AllyDai

BALTIMORE - Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine, which has puzzled experts for years. And he was a bit of an egghead. 

Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He'll be presenting his findings at an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh's body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Braverman believes. And Akhenaten's head was misshapen because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age.

The pharaoh had "an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters," Braverman said. "But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique."

Braverman, who sizes up the health of individuals based on portraits, teaches a class at Yale's medical school that uses paintings from the university's Center for British Art to teach observation skills to first-year students. For his study of Akhenaten, he used statues and carvings.

Akhenaten (ah-keh-NAH-ten), best known for introducing a revolutionary form of monotheism to ancient Egypt, reigned in the mid-1300s B.C. He was married to Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut, may have been his son or half brother.

Egyptologist and archaeologist Donald B. Redford was interested in Braverman's findings and looked forward to the conference but said he currently supports an older theory. He believes that Akhenaten had Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by lengthened features, including fingers and the face.

Visiting clinics that treat those with the condition has strengthened that conviction, "but this is very subjective, I must admit," said Redford, a professor of classic and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State University.

Others have theorized Akhenaten and his lineage had Froehlich's syndrome, which causes feminine fat distribution but also sterility. That doesn't fit Akhenaten, who had at least six daughters, Braverman said.

Klinefelter syndrome, a genetic condition that can also cause gynecomastia, or male breast enlargement, has also been suggested, but Braverman said he suspects familial gynecomastia, a hereditary condition that leads to the overproduction of estrogen.

The Yale doctor said determining whether he is right can easily be done if Egyptologists can confirm which mummy is Akhenaten's and if Egyptian government officials agree to DNA analysis.

Braverman hopes his theory will lead them to do just that.

"I'm hoping that after we have this conference and I bring this up, maybe the Egyptologists who work on these things all the time, maybe they will be stimulated to look," he said.

Previous conferences have examined the deaths of Edgar Allan Poe, Alexander the Great, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Florence Nightingale and others.

(This version corrects that Braverman does not believe pharaoh had Marfan syndrome and clarifies that Akhenaten's appearance has been well known.)

簡單地翻譯就是說Yale的內科醫師Dr. Irwin Braverman分析了Akhenaten(阿肯那頓)這位法老(我之前有介紹：埃及、雜記之十四)的形象後，斷定這位法老雖是男性，也生了好多個孩子，但是他有著女性的生理特徵，例如胸部與臀骨寬大；Dr. Irwin Braverman推測是由於法老的某個基因突變，造成體內男性賀爾蒙的表現被女性荷爾蒙所掩蓋。

另一位埃及古物學家兼考古學家Donald B. Redford 覺得Dr. Braverman的觀點很有意思，但是他還是傾向相信老一派的理論：Akhenaten有Marfan syndrome(馬凡氏症候群)，因為法老的手指與臉都異常地長。

當然還有其他學派提出不同的理論，把Akhenaten外型的特殊與其他病症連結，Dr. Braverman還是認為法老得到的是男性女乳症，並且這種症狀是家族性遺傳而來。Dr. Braverman建議，如果要驗證他的理論，只要埃及政府同意把Akhenaten的木乃伊拿來做DNA分析......

我會對這則新聞感興趣是因為，曾經在開羅博物館與盧克索博物館都親眼看到Akhenaten的雕像，而且還在他巨大臉部的雕像面前端詳很久，那時候的感想就是「沒想到這位古埃及史上赫赫有名的、背離固有宗教信仰、把帝國首都遷移到上埃及的法老，竟然長有那麼長那麼清儁的一張臉。」

不過，若是法老的靈魂仍在，說不定他會想說：『我都死幾千年了，你們這些人還不讓我安息。DNA 鑑定是什麼鬼啊？』

最後補個頭部雕像照囉。