C. N. Reeves

Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, the Amarna period (14th century BCE), the "exclusive" worship of the solar disk Aten, and especially the Mannerist iconography, are things that continue to intrigue experts on ancient Egyptian history. These topics are extremely interesting and controversial at the same time. So much so that scientists are still not sure how to place and interpret them. The classical view, inspired by biblical study, that Akhenaten single-handedly invented monotheism and that it passed directly from him to the Hebrews has long since been superseded, as more than 700 years elapsed between the Egyptian and the Hebrew model, and probably even more.
In recent decades, historians have placed more and more emphasis on continuity within the history of the Egyptian New Kingdom: long before Akhenaten there were attempts at a more exclusive religious worship, in particular of the solar disc 'Aten'. Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves agrees with this view. He points to the pharaohs who preceded Akhenaten, who had clearly already entered into battle with the mighty temple of the god Amun at Thebes. A political battle, therefore, in which the pharaoh tried to temper the power of the priests through all kinds of manoeuvres, and reverted to the old tradition of divinisation of the king. Akhenaten then seems no more than a continuation of that policy.
So continuity, also at Reeves. Only, with this author Akhnaton nevertheless is portrayed as an aberration, someone who continued the line to the point of the absurd and also focused on himself and his immediate environment (especially Nefertiti and his children) in other domains. Reeves writes absolutely interesting about all this, but certainly in the last third of this book he becomes downright tendentious, and that is actually incomprehensible. More about that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5446708000… (més)