daily rituals in their temples, with this came an end to the various religious festivals with their processions. He closed Amun's great temple, took over the revenues of these, and sent officials to destroy Amun's statues and to desecrate the worship sites.
In his 6th year he completely rejected the gods of Thebes, including Amun. He declared for the first time in recorded history that there was only one god, and moved Egypt's capital to a new place dedicated to Aten. In result of this he gained a considerable amount of opposition, the priests worried about the god Amun and the fact that he had declared their god extinct. Many workers from Thebes, such as carvers and stone-masons were out of work as all temples and monuments dedicated to the gods were ceased. This caused quite a state of unrest in Egypt; however Akhenaten continued to reign and institute Aten as sole god up until his death in 1336. This signified the end of the Amarna period, and with the actions of his successors (Tutankhamen, Ay and Horemheb) the restoration of Amun was to be completed.
Without the authority of Akhenaten and the monarchy of his reign, his followers abandoned his city unsure of his new religion and preferring the comfort of the traditional religious belief system.
Modern historian Leonard Cottrell in his book titled "The lost Pharaohs", states that
"After his death (Akhenaten's) they returned to intellectual compromise and wrapped again th
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