The 18th dynasty was a very interesting one, containing many of the most interesting personalities in Egyptian history.
Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) ruled from 1350 BC to 1334 BC. He ushered in a revolutionary period in Egyptian history. The Amarna Interlude, as it is often called, saw the removal of the seat of government to a short-lived new capital city, Akhetaten (modern el-Amarna) the introduction of a new art style, and the elevation of the cult of the sun disc, the Aten, to pre-eminent status in Egyptian religion.
The beginning of Akhenaten's reign marked no great discontinuity with that of his predecessors. Not only was he crowned at Karnak (temple of the god Amun) but like his father, he married a lady of non-royal blood, Nefertiti, the daughter of the vizier Ay.
There can be little doubt that the new king ws far more of a thinker and philosopher than his forbears. His father Amenhotep III had recognised the growing power of teh priesthood at Amun and had sought to curb it, his son was to make the matter a lot further by introducing a new monotheistic cult of sun-worship that was incarnate in the sun's disc, the Aten. The Aten had been venerated in the Old Kingdom, but Akhenaten's innovation was to worship the ATen in its own right. Portrayed as a solar disc whose rays terminated in hands holding the ankh hieroglyph for life, the ATen was accessible only to Akhenaten, so there was no need for an intermediate priesthood.
At first, the king built a temple to his god ATen immediately outside the east gate of the temple of Amun at Karnak, but then he closed Amun's temples, forbid his worship, and to make a complete break, moved to anew capital in middle Egypt, halfway between Memphis and Thebes. He named it Akhetaten - the Horizon of the Aten. Today the site is known as el-Amarna.
It seems that it was only the upper classes who embraced the new religion with any enthusiasim. Excavations at Amarna have indicated that even here the old way of religion continued among the ordinary people. On a wide scale, throughout Egypt, the new cult does not seem to have had much effect at a common level except, of course, the dismantling of the priesthood and closing of the temples.
In the early years of Akhenaten's reign his wife Nefertitit was unually prominent in official art, dominating the scenes carved on blocks of the temple tot he Aten at Karnak. One such block shows her in the warlike posture of pharoha grasping captives by the hair and smiting them with a mace. nefertitit evidently played a far more prominent role in her husband's rule than was the norm.
Tragedy seems to have struck the royal family in about year 12of Akhenaten's reign with the death of their second daughter Mekytaten. Nefertitit appears to have died soon after year 12. She was replaced as Great Royal Wife by her daughter Merytaten. Merytaten was to become the wife of Smenkhkare, Akhenaten's brief successor. Nefertitit was buried in the royal tomb at Amarna.
Akhenaten died in about 1334 BC, probably in the 16th year of his reign. His tomb wsa smashed up, and his body probably removed to a place of safety by his adherents.
Akhenatan's successor Smenkhkare (possibly Akhenaten's younger brother) moved the capital back to Memphis, and when he was quickly succeeded by Tutnakhamun, the old religion was restored, and Amarna was abandoned.
I don't think there were aliens in Egypt, I think the Egyptians were very clever people and did their building etc themselves.