00malaiala_djvu.txt;
Note: Chapter XIII
Page: To support my viewpoint.
- Title: https://fabpedigree.com/s055/f000555.htm
Author: https://fabpedigree.com/s055/f000555.htm
Publication: Name: https://fabpedigree.com/s055/f000555.htm;
Note: Names and other data.
Page: To support my viewpoint.
- Title: Wikipedia-Kiya Tasherit
Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiya;
Master Index
| Pedigree Chart
| Descendency Chart
Please send genealogical corrections, additions, or comments to Michael Matthew Groat PhD
Created by GIMMWebService Version 1.0.3 (Program Information), Copyright 2023 © Michael Groat
(Web design layout and pedigree indentation subroutine) Copyright 1996 © Randy Winch (gumby@edge.net) and Tim Doyle (tdoyle@doit.com)
(Internal GEDCOM data structures and GEDCOM file parsing) Copyright 2014-2021 © Giulio Genovese (giulio.genovese@gmail.com)
Like the program that you see? Any support is appreciated!
