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Empire: World History

363. Ancient Egypt: Destroyer Of Gods – Pharaoh Akhenaten (Ep 2)

Empire: World History

Goalhanger

History

4.55.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

**Unlock the entire Ancient Egypt series early and ad-free by joining the Empire Club at ⁠empirepoduk.com⁠** Why did Egyptian priests wear animal masks? Who was the goddess of hangovers? And how did the Pharaoh, Akhenaten, destroy the many Egyptian gods to worship the sun disc, the Aten? William and Anita are joined by Professor Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones to discuss Akhenaten’s extraordinary religious revolution and whether he was a pioneer or a tyrant. Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at ⁠empirepoduk.com⁠. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Imogen Marriott Editor: James Clayden Social Producer: Charlie Johnson Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community,

0:06.8

discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,

0:12.5

sign up to Empire Club at www.mpowerpoduk.com.

0:19.2

Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, an audit dread. It's time for Vanta.

0:26.0

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0:32.6

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0:40.8

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0:41.4

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0:45.4

Join the 15,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust.

0:48.5

Get started at vanta.com slash calm. Thank you. Now imagine that you are an Egyptian priest in the year 1,350 BCE.

1:09.3

Your world is already ancient, 3,000 years old already. Your temple has stood for centuries.

1:19.4

Its walls blaze with color, processions of gods, offerings of incense, hymns inscribed in hieroglyphs that will track the movement of the cosmos itself.

1:31.5

Your day is structured by ritual, the waking of the god in the sanctuary, the presentation of

1:35.7

food and linen, the ceiling of the inner chamber at dust, just as goes on in Hindu temples today

1:41.9

in India. Generations after generations of your family have done this.

1:47.8

The god is Amun, king of the gods, Lord of Thebes, the hidden one whose breath fills the entire

1:55.6

world.

1:56.8

And the temple you serve is the greatest religious institution on earth.

2:02.0

But just imagine that all of that, all of it, is gone within a decade.

2:08.2

Your temple gets closed down, the statue of your god is smashed to pieces.

2:12.5

Everywhere the name has been chiseled, it is removed by a blunt instrument in Egypt everywhere. So the very

2:20.9

existence of these gods declared to be lies. A new theology will descend on the country,

...

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