Kings & Queens of Africa Series: Part 6

As a sickly child, I wasn’t interested in sports or learning how to fight. I studied hieroglyphic script and trained for the priesthood. When my older brother Tuthmose died, I was destined to succeed my father as the tenth king of Egypt’s Eighteenth dynasty. During my reign Egypt was enjoying peace and prosperity at the peak of its imperial glory. Together with my beautiful wife Nefertiti, we built a new capital in the middle of the desert and called it Akhetaten in honor of the sun disk Aten. I became known as the “Heretic King” because I banned all other gods except for Aten. The powerful priests were unhappy when I decreed that only the pharaoh could commune with Aten, breaking their power and the flow of royal offerings to them. I also influenced Egyptian culture by bringing realism to art. Statues and drawings of myself and family are depicted with elongated heads and faces and wide hips, instead of strong perfect muscular bodies. My successors Smenkhkare and Tutankhamun disassembled the temples and city I built. Who am I?

Hint: 


-Material contributed by Sue Roberts