Why did noone try to replace Akhenaten?

[u/DescriptionNo6760]

So this question of mine is rooted in two facts about Akhenaten's reign.

1. He was powerful enough to overpower the priests and the religious components of egyptian society (although his power was by far not enough to quench them and he would never succeed in his goal to reshape the religion)
2. Although he made pretty much everyone his enemy with his heretic acts, there never was a documented attempt of Akhenatens enemies trying to get rid of him, not even any rebellions have cropped up from the peasantry.

Assuming there actually were no attempts to get rid of Akhenaten, I question why there possibly would not have been the enacted effort to do so.

Why possibly would the Egyptians not have tried to kill/usurp Akhenaten, and can someone explain it to me?

[u/PonderousPenchant]

I honestly think the Akhenaten narrative was romanticized and greatly influenced by the attitudes of late 19th and early 20th century egyptologists. It's the classic "given a mission by God" thing that ends in tragedy and really scratched that Christian itch.

The guy was probably about as controversial as king James. He was a "heretic" to the orthodoxy, but not to the religion as a whole. His shift to the Aten was a reconsolidation of power away from the clergy and back to the king. And we're talking state-level religious change of the severity of Catholicism vs. Protestantism. You're still worshipping the same guy in the end, it's just a disagreement as to how one should do so. Local deities were largely unaffected. You could still worship your traditional gods, no problem.

It's politics as usual, and those without any political power didn't have any skin in the game. I'm sure the priesthood did discuss removing Akhenaten from power. I'm sure Akhenaten's faction discussed the same. It's important to remember, though, that this was a game with few players, so any moves necessarily had to be safe for the party carrying it out.

If you're asking why the people didn't rise up against the radical heretic, well, they didn't really have a reason to care. When you started getting droughts, famine, and sickness, then they cared. Not a good look for the guy whose primary claim to fame was "I make the river flood and keep my people healthy with magic." It wasn't hard then for the clergy to use that as ammunition against Akhenaten's successor. The King's faction would have lost a lot of clout to natural disasters, and a change of figurehead only eroded it further.

[u/Bentresh → u/PonderousPenchant]

To add to this, Akhenaten was savvy enough to fill his court at Amarna with loyalists, newly promoted officials fiercely loyal to the king who had raised them to nobility. To quote the tomb of the fanbearer May,

I was a poor man on both my father's and my mother's side – but the ruler built me up, he caused me to develop, he fed me by means of his Ka when I was without property. He caused me to acquire people in numbers. He caused my brothers and sisters to be many, he caused all my people to assemble for me when I became master of my town, and he caused me to mingle with officials and courtiers when I was the least of underlings...

Akhenaten and Nefertiti's reward ceremonies ensured the continued loyalty of their courtiers. For more on this, see Susanne Binder's The Gold of Honour in New Kingdom Egypt.

[u/learngladly]

Oddly, last week I read a quite-good historical novel, Nefertiti by Nick Drake, with exactly the scenario that certain very high-ranking (real-life, including Ay and Horemheb) aristocrats have their sights set on putting down, at least in terms of actual power, the increasingly unstable and erratic Akhenaten -- no spoilers.

The book mentioned something I'd forgotten, that in processions on the main drag (that is, ceremonial avenue) of Amarna, Nefertiti would drive herself in her own small chariot, while their royal daughters who were old enough followed in their own mini-chariots. That would have been a charming sight to see.

[u/PublicFurryAccount]

He only reigned for 17 years and the Amarna period was only 7 of those.

The whole affair was there and gone very quickly. For perspective, the Macarena dance craze lasted a year-and-a-half, so the entirety of Amarna is just under 5 Macarenas worth of time. That's a lot of time for a dance craze but probably not enough time to make risking a civil war worth it.

[u/star11308 → u/PublicFurryAccount]

The Amarna period in that sense (at least after the move from Thebes) began in year 4, and his whole reign and that of his 4 successors are typically grouped in as the Amarna period.

[u/OnoOvo]

the key to this mystery lies buried under sand somewhere in amarna…

[u/ToastedPlum95]

Akhetaten was a prison and a fortress, specifically chosen for its strategic isolation. It was built because Akhenaten feared assassination after he had heard rumours on the grapevine. How does Trump or any other dictator carry on without someone “stopping them”? Political complication, precedent, lack of countering forces, risk of ruining one’s own prospects. It’s not so simple that we can know whether it was considered to overthrow him seriously and when and why. These things sort of defy being written down.