r. c. 1356-1335 B.C.

Egyptian pharaoh and religious reformer who devoted himself to a single god, re-Herakhty. Akhenaton conceived of re-Herakhty as immanent in the sunlight streaming from the Aten or solar disk. He built the great city of Akhetaten—Horizon of the Aten—in honor of his god and instituted wide ranging social reforms throughout Egypt. Akhenaton was eventually deposed and his works execrated as heretical. Akhetaten was rediscovered in 1887 at modern-day Tell el Armana.