AMENHOTEP, i-men-ho-tap, or AMEN OPHIS, the name of four Pharaohs of the 18th AMENOPHIS I reigned for 10 years about 1570 a.c. After his death he received divine honors and was made patron of the necropolis of Thebes. His mummy was dis covered at Dair-el-Bahri and now lies in the Gizeh museum. AMENOPHIS II reigned for about 25 years about 1450 RC., carried on sev eral wars and maintained the integrity of the territory inherited from his father. AMENO PHIS III was the son of Thothmes IV and reigned for 35 years about 1410 B.C. He lost a great portion of his Asiatic territory, attained renown for the erection of public temples, es pecially the great temple of Thebes, of which two colossi remain. The great tomb of the parents of his wife Teye was discovered in 1905.
The most important of these rulers was AMENHOTEP IV, later called Ikhnaton. He was the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Teye Early in life he became interested in the theol ogy of the priests. As the result of his con templation he gained the idea of "A single con trolling intelligence, behind and above all sentient beings including the gods.* This in telligence enforced his designs by his °word.* This teaching anticipated the doctrine of the Logos of Philo and others. This god was supreme above all and after a time was called Aton. The priesthood of Amon, the former
national god, would have supplanted him if they could but the priests of the other gods at that time supported him. He became high priest of all the priesthoods of Egypt. He next planned to completely abolish the worship of the other cults, and thus became the heretic of his time. He had the names of the gods erased from all monuments. Finally he left Thebes and founded a new city, Akhetaton, °Horizon of Aton,' which was built on the site of Tell El-Amarna. He raised Merirc, one of his favorites, to the high-priesthood. After a few years his empire was overrun by the Hittites and the Asiatic part was lost en tirely. He had no son to succeed him, but was succeeded by Tutenkhaton, his son-in-law. He died about 1358 B.C. after a reign of 17 years. He came to be known in succeeding years among his people as the ((criminal of Akheton.* He was buried in a tomb, which he had prepared for himself and family, in a lonely valley some miles east of the city. In 1888 in a small room in Akheton were found the archives of his foreign office and many of its documents pub lished under the title of The Tell El-Amarna Letters.'