is to make Aten the only god of Egypt. He sent his soldiers and henchmen to the temples of Amen and other gods to destroy them. He had the term gods erased in writings. In fact the very word for gods was forbidden. If there are not many gods there must be only one god. The word Mother associated with the goddess Mut, of Thebes. Mut was represented by the hieroglyph of a vulture. AKHENATEN had the vulture removed in texts and language and replace with the alphabet signs for mother. He even eliminated the god Osiris the beloved god that helped those who where traveling to the underworld. Funeral rites now excluded Osiris and began the tradition of Akhenaten being the source of blessings after death. The story of Osirsis tells of ones judgement of good vs. evil in the travel to the afterlife in the underworld. Can this is seen by some as indicating that Akhenaten was not interested in the ethics of religion? Akhenatens view of faith tends to deal with what is fresh and new. Ideas revolved around a more intellectual view of the natural world. Life is not looked at in the context of what is good or bad but what is new or old. And indeed we see in the art of the time, which will me discussed later, that nature and not ethics tends to be a main theme during Akhenaten rule.Aten is now the sole god of Egypt. At least in the kings mind. But Aten is Akhenatens personal god. Only the king can speak to Aten. Only the royal family were real trained worshipers of Aten. All others must worship the king as a king-god, who alone knows and understands Aten. Akhenaten has destroyed the other Amen. Eliminated or greatly weakened the priesthood of other gods and surrounded himself with like thinking yes men. He is living safe and secure in his own world of his own creation. Life is good.As Mel Brooks would say, Its good to be king. Other changes take place during this period along with the religious changes. Changes that mark this period as revolut...
