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Akhenaton, also known as 'The Heretic King', translates as "living spirit of Aton" and was known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV. He was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and went missing in 1336 BCE. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing a monotheistic worship centered on the Aton, with a less dogmatic, more philosophical, mystical, and deeply spiritual view of religion. An early inscription likens him to the sun rather than the stars, and later official language avoids calling the Aton a god, thereby giving the solar deity a status above that of mere gods.