Akademik

   The sun’s disk and so a form of the sun god Re-Harakhty. Aten was worshipped as a god in his own right toward the end of Dynasty 18 and raised to position of supreme deity by Akhenaten in opposition to the cult of Amun. In his honor, the king took a name compounded with that of the god and founded a new city atAmarna. The king sought to suppress the cults of other rival gods, but his new religion was not monotheistic since he did not proscribe cults connected with the sun god, like the Mnevis bull or those deifying the kingship of his father or himself. Following Akhenaten’s death, the cult of Aten was abandoned and proscribed, although there are occasional references to the Aten in its old form as the sun’s disk.