Akhenaten and Nefertiti

When Akhanaten became Pharaoh of Egypt, around the year 1360 B.C., he kindled a religious revolution: He wanted to restrict worship to the Sun-god, Atun. Egypt had been a polytheistic realm for more than 2,000 years. It was an immense risk, here of all places, to attempt to found a religion with a single god. The visions of the ruler on the Nile opened up a new chapter of human history.

A new chapter of Egyptian history began with the rule of Pharaoh Akhanaten. His visions would plunge the realm into an unpredictable crisis. By Akhanatens side ruled Queen Nefertiti. Had the Pharaoh succumbed to her magical beauty? 3,000 years later, the final verdict has not been passed: Did the king lead his realm to disaster fully conscious, or was he a puppet in the hands of a ruthless woman?

The first rumours of a forgotten Pharaoh reached Europe in the middle of the 19th century. In Middle Egypt, near the town of Asyut, Prussian scholar Richard Lepsius made an astonishing discovery. On both banks of the Nile he found traces of a Pharaoh whose name was missing from the traditional lists of kings. Was it Akhanaten?