Ancient Egyptian Forum

[Daughter_of_Ra]

Why do you think akenaten and his duaghters r all depicted so oddly shaped

[Google]

[kmt_sesh]

I've answered questions like this before. Maybe other posters can add their opinions, too.

It used to be people believed Akhenaten in particular suffered some kind of disorder such as Marfan's syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that involves defects in the supporting structures of the body, such as skin, bone, cartilage, ligaments, blood vessels and organ coverings. That theory is rather outdated and has been more or less abandoned.

Taking a more critical look at these bizarre reliefs and statues of the Amarna Period, Egyptologists and art historians see things quite differently now. It has to do with the nature of numerous Egyptian deities. Some Egyptian gods are androgynous, neither clearly feminine nor masculine, and this is definitely the case with the Aten, the physical representation of the solar disk that Akhenaten worshiped above all other deities.

These odd statues and reliefs show us a very androgynous royal family--so much so that sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish Akhenaten from his beloved Nefertiti. Evidently Akhenaten favored an androgynous form in royal representations of himself as an artistic convention to make him appear more divine to the Egyptian eye. It's a concept many of us modern folks have a hard time understanding. He is both male and female, a form that only the truly divine can take on, and for certain Akhenaten wanted to be thought of as truly divine. He felt that he and he alone was fit to be the voice and representative of the Aten, its sole intermediary, which is one of the chief reasons his religion of the Aten was doomed to fail from the start.

And bear in mind these odd depictions of Akhenaten and family come mostly from the early part of the Amarna Period. In the artwork throughout much of the later years of his reign, Akhenaten is depicted quite conventionally.
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[the_tutness_is_here]

Kmt, I'm glad to see you again!!!

There are many things I've read on that....it would be cool if Akhenaten really looked like that, minus the androgynous part!

Akhenaten, I've read, was once mistaken for a queen. And I've read books where there were theories about he and Smenkhare haveing a "Love affair". I kind of chuckled at that, actually. It's clearly seen--though unnamed--on the reliefs as Nefertiti...the flat-topped crown kind of gave it away. Then again, it's more intruiging to see Akhenaten and Smenkhare looking like a couple....Oh, dear...my perverted mind is wheeling out of control again...forgive me....

...umm...Welcome back, Kmt!!
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How does it FEEL to lose the one who understood you the MOST? He died to protect you, and YOU were supposed to protect HIM. What a shame...

[kmt_sesh]

[the_tutness_is_here]

Father and son lovers?!?!?! O_O;; Oh, my goodness, It would be like...I can't even come up with a description...Tut and Akhenaten!??!?!...No...Akhenaten was NOT a pedifile, as one book described him. O_O;; I can't remember the title, cause I got too mad to read further and such!! Such INSULTS!!! Bah!!

And if I go down in perversion history, kmt, you're goin' down with me!!
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How does it FEEL to lose the one who understood you the MOST? He died to protect you, and YOU were supposed to protect HIM. What a shame...

[Lostris]

Akhenaten is perfect.

That's all I can say for now....

But... Akhie+Smenkhare? Akhie+TUT???!!! OMG, no, no, no! I have to say no! Once I read a book called 'Twelveth transforming' and it wrote things like this. I mean I have no problem with homos, but it's only OK for a fiction or something like that. But in a book? Oh, guys, where are your ears? And eyes?... Akhie was not a pedifile! He was weird in his steles, statues and maybe he had some kind of a disease, but he was not a pedifile! Grrr!!! How could you think that? LOL So no, no, no....

Anyway, I adore Akhenaten - EXPECIALLY because he looked as he looked.

Beautiful, LOL

Don't think I'm a craze, but I always had something with weird boys... I totally adore Akhenaten's androgyn appearance!
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http://belldandy.freeblog.hu --> my blog site

[Si-amun]

Well, if he DID have sexual relations with one of his daughters (as has been suggested by the archeological community) then not only was he a pedeophile (by our mmodern definition) but also incestuous.
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Thou dost appear beautiful on the horizon of heaven, oh living Amun, he who was the first to live.

[kmt_sesh]

[Merytre-Hatshepsut]

I always found it interesting that these little girls, Meritaten-tasherit and Ankhesenpaaten-tasherit, are only seen on the monuments which originally belonged to Kiya. That's why the alternative theory is that the little princess depicted on the monuments is actually the daughter of Kiya (sometimes referred to as Kiya-tasherit ).
That theory says that Meritaten-tasherit is identical to Ankhesenpaaten-tasherit and refers to a daughter of Akhenaten and Kiya.
Who knows?

It is true that Amenhotep III married his daughters Sitamen and Isis. He may have also married Henuttaneb. There's some evidence that suggests that all three are elevated to Great Royal Wife.

Ramses II married his daughters Meryetamun, Bintanath, and Nebettawy (and possibly more). Meryetamun was elevated to great royal wife in ca year 24, possibly to replace her mother Nefertari who is thought to have died around that time. Similarly Bintanath seems to have in some sense replaced her mother Isetnofret. Bintanath is known from her tomb to have had a daughter, indicating that the marriage was nor ceremonial.

The only royal woman I know of who married a non-royal and made a life for herself is Ramses II's sister Tia. She somehow escaped the royal harem. I wonder if she married before her father became king? Other than that the options for royal women, specially princesses seem pretty limited.

[kmt_sesh]

[Merytre-Hatshepsut]

[the_tutness_is_here]

[coolgirl808]

I agree

[Lostris]

[coolgirl808]