Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep

[endymions_bower]

An article in the Tuesday Science Times about the renewed debate over the status of the two gentlemen, manicurists to the king, who shared a tomb in Fifth Dynasty Egypt:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/science/20egyp.html?8dpc=&pagewanted=all

A professor from NYU has come up with an extraordinarily flaky theory that these two were conjoined twins. He's presenting a paper at an Egyptological conference this week, and I hope he gets skewered. I'm very disappointed to read that James Allen, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, thinks this theory is more plausible than the theory that they are a gay couple. I am open to the possibility that these two were ordinary twins, given their complementary 'Khnum' names, but the idea that they were conjoined twins is just crazy, as one can see from the evidence put forward in the article, and to think that even this theory is more plausible than the theory that they were partners seems indefensible.

I also think that it's a mistake to point to the homosexual episode in "The Conflict of Horus and Seth" as evidence for a negative attitude in Egypt toward homosexuality. First of all, that myth is from the New Kingdom, the tomb is Old Kingdom; Egyptian society could well have become less tolerant of homosexuality over time through exposure to other Near Eastern cultures that had a more negative attitude. Also, there is no reason why Egyptians could not have differentiated between a homosexual partnership and pederasty. Moreover, it seems to me that the reason the divine tribunal is supposed to regard the encounter between Horus and Seth as disqualifying for Horus is because it supports Seth's consistent argument that Horus should not be awarded the sovereignty because he is weaker and still a child. To have been ravished by Seth would tend to support this conclusion. Besides, an argument could be made that any activity performed in a myth is either purely symbolic (e.g., Cronus eating his children) or is being granted a sacred status of some kind. Either way, one can't use the myth to argue that Egyptians were broadly intolerant of homosexuality.

Comments

[hewet-ka-ptah.livejournal.com]

I'm very disappointed to read that James Allen, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, thinks this theory is more plausible than the theory that they are a gay couple.

the hell?

I think our country has gone completely farking bonkers.

[lemon-cupcake.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can imagine is that since the guy with the conjoined twin theory is from NYU, maybe Allen knows him and has to say something in support of the notion. But unfortunately it's probably more likely that he's a total 'phobe.

I appreciated the consistency of saying, on the one hand, that they are conjoined twins because they are depicted in a virtual lip-lock, and on the other hand, that when they are depicted on opposite walls, it doesn't matter, because Egyptian art isn't literally representational. Brilliant. There are some things so stupid you actually need a doctorate in order to say them.

[neowiccan.livejournal.com]

hopefully this degree of terrified homophobia will increase until collapses under the weight of the derision it incurs.
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khairete
suz

[lemon-cupcake.livejournal.com]

This really did seem like such a moment to me, where the sheer inanity of what is being proposed should awaken people to the motives behind it. As I said, it remains quite possible that they were ordinary twins who maintained a very close bond throughout their lives, as often occurs.

On the other hand...