I think with more advanced science and technology in the future we could find more undiscovered history Just imagine how a new way of rocks analysis or very advanced satellite imagery could found
not so many. you must not do anything for person of little matter, and you can not do anything about great ones. Like Herostratis(or what his name in english?) He was supposed to be erased from history for burnong down temple of Artemis and what? We have а common proverb till this days - "Herostratis glory" for someone become famous for destroing something big
if you dig deep enough, you'll likely find plenty of holes where people used to be, but you'll never have enough details to know who they are and what they did to deserve being erased.
it's really facinating who the point of views changes history when I learned about tutankhamen in history at school they painted him in tje light of a revloutionary who knew monothiesm is better than polythiesm but in other places he is depicted as a dictator and an opressor
It's kind of weird that Akhenaten was preceded by more or less famous Amenhotep III, married with one of the most popular queens of Egypt - Nefertiti, and was succeeded by the very popular Tutankhamun, yet we know almost nothing about him. Those priests, trying to erase him from history, really did a great job.
@samantha smith What? No one talks about should they be famous or not, they just are. Name me at least a single famous historical figure that isn't known for a sensation.
@samantha smith What's the difference between conquering the Middle East and being very rich? Both are somewhat sensational. If Tutankhamun was discovered recently, that doesn't make him a recent sensation.
Funnily enough, Tutankhamun wasn't that significant or even famous in his life. he died about 19 years young after 8 or 9 year of rule and thanks to his "meaningless statuts" his grave was not robbed as much as graves of other pharaohs( I mean, there were robberies but but significant ones) and thus, his grave was more preserved than that of any other pharaoh.
a small footnote: tutankhamun was born tutan*aten*. he changed his name when he ascended the throne to show everyone that, yeah, he wasn't going to keep that whole mess going at all.
He was a child when he ascended the throne, and the general Horemheb was already very powerful and influent. The Child-king couldn't and didn't make his own decisions.
Tutankhamen didn’t outlaw the Aten cult instead he wanted coexistence and the choice of polytheism. Just as Akhenaten was being influenced by a priest of Aten, Ay, from a young age, Tutankhamen was being manipulated by people behind the scenes.
"Praise the Sun!" "Sir we lost territory in-" "Praise the Sun!" "Sir we are nearly out of money-" "PRAISE THE SUN!" "Sir we need you to focus on matters of state-" "I SAID PRAISE THE GOD DAMN SUN!!!!"
Well I'm pretty sure he's the only Tutankhamun, also he died real young at 19 and didn't really have *that* big of an impact on history, heck he is more famous now than he would have ever been in his time.
Imagine doing such a bad job indicating that you did all the heavy lifting for the construction of the easiest imposing monument style on the planet, that the other primitive societies you didn’t help only ever speculate that you did the real work because of a superiority complex rooted in cultural chauvinism rather than anything substantive.
Geoffrey Nah, man, I loved Ramses. Ramses was slow, and I can dodge slow. But the worst was easily Tutankamun. His spear was a damaging as Ramses’ hammer, but it was freaking QUIIIIICK.
4:55 I wrote a paper on Akhenaten a few years ago for college. It's a fact that he was born deformed and in constant pain from all the blue blood incest. The elongated chin, paunch, and other features were true to how he really looked, compared to the idealized/unrealistic carvings of pharaohs before him. My theory is that since he was a deformed, weaker second child, his big brother likely got the lion's share of attention growing up. With this lack of love or confidence from others, he had to turn to other sources. Aten was a counter religion with an all-knowing god, a perfect savior for him.
@@natkatmac Too much was erased about him for hit to had been accurate. Ding a college paper on him now, and prior to his reign, the kings had realistic art sculpted of them. Akhenaten changed the style. No way to claim its exactly how he looked
@@ScarlettFevers If you're doing a paper on him now, then surely you know that the KV55 mummy, which has multiple slight deformations, is very likely him.
I'd love a series, or at least one video, on Hatshepsut, the young girl who came a successful Egyptian Pharaoh. Her life was fascinating. #1 on my list of coolest Kings.
He didn't invent them. Just the lost deck of cards to be released in the new expansion pack that certainly don't hold the power to erase defeated foes from history.
The book "The Egyptian" by Mika Waltari is a fascinating fictional look at Akhenaten. It was written in 1945, so much of what we have learned since than has made a lot of it wrong, but it's still a good story.
This is insane. I became an EH patreon about a month ago, and now they've done a video on one of my favourite historical figures of all time. Keep up the good work!
The weird art and some details of his later reforms make me want to write a story about Akhenaten as a time traveler who found himself in ancient Egypt and tried to invent the Papacy.
Great episode guys, i studied Akhenaten at university! A minor correction: the name of El-Amarna is the modern name, at the time the city was known as Akhetaten (because why it shouldn't be more confusing right) Plus fun fact, in the city were found the letters from all other kingdoms of the middle Bronze age, and most we know about them is from their recover, so the name of this period is known to historyans as "the period of Amarna"
Through DNA testing, it's been proven that for four generations going back to Akhenaten's grandparents, each pharaoh married his full or half blood sister. So the strange depiction of him may actually have been what he really looked like.
Not to mention Akhenaten said he wanted to be depicted as realistic compared to the fake images of previous pharaohs. Many of them weren't skinny thanks to less activity and fancy palace foods
from studying pharaonic egypt in university i was taught that this was unlikely as egyptian art never really represented what pharaohs actually looked like. they were an idealised portrayal
@@milosummers2779I assume that this is because they believed that any images made of you in life would dictate what you would look like in death they wanted to be this grand amazing person in picture so that they looked grand and amazing in death
@@MrHanderson91 As it is, the English translation was done from not original Finnish, and loses some elements. Still, Audible has an audio book available, probably the easiest to acquire.
@@dondrbeto Fiction isn't known for trudging real life characters through mud if they are protagonists and the like. Major reason I consider the Bible to be non-fiction, there is way too much negative for it to be fiction.
I think it’s important to remember, the priesthood of Amun had a good degree of power and with that power came a lot of corrupt. They were starting to overshadow the pharaoh and it appears that he had a good deal of support initially. I’m also not sure where people got the idea where only he could worship Aten? There were over 20 temples to Aten that were built across Egypt and Nubia. There was a lot of politics that played a role into this. The name easer was a tactic to give the new people in power authenticity. That’s all that was. Had Akhenaten approached this a little more level headed but I also think there was some sensational archaeology at play here. We have proof of Osiris worship in his capital city. Domestic gods like Bes were still worshiped. The Ptah and Thoth cults seem untouched. It’s actually really complicated.
A little known fact (that you missed out on mentioning) is that Tutankhamun was originally called Tutankhaten, and since he died while still very young it's not by any means certain that the changes wrought in his name were his own doing or that of the resurgent priesthood of Amun. Also, the Hymn to Aten is a beautiful piece of poetry. The Phillip Glass opera "Akhnaten" translates it beautifully ... highly recommend giving it a listen.
Goodness gracious. I'm making the game Akhenaten: Rule as Pharaoh, and Extra Credits is how I got started in Game Dev (their game dev tutorials.) My worlds have collided at last.
This video gives me flashbacks to an old saying by armchair historians in the depths of Total War forums and the Steam workshop: "If it existed we would know about it already!"
to me Akhenaten history is the most intriguing and interesting part of egyptian history. and i believe ( or rather some writers do) that he is the first monotheist person ever ( that is both as a leader and as an individual)
According the the information in the Bible and modern Egyptology Moses and the Exodus was a full century before Akenaten. And oh yeah, the Hebrews already believed in monotheism centuries before Moses. Yet I hear people ignoring that all the time and claiming akenaten was the first.
hot take but art from this time period is some of the most beautiful of all of egypt -- its so delicate and fluid and expressive. i have to wonder if akhenaten just had a great aesthetic sense, or if that artistic change was more from the artisans themselves
Finally, been wondering when you folks were going to do a video on ancient Egypt. Love all your video's, your history ones are my favorite and I truly love your guy's style of art and storytelling. Please keep up the great work, with TV channels such as Discovery and even the actual History channel not doing real history anymore, youtubers have become the go to source for such information. You are doing noble work by keep history alive, and I commend you for it. Well done.
Can you imagine digging around, trying to find something important for you only to find a giant box filled with tablets with weird scribbles, and then it turns out that that was among the biggest discoveries from Ancient Egypt? That's almost bizarre. Also cool.
Could you do a video on Hatshepsut? She was a fairly good king of Egypt, and based off of what I know, (this could be controversial or not true) she actually trained her nephew to take on the throne when she died, unlike some other successful rulers.
as far as i know in russian he changed his name to Ekhnaton (Aton is the name of god) and the capital city is Akhetaton, not the bloody Amarna. Amarna is an arabic name of modern settlement
I seem to recall watching a video (TED Talk?) on this guy stating he probably had a phisical deformity (based on the elongated head) that lead to exclusion from public/political life, witch would partially support his desire to switch from the deities of those he felt excluded him into a new cult built arround him.
There have been a lot of documentaries that speculate about that. They have even done a scan of Tutankhamun(his son) and found that he suffered from a lot of physical deformities that are likely genetic.
@@skatingcommentator3184 The Pharoah might as well be God for all the people cared (a god but still) so calling it a cult would not be inaccurate. More accurate then a religion or a mythology anyway.
You know, I wonder what would have happened if ancient Egypt had embraced Akhenaten and Atenism, would other Pharos have been wiped from the list of kings? Would his attempts to build a new capital still gotten him labeled a tyrant? What do you think?
When you pronounce the name in Tamil language (ahanathan - (அகம் + ஆதன் = அகநாதன்) ), gives the following meaning. “One that has the Sun (possess the power of Sun) within himself”. The second part of the name “Aten” is pronounced “Aadhan” in Tamil language. You can find this name is common and widely used in Tamil culture even today. We need to question what made him to pick one God out of many worshipped by then Egyptians. Could there have been inter religious clashes (like Catholic vs Protestant / Sunni vs Shia / Shaivam vs Vaishnavam)? We also have to keep in mind that the King moved his capital / throne away from where his dynasty ruled from. Was there a scientific reason behind his choice of God (The Sun)? Could be, the Sun is the source of life on planet Earth and he might have wanted the people of his kingdom to understand that without the Sun, the world cannot sustain life and therefore worship the Sun and unite under one God.
You forgot to mention Ay. The Grand Vizier of both Akhenaten and Tutankhamen; who became pharaoh after Tut’s death and erased his last two bosses from history, but was erased as well. Best piece of evidence showing this gap of 3 rulers is the List of Kings in the tomb of someone who I can’t remember. But anyway, just thought that I give Ay a mention
Heh, I remember this guy from the historical novel The Egyptian they had us read at high school. I wonder if the book has made him disproportionately famous in Finland, as it is considered a classic in here.
It is said that Akhenaten shared with Nefertiti a fondness for playing tunes on reed instruments equivalent to the modern day flutes. The royal couples mutual passion for music suggests that despite indications their marriage was sorely tested by differing views re state religion, they at least shared a "Toot" in common.
Now I can’t help but wonder how Akhenaten would be as a Servant in Fate/GO from personality, play style and how he’d interact with Ozymandias, Nitocris and Cleopatra
I think it's also interesting that Akhenaten was married to his mom Tiy as well! He exiled Nefertiti(or she self-exiled after being downgraded from wife). This is huge cause incest with your mother was highly frowned upon. They even had a baby girl. This guy lived out of all the boundaries of that time.
Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, actually began the rise of Aten as a royal deity in Egypt. Though he didn't take it as far as his son, Aten was likely promoted from its stance as a small deity as a way for the royal family to wrestle power back from the priesthood of Amun. After all, what better way to make the dominant priests worthless than by rejecting their entire purpose? Also, one of our best sources for Aten's worship is "The Great Hymn to Aten" (or "The Great Hymn to the Orb") which was carved into the wall of Ay, an advisor to Akhenaten who would ultimately succeed him as pharaoh. Ironically, while the hymn praises Aten, Ay spent his short reign trying to reverse Egypt's religion back to Amun worship before being succeeded by Tutankhamen. Its a good lesson on how complicated Aten's worship is to understand and how forcefully Akhenaten promoted his faith. Really enjoyed the video. I hope you guys do more on Egyptian rulers!
Similarly to how Akenaten had changed his own name to be in line with Aten, his son, originally named Tutankhaten changed his name for the exact opposite reason.
I think the most logical reason for change in the art style during Akhenaten's reign is that he preferred to be portrayed more realistically as opposed to the usual god like physique. I highly doubt that most pharoahs had a perfect and muscular body. It's been proven through study of Tutankhamuns mummy, that he had a very feminine physique complete with large hips and breasts. This is most likely due to inbreeding among the royals. It's highly likely that Akhenaten, being his father, had a similar physique.
Tutankhamun's original name was Tutankhaten (Tutankh- Aten) , but was changed to Tutankhamun (Tutankh- Amun) at the urging of Amun priests. What the 'Tutankh' bit means seems disputed, but is something along the lines of 'the living image of'.
Jeyoung Ryou It’s Tut-ankh-amun, Tutankhamun means “the living image of Amun”. The guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Aten the sun disk is not a new god but an obscure aspect of the sun god, suppose to be the manifestation of Amun, the Hidden God or hidden one
this was a song my grandfather made spaghetti and meatballs to and he was Italian and had alot of pride of our heritage and he could never whistle and sadly 3 years ago he died in the line of duty as a firefighter being struck by a motor veichel in Maryland and now everytime i make meatballs i sing with this song and cry a little. so thank you Julius La Rosa for being apart of this wonderful family tradition.
This epside was very confusing, until I realiised that in my language Akhenatens name is Echnaton and I finally realised why this was so familiar to me, but I enver heard of the name.
What do you all think of Akhenaten? Was his attempt to change Egypt's religious and political structure admirable or foolhardy?
not even first lol
Admirably foolhardy.
Can you make a Thai history video.
Admirable, but it turned against him.
Extra Credits 1:04 did some one help you? The throne
The story of Akhenaten's attempted erasure makes you wonder how many people were successfully erased from all of history.
I think with more advanced science and technology in the future we could find more undiscovered history
Just imagine how a new way of rocks analysis or very advanced satellite imagery could found
Too many that you can't count
not so many. you must not do anything for person of little matter, and you can not do anything about great ones. Like Herostratis(or what his name in english?) He was supposed to be erased from history for burnong down temple of Artemis and what? We have а common proverb till this days - "Herostratis glory" for someone become famous for destroing something big
if you dig deep enough, you'll likely find plenty of holes where people used to be, but you'll never have enough details to know who they are and what they did to deserve being erased.
I think it was a local thing of the Egyptians to erase any memory of the previous ruler,other nations didn't do that...
feeling cute, might purge the priesthood and start a monotheistic sun cult later idk
Eh, I wouldn't go that far.
@@bonefetcherbrimley7740 *TOO LATE*
it's really facinating who the point of views changes history when I learned about tutankhamen in history at school they painted him in tje light of a revloutionary who knew monothiesm is better than polythiesm but in other places he is depicted as a dictator and an opressor
@@zozidedodo780 you mean Akenaten?
@@peterk.9571
yeah I mixed the names I meant akenaten
It's kind of weird that Akhenaten was preceded by more or less famous Amenhotep III, married with one of the most popular queens of Egypt - Nefertiti, and was succeeded by the very popular Tutankhamun, yet we know almost nothing about him. Those priests, trying to erase him from history, really did a great job.
@samantha smith Well, yes, does that make them any less famous?
@samantha smith What? No one talks about should they be famous or not, they just are. Name me at least a single famous historical figure that isn't known for a sensation.
@samantha smith What's the difference between conquering the Middle East and being very rich? Both are somewhat sensational. If Tutankhamun was discovered recently, that doesn't make him a recent sensation.
Funnily enough, Tutankhamun wasn't that significant or even famous in his life. he died about 19 years young after 8 or 9 year of rule and thanks to his "meaningless statuts" his grave was not robbed as much as graves of other pharaohs( I mean, there were robberies but but significant ones) and thus, his grave was more preserved than that of any other pharaoh.
That’s what happens when you make the elites mad.
Praise the Sun too far.
Not nearly far enough!
Atenism: What if sun, but too much
Amusingly, there were Dark Souls theories that Solaire himself was the son of Gwyn who was also erased from the records.
*THE SUN IS A DEA- THE SUN IS A GODLY MAN*
@@bificommander7472 Found the inspiration.
a small footnote: tutankhamun was born tutan*aten*. he changed his name when he ascended the throne to show everyone that, yeah, he wasn't going to keep that whole mess going at all.
He was a child when he ascended the throne, and the general Horemheb was already very powerful and influent. The Child-king couldn't and didn't make his own decisions.
Tutankhamen didn’t outlaw the Aten cult instead he wanted coexistence and the choice of polytheism. Just as Akhenaten was being influenced by a priest of Aten, Ay, from a young age, Tutankhamen was being manipulated by people behind the scenes.
2:30 "Amarna" is actually the current Arabic name of the city. Akhenaten called the city "Akhetaton" which actually means the Horizon of Aten.
little bit on the nose
@@ibnbattuta7031 whose nose? Not the Sphinx's I hope ;)
yeah, scholars sometimes use the modern name to avoid mixing up names.
"Praise the Sun!"
"Sir we lost territory in-"
"Praise the Sun!"
"Sir we are nearly out of money-"
"PRAISE THE SUN!"
"Sir we need you to focus on matters of state-"
"I SAID PRAISE THE GOD DAMN SUN!!!!"
Infernal Bacon praise the aten damn sun *
CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL GOD PYLONS
In a nutshell.
TheFrogger Construct additional Aten Obelisks!
Are we blind?!??!?! Send the love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like how nobody seems to have mentioned it but his son, who made Amun the main God again? Yeah, he's *that* Tutankhamun.
Well I'm pretty sure he's the only Tutankhamun, also he died real young at 19 and didn't really have *that* big of an impact on history, heck he is more famous now than he would have ever been in his time.
And Akhenaten's wife and Tutankhamen's mother is Nefertiti. Who actually did most of the work rebuilding what Akhenaten had destroyed.
@@sion8 Probably, and absolutely.
@@dbilly121
Yeah, I can't be totally sure, but out of all Egyptian pharaohs I've ever heard of he is the only one with that name.
Nefertiti wasn’t Tutankhamun’s mother. A sister-wife of Akhenaten was.
I’m writing an 8 page research paper on the Aten Cult and this helped SO MUCH!!! Thank you!!!
Imagine working hard to build a pyramid in the end aliens get all the credit
Imagine uplifting a primitive Terran civilization with advanced architecture only for them to steal the credit later.
@@michaelcao The feeling is mutual
Imagine doing such a bad job indicating that you did all the heavy lifting for the construction of the easiest imposing monument style on the planet, that the other primitive societies you didn’t help only ever speculate that you did the real work because of a superiority complex rooted in cultural chauvinism rather than anything substantive.
You mean Alexander the Great
@@chaosvii best comment
He was also a really annoying assassin’s creed boss.
God yes, not as bad as Ramses but yeah
Geoffrey Nah, man, I loved Ramses. Ramses was slow, and I can dodge slow. But the worst was easily Tutankamun. His spear was a damaging as Ramses’ hammer, but it was freaking QUIIIIICK.
ah yes
Yeah, get back to me when he's been your really annoying Secret World boss.
Not as annoying as Nefertiti
4:55 I wrote a paper on Akhenaten a few years ago for college. It's a fact that he was born deformed and in constant pain from all the blue blood incest. The elongated chin, paunch, and other features were true to how he really looked, compared to the idealized/unrealistic carvings of pharaohs before him.
My theory is that since he was a deformed, weaker second child, his big brother likely got the lion's share of attention growing up. With this lack of love or confidence from others, he had to turn to other sources. Aten was a counter religion with an all-knowing god, a perfect savior for him.
natkatmac was this the theory of your paper or a personal theory
@@GingaGingaGingaGinga My paper was primarily a biography piece but I did include my theory in it.
@@natkatmac Too much was erased about him for hit to had been accurate. Ding a college paper on him now, and prior to his reign, the kings had realistic art sculpted of them. Akhenaten changed the style. No way to claim its exactly how he looked
@@ScarlettFevers If you're doing a paper on him now, then surely you know that the KV55 mummy, which has multiple slight deformations, is very likely him.
@@natkatmac I know that Egyptologists believe it's most likely him. I also know that they openly admit that they have no way of being sure.
A new Extra Credits video!
I'm all Set to Bast in its glory
Egyptian puns?? Anubis would happen.
I'd be scared to do this in the comments section. I'd need Apep talk.
@@rawjawbone I should really Aten d to these puns.
I Thoth these puns were lame.
Darn it. Can't think of a pun. Just give me one Sekhmet.
I'd love a series, or at least one video, on Hatshepsut, the young girl who came a successful Egyptian Pharaoh. Her life was fascinating. #1 on my list of coolest Kings.
I love how the son of the pharoah who egypt wanted to forget is so immensely famous.
When's the part where he invents children's card games?
Well played Sakamoto!!!
He didn't invent them. Just the lost deck of cards to be released in the new expansion pack that certainly don't hold the power to erase defeated foes from history.
Well. They did only learned about him by finding a stash of stone tablets in the desert.
Maybe it was actually his deck?
When?
That was Atem not Aten.
The book "The Egyptian" by Mika Waltari is a fascinating fictional look at Akhenaten. It was written in 1945, so much of what we have learned since than has made a lot of it wrong, but it's still a good story.
"Lemme just instal monotheism as the main religion!"
"Sir, we've been polytheistic for thousands of years!"
Every prophet in Abrahamic faiths while addressing their people.
How about S O L I N V I C T V S?
@@mohamedelkayal8871 jews believed in one God before moses came
@@db4517 Funny how no one mentioned that in this context. Or the fact that the exodus was 100 years before Akenaten.
@@ExperienceEric im saying that the jews believed in one God before the moses came which means every prophet didnt do that
*Egypt, circa 1300ish BCE*
"Shut up about the Sun! Shut up about the Sun!
That's Gabe lol
Lol 😂
Akhenaten to Egyptian Gods: im about to end this mans whole career
Egyptian Gods: *pulls out an uno reverse card*
The first recorded "Impossible Exodia Reverse" event in history.
Brain: why would you call a place "thieves"
Then the map shows up
Brain:oh "Thebes"
I legitimately thought through the video he was the patron of people who liked to steal, and I was wondering how he was so deeply popular.
@@jorgemartinezsc1956 lol. I too thought hexes say thieves but then my brain clicked
Lol
This is insane. I became an EH patreon about a month ago, and now they've done a video on one of my favourite historical figures of all time. Keep up the good work!
The weird art and some details of his later reforms make me want to write a story about Akhenaten as a time traveler who found himself in ancient Egypt and tried to invent the Papacy.
1:03 That lion looks awfully familiar...
*HMMMMMM*
Bleeeeeeeehhhhh
SIMBA
Cas was here I guess
S I M B A
Tut ankh amun s throne you can see in the grand Egyptian museum
His son was erased from history, too. That's why king tuts tomb hadn't been destroyed, nobody knew about him.
Great episode guys, i studied Akhenaten at university! A minor correction: the name of El-Amarna is the modern name, at the time the city was known as Akhetaten (because why it shouldn't be more confusing right)
Plus fun fact, in the city were found the letters from all other kingdoms of the middle Bronze age, and most we know about them is from their recover, so the name of this period is known to historyans as "the period of Amarna"
You never fail to amaze me.I wish you could do more Egyptian History.Greetings from Egypt.
Through DNA testing, it's been proven that for four generations going back to Akhenaten's grandparents, each pharaoh married his full or half blood sister. So the strange depiction of him may actually have been what he really looked like.
Not to mention Akhenaten said he wanted to be depicted as realistic compared to the fake images of previous pharaohs. Many of them weren't skinny thanks to less activity and fancy palace foods
from studying pharaonic egypt in university i was taught that this was unlikely as egyptian art never really represented what pharaohs actually looked like. they were an idealised portrayal
@@milosummers2779I assume that this is because they believed that any images made of you in life would dictate what you would look like in death they wanted to be this grand amazing person in picture so that they looked grand and amazing in death
Akhenaten was not inbred. The only inbred connection he had was that his parents were cousins
One can always recommend "Sinuhe The Egyptian" for a fictitious account of the times of Akhenaten.
What's the best place for a good translation?
@@MrHanderson91 As it is, the English translation was done from not original Finnish, and loses some elements. Still, Audible has an audio book available, probably the easiest to acquire.
It was made into a film with Victor Mature, Michael Wilding and Edmond Purdom called "The Egyptian". It's on TH-cam, and is worth a watch.
I have read a ton of comments looking for the first reference to Sinuhe. Great book.
I feel the book was a lot more kind to Akhenaten than EC.
@@dondrbeto Fiction isn't known for trudging real life characters through mud if they are protagonists and the like.
Major reason I consider the Bible to be non-fiction, there is way too much negative for it to be fiction.
I think it’s important to remember, the priesthood of Amun had a good degree of power and with that power came a lot of corrupt. They were starting to overshadow the pharaoh and it appears that he had a good deal of support initially. I’m also not sure where people got the idea where only he could worship Aten? There were over 20 temples to Aten that were built across Egypt and Nubia. There was a lot of politics that played a role into this. The name easer was a tactic to give the new people in power authenticity. That’s all that was. Had Akhenaten approached this a little more level headed but I also think there was some sensational archaeology at play here. We have proof of Osiris worship in his capital city. Domestic gods like Bes were still worshiped. The Ptah and Thoth cults seem untouched. It’s actually really complicated.
This is actually the chronologically 1st episode of extra history. I’m gonna watch all of them starting with this one. Wish me luck!
I think the origin of writing starts earlier.
Akhenaten was in a dispute over power with the priests of Amun, who held equal influence. Hence, the move of making Aten the supreme god.
Amenhotep IV/ Akhenaten:
Introduce monotheism
Priests: No can do sir.
Israelites living in Egypt at the time: Challenge Accepted
A little known fact (that you missed out on mentioning) is that Tutankhamun was originally called Tutankhaten, and since he died while still very young it's not by any means certain that the changes wrought in his name were his own doing or that of the resurgent priesthood of Amun.
Also, the Hymn to Aten is a beautiful piece of poetry. The Phillip Glass opera "Akhnaten" translates it beautifully ... highly recommend giving it a listen.
Well, I certainly expected some shuriman-like sun-disks in his new temples^^
Goodness gracious. I'm making the game Akhenaten: Rule as Pharaoh, and Extra Credits is how I got started in Game Dev (their game dev tutorials.) My worlds have collided at last.
@Emperor AlHasan Working now on a demo to go out for free Steam before that
Please do tht
How's the game going?
To be fair, at least the sun is real.
This video gives me flashbacks to an old saying by armchair historians in the depths of Total War forums and the Steam workshop: "If it existed we would know about it already!"
to me Akhenaten history is the most intriguing and interesting part of egyptian history.
and i believe ( or rather some writers do) that he is the first monotheist person ever ( that is both as a leader and as an individual)
No the kenenites were monotheists before him
According the the information in the Bible and modern Egyptology Moses and the Exodus was a full century before Akenaten. And oh yeah, the Hebrews already believed in monotheism centuries before Moses. Yet I hear people ignoring that all the time and claiming akenaten was the first.
@Bueno48 as we're the Zoroastrians.
hot take but art from this time period is some of the most beautiful of all of egypt -- its so delicate and fluid and expressive. i have to wonder if akhenaten just had a great aesthetic sense, or if that artistic change was more from the artisans themselves
Pause at 1:04
“SIM-BA.”
*S I M B A*
Those cuneiform tablets were actually ancient Yugioh cards which the pharoah played while waiting for his city to be built.
Finally, been wondering when you folks were going to do a video on ancient Egypt. Love all your video's, your history ones are my favorite and I truly love your guy's style of art and storytelling. Please keep up the great work, with TV channels such as Discovery and even the actual History channel not doing real history anymore, youtubers have become the go to source for such information. You are doing noble work by keep history alive, and I commend you for it. Well done.
Can you imagine digging around, trying to find something important for you only to find a giant box filled with tablets with weird scribbles, and then it turns out that that was among the biggest discoveries from Ancient Egypt? That's almost bizarre. Also cool.
I've always loved this story. Thanks for your hard work!
1:06 are those the simba heads from cas can de pol on the throne?
They are
Raphael Ettinger-Finley yes
OH OH I remember it
Could you do a video on Hatshepsut? She was a fairly good king of Egypt, and based off of what I know, (this could be controversial or not true) she actually trained her nephew to take on the throne when she died, unlike some other successful rulers.
That monthestic god, would have made for an interesting Star Gate SG1 character.
Yes, the possibilities would have been intriguing. Pity they got to the other direction abandoning egyptian lore for the whole Ori saga.
as far as i know in russian he changed his name to Ekhnaton (Aton is the name of god) and the capital city is Akhetaton, not the bloody Amarna. Amarna is an arabic name of modern settlement
oh, by the way, Tutenkhamen was Tutenkhaton first, before his father died
I know that El-Amarina is a place close to Alexandria
@@violetrose415 You mean El Alamein? If so, it's kinda closer to Marsa Matrouh. Greetings from an Alexandrian.
I seem to recall watching a video (TED Talk?) on this guy stating he probably had a phisical deformity (based on the elongated head) that lead to exclusion from public/political life, witch would partially support his desire to switch from the deities of those he felt excluded him into a new cult built arround him.
There have been a lot of documentaries that speculate about that. They have even done a scan of Tutankhamun(his son) and found that he suffered from a lot of physical deformities that are likely genetic.
keeping the royal blood "PURE" for more than a thousand year does that to you
@@skatingcommentator3184 The Pharoah might as well be God for all the people cared (a god but still) so calling it a cult would not be inaccurate. More accurate then a religion or a mythology anyway.
Fun fact. Tutankhamen was originally Tutankhaten. The image of Aten. His historical name Tutankhamen meant the image of Amun
You know, I wonder what would have happened if ancient Egypt had embraced Akhenaten and Atenism, would other Pharos have been wiped from the list of kings? Would his attempts to build a new capital still gotten him labeled a tyrant? What do you think?
Hard to say really. It definitely would have changed things, but how much and for how long is an eternal mystery.
When you pronounce the name in Tamil language (ahanathan - (அகம் + ஆதன் = அகநாதன்) ), gives the following meaning.
“One that has the Sun (possess the power of Sun) within himself”.
The second part of the name “Aten” is pronounced “Aadhan” in Tamil language. You can find this name is common and widely used in Tamil culture even today.
We need to question what made him to pick one God out of many worshipped by then Egyptians. Could there have been inter religious clashes (like Catholic vs Protestant / Sunni vs Shia / Shaivam vs Vaishnavam)?
We also have to keep in mind that the King moved his capital / throne away from where his dynasty ruled from. Was there a scientific reason behind his choice of God (The Sun)? Could be, the Sun is the source of life on planet Earth and he might have wanted the people of his kingdom to understand that without the Sun, the world cannot sustain life and therefore worship the Sun and unite under one God.
Y’all should do a series on Alexander the Great!!
How about Alexander Hamilton?
Greatness is relative
You forgot to mention Ay. The Grand Vizier of both Akhenaten and Tutankhamen; who became pharaoh after Tut’s death and erased his last two bosses from history, but was erased as well. Best piece of evidence showing this gap of 3 rulers is the List of Kings in the tomb of someone who I can’t remember. But anyway, just thought that I give Ay a mention
Ay must have had influence over Tutankhamen. King Tut died before he was 20.
The theory behind his change of Egyptian art is that it was influenced by the art of Greece. Back then, wealthy Greeks were travelling to Egypt
Love the little details of the lions on the chair changing from little cubs to derp cubs!
Heh, I remember this guy from the historical novel The Egyptian they had us read at high school. I wonder if the book has made him disproportionately famous in Finland, as it is considered a classic in here.
Azumanga Daioh?
@@MrCubFan415 Yes for my avatar, no for the classic book, maybe if the question was about something else :P
@@villehammar7858 I meant your profile pic, so the answer is yes. :)
Nice Reference to Cas Van De Pol and his lion king animation at 1:05
Oh thank god I thought I was gonna have to sit through a full episode of legal eagle with nothing to watch.
I was waiting for a series about Egypt! Thank you!
Well it’s just a video not a series but it’s nice.
It is said that Akhenaten shared with Nefertiti a fondness for playing tunes on reed instruments equivalent to the modern day flutes. The royal couples mutual passion for music suggests that despite indications their marriage was sorely tested by differing views re state religion, they at least shared a "Toot" in common.
I found this video while trying to do a project about Akhenaten and I got a 100. Thank you Extra Credits. I love this Extra History.
Well well well, I'm actually early. Glad to see a new post!
1:08 - Okay tell me *somebody* noticed the *SIMBA* Carving on the Throne ! :)
Now I can’t help but wonder how Akhenaten would be as a Servant in Fate/GO from personality, play style and how he’d interact with Ozymandias, Nitocris and Cleopatra
Love what you did there with the lions on the throne. Little homage to Cas von de Pol at 1:03. "Simba..."😂
I think it's also interesting that Akhenaten was married to his mom Tiy as well! He exiled Nefertiti(or she self-exiled after being downgraded from wife). This is huge cause incest with your mother was highly frowned upon. They even had a baby girl. This guy lived out of all the boundaries of that time.
This was interning,honestly I'm note sure how to feel about Akhenaten
Could you guys do serious on various pagan religions of Europe like Hellenism, Germanic, Celtic and others
We dont really know much about celtic religions. pagan Druids didnt believe in written word.
Mankrik 'The Thorntusk Butcher' I know but they tell some things that they know
That seems like something they would do in their Extra Mythology series
They are not pagan. Please don't use that word...
@@franciscodetonne4797 I am curious what you think the word 'pagan' means?
Im actualy learning about the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, its interesting seeing it on my favorite youtube channel.
"you mean constructing a new capital wasn't cheap?!" 🤔 what's Egypt doing nowadays again?
There was something in Brazilia and Versaills, mainly burocracy
Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, actually began the rise of Aten as a royal deity in Egypt. Though he didn't take it as far as his son, Aten was likely promoted from its stance as a small deity as a way for the royal family to wrestle power back from the priesthood of Amun. After all, what better way to make the dominant priests worthless than by rejecting their entire purpose?
Also, one of our best sources for Aten's worship is "The Great Hymn to Aten" (or "The Great Hymn to the Orb") which was carved into the wall of Ay, an advisor to Akhenaten who would ultimately succeed him as pharaoh. Ironically, while the hymn praises Aten, Ay spent his short reign trying to reverse Egypt's religion back to Amun worship before being succeeded by Tutankhamen. Its a good lesson on how complicated Aten's worship is to understand and how forcefully Akhenaten promoted his faith.
Really enjoyed the video. I hope you guys do more on Egyptian rulers!
1:06 See the lions on the chair? That was from Cas Van De Pol the animator in his Lion King animation
Yes, i saw that
I remember doing a project on this for religion class I got 90+ it was really fun to learn about him.
I just want 2 things
1: more of the extra history podcast
2: and give us a series about the british empire darnit
Similarly to how Akenaten had changed his own name to be in line with Aten, his son, originally named Tutankhaten changed his name for the exact opposite reason.
I think the most logical reason for change in the art style during Akhenaten's reign is that he preferred to be portrayed more realistically as opposed to the usual god like physique. I highly doubt that most pharoahs had a perfect and muscular body. It's been proven through study of Tutankhamuns mummy, that he had a very feminine physique complete with large hips and breasts. This is most likely due to inbreeding among the royals. It's highly likely that Akhenaten, being his father, had a similar physique.
I missed this kind of videos
Instead of ok boomer how about:
“Get forgotten Akhenaten”
nein
Ugh.
Well, I laughed.
Tutankhamun's original name was Tutankhaten (Tutankh- Aten) , but was changed to Tutankhamun (Tutankh- Amun) at the urging of Amun priests. What the 'Tutankh' bit means seems disputed, but is something along the lines of 'the living image of'.
Jeyoung Ryou
It’s Tut-ankh-amun, Tutankhamun means “the living image of Amun”. The guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Aten the sun disk is not a new god but an obscure aspect of the sun god, suppose to be the manifestation of Amun, the Hidden God or hidden one
So 20 seconds in and they have already failed to erase him from history by the fact we are watching this
"Akhenaten the first individual in history" I liked that!!
its also interesting that we probably would still forget about this guy if we hadn't found Tut's tomb and later connected him back
1:03 *Very* nice Cas Van De Pol reference. I love an Easter Egg with subtlety.
“The first individual in history”
Grog joke to you?
More chapters about old Egypt please 👌
This was my insparation... As a priest of Sol Ivinctus, when I became emperor, I forced people to worship him :)
Ay bruh always great Video
He tried critical mode without testing basic mode first. That's why he failed.
This was so much better with the other guy. His voice was made for listening to about history..
1:03 (In deep monotone voice) "Simba."
this was a song my grandfather made spaghetti and meatballs to and he was Italian and had alot of pride of our heritage and he could never whistle and sadly 3 years ago he died in the line of duty as a firefighter being struck by a motor veichel in Maryland and now everytime i make meatballs i sing with this song and cry a little. so thank you Julius La Rosa for being apart of this wonderful family tradition.
Everyone: Big Family of gods
Akhenaten: No
Tutenkhamen: No
Life expectancy: Double no
i love the Cas van de Pol
lion king recap on the chair at 1:03
1:04 did u ask cas if u could his interpritation of simba
Imagine how much hate you must have for someone to deny them their afterlife, to demand they suffer that final and total death of being forgotten
This epside was very confusing, until I realiised that in my language Akhenatens name is Echnaton and I finally realised why this was so familiar to me, but I enver heard of the name.
Are you Greek or something?
@@luxborealis I am a German naitve speaker, but Echnaton is the usual name also in quite a few slavic and baltic languages
I pray that Akhenaten returns to our current timeline and bring lasting changes. King of Peace. 🌄