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Author Topic: Egypt: ancient mystery -- entombed together, were they lovers or just buddies?
Hephaestion
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Babbler # 4795

posted 02 January 2006 03:53 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
War of words breaks out at Egyptology conference

quote:
A series of paintings showing two men in a warm embrace and other tender posses discovered on the walls of a 4,000 year old Egyptian tomb have triggered a bitter debate over gay life in ancient Egypt.

To many Egyptologists the men were likely mere friends, but to other researchers of the land of the Pharaohs the paintings are an indication that same-sex relationships were accepted in ancient Egypt. 

The debate broke into an all out battle of words at a recent international conference at the University of Wales.

[...]

This much is known about the men: Their names were Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, and they were royal manicurists.

The tomb was uncovered in 1964 in the necropolis of Saqqara at Memphis, on the west bank of the Nile. But when it was opened it was found that grave robbers had made off with anything of value.

In the mid 1960s the notion of a same-sex couple was not even considered. But, as the years went on and as gays gained acceptance in the West, some researchers began to take a new look at the pictures.

[...]

For scientists the tomb raises more questions than answers. One thing both sides in the debate can agree on is that it is extremely rare to find two men of equal status buried together.

Supporters of the gay couple theory point to the poses in the pictures themselves. In addition to an embrace the men never are shown separately. Often they are depicted holding hands. One picture shows the pair with their noses touching - the most intimate embrace permitted in ancient Egypt.

But they also appear to have been married and had children - something that traditionalists say negates the gay couple theory. Still, the wives and children are relegated to the backgrounds of the pictures. And, in the final pictograph, where the men journey into the afterlife,

Khnumhotep's wife is absent and Niankhkhnum's was plastered over by workers during the final preparations of his funeral.

"Same-sex desire must be considered as a probable explanation," said Greg Reeder a San Francisco-based Egyptologist, adding that we will likely never know for certain. 

For other Egyptologists the men were just friends and colleagues. For yet others the pair were twins.

[ 02 January 2006: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]


From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Nanuq
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Babbler # 8229

posted 02 January 2006 07:28 AM      Profile for Nanuq   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"Royal manicurists"

They really embraced the stereotype didn't they?


From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged

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