Egyptian Pharaohs

            When in a lot of power or command, we sometimes make mistakes with out even knowing it. In Egypt, the great Pharaohs often made bad decisions during their time. New Pharaohs sometimes wanted to change ways of previous kings because of changes in the religion area. Another reason was having a weak empire. Pharaohs often wanted a lot of power and a strong country. Lastly, some Pharaohs thought that all previous Pharaohs should be forgotten about, and that they should be remembered as an almighty king. .
             Around 1380 B.C., the young pharaoh Amenhotep IV came to rule. He soon came to think that the greatest god was the sun, and he called this god Aton. He was disregarding the priests of Amon-Re. Eventually Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaton. Akhenaton means "Pleasing Aton." Later on, Akhenaton came to proclaim that Aton was the only god, and concealed all the worship of other gods. One of the most shocking moves of this young Pharaoh was when he removed the name of Amon-Re from all public inscriptions. The priests of Amon-Re reacted very strongly toward these religious changes. They struggled to over come this change, but eventually won. Akhenaton's successor, the young Tutankhaton soon came around and replaced Aton's name with Amon-Re on all the public inscriptions. .
             During the Old and New Kingdom, the Egyptian empires were entirely strong and powerful, but when the Middle Kingdom came around, the Pharaohs got weaker, and as too did the empire. When Ahmose became the first ruler of the Eighteenth dynasty during the New Kingdom in the mid-1500's B.C., he realized that building an empire was the best way to prevent Egypt from ever being invaded again. When the Middle Kingdom was in rule, they were weak and invaded easily. The two centuries of Hyksos rule showed the Egyptians what danger they really were in by ignoring the outside world. Everyone new that they needed to have protection, and be very powerful.