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How did the pharaoh Akhenaten change the religious practices of ancient Egypt?
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ancient Egyptian religion
Isis nursing Horus, calcite and bronze sculpture from Egypt, c. 712β525 bce; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Pharaoh Akhenaten significantly altered ancient Egyptian religious practices by elevating the sun god Aton above all other deities, including the previously supreme god Amun. Akhenaten identified himself as Aton's earthly representative and even removed the names of other gods from temples. This shift, while sometimes interpreted as the world's first monotheistic religion, drew from aspects of other gods in its conception of Aton. Akhenaten's religious reforms were not sustained; after his death, his son Tutankhamun restored Amun and abandoned the worship of Aton.12