Image Details

De Agostini Picture Library/S. Vannini/Bridgeman Images

EFFECTIVE FOR ATEN. Akhenaten claimed to be the only person with direct access to Aten, making an interceding priesthood unnecessary. This statue of Akhenaten depicts the monotheistic pharaoh with his characteristically long face, sharp chin, narrow, almond-shaped eyes and full lips. Akhenaten may have commissioned artists to portray him as androgynous, just like Aten, thus signifying that the pharaoh was the living god on earth.