Genetic Abnormalities in Ancient Egyptian Royal Families

During the late 1970s, one teacher questioned the role of the queen in ancient Egyptian art. The author Nancy Luomala from the article “Matrilineal Reinterpretation of Some Egyptian Sacred Cows,” contemplated on the ancient Egyptian power, and the matrimonial decline that men were able to acquire the position of Pharaoh. Luomala speculates that "the Great Egyptian Wife made whomever she married into a living king, whether brother or commoner "(Luomala pg.30). (THESIS???)

A woman becoming Pharaoh had been almost unheard of in ancient Egypt until Hatshepsut was born. Hatshepsut was the second daughter of the pharaoh, Thothmes I. After her sister, Neferu-khebit, died, Hatshepsut was the next heir to the throne unless a male married her and became Pharaoh. After Thothmes passed away, Hatshepsut fearfully, yet confidently, claimed the throne and commenced one of the most successful She-Pharaoh reigns ever recorded. Pauline Gedge’s Child of the Morning explained the social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of ancient Egypt’s society during Hatshepsut’s reign as Queen and Pharaoh.

In the Egyptian society women had the same rights, both legal and economic, as the men in their society. They could both work the same job and earn the same regardless of sex. Each member of the relationship maintained and respected the ownership of what was brought into the marriage. It is not known why these rights existed for women, especially during this time period. Women could even become pharaoh. Nowhere else in the ancient world did something like this exist. The women bore and raised the children. They were basically responsible for all of the more usual or domestic related relationships, while the men taught their growing boys about the world and their own trade. Men in ancient Egypt were often expected to form a life for themselves before going out to find a wife. The males would rarely be able to choose their own careers. It was more common for the men to receive the job their father had when they reached working age. The Egyptian society was

Marfan’s Syndrome is a hereditary disease that is known to cause skeletal abnormalities such as an elongated face, long and thin fingers, an enlarged chest, and eye problems. Moreover, patients have been known to have suffered from heart problems that can shorten their lifespan. Historians believe this to be the most likely case for Akhenaten because of the fact that he did die at an early age, and he did possessed several of the elongated skeletal features. Nonetheless, there is no way to prove this theory unless his body is found and examined. Archaeologists have found a body that had similar features to Akhenaten. Later tests revealed that the body was closely related to Tutankhamun, Akhenaten’s son, so it’s possible that the body does belongs to

Egyptian women were fortunate in that they were equal to men as far as the law was concerned. They could own property, borrow money, initiate divorce, and many other things unheard of in the Greek civilization. The Egyptian royal line was matriarchal, meaning that royalty was passed down from mother to son. The Greeks, in comparison, were patriarchal, meaning control was passed from father to son. It was also necessary for a man to marry a woman of royalty in order to become a Pharaoh. Because of this, it was common for brothers to marry sisters. Sometimes, women were even known to become a Pharaoh. There are at least four documented female Pharaohs with the most notable being Hatshepsut (1479-1458 B.C.) (McKay 2009). Hatshepsut, though a very powerful ruler, was often times depicted in men’s clothing and with a false beard (McKay 2009). This shows that even though women were much more important in Egyptian society, there was still a stigma around women leaders.

In Egypt, although men were the dominant gender in society, women were treated with great respect, which led to a very stable and successful society. The Egyptians believed that the goal of life was happiness and viewed home and family life as the main source of it. Egyptian law basically treated women as equals for the most part. Women were allowed to hold positions of power, own property, own slaves, receive an education, and even borrow money. Although Pharaohs were normally men, certain circumstances allowed for women to hold the same title. The Egyptians believed that marriage and family were very important aspects in life. They believed that unconditional love and kindness were vital in a marriage and thought that husband and wife should always treat each other with respect. In regards to family, unlike many cultures that viewed children as another mouth to

Egyptians paid great respect to women at least in the upper classes, in part because marriage alliances were vital to the preservation and stability of the monarchy. The Egyptians believe that the royal family was immortal. The word family brings every member of the family to the same circle of respect and power. The man like in the Mesopotamian civilization was the head of the family. That is also seemed in today’s daily life in most cases. A statue of Pharaoh Mycerinus and his queen represents the wife presenting her husband and not the husband presenting his wife as the powerful one.

We are told that there are no other descendants outside of the direct line, which implies that the family has survived through incest.

Kingship became necessary because they needed someone to please the gods and help keep people from doing the things the gods disapproved of. There are many similarities between Mahabharata and the Hymn to the Pharaoh, both see their leader as god like or a god pleaser, both their leaders help keep their people in position to please the gods. There are difference though, the Mahabharata talks about how the gods can lose power and get scared by the way their people act and that they need the king to help them out, the Hymn to the Pharaoh thinks the gods are all powerful all the time and also believe that their leader is a god and they fear him.

When Isaac was dissatisfied with Esau for marrying black Canaanite women, the cousins of Ishmael, Esau then went to his uncle Ishmael and married his daughter who was a full blood Egyptian and bared bi-racial children who became the founders of the nation of Edom that was located in ancient turkey. All the children

While the development of education and segregation continued for children identified as mentally deficient society became increasing concerned what would happen to these children past school age. In regard to the societal concerns of these children being released back into civilisation, the Deficiency Act (1913) was passed. Local Authorities were to identify the mentally deficient children aged seven to sixteen, with assessment of each family’s ability to cope and a provision of care for those removed from families, resulting in increased segregation (Pritchard 1963). The continued concern of allowing these children classed as ‘imbeciles’ and ‘mentally defectives’ to breed, was still apparent, thus segregation by gender was still utilised. However an argument put forward by Burt (1909) suggested that children from deprived areas and born of unintelligent parentage would also have low intelligence. This further created segregation by academic ability and reinforced beliefs that intelligence or lack of was hereditary (Thomas O’ Hanlon 2007).

Before the marriage, she was known to be Tutankhamun’s beloved sister. Ancient Egyptians believed in order to keep the royal family pure, the weddings are to be done between siblings or cousins. Ankhesenamun (which means ‘her life is of Amun’) was a queen of the eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt. She was born in the 1349 B.C. named Ankhesenpaaten (meaning “Living through the Aten”). After she got married, her name was changed Ankhesenamun (Which means “her life is of Amun”). There is also a belief that Ankhesenamun was married to her father(Akhenaten) before becoming the wife of

In Ancient Egypt, women were looked at as equals to men. Women were in charge of bearing and raising children, but also managing, owning, and selling private property. This private property can be anything such as slaves, land, portable goods, servants, livestock, and money. Women are also allowed to acquire possessions, either as a gift or left from their deceased husband. Typically, Egyptian women got married around the age of 14 and started to bear children right away. Men were in charge of taking care of families, and held a majority of political roles. Both men and women were allowed to work, take ownership of their own belongings, and were equally looked at by

The 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt was a chiefly patriarchal society. It was a civilization in which femininity and power were not even considered remotely connected, because women were not viewed as equals to men (Cooney 227). Consequently, women lived very restricted lives, because it was thought that their place was in the household, away from the public eye and even elite

Generally, in ancient Israel, full wives and concubines, in early puberty around eleven and twelve, conceived and produced children with their husbands for agricultural needs for the families’ survival. Women who were married were protected of polygamy practice, known practice of a husband possessing more than one wife; whereas, women living alone, were unprotected members of society. In ancient Israel, two types of wives existed, the full wives and the concubines. Future husbands or their families purchased wives from the father of landowners; this purchase, known as a “bride price”, displayed a common practice of ancient Israel. However, concubines, the significantly lower status women, exist from the fathers of none landowners. Divorced, sexually assaulted, or orphan women often defined the concubines; no bride price paid for the concubines. Marrying concubines increased the husbands’ chances of producing sons (Carvalho pp. 36-38).