Pharaoh Akhenaten w. Dr Joyce Tyldesley

Akhenaten was an Egyptian Pharaoh in the 18^th dynasty that departed from traditional worship by primarily worship the sun deity, Aten, moving Egypt from polytheism to henotheism. British Egyptologist, Dr Joyce Tyldesley, The University of Manchester, joins the show again to discuss what scholars know about Akhenaten’s life.

Professor Tyldesley previously appeared on the show in the episode Queen Nefertiti of Egypt w. Dr Joyce Tyldesley (May 17, 2021)

Some topics explored

• Pharaoh Akhenaten and when he was born and when his reign as King of Egypt began
• How scholars know about him and his life
• What’s known about his mummy / body
• His religious orientation and policies including his worship of the sun deity, Aten (Atenism); his practice being henotheism
• What Aten is (which takes the form of a sun disk) as a traditional Egyptian deity
• Tutankhamun moving the capital of Egypt and Amarna
• Pharaoh Tutankhamun and his relationship to Akhenaten
• If DNA can be used to determine familial ties between various mummies in Egyptology
• His mother Queen Tiye and father Pharaoh Amenhotep III
• The term and concept of Maat (also spelled Mayet) in Egyptian
• His wife consort, Queen Nefertiti (the show has covered Nefertiti in the past with Dr Tyldesley)
• His practice of polygamy (which was a common practice of Pharaohs in this era) and what’s known about his other wives
• His daughters and theories about if he had sons
• His approximate age when he died
• Akhenaten’s succession including theories about successors including Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun and his wife Nefirtiti

Listen to the episode

The episode can be streamed below and is also available on major podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

Show Notes

• Professor Tyldesley is author of the monographs Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun Queen (Profile Books, 1999) and Nefertiti’s Face: The Creation of an Icon (published in the U.K. by Profile Books and published in the U.S. by Harvard University Press, 2018)