The Mystery of Akhenaten: Genetics or Aesthetics?" While Akhenaten led a reform on the Ancient Egyptian religion, he also revolutionized Egyptian art. He broke the conventions of Egyptian art by showing himself in warm family scenes with his wife and children, and portraying himself and the rest of the royal family in a much more human and naturalistic manner than any of his predescessors had.
The most peculiar result of this art reform, however, was the portrayal of the physical characteristics of the pharaoh himself.
In sculptures and paintings of Akhenaten, he is shown as having a long, slender neck, a long face with a sharp chin, narrow, almond-shaped eyes, full lips, long arms and fingers, rounded thighs and buttocks, a soft belly, and enlarged breasts.
His odd appearance was particularly prominent in art from the early part of the reign. One early statue portrays the king in the nude and without genitalia of any kind.
These features have puzzled archaeologists since Akhenaten was first discovered in the early nineteenth century, and people have offered many explanations as to why he looked this way.
One of the early theories was that Akhenaten was actually a woman disguised as a man, and was following in Queen Hatshepsut's footsteps, but this idea has been abandoned (Aldred, C., 1988, pg. 231).
The theory that is most in favor at this time is that Akhenaten suffered from some kind of illness or syndrome which caused his odd appearance. The two most likely possibilities proposed in recent years are Froehlich's Syndrome (Aldred, C. 1988, Pg. 232), and Marfan's Syndrome (Redford, D., 1994), (Burridge, A.,1995)."
Hawwas chides anti-akhenaten statementsMonday, January 28, 2008
Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme council of Antiquities(ESCA) Zahi Hawwas slammed statements by British Professor Barry Kemp and Professor Jerry Rose, of the University of Arkansas, USA, distorting the history of pharaonic King Akhenaten and the construction of his city in Amarna.
"The bones reveal a darker side to life, a striking reversal of the image that Akhenaten promoted, of an escape to sunlight and nature" says professor kemp who is leading the excavations.
painted murals found in the tombs of high officials from the time show offering-tables piled high with food.But the bones of the ordinary people who lived in the city reveal a different picture, reported the BBC.
"Food is not abundant and certainly food is not of high nutritional quality".
The temples and palaces required thousands of large stone blocks. Working in summer temperatures of 40C (104F), the workers would have had to chisel these out of the rock and transport them 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the quarries to the city.
"The incidence of youthful death amongst the Amarna population was shockingly high by any standard". Not many lived beyond 35.
Two-thirds were dead by 20. But even this backbreaking schedule may not be enough to explain the extreme death pattern at Amarna. Hawwas termed as nonsense the statements on Akhenaten that, he sid, were not based on any admissible scientific proofs.
Building Akhenaten city was an obsession for ancient Egyptians like the Giza Pyramids and workers wanted to realise a national achievement to be proud of, he said.
He added that ancient labourers used to live beside the royal palace and get the best food daily to be able to continue their work.