some of these empires, but some of the events throughout history were driven by religion. One great example of this is the crusades. No matter where you look in history, you will find a form of religion at play. In the case of ancient Egypt, religion has played a significant role in the cultural aspect of their day to day lives (Van de Mieroop). It influenced many different parts of their lives, from the way they viewed their king all the way up to the process of burial and mummification. Traditionally, Egypt has always viewed religion from a polytheistic perspective. There were many different gods who all represented something different and it has been that way for the most part. But what happens when someone makes an attempt to change all
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Many sources show that Akhenaten’s appearance changed drastically after his attempt at restructuring the religious system. Many argue over whether this was an actual physical change in his appearance or whether it was just a literary or symbolic depiction of him. Many depict the actual appearance of Akhenaten to be quite feminine and often times androgynous (Ismail). While this was somewhat common in Ancient Egyptian culture, Akhenaten’s case was extremely exaggerated when compared to the other examples that were found within the history of Egypt. This was extremely interesting due to the fact that this was a specific case that was much different than many of the leaders before him. According to certain texts, there is some speculation about whether all of these physical abnormalities that Akhenaten had were actually medically related. Braverman, a professor from Yale University, argues that the depictions of Akhenaten within the texts and art are actually not symbolic. He argues that they are actually the way that he looked and that this very well could be related to a physical medical condition that Akhenaten was going through (Braverman). Braverman argued that one of the conditions that Akhenaten could have been suffering from was gynecomastia, which is when a man has unusually large breasts. This condition can be contributed to a hormone imbalance, with an excess of estrogen within a man’s body. Another condition that Braverman argued that Akhenaten had suffered from is actually a cranial abnormality, which would explain the unique structure of his face which was depicted in artifacts
Many sources show that Akhenaten’s appearance changed drastically after his attempt at restructuring the religious system. Many argue over whether this was an actual physical change in his appearance or whether it was just a literary or symbolic depiction of him. Many depict the actual appearance of Akhenaten to be quite feminine and often times androgynous (Ismail). While this was somewhat common in Ancient Egyptian culture, Akhenaten’s case was extremely exaggerated when compared to the other examples that were found within the history of Egypt. This was extremely interesting due to the fact that this was a specific case that was much different than many of the leaders before him. According to certain texts, there is some speculation about whether all of these physical abnormalities that Akhenaten had were actually medically related. Braverman, a professor from Yale University, argues that the depictions of Akhenaten within the texts and art are actually not symbolic. He argues that they are actually the way that he looked and that this very well could be related to a physical medical condition that Akhenaten was going through (Braverman). Braverman argued that one of the conditions that Akhenaten could have been suffering from was gynecomastia, which is when a man has unusually large breasts. This condition can be contributed to a hormone imbalance, with an excess of estrogen within a man’s body. Another condition that Braverman argued that Akhenaten had suffered from is actually a cranial abnormality, which would explain the unique structure of his face which was depicted in artifacts