Gilded statuette of King Akhenaten of Egypt. found in Tel el Amarna. the capital of Akhenaten's Egypt. Akhenaten. known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV. was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He introduced the monotheistic belief in the Aten or Sun God.