Egypt is no stranger to unrest – rather, it seems to embrace the instability with enough grace to remain standing after upwards of three revolutions in the past half-century alone. Those at the forefront of these movements, however, are not always loved; from death threats to feminism, from socialist agendas to anarchy, Egyptian revolutionaries have always pushed the envelope. Some would argue a little too far. That does not stand in the way of their legacy as game-changers and status-quo shakers. Here are some of Egypt’s most infamous, most love-hated, and most daring controversial figures. Akhenaten | r. 1353 – 1336 BCE Father of Egyptian revolutionaries was, to no one’s surprise, a Pharaoh: a king who seemingly had it all if only to gamble it on a fit of manic, religious freedom. Born circa 1353 BCE, Akhenaten was pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom. Initially named Amenhotep IV, Akhenaten changed his name after only five years of sovereignty. Many mistakenly believe that Akhenaten disregarded the entirety of the Egyptian religious pantheon for the emergence of a new deity, the Aten; in reality, the cult of the solar-deity…
