Akhenaten's city

"KonaBody">and it was this dramatic change that gave this
When Akhenaten began his reign as Pharaoh offamous individual the name of 'the rebel king'.
Egypt, his administrative centre and hisAkhenaten's city was named Akhetaten, which is
government were based in the city Memphis isthought to mean 'the horizon of the Aten'. It was
the north of the country - whereas his religiousbased on the eastern shore of the Nile virtually
centre was at Thebes in the south. This is howequidistant from Memphis and Thebes, in the area
things had been throughout the 18th Dynasty upcalled Tel-el-Amarna. Building began at the end of
until Akhenaten took power.Akhenaten's fourth year in power, and the
However, within four years of Akhenatenproposed boundaries were marked with three
becoming Pharaoh, he had started work on acommemorative stelae that were clearly inscribed
virgin city that was to become the centre forwith Akhenaten's original birth name Amenophis
both his government and his alternative religion,IV.