"Beauty of the Nile" May Have Had Ancient Makeover

Reuters ^ | Tue Mar 31, 2009

[nickcarraway]

An ancient Egyptian queen regarded as the Mona Lisa of the ancient world may not have been such a looker after all, German scientists said on Tuesday.

A delicately carved face in the limestone core of the famous bust of Nefertiti suggests the royal sculptor at the time may have smoothed creases around the mouth and fixed a bumpy nose to depict the "Beauty of the Nile" in a better light.

The bust of Nefertiti was found in Egypt in 1912 at Tell el-Amarna, the short-lived capital of Nefertiti's husband, the Pharaoh Akhenaten. It is now housed in Berlin's Altes Museum.

"It is possible that the bust of Nefertiti was commissioned (probably by Akhenaten himself) to represent Nefertiti according to his personal perception," Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, and colleagues reported in the journal Radiology.

The 50 cm (20-inch) bust, discovered by German archeologist Ludwig Borchardt during excavation of the studio of the famous royal sculptor Thutmose, consists of a limestone core covered in layers of stucco of varying thickness.

Researchers first analyzed the bust using CT technology in 1992 but advances in technology allowed Huppertz and colleagues to delve deeper into the sculpture.

[nickcarraway]

Interestingly, Nefertiti's husband, Akhenaten, was the Pharaoh who changed Egyptian religion to a monotheism, with some similarities to Judaism/Christianity, while he was alive. Unlike other pharaohs, Akhenaten was portrayed as having a normal family life, with him and Nefertiti playing with their children.

[nickcarraway]

Ping

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

[Daaave]

Nefertiti 'may not have been such a looker after all, German scientists said on Tuesday.'

Maybe not. But 'Nefertiti' translates to “The beautiful one has arrived.”

Nefertiti

[agere_contra]

Ankhnaten also insisted on realism in Pharonic art - i.e. images of him and his family should be made “with warts and all”. For instance Ankhnaten is often shown with a paunch.

Sounds like this statue of his wife Nefertiti was remodelled after the fact - perhaps at Nefertiti’s insistence!

[cydcharisse]

Apparently Cleopatra also had a face that would stop a clock.

[yarddog]

She is one of the few who actually looked good even by today’s standards. There is a huge amount of misinformation out there about Egyptians.

Fro instance, Cleopatra instead of being a Negro as she is regularly portrayed on TV, Movies etc., Was almost pure blooded Macedonian Greek and had blonde hair,fair skin and had no connection of any kind to any Sub-Saharan people except as master to them.

Also Ramses the Great had red wavy hair and that is not in dispute. They know for sure he did, Yet I don’t think he has ever been portrayed that way. I predict that in some future film he will be portrayed by Morgan Freeman. or The Rock.

I hate historical inaccuracies, especially when it is being used to push some radical social agenda which is based on lies. purposely misleading ideas and even more lies.

[ottbmare]

I can’t see how even a curved nose, or one with a bump on it, would mar the beauty of that exquisite face. And of course we all develop lines around the mouth as we get older.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Freedom2specul8]

Where do we find proof that cleopatra was blonde?

[yarddog]

I doubt it could be proved. I have read before that she had light brown hair and also that it was blonde.

[Freedom2specul8]

Thanks yarddog.... :)

[bigheadfred]

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone. Huh. Who knew? :-)

[Perdogg]

On the HBO series ‘Rome’ Cleopatra was pretty good looking.

[Salamander]

History Channel’s new series “Battles B.C.” portrayed Hannibal as a huge black man.

I *had* set the DVR, to record all episodes of the series but after that, I deleted the timer.

[Pelham]

That was a great series, far better than what I expected.

[yarddog]

That is interesting as everyone knows Hannibal was a Carthaginian who were in fact Phoenicians who moved to North Africa. In other words they were basically Lebanese.

[Salamander]

And he wasn’t a gigantic bald black dude, either.

http://gauss.unh.edu/~cmw63/project.html

[maryz]

I have read before that she had light brown hair and also that it was blonde.

Light brown hair used to be called "dirty blonde" and, later (I think), "American blonde." Israelis sometimes specify blondini zahav (golden blonde) as opposed to just blondini, which I gather covers more of a range of color. So your two sources may agree on the color, just not on the terminology!

[SunkenCiv]

Toni home perms — they have a long lineage, going back to her lover, Marc Anthony. Okay, maybe not.