Summary: A revolutionary dreamer or a tyrannical despot? That is a question at the heart of Akhenaten's rule, a pharaoh so unusual, that his successors tried and almost successfully erased him from the historical records. You may know his more famous wife, Queen Nefertiti but Akhenaten was a fascinating ruler. He went against the grain of almost all of Egyptian traditions including trying to establish a monotheistic religion and unite the kingdom Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Egypt.