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==The Systematic Erasure of the Old Gods==
[[File:Amun-Ra.jpg|thumbnail|275px|Amun-Ra from Karnak Temple complex]]
In the same year Akhenaten began a widespread attempt to systematically remove any signs of the traditional Egyptian deities. It appears that Amen was the main focus of the king’s disapproval and a fleet of semi-literate workmen were dispatched to chisel away symbols and words that bore any passing resemblance to his name. <ref>Williamson, ‘’’UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology’’’: 8</ref> Even private tombs were defaced, including the tomb of Khereuf, where many of the images of Amen were chiseled off the walls. <ref>The Tomb of Kheruef, 17</ref>
This may have been a political move as much as a religious one. In the decades leading up to his father’s reign the priests in the cult of Amen had attained a level of political clout that rivaled even that of the pharaoh. Akhenaten inoculated himself against this threat by declaring that there was only one god, the Aten, and that he was its son and only prophet. <ref>Williamson,’’’UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology’’’: 7</ref> Whereas the old deities were accessible to all Egyptians through worship, the only intercessor between the Aten and its people was Akhenaten himself (Ikram 101, Redford, “Akhenaten: New Theories and Old Facts”, 26). Soon he began taxing the temples of the old gods and redirecting the revenue to his own projects. <ref>Williamson, ‘’’UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology’’’: 6</ref>
Throughout his reign Akhenaten’s cult continued to depart from traditional religious philosophy. One such change was the Atenist focus on the visible and tangible as opposed to the traditional Egyptian worship of the abstract and the unknown. The old gods were conceived of in abstract ways with many roles and representations and a god could take on many forms, merge identities with other gods and represent abstract notions such as victory in battle. In contrast, the Aten was the visible sun in the sky and his works were the physical objects and people on Earth. Akhenaten and his followers worshiped the visible sun alone and eschewed the idols and emblems that were such an integral part of the old religion <ref>Williamson, ‘’’UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology’’’: 9</ref>
==Art in the Amarna Period==
