How much does the average person know about Akhenaten?

October 21, 2015 6:06 PM

How familiar with Akhenaten/Amenhotep is the average (high school+ educated) person in North America?

Is his name familiar to most people? Is his relationship to Nefertiti and Tutankhamun common knowledge? Do they know about the changes he enacted and how they were received both during his life and after his death?

posted by Sternmeyer to Society & Culture (63 answers total)

Best answer: No.
posted by zagyzebra at 6:08 PM on October 21, 2015 [34 favorites]

Data point of one Canadian with an MFA: I knew nothing until I cut/paste and googled when I saw this up.
posted by Cuke at 6:08 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

whosawhatsit?
posted by Anonymous at 6:08 PM on October 21, 2015

Slightly, no, and no, assuming no background in historical studies.
posted by vrakatar at 6:09 PM on October 21, 2015

I would guess that most people wouldn't recognize the name. I went through a phase as a preteen when I was obsessed with ancient Egypt and read tons of books about it. Just now, reading your question, I did not recognize the name Akhenaten. When I saw Amenhotep, I thought, "pretty sure that's an ancient Egyptian, probably a pharaoh."
posted by insectosaurus at 6:10 PM on October 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

I actually just went into a wikipedia hole about him and Atenism the other day, but prior to that, nope none. I think it's the tendency, culturally, to read ancient Egypt as a magical alien land rather than a historical fact with relationship to other historical facts, so most of the top-of-your-head knowledge about it is more informed by pop culture than academia.
posted by Nomiconic at 6:13 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I was pretty sure he was a relative of Tutankamen's and that he had something to do with religious reforms involving the god Aten.
posted by mskyle at 6:13 PM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

I remember having learned this in school but couldn't remember the details.
posted by bleep at 6:13 PM on October 21, 2015

I worked in a museum full of Egyptian mummies for four years and I don't know anything about this guy other than "read or heard the name? maybe?" so I'm gonna say the average high schooler knows bupkis.
posted by phunniemee at 6:13 PM on October 21, 2015

I guessed (or maybe just barely remembered) the correct time period and place based on a fifth grade interest in the topic, but actual familiarity? No.
posted by teremala at 6:14 PM on October 21, 2015

I barely recognized the second name and I've been to Egypt.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:16 PM on October 21, 2015

The only things I know about Akhenaten come from Vampire: the Eternal Struggle.
posted by jozxyqk at 6:18 PM on October 21, 2015

My well-read sweetheart has never heard of him.
posted by djinn dandy at 6:18 PM on October 21, 2015

I vaguely know what he did and that he had some relation to Tutankhamun but do not remember any actual dates, or how he relates to any other dynasties. I was fairly interested in Ancient Egypt as a kid.

I hope you're going to reveal why you're asking!
posted by Frowner at 6:19 PM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

By any definition of average, the average person in N.A. knows nothing about this subject.
posted by jcworth at 6:20 PM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

I have honestly never heard this name in my life, had no idea what it had to do with and I'm in graduate school in the US so I'm gonna go with a big no.
posted by Aranquis at 6:20 PM on October 21, 2015

My reaction was, "Egyptian, I think? Maybe gods?" So, no.
posted by mgar at 6:21 PM on October 21, 2015

My knowledge: something pre-Roman Egyptian. Either a Pharaoh or a god (or a Pharaoh/god). Couldn't say more than that without looking it up. Oh, something about the controversy of Tutankhamen and religion, but fuzzy about any details.
posted by wilful at 6:22 PM on October 21, 2015

I was pleased with myself to at least be familiar with the name Amenhotep until I remembered it was a name of a pharoah in Futurama. So I'd go with no from this decently well-read non-historian. I definitely wouldn't know anything beyond "Probably Ancient Egyptian."
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:23 PM on October 21, 2015 [8 favorites]

My brain jumped straight to Bubba-Ho-Tep, starring Bruce Campbell.

Are you going to dress as Amenhotep for Halloween?
posted by vickyverky at 6:26 PM on October 21, 2015 [5 favorites]

Hey, I know who that is! But, uh, I guess for the sake of your question the answer is "No", judging from the rest of the answers in this thread.
posted by quaking fajita at 6:26 PM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

Hate to break the rollcall, but I recalled both names right off the bat. Reasonably (at times, obsessively) well-read, with occasional deep dives into whatever odd subject interests me; not much formal schooling past HS though.
posted by easily confused at 6:26 PM on October 21, 2015 [5 favorites]

As a Canadian without any real interest in Egyptology, my reaction to the name Akhenaten was "That's Tutankhamen's dad, right?"

But I wasn't so sure that I didn't have to google to verify.
posted by 256 at 6:28 PM on October 21, 2015

Best answer: Now I feel weird being the only person here who knew about him previously. IIRC we learned about him in hebrew school as an example of early monotheism. Other general reading I did was about how he was thought to have had Marfan's syndrome due to various depictions of him showing similar physical characteristics.
posted by poffin boffin at 6:29 PM on October 21, 2015 [11 favorites]

Best answer: I learned about this guy in AP Art History, a class I took my senior year of high school and also one that is very rarely even offered. I learned about him again later in further college art history classes. My friend group contains some very well-educated historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, artists and philosophy majors and I would bet maybe one of them would recognize the name (the paleoarchaeologist with a fascination for burial practices). Among the high school students of my acquaintance, many of whom are extremely well read auto-didacts with interests in ancient cultures? Probably none, and they certainly wouldn't be picking it up in school.
posted by Mizu at 6:29 PM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

No familiarity at all except because of the Philip Glass opera of the same name (although spelled differently for some reason or other).
posted by BillMcMurdo at 6:29 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Current 37-year-old me, despite having no more than a passing interest in Egypt in general, could give a short but probably accurate answer to those questions. High-school me wouldn't have known a thing. Average American? Not a clue.
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 6:34 PM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Oh! Actually, poffin boffin is right, I learned about him first in hebrew school, but it was actually confirmation classes, which is the continuing education thing for some types of Judaism that culminates in another coming of age ceremony thing when you're around 16, so I learned about him first in that context and then relearned about him in art history classes, where the information actually stuck. So possibly actively Jewish kids would have a leg up on the Pharoah-knowing competition.
posted by Mizu at 6:36 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, folks. The reason I ask is because today I was chatting with someone about ancient Egypt and the subject turned to monotheism. My conversation partner is an electrician and has never indicated to me that he was interested in ancient Egypt before, but he was quite familiar with Amenhotep/Akhenaten despite having no formal education on the matter. My own knowledge on ancient Egypt is based entirely around a couple of 200-level courses in art history I took some time ago which focused on Egypt (on preview: similar to Mizu). I recognize that this is probably not how most people learn about historical Egypt, but I wasn't sure if folks in general knew about Akhenaten by way of other avenues.

It sounds like my friend must have a specific interest in Egypt, which is pretty cool and will definitely be mined for future conversations!
posted by Sternmeyer at 6:36 PM on October 21, 2015 [4 favorites]

I recognized the name(s) and then recalled the relationships, but it took a moment to remember why/where. Learned about him in a junior college history of world religion class. Early monotheism.
posted by monopas at 6:37 PM on October 21, 2015

I remember who he was because when I was taught about him in some class (middle school maybe?) the teacher/book made a big deal that he was a monotheist and how advanced it was. As a non believer I never understood why being a monotheist is better/more advanced than being a polytheist. Obviously the Egyptians at the time agreed with me.
posted by Requiax at 6:44 PM on October 21, 2015

I know about him. He's fascinating. I wish there was more to know but the guys who came after pretty much wiped out his resume, because of Sungod.
Read somewhere that he may have had Marfans.
posted by antiquated at 6:46 PM on October 21, 2015

I only know of him because I love historical fiction so I've read a lot of Nefertiti-focused novels. Prior to that I'd never heard of him - my education (formal and cultural) was pretty limited to awareness of Nefertiti, Tutankhamen, Rameses II, and Cleopatra. I think I generally heard the word Ptolemy once but only in relation to Cleopatra, not her predecessors.
posted by olinerd at 6:51 PM on October 21, 2015

Everything I know of Akhenaten comes from the program notes from the San Francisco Opera's spectacular performance of a Philip Glass Opera many years ago.
posted by dws at 6:52 PM on October 21, 2015

I teach ancient history to 6th graders and I knew both names and a lot of ancillary detail immediately. I would expect my students to recognise them as being Egyptian and in the case of Akhenaten, how he formed his own monotheistic cult, and for being related to King Tut (whom they all know about long before my class).
posted by guster4lovers at 6:53 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Well, your friend might have become interested because a number of people have pointed out how much Obama seems to resemble Ankhenaten as seen in several representations.

I think it was Cyril Aldred who came up with the idea that Ankhenaten had Marfan's, and I always wondered why the 'Birther' crowd didn't try to make more of that.
posted by jamjam at 6:53 PM on October 21, 2015

So possibly actively Jewish kids would have a leg up on the Pharoah-knowing competition.

I think there could be some truth to this. I didn't learn anything about Akhenaten as part of my Jewish education per se, but the idea of another civilization being the First Monotheists or whatever the Discovery Channel was using to hype their latest Zahi Hawass ego stroking session documentary was enough to pique my interest.
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 6:58 PM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I used to know all about him - I was really in to Egyptology as a kid.
posted by rfs at 7:00 PM on October 21, 2015

My catholic high school covered this in detail in religion class.
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:02 PM on October 21, 2015

He was covered fairly well in my 9th grade world history class at an average/below-average public high school in the south in the 80s. The class was a social science elective that usually didn't fit honors track students' schedules, so at that school, the audience for the topic was a group of students who were college-bound but not necessarily high academic achievers. Most honors/AP students there missed it.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 7:32 PM on October 21, 2015

Learned about him and the monotheistic experiment in 9th grade history in Ohio in the 80s. Also Phillip Glass.
posted by matildaben at 7:49 PM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I learned about him in intro to art history in college, and my son learned about him when he studied Tut in fourth or fifth grade. My guess is that Americans who studied ancient Egypt in school learned what guster4lovers said, but many have forgotten it. Others may not have had an Egypt unit.
posted by Sukey Says at 8:27 PM on October 21, 2015

Only from listening to a podcast on ancient Egypt. Never got to Egypt in 12 years of school.
posted by miyabo at 8:36 PM on October 21, 2015

I knew him as the originator of the monotheistic sun cult in Egypt (like other posters here, from Jewish education about the development of monotheism) but had forgotten about his relationships to Nefertiti and Tut until I read Cecelia Holland's novel about them just the other day. It was fun, take it to the beach!
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:52 PM on October 21, 2015

Akhenaten is popular with fringe types too, he's a huge pillar of "Ancient Aliens" theory, y'know, like the Aten was a flying saucer etcetera etcetera. If your electrician buddy watched the Ancient Aliens show or listened to the Joe Rogan podcast etc, not surprising he'd have a handle on the pharaoh.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 9:49 PM on October 21, 2015

There was an extensive traveling exhibit about him that I caught in Boston probably 20 years ago which stuck with me enough to know he was an early monotheist and possibly have a conversation if someone else was prompting my memory. Perhaps your friend also saw that exhibit.
posted by mzurer at 9:53 PM on October 21, 2015

Learned about him and the monotheistic experiment in 9th grade history in Ohio in the 80s.

Same, but in Vermont in the 90s. I don't remember much about his relationship to Nefertiti/Tutankhamun but I remember the sun cult (and also some long speculative digression about whether he may have had Klinefelter's).
posted by en forme de poire at 10:23 PM on October 21, 2015

I also know about him, but I had an Egyptology phase as a child, and took a couple college classes that mentioned him in connection with early monotheism. I wouldn't really expect anyone without an interest in ancient Egypt to recognize his name.
posted by yasaman at 10:47 PM on October 21, 2015

I know about hm because my high school freshman class went to see the King Tut exhibit.
posted by HotToddy at 11:38 PM on October 21, 2015

These names sound familiar to me because I really like The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.
posted by like_neon at 1:11 AM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]

In addition to the Egypt, art-history, archaeology, history-of-religion, etc. routes that have already been mentioned, some average Americans have also heard the names as part of a black-history/Afrocentric curriculum.

As others have also said, though, I don't believe these are names that an average American would be familiar with.
posted by box at 3:49 AM on October 22, 2015

Akhenaten gets a fair amount of play on the fringe history circuit - Ancient Aliens and all that - so a viewer familiar with the depths of basic cable (H2, etc) might be aware of him from his dealings with the alien intelligence who was his sun god or his status as a potential alien hybrid.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:51 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

I know all about him but that's only because I'm obsessed with 18th Dynasty Ancient Egypt. I've never met another person casually who knew anything about Akhenaten or the Heresy period (though shortly after they foolishly stumbled into the subject with me, they knew way more than they wanted to.)
posted by headspace at 4:41 AM on October 22, 2015

I vaguely remember seeing some kind of short documentary about him. I don't think it was in school, but it may have been on the history channel? This would have been in the 90s, before they went off the deep end (I don't recall there being any mention of aliens etc). So, not something I'd expect everyone to know, but possible to pick up casually.
posted by ghost phoneme at 6:17 AM on October 22, 2015

Oooh, there's also the Philip Glass opera, Philip is having a bit of a renaissance at the moment...
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 6:25 AM on October 22, 2015

I knew the name, but I was taught nothing about him in school, I just read a lot of books about ancient Egypt when I was a kid.
posted by JanetLand at 7:26 AM on October 22, 2015

I don't think my Southern Baptist highschools covered this at all. I was vaguely familiar with the name, and when people said monotheistic sun cult, that sounded right. I'm 99% sure I've heard my museum nerd friends discuss it, and also, Tut has been in the sciency/history type news some in the past two years.
posted by Jacen at 9:01 AM on October 22, 2015

Lord. Had a quick glance at some of the Obama/Akhenaton stuff *shakes head*. From sites named American Thinker no less.

I'm not American but know about the double A's through art history. That's my route. But there's another path that defo comes through Afrocentrism, Cheikh Anta Diop's The African Origins of Civilization and so forth.

Honestly, all you have to do is look at present-day Somalis and Ethiopians and the realism of Egyptian sculpture clicks into place.
posted by glasseyes at 10:50 AM on October 22, 2015

I know that "hotep" is a derogatory term used by (some) black people to describe (some other) black people who are evangelistic in their Afrocentrism. From what I gather, it describes the type of person who wears an Ankh necklace and exhorts other black people to only shop at black-owned businesses, things like that. I only know this because of Twitter. I assume it is related to Amenhotep in some way. I am white.
posted by desjardins at 12:16 PM on October 22, 2015

I obsessively watched all the discovery channel shows on Egyptian history maybe 15 years ago. There was at least one show on Akhenaten & his reforms.
posted by gregr at 2:36 PM on October 22, 2015

Absolutely covered in my pre-college education (NJ, '96). Beginnings of monotheism, moved the capital, etc.
posted by lysimache at 4:15 PM on October 22, 2015

The heretic of Armana? High school aged me could have told you all about him, but I don't count as I'm not American.

Didn't anyone else ever read National Geographic as a kid?
posted by HiroProtagonist at 7:20 PM on October 22, 2015

USian here. I would say that recognition among the general public would be close to zero. As in, if you stood on a street corner and mentioned his name to a hundred passers-by, you would get a hundred blank stares.

I vaguely recognize both names—I probably would have recognized "Amenhotep" as an ancient Egyptian name, especially if I saw it in print, but that's about it.

And I think that MeFites are more likely than the average person to know nerdy / esoteric / academic stuff like this.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 1:46 PM on October 23, 2015