Egypt as always -even up to now – was ruled by religion everything made, build , or written has something religious in it , the king rules because he is the son of a god or another every amazing building was related to a religion , huge temples or amazing tombs , everyday life buildings were very humble , the art too most of it depicting gods , or people worshiping them and offering to them , even the painting showing everyday life were meant to show either how good was the king \ dead person in his\her life and thus he deserve to live in the Aaru \ sḫt-jꜣrw ,or just showing how he would live their .
even in Akhenaten era , he was no exception , in a soften way he was praised with his queen but may be as a high priest or even a prophet of Aten , Not as a divine entity born of god like everyone else .
and not long after the death of Ahenaten , Ay became the king of Egypt after the famous
King Tutankh (amen \Aten) who changed his name, religion and capital to satisfy Amen priests and the crowds mostly because of his grand Vasir Ay advice , after his death \ murder , Ay became the new king .
so everything came back to normal , king rule politically and military , priesthood control temples with a lot of privileges , and getting a lot of gifts from kings , nobles and even ordinary people .
is that so ?
Not for long that the power of Amen , and other deities as well , became too strong that Thebe became thier own kingdom that the High priest of Amen announced his son Amenhotep a king instead of Ramses XI , but Rmses XI saved his throne ,
in the 21 dynasty they ruled upper Egypt , then they became the real kings of Egypt one of the famous kings who was born of them is the silver king Psusennes I who was a son of the high priest of Amen , who ruled from the North and left upper Egypt to his father and the priesthood of amen
was that overwhelming power that Amen priesthood a reaction caused by the revolution of Akhenaten ?
Or was Akhenaten trying to protect Egypt from their over-growing power ??
what is better for a civilization
a weak hermit king , with no concern of administration and governing , who stopped caring about the army and Egyptian colonies , or a bunch of fanatics / charlatans priests who enslave people using their mumbo jumbo ?
I believe neither
but it was the fault of the great kings who ignored them specially the Ramses (s) the 19th dynasty who used to bride them with big gifts of lands , money and even slaves .
Akhenaten and Nefertiti
