Despite the theories that he was black, there was always a distinction in art between the Egyptians and their Nubian neighbours, colour wise (saw this at the museum on one of the artefacts).
The Nubian’s were always painted black-black, and as Akhenaten changed the colour skin of men and women to a much lighter shade (as seen when there are paintings), and the bust of Nefertiti distinctly conveys that she wasn’t Negroid, it is historically incorrect to assume that they were.
It then becomes worse if one bases these theories (as do the pathological theories) on the early art forms and to ignore the later works of Thutmose; it makes a bad historian.
Furthermore, Egyptian art since its early stages represented more than just figures as European art does, making it impossible the judge that the (the early works especially, as they seem to hold the most religious meaning) art reflects race or physical heath.
Akhenaten is an easy ‘target’ though, he is (to quote Breasted) the only ‘individual’ in Ancient Egypt, the only pharaoh who dared to change the society after thousands of years.
Thus it is easy for people to put incorrect theories on him, especially seeing as there is no definitive answer to Amarna Art.
No comments:
Post a Comment