One of the most compelling and controversial figures in history, Akhenaten has captured the imagination like no other Egyptian pharaoh besides Tutankhamun. Known today as a heretic, Akhenaten sought to impose upon Egypt and its people the worship of a single god—the sun—and in so doing radically transformed the country. In this immensely readable reevaluation, Nicholas Reeves offers an entirely new perspective on the turbulent events of Akhenaten’s reign. His narrative provides fresh insight into questions that have baffled scholars for generations—the puzzle of the body in Tomb 55 in the Valley of the Kings; the fate of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s beautiful wife; the identity of their mysterious successor, Smenkhkare; and the theory that Tutankhamun, Akhenaten’s son and true heir, was murdered. Reeves gives us a revolutionary interpretation of a revolutionary king, and an apocalyptic vision of a time through which few would have wished to live.
Akhenaten
Egypt's False Prophet
One of the most compelling and controversial figures in history, Akhenaten has captured the imagination like no other Egyptian pharaoh besides Tutankh
Nicholas Reeves, formerly a curator in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum, is the author of The Complete Tutankhamun and an acknowledged authority on tomb-robbing and the history of exploration in the Valley of the Kings. Richard H. Wilkinson, a lecturer in ancient and Egyptian culture at the University of Arizona, is the director of an archaeological expedition in the Valley of the Kings. He also recently organized a major international conference on research in the valley.
