What piqued my interest is the fact that Akhenaten was so strongly influenced by his mother and the emphasis of the religion on highlighting feminine features. In my religious studies I’ve noticed that even though the vast majority of religious figures and authorities are male, there is always an underlying feminine aspect and influence. That influence is usually most strongly felt and recognized at the onset of the religion. Then it is usually taken over by male figures highlighting masculine features of divinity, and obscuring (too often demonizing) the feminine aspects. This isn’t a strong hypothesis, just something I’ve tended to notice.

So we credit Akhenaten for starting the religion, but where did his mother get her beliefs from?