Why did King Akhenaton moved the capital away from the Thebes?

Question

It is for a king tut project. please help =)

Answer 1

Akhenaten moved the capital away from Thebes, and a new city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to his new religion of worship to the Aten. Aten (or Aton) was the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of Ra. This religious reformation appears to have begun with his decision to celebrate a Sed festival in his third regnal year – a highly unusual step, since a Sed-festival, a sort of royal jubilee intended to reinforce the Pharaoh's divine powers of kingship, was traditionally held in the thirtieth year of a Pharaoh's reign.

Year eight marked the beginning of construction on his new capital, Akhetaten ('Horizon of Aten'), at the site known today as Amarna. In the same year, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten ('Effective Spirit of Aten') as evidence of his shifting religious perspective. Very soon afterward he centralized Egyptian religious practices in Akhetaten, though construction of the city seems to have continued for several more years.

Answer 2

At the surprise of the Egyptians, Akhenaten abandoned the Egyptian god Amun in favor of a different god, the Aten or sun disk.  Akhenaten and his religious reforms believed the sun deserved its own full blown cult. His decision shocked the influential army of Amun worshipping priests. They expected their pharaoh to worship Amun, god of fertility and creation above all other gods.

Five years into his reign, pharaoh Akhenaten unleashed another shockwave. Thebes, he announced, was too closely linked to Amun and unsuitable for the Aten. The sun disk needed its own holy city. After scouring the length of the Nile, he came upon a site in the middle of Egypt. This location was exactly half way between Thebes and Memphis, about 170 miles from each.

The shores where Akhenaten landed were in a region now called Amarna. It was desolate and remote, but it was still where King Akhenaten decided to build his new capital. The king gave his reasons in writing, and they can still be read today on top of the cliffs overlooking the city. A symbol of the Aten has been carved into the rock as a boundary maker.

In Egyptian belief, the horizon where the sun rose was called the Aket and was symbolized by two mountain peaks with the sun disk rising between them. The hills that surround the Amarna plane are suddenly interrupted by a break in the cliffs, a sight to behold especially at dawn. The king must have thought he’d found the sacred birth place of the sun god. He named his city Aketaten, horizon of the sun disk. Akhenaten charged Thutmosis his best artist and favorite sculptor, with the job of turning his dream into reality.

Taken from http://www.encyclomedia.com/akhenaten.ht...