Left: The early form of the Aten's cartouches incorporating other forms of the sun god
Right: The later, more restricted form of the Aten's twin royal cartouches
Akhenaten's new religion, which inaugurated theocracy and systematic monotheism, manifests itself
with two central themes surrounding light and the king.
It was probably after the god's final name change that Akhenaten ordered the closure of the temples dedicated to all other gods in Egypt. Not only were these temples closed, but in order to extinguish
the memory of these gods as much as possible, a veritable persecution took place.
Literal armies of stonemasons were sent out all over the land and even into Nubia, above all else, to hack away the image and name of the god Amun.
However, even the plural form of the word god was avoided, and so other gods were persecuted as
well.
Yet by this time, the Amarna period had already reached the beginning of its end.
Soon after the death of Akhenaten, his capital was dismantled, as was his religion.
Aten was removed from the Egyptian pantheon, and Akhenaten as well as his family and religion,
were now the focus of prosecution. Their monuments were destroyed, together with related
inscriptions and images.
While the Aten did continue to be worshipped for some period after Akhenaten's death, the god
soon fell into obscurity.
http://touregypt.net/featurestories/aten.htm
