Akhenaten : history, fantasy, and ancient Egypt
The pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt in the mid-fourteenth century BCE, has been the subject of more speculations than any other character in Egyptian history. Often called the originator of monotheism and the world's first recorded individual, he has fascinated and inspired both scholars of Egyptology and creative talents as diverse as Sigmund Freud and Philip Glass.This provocative new biography examines both the real Akhenaten and the myths that have been created around him. It scrutinizes the history of the pharaoh and his reign and the archaeology of Akhenaten's capital city Amarna. It goes on to explore the pharaoh's extraordinary cultural afterlife, and the way he has been invoked to validate everything from psychoanalysis to racial equality to Fascism.