Akhenaten's Early Reign (1352-1348 BCE)
How that obsession developed and, in general, the path which led to this point in his career are
not difficult to reconstruct, either. Although in the earliest stages of Akhenaten's life few overt
signs of the religious revolution looming on the horizon emerge, there are several significant hints
as to the radical changes about to unfold across Egypt. Even if the clarity of hindsight some-
times makes things look predictable when they're not, these omens are truly telling.
The second son of Amunhotep III, Akhenaten was still called Amunhotep (IV) when he succeed-
ed his father to the throne in 1352 BCE. By all appearances, it was a smooth transition of power
and, even though he had not always been the heir apparent—his older brother had been groom-
ed for the kingship but had died several years earlier—the young Akhenaten was not unprepar-
ed to wield the whip-and-flail because most likely he served as co-regent toward the end of his
father's reign. To judge from his last portraits, Amunhotep III suffered a lingering malady of some
sort which slowly killed him, so it would make sense that, as his health declined, he handed the
reins of government to his chosen successor, even if one chosen largely by default. None of that,
however, would have helped Akhenaten feel part of or indebted to the traditional structures of
Egyptian government and religion in the day.
Almost as soon as Akhenaten became the sole ruler of Egypt, he began to alter the traditional
presentation of the pharaoh and the ways state business was conducted. For instance, he took
on a new title, "Prophet of Ra-Horakhte" ("Ra of the Horizon")—note no Amun, the god of
mysteries and hidden truth whose name appears in so many Egyptian appellations, e.g. Amun-
hotep and Tutankhamun—"Prophet of Ra-Horakhte" hints at a certain degree of dissatisfaction
with conventional religion, especially since by Akhenaten's day Amun had long been seen as the
central deity in the extensive pantheon of Egyptian gods whose center of worship was Thebes,
the capital city of Egypt.
In no time, Akhenaten would change all that.
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/10AKHEN.htm