Fat Chicks Rule
Even 3,500 years ago, there were awesome fat women. Some of us even ruled the world.
A mummy found in the Valley of the Kings in 1881 has been positively identified as the Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut. She usurped power from her son, reigned for 22 years, wore a false beard, built great monuments, and was a master of the art of propaganda. Wikipedia has more:
The traditional explanation is that her motivation for wearing men’s clothing was sexual. However, most modern scholars believe in a more recent theory: that by assuming the exclusively male symbols of pharaonic power, Hatshepsut was asserting her claim to be King or Queen regnant and not “King’s Great Wife” or Queen consort. Even after assuming the male persona, Hatshepsut still described herself as a beautiful woman, often the most beautiful woman, and although she assumed almost all of her father’s titles, she declined to take the title “The Strong Bull.”
From this week’s CNN story:
The mummy identified as Hatshepsut shows an obese woman, who died in her 50s, probably had diabetes and is also believed to have had liver cancer, Hawass said. Her left hand is positioned against her chest, in a traditional sign of royalty in ancient Egypt.
I’ve always been a big fan of Hatshepsut. She and Akhenaten (who turned himself into a religion) are probably my two favorite pharaohs. And to think that this civilization flourished for so long, so long ago, always blows my mind.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: International, Old Timey
That’s pretty awesome! Does anyone have reliable information on the average life span for ancient Egyptians? A quick google search came up with 30 for poor women and slightly more for rich women. This obese Pharaoh may have lived longer than the average rich, Egyptian woman. I bring it up because I’m already anticipating her death being blamed on her weight. Hopefully that won’t happen.
There’s a theory that’s been out for a while, that society was actually matriarchal until the iron age, which brought out weapons and ergo, war and violence. If interested, check out Elizabeth Gould Davis’ works.
I saw this story in the paper yesterday- I’m so glad you picked it up!
I read a YA novel about Hatshepsut many years ago that made me like her. Now imagining her as a righteous fat-lady Pharaoh too makes me like her even more.
You have favorite pharaohs? That is what makes you awesome.
Hatshepsut’s life is so fascinating. Swellanor – I probably read the same book you did, which of course added some creative license. Still, she left an incredible legacy, in terms of architecture.
I’m so glad that they finally found her…I always imagined her body was destroyed at some point.
Ha, you’re an Egypt nerd? And I’m always teasing my mother that she’s the only one :P I don’t really know where you could find really reliable life expectancy rates; most of them tend to be really low because of the high infant mortality rate, which throws off the averages.
I think the manner in which they are presenting her illnesses is kind of sketchy – OMG she was fat and she died at 50 and she had diabetes and liver cancer!
Instead of mentioning that, OMG she was 50 when living to 40 was considered a special blessing! And poor nutrition was pretty common as a problem!
This is a really interesting article regarding the health of ancient Egyptians. I do love the BBC.
I am either awesome or a total dork; maybe a little bit of each.
By the way, the Rosecrucian museum in San Jose has some awesome Egyptian artifacts, including Akhenaten’s ring. If you live in the area, you should check it out one day.
Ha! Earlier this week I was reading a story about the discovery of Hatshepsut (before they positively identified her I think?), and one specific scientist was stating how he thought she WASN’T the queen because the mummy was overweight. I wish I saved the article, because now I can’t find it, of course.
Hee! Because real Egyptian Queens must have looked like the Cleopatra they had on HBO’s Rome. Or Liz Taylor in her early years.
That rocks! I want to give someone the nickname Fatshepsut :)
I agree with The Rotund that the mention of disease and the negative tone is a perfect example of how cultural bias about fat infiltrates even the most unrelated news items. Otherwise someone would have said, “Wow, she was obese, she lived in ancient Egypt, and she lived to be FIFTY!! Fat people were living long even back then! Must have been great to have had the priviledge of all that nutrition.”
I saw the same article Chesney did. It was an Egyptian scientist, claiming that the thin woman buried with the fat woman must’ve been the REAL queen, rather than the maidservant. He theorized that those burying the women were trying to trick potential grave robbers by making the maid appear to be the queen.
What I don’t understand is that fat women are commonly revered in Egyptian culture to this day, so why the denial?
Nothing like news that fat chicks have rules for many years now.