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Good morning everyone today I'm going to be discussing the way that the Egyptian Queen Ankhesenamun, Wife to Tutankhamen and queen of Egypt's 8th dynasty, has been represented in 3 different sources in our modern world. The three sources in which I've chosen to investigate and present to you today are:
A four-part digital art series depicting aspects of the queen and her life
Ankhesenamun's representation in the 3-part TV special Tut
And 3. Her representation in the movie The Mummy (1999)
Before I get started on my explanation as to how Ankesenamun has been represented in the different sources, I would like to give you a bit of background knowledge on Egypt's lost queen
Queen Ankhesenamun was the third daughter to Ahkenaaten and Nefertiti, she was originally named Ankhesenpaaton (after her father).
When Tutankhamen's name was altered to incorporate and represent Amun, so was hers. It also means she who lives through Amun (Amun being the "king of the gods").
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Ankhesenamun was the wife of Ahkenaaten when her mother died, together the couple were believed to have had a child (Ankasenpaaten Tasherit) but this has not been confirmed. When her father/ husband died she was married off to Tutankhamen. Yes, that's correct, that would make her his half-sister, step- mother, and wife as seen here in this slightly confusing family tree. When Ankhesenamun was married to Tutankhamen she was around the age of 11 or 12 whereas he was only 9. Research has lead us to believe that Ankesenamun was actually infertile, this is believed due to the fact that two baby sized mummies were found in Tutankhamen's tomb, two little girls.
One believed to have died after 5 months of pregnancy leading to a stillborn, and the other was said to have been either a still born at 8 months, or she died during the childbirth. Due to the history of incest littered throughout this royal family, the girls were either doomed to die in birth or pre-birth, or shortly after they were born due to congenial illnesses such as spina bifida that they both had. Shortly after Tutankhamen's death, the new widow took on a role in international affairs, making her a target for eligible men who wanted the power and status of being a king. During this time it was believed she got together with her advisor and grandfather Ay. This is believed because an inscribed ring and gold fragments were found depicting the couple's relationship, there is no evidence of any marriage or offspring from this relationship. An artefact in the form of a letter has been found, the letter was from an unknown queen of Egypt, the letter was addressed to the then king of Hittie desperately requesting marriage from one of his sons, this letter is believed to have been from Ankhesenamun due to the fact that it was from a new widow to a pharaoh named Nibkhururiya, which is extremely similar to Tutankhamen's coronation name, Nebkheperura. This evidence has made it seem as though Ankhesenamun was desperate to marry any one but Ay. The queen has now coined the phrase Egypt's lost queen due to the fact that her tomb was never found.
The three sources in which I am going to be discussing with you today are:
As I said previously said, my first source is a 4 part digital art series depicting Ankhesenamun and her life.
You can see in image one that the digital image is a mirror image of the gold panel found on a chair iTutankhamen's tomb. The image is that of Ankhesenamun rubbing an ointment of some sort into Tutankhamen's shoulder. This panelling has been described as being "oddly intimate" and "is showing a side of the couple that suggests a plentiful and happy relationship in its relaxed demeanour". The image is also seemingly bringing out Ankhesenamun motherly and nurturing nature. A controversy shortly arose after these images were released due to the fact that her skin is depicted as being fairly light. In reality Ankhesenamun would have been darker due to the fact that both her parents were Egyptian. The artist has also seemingly added intricate detailing into her hair and dress we can assume to be a symbol of her status. In image two we can see once again that her outfit is quite revealing, which did spark another controversy saying that the artist was over sexualizing the young queen not only in that sense, but also through her stance. While the queen would've worn outfits similar in style, the artist has shown a little too much skin of the queen for the audiences who have reviewed it. The artist did do a good job though at showing an age comparison between the two. Image 3 is again Ankhesenamun dressed in the same royal attire as the one she is wearing on the chairs panel, again the artist has done a good job replicating that and appropriating her stance to seem more royal. And finally, image 4 is the couple standing side by side as grown adults, the artist has once again captured the closeness between the two. The contrast in skin colours is once again seen here.
The second source in which I will be discussing today Ankhesenamun's representation in the 3-part tv special Tut which was released by the film company spike in 2015, with Sibylla Deen playing Ankhesenamun.
Throughout watching the short series, it is made clear that majority of this character's storyline is fiction. Fact is intertwined throughout the series though regarding the actual marriage itself, the affair with her grandfather at the end, the fact that the couple's relationship was her fathers wished many more little bits and pieces throughout. The character in the series is portrayed as having an English accent, this is incorrect since the queen was purely Egyptian and most likely would not have dealt with people who did have accents. A main storyline regarding the queen was an affair she was supposedly having with a man named Ka. Now this is an extremely fictional portion of the storyline since Ka was not actually a person, this is funny considering that majority of Ankhe's storyline revolves around ka. This idea of an affair with Ka is very recurring throughout the series and this further showcases the characters traits of betrayal and unfaithfulness rather than the truth. She is depicted as being very open and free with her body when it comes to getting what she wants for example in a scene where she is trying to get the attention of the royal advisor (her grandfather Ay) so she could be involved in the war plans, she fully strips down and exposes herself in protest until she gets what she wants. This is also shown through her exposing clothing or in some cases, lack thereof. The queen is also portrayed as being an emotional wreck and constantly having her emotions control her actions as seen in the scene where she does in fact have a miscarriage with her then dead ex lover's baby. This then results to her physically assaulting Tutankhamen's side lover soon to be mother of his unborn child. The story then introduces a new character who is fictional named suhad. She is Tutankhamen's lover and at one stage even carries his child, Ankhesenamun used sophisticated and educated language to threaten the ill-educated girl. This detail is inaccurate due to the fact that her education was poor even if there was any, therefore her vocabulary wouldn't have been as broad. Throughout the series, Ankhesenamun is portrayed as a villainous character, this is shown through her constant actions that are manipulative and controlling towards anyone, and her ability to constantly stir up trouble and drama. This may be the result of the queen trying to deal with her own issues in a "man's world' such as not being able to be involved in militaristic conversations, having to be left alone when the king would leave, or even dealing with the expectations and pressure for her to bear children. All of these issues would have been things that she dealt with but maybe just not to the proportions that they were shown as.
Throughout the series a recurring snake motif regarding Ankhesenamun is shown. Here you can see that in her garments that she would wear to her wedding to another man, a gold cobra headband is used to symbolise her sneaky nature through her marriage to another man behind Tutankhamen's back (which never happened). In the poster promoting the show and in particular Ankhesenamun, the animal in which is cut out is a snake, this is perhaps giving us an idea in advance that her character is going to be sneaky, and have snakelike nature. Snakes often present themselves as being evil so this could also be representing that side of her nature. In the introduction to the show right before introducing Ankhesenamun's character, we see this image her of a man crossing his arms with snakes slithering across his chest, again eluding to the idea of the way her character is going to be portrayed and next to that is another screenshot of her character representation in a promotional film. The next image is the queen standing next to the king with her arm on his shoulder, if you look on the forearm of her other arm you can see a snake armband, this being on the other arm could be representing her two faced nature. The last image is again a snake arm band, but this image is before she goes and strangles Suhad (the character in which Tutankhamen was in love with). The idea of strangulation is again another snake like action. All of these recurring ideas of snakes symbolising the character Ankhesenamun are false due to all the evidence we have that depicts Ankhesenamun as being a caring and loving wife again as seen in the golden chair panel.
My Third and final source that I will be discussing today is Ankhesenamun's representation in the movie The Mummy from 1999.
The movie the mummy was directed by Stephen Sommers, an American Screenwriter, the other two Screenwriters were Kevin Jarre (also an American) and Lloyd Fonvielle (American). The purpose behind the move was purely for entertainment. Most of the movie is actually Fiction, from something as small as making Ankhesenamun Tutankhamen's mistress rather than wife, to creating a whole fake city (Hamunaptra). Many critics believed the movie had no real benefits or intentions. Washington Post even goes so far to say it is "Fast and furious, shallow, empty, casually racist, merry, jaunty, silly and utterly weightless".
In the mummy, we see Ankhesenamun's character portrayed as being Pharaoh Seti the first's mistress, rather than his wife, this is the first fact that is incorrect. Pharaoh Seti would not have been alive when Ankhesenamun was, and he was also married to a woman named Tuya.Then the character is seen having an affair with the high priest Imhotep, affairs are common recurrences when the queen has been modernised even though this is incorrect. Then we learn that she lives in the city of Hamunuptra that is non- existent! Hamunuptra (also known as the city of the dead) is fictional and was created purely for the movie. In the movie the character is apparently named Anck-su-namun, again this is false, her name is Ankesenamun. This is another detail that the movie either altered or got incorrect. In the move, Ankhesenamun is represented as being extremely thrill and risk taking and almost careless with her body and clothing choices, from what we know of Ankhesenamun's personality, she was an extremely quiet, reserved, housewife. In the movie, a myth is spoken about regarding Ankhesenamun being able to die and be brought back to life by the book of the dead. This is highly unlikely since there is no evidence proving myths and reincarnation are true. Finally, at the end of the short scenes she is in, she commits suicide, this is possible due to the fact that her body has never been found so we are unable to determine her cause of death.
To conclude, all representations of Ankhesenamun in modern sources are accurate to some degree with elements of fiction in each. The most accurate representation that I looked at was the art illustrations since they were all based on one true image in one way or another. Overall all these sources are unreliable for educational purposes and are purely for entertainment purposes.
Ankhesenamun: The Enigmatic Egyptian Queen. (2019, Dec 17). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/speech-469-example-essay
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