The religion of Aton has been considered the first known historical instance of monotheism. It has also been characterized as a movement toward a scientific way of thinking in which observable phenomena became the focus of religious and philosophical attention, though at the time the god Aton was called, in hymns of praise, “Lord of Heaven, Lord of Earth, He who lives forever.” Although the precise nature of the worship of Aton remains obscure, during Ikhnaton's time it became the official religion, centered around Ikhnaton's new capital, Akhetaton (the Horizon of Aton), or Tell-el-Amarna.

Egyptian gods were often depicted symbolically in human form with a human or an animal head, but Aton was not anthropomorphized in the same way. Rather, he was shown only as the sun's disk, with lines of rays emanating downward from it; the rays ended in human hands, sometimes holding the ankh, the symbol of life. No myths or engaging stories were told about the god, but in art, a definite aesthetic movement is also associated with this period. After Ikhnaton's reign ended, the new religion of Aton was considered heresy, and there was an abrupt return to the belief in Amen-Ra and the traditional Egyptian pantheon, though one sanctuary to Aton survived in the city of Heliopolis