Thursday Adams

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Since it’s a season of…something…mostly lights…do me a favour would you? You know this image of Tutankhamun?

The documentary it comes from was terrible. It grossly exaggerated some deformities present on Tutankhamun’s mummy, and is not even remotely how he looked in real life. The people who did this study never had access to his mummy, and really fudged their conclusions for a ‘showstopper documentary’ so much so that the Egyptian government was angry about it.

Lets list the things that are wrong!

The ‘wide hips’ only exist on this model because they wanted him to look more ‘Amarna like’. The loin cloths found in his tomb are all standard size.

He doesn’t have an overbite. This is a result of poor mummification and Carter’s poor treatment of the mummy when removing it from the death mask.

He does have a cleft palate, but it’s in the soft palate and he wouldn’t have noticed it.

He doesn’t have a severe club foot. Medical professionals have examined him repeatedly over the years. None have ever pointed it out bar the noting of a 'slight rotation’ which wouldn’t have been noticeable when he walked if this is indeed a club foot and not another mummification mess up. He would not have needed a staff to walk with this slight rotation. Some staffs in his tomb show wear, but it is normal in Egyptian society to walk with a staff as a sign of power. He has 120 and only 3 show slight wear.

The articles about him 'always being seated and thus very disabled’ fail to note that it is common for Pharaoh’s of this period to be depicted seated, and there are numerous depictions of him standing doing actions too.

This documentary made him look as bad as possible, based on terrible science, and now every time someone doesn’t depict him 'gross and disabled’ people complain that he’s not 'ugly enough’, which is ableist as hell alongside the already ableist exaggerated CGI depiction.

One of my favourite images of Tutankhamun is this one from the top of an ivory box found within his tomb:

Hips that wide would be noticeable even looking at the CT. His pelvis looks exactly how I’d expect a young man’s pelvis to look.

Club foot like that would be really obvious on the bones and would also be visible on the CT image.

His feet in the CT image look pretty normal so any abnormality that is present is so minor that it would need very close examination and measurement of precise angles to notice and/or diagnose. 

It’s certainly possible that he had pain and/or had it impact his mobility without a severe case but that’s not even a good depiction of a severe case of clubfoot. If it was really that severe all his toes would be curled under, not just half of them, and it would also be really fucking obvious in the CT and in the mummy, which is it not.

They’ve done something weird to his head/torso proportions, probably by failing to take into account that if someone is wrapped then it squeezes all the bones in so his shoulders look narrower in mummified form than they would have in life.

@thatlittleegyptologist told me my source was shit (which it is)

Children, let that be a lesson, don‘t have scientific discourse wen your reading comprehension has already gone to bed

In my deference, i didn‘t feel like watching a 90 minute documentary to get the pictures I needed … but I also felt bad not giving a source … stupid reading comprehension *grumble*

But today I did

So, this is the statue I was talking about as you can see she is rather boobtastic, something you don’t really see in other depictions of him

This is the whole thing

This is the statue with a Marc Gabolde for size, you can see the Lady (which he says is most likely Meritaten* – Tutankhamuns oldest Sister) is pretty small

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritaten

Marc Gabolde is Professor at the University of Montpellier and expert on Tutankhamon’s tomb so he probably knows what he is talking about

Michael E . Habicht wrote a book/paper about her:

Merytaten. The Unknown Queen of Akhet-Aton (2022)

https://www.academia.edu/5548140/Merytaten_The_Unknown_Queen_of_Akhet_Aton_2022_

I have not read it because it isn‘t free and I have no money, but if there is someone who has, is it any good?

And there you go, better sources

By the way that isn’t the only proof, it’s just the statue I was talking about

The found the remains of a chest, with an inlay that had her and Echnatons Cartouche, in front of the unopened grave (on the stairs)

There is a Canopic … box? (it’s not a jar, but it was meant to hold an organ) where Tutankhamuns Cartouche has been impossed on a different Cartouche that holds the title “which is effective for her husband“ the title of Meritaten

There is a changed Cartouche on the alabaster box that holds the Canopic Jars (you can tell that Tutankhamuns Cartouche has been painted over another Cartouche)

There is a bracelett with Meritaten name and title

There is the boobtastic statue

There is a box where twice an older Cartouche has been painted over with Tutankhamuns Cartouche, but becasue it was carved in to wood, the original is still easy to make out as Meritatens titel

There is an amulett of the godess Nut where again an older Cartouche of Meritaten has been superimposed with Tutankhamuns Cartouche

In one of the shrines that protected the sarcophagus, you can see that all Tutankhamuns Cartouche are done in gold that is much more yellow then the more red-ish colored gold that was used for the rest of the shrine … as if they have been added later … becasue the Cartouches where changed …

Also, on the outside there is a very strangly spaced hieroglyphe … as if part of it has been remooved … (shifting. the meaning from female to male)

This is what it looks like (the circle should be centered):

and this is what it most likely used to look like (with that half circle):

And of course the big one

Inside the mask Tutankhamuns Cartouche is again superimpossed over an older Cartouche that belonged to Meritaten

(on the left shoulder, inside):

This is Tutankhamuns Cartouche

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These are the remnants of an older Cartouche

Which apparently is easy to read?

And spells her title

The problem lies here in how you’re interpreting the documentary. Documentaries are under no legal obligation to tell you the truth, and often only exist as a means for one person to put forth a hypothesis that they have that they believe might be true. Not that is absolutely 100% true. Gabolde is putting forth a hypothesis that some of Tutankhamun’s items may have belonged to Meritaten based on the name 'Ankhkheperure-beloved-of-Neferkheperure’, which is the cartouche you show above. However, this clashes directly with Reeves’ theory that these once belonged to Nefertiti, as, and you may have already guessed it, Nefertiti’s name is also written as Ankhkheperure-beloved-of-Neferkheperure. Meaning that it could have belonged to either of those women, or, and this is the Amarna period so anything goes at this point, someone else entirely. A very fragmented cartouche doesn’t give us a lot to go off.

The shrine? Well, the .t ending could go there (what you note as the little half circle is a hieroglyph for a loaf of bread), and it would denote a feminine ending to a verb. This doesn’t mean that the name that it’s being used in is feminine in nature, however. Names such as Amenemhat are masculine, but contain a .t ending. It is also common, especially if something is being rushed due to a sudden death of the Pharaoh, to make mistakes that need to be corrected. A sign slightly out of place doesn’t automatically make it made for Ankhkheperure-beloved-of-Neferkheperure (Nefertiti or Meritaten), and is dubious evidence at best. There’s even an argument to be made that Neferneferuaten is a title rather than a name, meaning that it can be used by many people. This is why the Amarna period is extremely complicated.

The chest fragment is extremely dubious. It was found outside the tomb by Carter, and is literally just a strip with three names on: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Meritaten. The argument is that there’s a lack of di anx (given life) after Meritaten’s name, thus making the fragment belong to her. This is not the best claim to make with a fragment that could be from anything.

A bracelet bearing the name Ankhkheperure-beloved-of-Neferkheperure, could belong to pretty much anyone. We know of two people who are documented to have used that title, but there could easily have been more. Again, the end of the Amarna period is poorly documented and extremely complicated. We can’t take things such as this as concrete evidence.

The statue has 'breasts’, however, if you look at Amarna art, and to be quite frank, many other statues of Tutankhamun, they’re shown to have breasts too. It’s part of the Amarna art style. There’s a suggestion that Tutankhamun had gynecomastia, and this is why there are breasts present. However, his mummy doesn’t have the chest wall (thanks Carter), so we can’t prove this one way or another.

In another reblog, for some reason you’ve reblogged this separate to the previous reply I made to you and then made *another reblog* to address this, you write about the loincloths showing wear on the right hand side more than the left if you get up really really close. Gabolde can hypothesise all he wants, but there are numerous reasons why this could happen, up to and including 'his right leg was dominant so it wore on that side slightly faster’ or 'he sat on the right side of a chariot so it wore that side slightly faster’. However, if you’re having to look really really close to pull that out of artefact, then the difference is only slight and thus pretty irrelevant overall.

All the changes to cartouches, as I’ve already said can easily be done, and likely were done due to his sudden death. None of the partially cartouches say 'Meritaten’ only Ankhkheperure-beloved-of-Neferkheperure, which can either be Meritaten, Nefertiti, or someone else entirely as titles can be assumed by others. They could even be funerary equipment for Ankhesenamun. A lot of things in Tutankhamun’s tomb were potentially repurposed from others, up to and including the tomb, meaning that we’re looking at numerous objects that could belong to literally anybody.

This is why Egyptologists don’t really buy either Gabolde or Reeves’ hypotheses until something distinctly concrete comes along. Neither have been able to prove anything beyond supposition or conjecture based on changed cartouches, which is why no one is currently accepting either hypothesis as complete fact.

The Evermore Grimoire: Mythology

Khonsu (also known as Khons) was a god of the moon and time in Egyptian mythology. His name meant ‘traveller,’ which could’ve relate to the perceived nightly travel of the moon across the sky. Along with Thoth (god of knowledge) he also marked the passage of time. Khonsu was instrumental in the creation of new life in all living creatures. At Thebes he formed part of a family triad (known as the ‘Theban Triad’) with Mut (queen of the gods) as his mother and Amun (king of the gods) his father. In art, Khonsu is typically depicted as a mummy with the symbol of childhood, a sidelock of hair, as well as the menat necklace with crook and flail. He also had close links to other divine children such as Horus (god of the sky) and Shu (god of the air). Khonsu is sometimes shown wearing an eagle or falcon’s head like Horus, with whom he is associated as a protector and healer, adorned with the sun disk and crescent moon.

Happy birthday Nebthet!

I wanted to offer her cheesecake, but they didn't have any at the store. Instead I bought her an apple pie. I also offered coffee and incense. I spent the day cleaning the house and then doing my nails. Nebthet has always been super quiet to me, I haven't heard her say much, but she's a god I feel comfortable sitting in silence with.

chipotle order?

thoughts on veganism?

a specific color that gives you the ick?

mythical creature you think/believe is real?

favorite form of potato?

do you use a watch?

what animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium?

do you change into specific clothes for the house when you get home?

do you have a skincare routine (and how many steps is it)?

on a plane, do you ask for apple or orange juice?

anything from your childhood you’ve held on to?

brand of haircare/bodycare/skincare that you trust 100%?

first thing you’re doing in the purge?

do you think you’re dehydrated?

rank the methods of death: freezing, burning, drowning

thoughts on mint chocolate chip?

an anxious compulsion you do everyday?

your boba/tea order?

the veggie you dislike the most?

favorite disney princess movie?

a number that weirds you out?

do you have an emotional support water bottle?

do you wear jewelry?

which do you find yourself using, american or british english?

would you say you have good taste in music?

how’s your spice tolerance?

what’s your favorite or go-to outfit?

last meal on earth?

preferred pasta noodle?

ask me anything !