Tea at Trianon: Egyptologists Challenge the View of Tutankhamun as A Weak and Sickly King

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Egyptologists Challenge the View of Tutankhamun as A Weak and Sickly King

From Ancient Origins:

Tut’s tomb contained dry white wine and six chariots interred with him in the tomb, along with a breastplate and other armor. Aziz cites these as proofs of Tutankhamun’s warrior-hardened persona, rather than the inverse. This goes along with other claims it is likely that the 19-year-old’s leg hit the dashboard of the chariot at high speed, causing a fracture that the autopsy supports, and the infected wound. From this, Aziz concludes that Tutankhamun was likely a battle-hardened warrior, rather than the frail, sickly boy that history has written him as. But even ancient Egyptian folklore has portrayed him as frail and deformed with a club foot. His remarkably preserved burial also exacerbated this point – he was buried with 130 fragmented and complete sticks of numerous designs and shapes, which suggested that he needed walking sticks to aid his mobility. But conversely, there were also throwing sticks used in hunting included in the tomb. (Read more.)