![pharaoh akhenaten pharaoh akhenaten](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/Kwz96Ku53_4IWoAMRgGLVS4ZKI4=/1072x720/filters:no_upscale():focal(403x251:404x252)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/fb/c7/fbc729f8-c645-41a7-a697-a8926f09ad06/akhenaten.jpg)
His actual reign was about 30 years, mostly spent consolidating his country after the religious upheavals of the previous Pharaohs, and in preparing his own tomb in the Valley of the Kings. He took over the mortuary temple of Ay and began dating his reign from the death of Amenhotep III (one of the most successful, prosperous and stable Pharaohs 1386 - 1349 BC). He even took over all the monuments to Ay and Tutankhamun and totally destroyed the temples to Aten, which he hated. He also split up the army into a northern and southern command, hence reducing any possibility of a counter-coup against his reign. He reopened all the old temples and restored the priesthood of Amun, taking them from the ranks of the army, where he still had considerable influence. Horemheb declared himself king in 1321 BC, married the sister of Nefertiti and promptly began eliminating all traces of Tutankhamun and the heretical worship of Aten, a practice begun by Tutankhamun's possible father, Akhenaten.
![pharaoh akhenaten pharaoh akhenaten](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1bW1OOXXXXXbQaFXXq6xXFXXXA/Egyptian-Pharaoh-Akhenaten-Nefertiti-Egypt-Tourism-Travel-Souvenir-3D-Fridge-Magnet-Craft.jpg)
He had been the Great Commander of the Army under the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and had been Tutankhamun's King's Deputy, a position of high rank. If so, suspicion falls very heavily on his successor, the Pharaoh Horemheb.Īfter a brief reign by an old man called Ay, Horemheb saw his chance and seized it. He certainly died young, probably in the 9th year of his reign, and an examination of his mummy shows a suspicious sliver of bone in the upper part of his head. Despite the spectacular contents of his tomb, discovered on November 22, 1922, little else is known about his boy king, and even is exact parentage is not certain. The best known member of the 18th Dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs is Tutankhamun, who's short reign lasted from 1334 - 1325 BC.