The Androgynous Pharaoh? Akhenaten had feminine physique

[Jahness]

The Androgynous Pharaoh? Akhenaten had feminine physique

By ALEX DOMINGUEZ,
Associated Press Writer

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

Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He'll be presenting his findings at an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and 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, Braverman believes. And Akhenaten's head was misshapen because of a 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."

Braverman, who sizes up the health of individuals based on portraits, teaches a class at Yale's medical school that uses paintings from the university's Center for British Art to teach observation skills to first-year students. For his study of Akhenaten, he used statues and carvings.

Akhenaten (ah-keh-NAH-ten), best known for introducing a revolutionary form of monotheism to ancient Egypt, reigned in the mid-1300s B.C. He was married to Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut, may have been his son or half brother.

Egyptologist and archaeologist Donald B. Redford was interested in Braverman's findings and looked forward to the conference but said he currently supports an older theory. He believes that Akhenaten had Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by lengthened features, including fingers and the face.

Visiting clinics that treat those with the condition has strengthened that conviction, "but this is very subjective, I must admit," said Redford, a professor of classic and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State University.

Others have theorized Akhenaten and his lineage had Froehlich's syndrome, which causes feminine fat distribution but also sterility. That doesn't fit Akhenaten, who had at least six daughters, Braverman said.

Klinefelter syndrome, a genetic condition that can also cause gynecomastia, or male breast enlargement, has also been suggested, but Braverman said he suspects familial gynecomastia, a hereditary condition that leads to the overproduction of estrogen.

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.

Braverman hopes his theory will lead them to do just that.

"I'm hoping that after we have this conference and I bring this up, maybe the Egyptologists who work on these things all the time, maybe they will be stimulated to look," he said.

Previous conferences have examined the deaths of Edgar Allan Poe, Alexander the Great, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Florence Nightingale and others.

(This version corrects that Braverman does not believe pharaoh had Marfan syndrome and clarifies that Akhenaten's appearance has been well known.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/...QtTwOeZfQDW7oF

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

[Sun Ship]

We need to be careful reading this research, for I remember this same approach to examining Akhenaton features and form was used to make it seem that his full lips were solely part of some type of genetic abnormity (as mentioned) and not the fact that he was African.

I find it interesting that when Dan Brown, author of the Di Vinci Code directed everyone’s attention to how feminine one of the 12 disciples looked that was sitting next to Jesus in Leonardo Di Vinci’s Last Supper painting the scholars thought that was absurd and these same Euro-scholars along with the Catholic Church went after Dan Brown with a vengeance! Now if you look at the Last Supper with a laymen, trained artist, or anatomist eye you can see that the image is undoubtedly that of a woman!

Also, when this scholarship goes unchallenged, you get a whole generation of young consciously growing Black folks believing in this crap, for just recently a couple of threads were posted here referencing the racist National Geographic’s front page article talking about Black Pharaohs, which was there way of slyly saying that only the Pharaohs of Nubia were Black or African, which means of course the others were_______? Well you know what’s implied.

Thanks for posting this....

[Jahness]

Originally Posted by Sun Ship

We need to be careful reading this research, for I remember this same approach to examining Akhenaton features and form was used to make it seem that his full lips were solely part of some type of genetic abnormity (as mentioned) and not the fact that he was African.

I find it interesting that when Dan Brown, author of the Di Vinci Code directed everyone’s attention to how feminine one of the 12 disciples looked that was sitting next to Jesus in Leonardo Di Vinci’s Last Supper painting the scholars thought that was absurd and these same Euro-scholars along with the Catholic Church went after Dan Brown with a vengeance! Now if you look at the Last Supper with a laymen, trained artist, or anatomist eye you can see that the image is undoubtedly that of a woman!

Also, when this scholarship goes unchallenged, you get a whole generation of young consciously growing Black folks believing in this crap, for just recently a couple of threads were posted here referencing the racist National Geographic’s front page article talking about Black Pharaohs, which was there way of slyly saying that only the Pharaohs of Nubia were Black or African, which means of course the others were_______? Well you know what’s implied.

Thanks for posting this....

Greetings SunShip!

I agree with you on the very important points that you have made. Sometimes the dilemma for me in coming across some of this information is do I post it or not and when i am totally disgusted with it, I choose not too, but my spirit also says that sometimes it is better if we have the discussions and shed some light on the misinformation and give our people the real conversation so the issues can be discussed and they can then learn what the real truth is.

So much of the information on our history and culture is corrupted with lies and inuendos that we really have to be careful what we read and believe because as we know they imply a lot to make the information benefit them and their bogus views.

This is why your presence and contribution here at the forum is so much appreciated warrior because you take the time to break down the information, analyze it and give very profound insights that definitely makes a difference in how our members here can then understand the topic. To me it's just not about posting information it has to in someway make our people think or make them see how things can and will affect them in their real life if not today in some way in the future. We have to see how in so many ways our oppressors put information out there as if it is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That is very dangerous because people also have a tendency to believe everything they read and again if we are not careful we will be filled up misinformation.

Brother Sunship, I so appreciate you and all that you do for our people for you bring to the forum a definite balance of insightful commentaries that can only uplift and teach us all. Thank again for being who you are.

Peace & Blessings!