Watch Egyptian Journeys online: Episode 3 The Rebel Pharaoh

Cruickshank goes on the trail of Egypt's most controversial ruler and his beautiful wife Nefertiti. The Pharaoh Akhenaten is described as a revolutionary whose dangerous ideas would change politics, religion, art and language leading the nation to the brink of catastrophe. Preserved statues of Akhnaten do not conform to the traditional depictions of a pharaoh highlighting his unconventional style. Early in his reign he underwent a religious conversion and proposed replacing the pantheon of gods with a single sun god. Wall paintings from the tomb of Chief Vizier Ramosa illustrate this overthrow. Akhnaten left the ancient capital of Luxor to build a religious utopia in the desert to break from the past and honour his new monotheistic god. The great temple at Amarna opened up to the sun but only the Pharaoh and his family were allowed in. Akhnaton came to believe that he was the son of god and should be worshipped as such. He initiated a persecution of believers in the old gods and Egypt lost status as the Pharaoh became disassociated from the real world. Art works preserved at the site show unprecedented images of the royal family displaying humanistic emotions of affection and grief. A plague sweeps the land, taking Akhnaten's wife and children, and the Pharaoh is held responsible as social order begins to fall apart. Akhnaten's death, possibly at the hands of his own courtiers, leads to his successor Tutankhamun abandoning Armana and restoring the old gods. All trace of Akhnaten was buried, ironically preserving it for modern archaeologist.

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