Friday - May 02, 2008

Don’t Mess With My Homey Akhe

This one gets my “Bite Me” award of the day:

Akhenaten wasn’t the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine. And he was a bit of an egghead.

So concludes a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten for an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh’s body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Dr. Irwin Braverman believes. And Akhenaten’s head was misshapen because of a separate condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age.
...
The pharaoh had “an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters,” Braverman said. “But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique.”
...
The Yale doctor said determining whether he is right can easily be done if Egyptologists can confirm which mummy is Akhenaten’s and if Egyptian government officials agree to DNA analysis.

I’m about fed up with this. Just because old Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) was later thought of as “the abomination” in the dark land, Kemet, in this very Egypt, is no reason to go impugning him all these thousands of years later. Besides, this good “doctor” is basing all his conclusions on artwork. He has no mummy to analyze. I guess he never heard of “style”? Anyone who has spent the smallest amount of time reading the history of ancient Egypt has learned that the Amarna Period stands out strongly for this very reason. The whole country was turned upside down. This is where mono-theism was invented remember? Building styles changed. Laws changed. A whole boatload of dieties got tossed. The very roles of men and women in their culture were changed. And the art changed most of all. Art went from the ancient hidebound traditional style to one highly realistic (recall the bust of Nefertiti) to the surreal. And given the dualistic nature of Egyptian religion, and that the Pharoah was a god to the people (and under Ahkenaten probably ALL gods), is it any surprise that the pharoah was also all people to the God? Thus he would have to be portrayed with both male and female characteristics. That’s art man. And when your art goes surreal, anything can happen. Sometimes what happens is a wonder:

Sounds to me like this doctor was running out of grant money, so he had to make a sensation. Big Press equals Good Press equals More Money. I say he’s full of it. Save your wild assed theories doc until you can come up with some proof. In the meantime stay away from the most enlightened ruler in all the ancient worlds.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/02/2008 at 11:51 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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