lifestyles of the rich and pharaonic

For 1500 years, the pharaoh's main job was to lead the country in worship of the gods of air, love, mummification, and other important matters. The pharaoh was always drawn and sculpted with a lean body -- in Brian's words, the "19-year-old swimmer's build".





Then came Akhenaten, who insisted on his statues having enormous hips and thighs.





He also decided to disband the religion, and switch to a single god Aten. Aten is the sun god. Akhenaten changed his name to have "aten" in it, moved the capital of Egypt, and sent a band of workers around the country to scratch out the names of other gods. These workers scaled temple walls and 30-foot obelisks, carving out the denounced gods.

Akhenaten was pretty badass.

Unfortunately, after he died, the pissed-off former priests labeled him a heretic, and then formed their own coalition. This time the name scratched out by these migrant workers was Akhenaten's.