Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, is one of the most infamous figures in ancient history. His unprecedented break with over a thousand years of tradition, along with the unusual impression he left on the archaeological record, has prompted generations of Egyptologists to propose theories explaining the bizarre depiction of the pharaoh's anatomy. In this paper, we review the various diagnoses that have been suggested to account for Akhenaten's appearance. We ultimately conclude that his distinctive imagery was almost certainly a deliberate propagandistic choice by the monarchy and did not reflect any underlying medical condition.
Source: Cureus
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.98730
Authors: Matthew D Turner, Kari Schweiger
Institution: Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4417128190