Royal Egypt Act Of Incest

There are many risk factors that come with the act of incest but it is overlooked by the Egyptians because of protection of royal blood and assets. Evidence of incest can be found in mummies. Genetic profiling reveals that there was incest between the great King Tut. Osiris and Isis were two primary gods that were brother and sister who gave birth to Horus because of this Egyptians would follow many gods like Osiris and Isis. Those of royalty were influenced by them and aimed to be like their gods. There is enough proof to show that ancient royal Egyptians practiced incest. Egyptian culture consisted on theocracy, meaning a state ruled by gods (Sayre 77). Their belief is the core of how royal Egyptians governed their state. This would influence

the royal Egyptians way of living and who would be their spouse.

Brother and sister marriages were not a taboo in that time. It was expected of the royal families to marry their siblings. It was also easier to marry between siblings because there would be no separation of their family property. The two main dynasty King Tutankhamun and the 18th Dynasty and Ptolemaic Dynasty that will show the practice of inbreeding and the effects it had.

The first dynasty that will go in depth of incest will be King Tutankhamun and the 18th dynasty. Tutankhamun is that he was the youngest ruler and son of Akhenaten, who was the first to find a monotheistic religion (Sayre 96). Tutankhamun became famous on November 26, 1922, when his tomb was discovered (Sayre 75). It was the only tomb that robbers did not get to the tomb. Tutankhamun was a pharaoh, who was crowned at nine years old, 3,300 years ago according to Zahi Hawass article, “King Tut’s family secrets: DNA evidence reveals the truth about the boy king's parents and

new clues to his untimely death”. Tutankhamun died early at age nineteen, others believed that he was murdered but DNA evidence proves that there was a birth defect from King Tutankhamun being born of incest. His own father and mother were brother and sister, they were Akhenaten and they call the mother young lady. In an article, “Incest at the top”, by Gillian Passmore states the evidence found through CT scanning that his parents were brother and sister. It was not uncommon among royal Egyptians to practice incest but it did affect Tutankhamun physically and his death. According to Zahi Hawass, The birth defects found on the mummy of Tutankhamun showed that his body form was more feminine like, “left foot was clubbed, one toe was missing a bone, and the bones in part of the foot were destroyed by necrosis” (34). This evidence is used to prove that incest was true and not just believed as a fictional story. The picture below shown in Zahi Hawass article shows the family tree of Tutankhamun. Through genetic testing, they have verified the act of incest throughout his family. Hawass also talks about two fetuses that was buried with Tutankhamun and what is believed to be his children.

Second dynasty to practice incest are the Ptolemies. The Ptolemaic dynasty was founded by Ptolemy who married his half-sister Arsinoe. Ptolemy did not want to change his culture to Greek because they had a different perspective on incest. Ptolemy decided to follow the Egyptian gods and culture. In the Ptolemaic dynasty, the practice of incest symbolized their power that separated them from those who were below them. The family tree of this dynasty is all brother and sister marriages which are shown in the article of Sheila L. Ager. Ptolemy wanted to keep his bloodline pure and to follow the god Osiris and his sister and wife Isis that conceived a son, Horus. The power of governing everything is something that Ptolemy wanted. It was to their advantage to keep their relationships between family to guard and protect all their assets. Cleopatra was part of the Ptolemaic dynasty and she was married to her brother and from there it keeps going in the same order and a few marry their second or third cousin which would still be a practice of incest. According to Shelia L. Ager, she states that there are no defects because most of the marriages resulted in offspring (12). Most of the marriages in this dynasty did not have sexual desires but only to protect their bloodline (Ager 15).

Incest practice depends on the culture, some were disgusted with the act of brother and sister marriages and others did not like father and daughter marriages.

All the factors that were listed before are to prove that the act of incest is real in ancient Egypt. Their beliefs of wanting to keep the royal blood between their families instead of others who did not share, which sets them apart from other people. They provided evidence to conclude that incest was going on with artifacts, drawings, and DNA testing. Unlike king Tut, the Ptolemies you could see a larger history of incest. The Ptolemies did not have any defects that were proven because of incest unlike King Tut, they have diagnosed Tutankhamun birth defects because of incest. Both dynasties have in common the act of practice of incest for the reasons of protecting their power and their assets. The common people of ancient Egypt did not follow those of their leaders therefore, the royal Egyptians wanted to be different and set apart from the common people. The involvement of incest was very common among royal Egyptians and their practice of being like

gods.

Works Cited
Ager, Sheila L.. “Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty”. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 125 (2005): 1–34. Web.
Bixler, Ray H. "Sibling Incest In The Royal Families Of Egypt, Peru, And Hawaii." Journal Of Sex Research 18.3 (1982): 264. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Hawass, Zahi. "King Tut's family secrets: DNA evidence reveals the truth about the boy king's parents and new clues to his untimely death." National Geographic Sept. 2010: 34+. Academic OneFile. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Sayre, Henry M. The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change. Vol. 1. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.