Akhenaten (which means the one who works for (the god) Aten) was originally crowned as pharaoh and called Amenhotep IV (which means meaning (the god) Amun is pleased). He was a pharaoh of the New Kingdom and ruled for 17 years, dying about 1335 BC.

As you can tell by the two names for him, he was, at first responsible for the worship of the local god Amun, but he changed his belief and began to worship the single god Aten (the Sun god), casting aside all of the other gods the Ancient Egyptians worshipped at the time.

This caused immense upheaval in Ancient Egypt, especially among the priests who helped to rule the country, for many of them would lose power. But, in an effort to make a clean break, Amenhotep changed his name and started to build a new capital city at Armana. But although this religion was used while Akhenaten was alive, his son Tutankhaten would be persuaded to return to the old religion, and this is why he, too, changed his name, this time to Tutankhamun. In this was the old order, led by the god Amun was restored.

His remains were buried in the Valley of the Kings and was found in tomb KV55.

Akhenaten's chief wife may have been Nefertiti, and she may have been Tutankhamun's mother, although there is continuing debate about this.