es, where Amon had ruled for so many centuries
unchallenged. In whatever direction he looked he was confronted with
some evidence of the worship of Amon-Ra: he might proclaim Aton to be
the only god, but Amon and a hundred other deities stared down at him
from every temple wall. He and his advisers, therefore, decided to
abandon Thebes altogether and to found a new capital elsewhere.

Akhnaton selected a site for the new city on the west bank of the river,
at a point now named El Amarna, about 160 miles above Cairo. Here the
hills recede from the river, forming a bay about three miles deep and
five long; and in this bay the young Pharaoh decided to build his
capital, which was named "Horizon of Aton." With feverish speed the new
buildings were erected. A palace even more beautiful than that of his
parents at Thebes was prepared for him; a splendid temple dedicated to
Aton was set up amidst a garden of rare trees and brilliant flowers;
villas for his nobles were erected, and streets were laid out. Queen
Tiy, who seems to have continued to live at Thebes, often came down to
El Amarna to visit her son; but it seems to have been at his own wish
rather than at her advice that he now took the important step which set
the seal of his religion upon his life.

Around the bay of El Amarna, on the cliffs which shut it off so
securely, the King caused landmarks to be made at intervals, and on
these he inscribed an oath which some have interpreted to mean that he
would never again leave his new city. He would remain, like the Pope in
the Vatican, for the rest of his days within the limits of this bay;
and, rather than be distracted by the cares of state and the worries of
empire, he would shut himself up with his god and would devote his life
to his religion. He was but a youth still, and, to his inexperienced
mind, this oath seemed nothing; nor in his brief life does it seem that
he broke it, though at times he must have longed to visit his domains.

The religion which this boy, who now called himself Akhnaton, "The Glory
of Aton," taught was by no means the simple worship of the sun. It was,
without question, the most enlightened religion which the world at that
time had ever known. The young priest-king called upon mankind to
worship the unknown power which is behind the sun, that power of which
the brilliant sun was the visible symbol, and which might be discerned
in the fertilising warmth of the sun's rays. Aton was originally