ANCIENT EGYPT www.ancientegyptmagazine.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 Volume 24•Number 2•Issue no.140 EDITORIAL Editor: J Peter Phillips peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com Deputy Editor: Sarah Grif fiths sarah@ancientegyptmagazine.com Consultant Editor: Professor Emerita Rosalie David, OBE Staf f Contributors: Hilar y Wilson, Peter Robinson, Dr Campbell Price Ar t Editor: Mark Edwards Designer: Emma Morgan Subeditor: Simon Coppock Publisher: Maria Earle Managing Director: Robert Selkirk COMMERCIAL Advertising Sales Manager: Mike Traylen mike@ancientegyptmagazine.com Marketing & Digital Manager: Emma Watts-Plumpkin emma@ancientegyptmagazine.com Commercial Director: Libby Selkirk SUBSCRIPTIONS Ancient Egypt is published six t imes a year by Current Publishing Ltd Website: www.ancientegyptmagazine.com UK: £31.95 Rest of the World: £43.95 Subscriptions should be sent to: Current Publishing, Of fice 120, 295 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4HH Phone: 020 8819 5580 Email: subs@ancientegyptmagazine.com USA and Canada USA: $55 Canada: CDN$67 Ancient Egypt Jan/Feb 2024 (ISSN 1470 -9996) is published 6 t imes a year (bi-monthly) by Current Publishing, Of fice 120, 295 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4HH, United Kingdom. Distributed in the US by NPS Media Group, 2 Enterprise Drive, Suite 420, Shelton, CT 06484. Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, CT and at additional mailing of fices . Postmaster: Send address changes to Ancient Egypt, PO Box 37052, Boone, IA 50037- 0052. Phone: 1- 8 6 6 - 4 01- 78 01 Email: aegcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com Printed in the UK by William Gibbons Unauthorised reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission. The publisher, editor and authors accept no responsibility in respect of any products, goods or services which may be advertised or referred to in this issue. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material. In the event of any material being used inadvertently or where it has proved impossible to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. A N C I E N T E G Y P T ANCIENT EGYPT URE OF T YP THE HISTORY, PEOPLE, AND CULTURE OF THE NILE VALLEY Y FOR THE DEAD? MAGICAL PROTECTION 1 4 0 AKHENATENAKHENATEN The battle for Egyptian identity The battle for Egyptian identity £5.95 ISSUE 140 ON THE COVER Part of a colossal statue of Akhenaten, depicted in a style that broke all pharaonic traditions CREDIT Robert B Partridge (RBP) I S S U E 14 0 editor From the Egyptology, like all the sciences, is constantly evolving as new discoveries are made and old theories are disproved. But it is also influenced by the prevailing mood and fashions of the time, and by the motives of those making the discoveries. Several of the articles in this issue illustrate this point. The theory proposed by Charles Piazzi Smyth, as outlined in John Taylor’s article, that all the dimensions of Khufu’s Great Pyramid were multiples of a ‘pyramid inch’ were accepted by many at the time. Smyth, despite his sound scientific training as an astronomer, also believed that the inch was a Godgiven measurement, handed down through the centuries from the time of Noah’s son Shem, and that the pyramid itself could only have been built by the Hebrews, with divine help. When in 1909 Howard Carter discovered a mummy wrapped in a bag-tunic, he discarded the body but kept the garment. Nowadays, the body would have been subject to extensive forensic examination, but at least the tunic was saved, as Rachel Cotton tells us. Previous generations of excavators, interested only in precious metals and beautiful artefacts, would have destroyed both the body and the tunic. By founding the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester, Rosalie David OBE established an entirely new branch of the subject, and in this issue she and Roger Forshaw summarise one aspect of their research: surgery in ancient Egypt. Of course, there are some pharaohs who will always attract attention, and one is Akhenaten. Jason S Whitmarsh analyses the ways in which the ‘heretic pharaoh’ undermined the entire belief system of his country, and the impact this had on his people. BELOW Th e Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. J Peter Phillips, Editor Par tridge : Rober t B Image 3