One of the best-known 18th Dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV , who changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of the Aten and whose exclusive worship of the Aten is often interpreted as history 's first instance of monotheism ( and was argued in Sigmund Freud 's Moses and Monotheism to have been the ultimate origin of Jewish monotheism ) . One of the best-known 18th Dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV , who changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of the Aten and whose exclusive worship of the Aten is often interpreted as history 's first instance of monotheism .