Akhenaten means 'Servant of the Aten'. Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, had been a great politician, bringing stability and wealth to the country. Akhenaten was also intelligent and a family man, but he was so fanatical about his new religion that he stopped being interested in the management of the Egyptian empire.

The return to the Sun god was a return to the god of a much earlier age. In a way, Akhenaten's change of god may also have been a way to try to curb the wealth and power of the priests of the Amun temple.

Akhenaten declared that the Sun god stretched down directly to him, and so no priests were needed. Clearly, this angered the priests, who were now without a source of wealth and power. They bided their time.