Aten

During the Amarna Period in the 14th century BCE, Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten and declared Aten—the sun disk—Egypt's sole supreme deity, suppressing the powerful priesthood of Amun. This religious revolution was one of the earliest known attempts at state-sponsored monotheism, centered on Akhenaten's new capital city at Amarna.

Unlike Ra, typically shown as a falcon-headed human or with a solar crown, Aten was represented abstractly as the sun disk itself with rays radiating downward that ended in human hands, often offering the ankh symbol of life. This distinctive iconography dominated the art produced during Akhenaten's reign, especially in the reliefs and tombs at Amarna.

After Akhenaten's death around 1336 BCE, his successor Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun and abandoned the Aten cult, restoring the traditional polytheistic pantheon and the priesthood of Amun. Akhenaten's monuments were dismantled and his name was systematically erased from records in an effort to obliterate his religious revolution from history.

The Great Hymn to the Aten is the most famous literary text devoted to Aten, discovered in the tomb of the courtier Ay at Amarna. It praises Aten as the universal creator who gives life to all creatures through the sun's rays, and scholars frequently compare its themes to the biblical Psalm 104.