Akhenaten (also called ‘Ikhnaton’, ‘Khuenaten’ or ‘Akhenaton’—they all mean "successful for” or “of great use to” the god Aten) was a pharaoh of the 18thDynasty. After converting to the cult of Aten, he changed his name from Amenhotep IV (or Amenophis IV) to Akhenaten. It was during his reign that the empire began to crumble. The youngest son of the Chief Queen Tiye and Amenhotep III, he was the consort of Queen Nefertiti and the father of Tutankhamun (by Lady Kiya) and Tutankhamen’s wife Ankhesenamun (by Nefertiti). As Amenhotep IV, his reign
lasted for five years in which he respected the venerated traditions of the Egyptian religion and adhered to his father’s policies. However, in the fifth year of his reign, he made dramatic religious transformations. It began with his change of religion from the cult of Amun to that of Aten. For the following decade he pursued a campaign of establishing the superior religion of Aten in
Egypt, becoming the first king to institute monotheism, and emaciated Egypt’s tradition of polytheism. He came to be infamously known as the ‘Heretic king.’