@mousy,
SUN WORSHIP
The only important god who was worshipped with consistency was Ra, chief of cosmic deities, from whom
early Egyptian kings claimed descent. Beginning with the Middle Kingdom (2055-1795 BC), Ra worship
acquired the status of a state religion, and the god was gradually fused with Amon during the Theban
dynasties, becoming the supreme god Amon-Ra. During the 18th Dynasty the pharaoh Amenhotep III
renamed the Sun god Aten, an ancient term for the physical solar force. Amenhotep's son and successor,
Amenhotep IV, instituted a revolution in Egyptian religion by proclaiming Aten the true and only god. He
changed his own name to Akhenaton, meaning "Aten is satisfied". This first great monotheist was so
iconoclastic that he had the plural word "gods" deleted from monuments, and he relentlessly persecuted the
priests of Amon. Although it exerted a great influence on the art and thinking of his time, Akhenaton's sun
religion failed to survive and Egypt returned to the ancient, labyrinthine religion of polytheism after
Akhenaton's death.