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February 27, 2004

Did I ever mention I used to REALLY like Egyptology when I was a kid?

The rats are to be mummified, stylistically, in the New Kingdom fashion.

The New Kingdom, a late period in ancient Egyptian history, was pretty much the last great hurrah for Egypt. The collapse of the 20th dynasty brought a three-hundred year span of politcal chaos and foreign conquest by the Nubians and Libiyans, later relieved by the Late Period of the Greek Ptolemys. The New Kingdom also includes some of the better known pharaohs, like Akhenaton, (allegedly) Nefertiti**, Tutankhamun, and the Ramesside warrior-kings (Rameses I and his progeny). Ramses II, or Ramses the Great, or Ramses the Insatiable Egomaniac, is more or less responsible with covering Egypt stem to stern in those massive, stony effigies you see in all the vacation brochures.

New Kingdom mummies are a decent compromise. The wrappings and methods are elaborate enough to make things interesting, but without the sudden, steep downturn in mummy quality that became common in the later Greco-Roman period. Plus, there are plenty of well-documented, well-researched examples to work from.

Some New Kingdom mummfications were pretty half-assed. Mummies from that period have been found with intact abdominal organs and brains, for example. Not protocol. I'll try to do a better job.

Further reading:

--A checklist of known, recovered royal mummies, noting their various deformities, dental problems, and states of decay. Needs updating.

--An even better site than the first, with portraits of the surviving royal mummies and theories on the ones that haven't been found.

--AnimalMummies.Com, a project of the Cairo museum. Briefly mentions the massive acts of wholesale fraud embalmers perpetrated on the temple-going public by selling them bundles of rags instead of mummified falcons or cats. Also, insanely weird "victual mummies."

P.S.: Tiresome notes on "the pharaoh Nefertiti" below the cut.

**Have you heard about this? I say "allegedly" because I'm reflexively suspiscious of the contortions the revisionist historians have had to do in order to make this theory work. In what basically amounts to The Grrrl Power History of Egypt, the theory claims that Nefertiti ruled on after her husband Akhenaton's death as a pharoah in her own right, taking a male name, Smenkhkare. It's like... I dunno. Popular feminist archeology. Or maybe I'm just saying that because I prefer the more commonly accepted history: The one where the pharaoh Akhenaten ditches Nefertiti for a cute nephew named Smenkhkare, who is not Nefertiti at all.

By the way... when he died, Smenkhkare was buried in the tomb meant for Nefertiti in a woman's coffin, which is about the most hysterically catty thing I can think of.

Of course, some historians prefer the transgender-empowering version of the love triangle, where the male mummy in the female coffin is very neatly explained in a totally different way. Namely, Smenkhkare (the boy) actually became Nefertiti (the girl) instead of the other way around, and ruled as an official queen of Egypt. (Stop that. No puns. We don't do that here.) This would also sorta explain why Nefertiti was depicted as Akhenaton's equal more often than not... Cuz as far as the rabble carving the monuments were concerned, she was still sort of a dude. And that made her a co-regent. This of course, doesn't explain the couple's numerous daughters.

Long story short: Depending on your agenda, you can pretty much see all of this any way you want to.

Posted by Spike at February 27, 2004 02:53 AM

Comments

Random point of interest: have you ever noticed that the mummy of Seti I (father of Ramses II) looks exactly like Patrick Stewart. I swear its true, frighteningly so in fact.

Posted by Ian McCullough at February 27, 2004 03:44 AM
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Have you watched either of those tapes I sent you yet?

Posted by Lisa Jonte at February 27, 2004 08:44 AM
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Of course! Hell, I watched all three. (Remember the Garafalo movie?)

Is it just me, or did the woman explaining her way through the Nefertiti-became-pharaoh theory seem to have a terminal case of hero-worship?

Posted by spike at February 27, 2004 10:29 AM
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i've always had an interest in egyptology as well. but i never knew about Smenkhkare. something new to think about...

Posted by jaclyn at February 27, 2004 01:55 PM
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So...there's a possibility that Smenkhkare was Nefertiti's pharaohnic name, and that s/he was a co-regent with Ankhenaten. There's nothing that says definitively that Nefertiti = Smenkhkare, but there is evidence to support the argument. Nefertiti is depicted doing some...um...unorthodox things. Like smiting foreigners. Generally queens weren't shown doing that.

BUT she was living in a highly unorthodox time; Akhenaten turned Egypt's religion on its ear, neglected the country, and basically acted like a village idiot suddenly invested with the powers of a king. People (including his wife and mother) stepped in to try and make up for what he lacked.

The Dynasty that started the New Kingdom was headed up by some strong female figures. One of the Queens (A'ahotep, I think, but I could be wrong) was buried with warrior's honors. She didn't die in combat, but she did have an axe in her tomb, and she had awards that one only usually got if one had seen combat.

There's also Hatshepsut, who ruled just fine and who everyone seems to forget about. Women as pharaohs weren't common, but they did happen. I think maybe the problem is that *we* make more of a deal out of it than the Egyptians did. Most of the female pharaohs were past their child-bearing years or were infertile; generally women didn't leave the house because in a world where 1 out of 3 children die before the age of 5, being a mother is suddenly a hell of a lot more important than running a country. A childless/barren woman, however, could conceivably (no pun intended) take rulership IF the political climate was right (ie: no viable male heir at this time).

Hatshepsut herself, however, had Queen Ahmose-Nefertari (again, I think that's what her name was; I'm a little hazy on the details) to learn from. And going back to Nefertiti, Tiye, the mother of Akhenaten and (possibly) Tutankhamen was no pushover herself.

There is actual, historical evidence that says these women were part of negotiations and decisions that had a lasting impact on Egypt. And it's common through all the Dynasties; even in Late Kingdom, you see the Divine Adoratrices, who I think were from Nubia, but still ran things for a while. Or were puppets to the men who put them in power. That's a part of Egypt's history I didn't pay as much attention to. :)

And at the very end we see good ol' Cleo VII, kicking ass and taking names and ultimately failing. Poor, crazy Macedonian chica.

I almost feel sometimes like too much attention is paid to Nefertiti, and not enough about other female rulers and powerful Queens of Egypt. Sure, Nefertiti was perty; but she wasn't exactly *successful*.

So, anyway, check out Peter Clayton's book "Chronicle of the Pharaohs" for a nice visual history, if you haven't already. Also of merit is Gay Robins "Women in Ancient Egypt", though she can get a little "feministy", so read with a grain of salt. Joyce Tyldesley has written excellent books on women in ancient Egypt; she wrote one on Hatshepsut, and another just about women in ancient Egypt. All worthy time wasters.

To all of this I add: it's been years since I've cracked open my Egyptology books, so if I've missed a name or two, I apologize.

As for mummy wrappings -- you HAVE been to the Field Museum, right? Right? Some of the Greeks did some crazy elaborate wrapping with their mummies; I was actually impressed. But I can't remember if it was at the Field that I saw that or the Getty in L.A. Or somewhere else completely. So many museums. So little time.

As for Nefertiti as male...enh. I don't know if I buy it. They had kids, and were shown with those kids. But as far as fiction goes, it IS highly amusing. Homosexuality in ancient Egypt happened, as far as we know; I think there's a story about some king going off and having a "happy time" with one of his generals....

Posted by Steph at February 29, 2004 12:39 AM
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More people need to be interested in the study of Ancient Egypt; I'm totally gutted there are no courses offered at my university on it.

Anyway, I agree about the fact that we're probably more "shocked" by female pharaohs because we expect all societies before our own to be patriarchal and male-dominated, even though this in itself is fallacious and egotistical, to a degree.

Posted by Randell at March 1, 2004 04:05 AM
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Holy crap, Steph, I had no idea you were into this! It's like buried treasure. Feel free to pontificate away, I'm fallin' in love over here. I never have anyone to discuss this sorta thing with.

Not world's biggest fan of either of the pharaoh-in-disguise theories, mainly because of their complication and the lack of any solid evidence that couldn't be explained in a less covoluted way. Nefertiti WAS alive during some weird times, assuredly, but those weird times came to a pretty prompt end after Ankhenaten took the dirtnap. His cult was finished, Amara and its priests came back into power, and Nefertiti basically disappears from history. Woemn did have power back then, but I can't really buy her as anything other than just the queen until I'm presented with something more convincing.

Personally, I think Hatshepsut > Nefertiti, too. A 20 year reign of perfect peace, prosperity, and expansion beats less than two (disputed) years of barely holding it together any day.... but peaceful times are never as sexy as wars to historians, so Hattie never really gets much attention. That, and no one's ever found a super-realistic, charismatic, sexxxy bust of her.

As a matter of simple opinion, I even think Hatshepsut was hotter shit than Cleo. At least she didn't have to off herself with a snakebite after being spurned by her conqueror.

And the Greeks definitely did have impressive mummy wrappings, yeah, but that's pretty much all they had. Greco-Roman era mummies are crap under all the pretty packaging; basically just skeletons. At that late stage, the embalmers were way more preoccupied with the painted portrait than actuallly making sure that the mummy was well-preserved. Kind of a shame, really. But at least the protraits are gorgeous.

Posted by spike at March 1, 2004 01:12 PM
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all of that info is so stupid

(no u. --spike)

Posted by china green at March 24, 2006 05:41 PM
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how did nefertiti die?

(That's actually not known in any kinda detail. Some people contend she died of plague at the same time as one of her daughters, some other people think she may have been assassinated. all we know is she disappears from ancient Egyptian records completely at some point, and is never mentioned again. Very odd, especially for the chief wife of a pharoah, who was featured very prominently in official art and policy. So you hafta kinda wonder.

-- spike)

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