The only important god who was worshiped with consistency was Ra, chief of cosmic deities, from whom early Egyptian kings claimed descent.

Beginning with the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 bc), Ra worship acquired the status of a state religion, and the god was gradually fused with Amon during the Theban dynasties, becoming the supreme god Amon-Ra.

During the 18th Dynasty the pharaoh Amenhotep III renamed the Sun god Aton, an ancient term for the physical solar force.

Amenhotep’s son and successor, Amenhotep IV, instituted a revolution in Egyptian religion by proclaiming Aton the true and only god.

He changed his own name to Akhenaton, meaning “He who is devoted to Aton.�?

This first great monotheist was so iconoclastic that he had the plural word gods deleted from monuments, and he relentlessly persecuted the priests of Amon.

Akhenaton’s Sun religion failed to survive, although it exerted a great influence on the art and thinking of his time, and Egypt returned to the ancient, labyrinthine religion of polytheism after Akhenaton’s death.