who was amenhotep IV? why is he described as 'wacky'?
This is from the chapter “Discovering Tut : the Saga Continues” and not the poem “Father to Son”.
Amenhotep IV was the son of Amenhotep III — Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s father or grandfather.
Amenhotep IV succeeded Amenhotep III as the ruler of Egypt and initiated one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or ‘servant of the Aten,’ and moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amarna. He further shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. That is why Ray Johnson, director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, said that it must have been a horrific time, for the family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten went a little wacky.
Amenhotep IV was the son of Amenhotep III — Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s father or grandfather.
Amenhotep IV succeeded Amenhotep III as the ruler of Egypt and initiated one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or ‘servant of the Aten,’ and moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amarna. He further shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. That is why Ray Johnson, director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, said that it must have been a horrific time, for the family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten went a little wacky.