"Engagement Party"
King Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun's engagement was not the first time a marriage proposal had been depicted in ancient Egyptian art. King Tut's mother was also shown in the older Amarna style proposing to her future husband, the King Akhenaten. A contrast shows up later in the returning Classic Egyptian style in which Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun are painted. These painted artifacts were found in the Tomb of King Tut, rediscovered by Howard Carter in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings outside of Karnak, Luxor.
This first steala [above] could either be depicting Akhenaten, King Tut's father, and Nefertiti or King Tut and Ankhesenamun[1]. In either case it would have been carved earlier, in the 'realistic' Amara style of the period.They are shown wearing wig/crowns, shoulder beaded necklaces, and fancy robes, and Akhenaten/Tut is leaning on a blue staff while Nefertiti/Ankhesenamun is holding plants. The blue colored hair could connect with the belief that Lapis Lazuli, one of the stones used to create the pigment [2], was the hair of the gods[3]. It could also have to do with being the color of life, rebirth, knowledge, from the Gods Osiris and Thoth, Goddesses Nun and Ma'at, and the Nile itself. It could also have to do with the color blue being closer to black, which would have been hair color. It works either way. Both headdresses are adorned with the snake goddess Wdjt, the protector of the Pharaoh.
Both of the characters are wearing royal dress styles, the light linen fabric showing off the difference in body design and only the male is wearing sandals. This would be showing that the characters are of high class and that this moment would have been a special occasion.
The original art piece on the box (above) can be seen in the New Cairo Museum in Cairo, Egypt.
Painted on the box (shown in detail above) is the same scene as the older version, just with black hair wigs on both people, a large headdress on top of Ankhesenamun's wig, background designs, different color patterns, King Tut standing up straight while still holding his staff, and Ankhesenamun holding both plants in front of her.
In both art styles, the plants that the woman is holding are gifts to her 'future' husband, the lotus flower in her left hand and the papyrus reed in her right. The meaning of the marriage proposal is all depicted from Ankhesenamun's perspective. She is presenting Tut the lotus, the symbol of Lower Egypt - where the Northern delta is, and the papyrus reeds, the symbol of Upper Egypt - the Southern, more mountainous area.This is done to show the continuing union of the two halves of the kingdom, like one could see in the combination crown.
This art piece is meant a sweet backdrop of what was written to be a marriage with love at its core, and shows that women can propose too (#ancientfeminism?) [especially if they don't have much choice anyway].
Unfortunately, this didn't directly translate to the couples' lives together. While being manipulated by their government officials and priests, half-siblings Tut and Ankhesenamun had two children. They were both were still-born, either born prematurely or near full term, problems possibly due to the level of incest involved with both parties.They were both mummified and also can be found in the Cairo Museum, labelled as pieces 317A and 317B [4].
The newly reinstated 'Classic Egyptian' body position style returned with Tut rise to power after his father, Akhenaten was banished, and his mother Nefertiti possibly changed her name to Smenkhkare [1] to distance herself from her previous co-reagent or was replaced earlier on during Akhenaten's reign after dying [5]. Archaeologists are still arguing about all of this, along with why Tut would be shown with a staff, whether he had a clubbed foot, and how he died. The prevailing theory is that, yes, he was born with a club foot due to the level of incest issues, did not do any of the chariot racing or army leading that he was show doing on paintings and steale, and he died of a gangrene infection at the young age of 19. Meanwhile, Ankhesenamun was forced to marry the next Pharaoh after Tut, one of his aging advisors named Ay, who also may have been her grandfather, though data is unclear, and finally disappears from the record between 1325 and 1321 BCE.
It's a tragically human tale that I'm so glad to share for Valentine's Day. I think what we can learn is that love may start easy and beautiful, but it's a struggle, just the rest of real life. The crazy truth that love and marriage and kids don't make everything automatically better is much more reminiscent of the history of the real St. Valentine.
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The history of Valentine's Day
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