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A Mystery, Locked in Timeless Embrace
NY Times ^ | December 20, 2005 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Posted on 12/20/2005 3:29:30 AM PST by Pharmboy

When Egyptologists entered the tomb for the first time more than four decades ago, they expected to be surprised. Explorers of newly exposed tombs always expect that, and this time they were not disappointed - they were confounded.

snip....

There, carved in stone, were the images of two men embracing. Their names were inscribed above: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. Though not of the nobility, they were highly esteemed in the palace as the chief manicurists of the king, sometime from 2380 to 2320 B.C., in the time known as the fifth dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Grooming the king was an honored occupation.

snip...


Courtesy of Dr. Violaine Chauvet
Since the 4,300-year-old tomb was
discovered outside Cairo in 1964,
Egyptologists have known the names of the
two men buried there
-Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep-
and their occupation, manicurists
to the king. But why were they
embracing?

Over the years, the tomb's wall art has been subjected to learned analysis, inspiring considerable speculation. One interpretation is that the two men are brothers, probably identical twins, and this may be the earliest known depiction of twins. Another is that the men had a homosexual relationship, a more recent view that has gained support among gay advocates.

Now, an Egyptologist at New York University has stepped into the debate with a third interpretation. He has marshaled circumstantial evidence that the two menmay have been conjoined twins, popularly known as Siamese twins. The expert, David O'Connor, a professor of ancient Egyptian art at the N.Y.U. Institute of Fine Arts, said: "My suggestion is that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were indeed twins, but of a very special sort. They were conjoined twins,

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: egypt; gays; godsgravesglyphs; twins
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To: TC Rider

Yep...it was that joke that made me think of it.


41 posted on 12/20/2005 7:51:50 AM PST by Pharmboy (The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
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To: Pharmboy

How do spell "FABULOUSTH" in hyroglyphics?


42 posted on 12/20/2005 7:58:11 AM PST by Walkingfeather
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To: SunkenCiv

It doesn't looked like they were portrayed joined together. I know that in Egyptian art, symbolism mattered more than reality (note how members of Akhenaten's court had portraits done of themselves looking like the unusual pharaoh), but with people as special as Siamese twins, don't you think the artist might make an exception?


43 posted on 12/20/2005 8:41:06 AM PST by Berosus ("There is no beauty like Jerusalem, no wealth like Rome, no depravity like Arabia."--the Talmud)
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To: stylecouncilor

ping


44 posted on 12/20/2005 8:43:59 AM PST by windcliff
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To: Pharmboy

The do look like they could be conjoined twins.


45 posted on 12/20/2005 8:56:49 AM PST by Dustbunny (Christmas - Christ is the reason for the season)
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To: wildbill

The etiquette for stuff like that (in some circles) is to ask, "may I push in your stool for you?" ;')


46 posted on 12/20/2005 11:37:12 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: Berosus

I agree, although they could indeed be identical twins.


47 posted on 12/20/2005 11:38:37 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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a non-pw version:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1339417.cms


48 posted on 12/20/2005 11:54:34 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: Pharmboy
... possible poofter-in-the-pyramid ping list...

The daily award for best use of alliteration goes to...

Pharmboy!

49 posted on 12/20/2005 11:57:46 AM PST by TChris ("Unless you act, you're going to lose your world." - Mark Steyn)
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To: TChris

Why THANKS, TC; a true honor!


50 posted on 12/20/2005 2:11:59 PM PST by Pharmboy (The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
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To: Pharmboy

And the Kings favorite Lengthankahman


51 posted on 12/20/2005 2:20:12 PM PST by DainBramage
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To: Pharmboy

oh oh I know!


Brokenpyramid Back!!!!


52 posted on 12/20/2005 2:21:49 PM PST by Cinnamon
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To: Pharmboy

Has somebody checked over at DU to see what they're saying about this???


53 posted on 12/20/2005 2:52:45 PM PST by Renfield (If Gene Tracy was the entertainment at your senior prom, YOU might be a redneck...)
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To: Renfield

They're for it! Whatever it is...


54 posted on 12/20/2005 2:59:52 PM PST by Pharmboy (The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
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To: Physicist; SunkenCiv

I always thought that was a poor name for a condom. We know Ramses II didn't use them, because he had a least a hundred kids. In fact, his father Seti I got him off to an early start, giving him several concubines while he was just a teenager and saying, "Okay, one of Pharaoh's jobs is to make sure he has an heir. Get to it!" By the time he inherited the crown, Ramses must have been saying, "It's good to be a king," like Mel Brooks in "History of the World Part I."

It's probably just as well that Ramses had a large family. In the end, he outlived the first eleven sons, and the twelfth didn't want the job, so the son that became the next pharaoh, Merneptah, was his thirteenth.


55 posted on 12/20/2005 5:07:20 PM PST by Berosus ("There is no beauty like Jerusalem, no wealth like Rome, no depravity like Arabia."--the Talmud)
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To: Berosus

I hear the twelfth son was a manicurist... ;')


56 posted on 12/20/2005 6:21:04 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: Mr Ramsbotham
The riddle of the Sphincter.

LOL

57 posted on 12/20/2005 6:26:42 PM PST by Fruitbat
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