Mummy's Wrap

      Family in ancient Egypt was much the same as family in modern Egypt.  There were strong bonds between family members, with the head of the household being the father or eldest male relative.  All children were loved and wanted, as infant mortality was very high and children were needed to carry on the parents’ work.  In fact, the eldest son of a household was often referred to as “the staff of his father’s old age.”[i]  Brothers were ideally very close.  As is seen in the ancient Egyptian folk tale, The Tale of the Two Brothers, the idealized brothers are as close as the modern idealized brothers.  The elder brother, Anubis, is head of the household while the younger brother, Bata, works for him.  In this story, Bata mentions that his brother has become like his father and his brother’s wife like his mother.  The rage Anubis feels when he thinks Bata has betrayed him, shows the love Anubis has for his younger brother.  This love does not cause him to stop his angered pursuit of Bata.  It is only when the younger brother is out of reach that Anubis listens to Bata’s side of the story.  When Anubis hears that the betrayal really stemmed from his wife, not his younger brother, Anubis immediately believes Bata’s story, trusting implicitly the bonds of brotherhood.  When Bata, who made his own life elsewhere away from Anubis, is in trouble, Anubis finds him and gives him all the aid he can.  When Bata is elevated through many amazing and magical circumstances to become Pharaoh, he honors his older brother with a high position in court.[ii]  This shows the idealized brothers as being intensely loyal to each other.

      This leads to another theory pertaining to Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep.  The two men were brothers.  While this theory would explain the closeness of the two men, it does not explain how extreme their closeness is portrayed.  This could be explained by a theory saying they are twins, possibly even conjoined twins.[iii]

      Twins in ancient Egypt were very rare; there are few references in ancient Egyptian artwork or written works pertaining to twins.  This could be due to the fact that the infant mortality rate was so high.[iv]  Even in modern societies, birthing twins is difficult and wrought with hazards.[v]  These difficulties and hazards would have been much more dangerous in ancient Egypt, not just for the twins, but for the mother as well.  Birthing living twins would have been a miracle in ancient Egypt.

      Of conjoined twins in ancient Egypt, there are no records.[vi]  The theory that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were conjoined twins is highly unlikely due to a number of facts.  As infant mortality was so great, twins would have trouble surviving.  Conjoined twins surviving childbirth in ancient Egypt would have surpassed a miracle.  The depictions of the two men in the tomb would also be slightly different.  Instead of two separate men embracing, the artists would have shown they were conjoined somehow. It has been seen in other works of ancient Egyptian art that when portraying people who are different from the idealized human, the ancient Egyptians spare nothing.  Portraits of foreigners are distinct from local Egyptians, and dwarves are portrayed accurately.  Dwarves, it should be noted, were highly respected in ancient Egypt, rising to high positions in the pharaoh’s court.[vii]  Conjoined or even simply twins, would have likely received the same honors in the pharaoh’s court as dwarves.[viii] Furthermore, there are two sarcophagi within the mastaba and evidence shows there was a sarcophagus for each of the two men. Had they been conjoined, they would most likely been buried within the same sarcophagus.

      Returning to the theory the two men were twins, one must consider a number of different aspects within the ancient Egyptian culture.  First, the men’s names: Niankhkhnum is translated as “Life Belongs to Khnum” and Khnumhotep is translated as “Khnum is Satisfied.”  Khnum, the ram- headed god of the Nile and the Creation of life, would sculpt a human and it’s ba on his potter’s wheel.[ix] The second thing that must be considered is the belief of the ba.  The living person was believed to be only the form and the ba was seen as the life force, a perfect double of the form, but, when combined, the two created a living human being.[x]  As seen in many tomb paintings throughout the span of ancient Egypt, one can view the close embraces of the human being and their ba.  These tombs include such famous names as Tutankhamun and Seti I.[xi] While no concrete evidence exists to point to the theory of identical twins, it is possible they could have been identical. This theory is made stronger by the names of the two men Considering the aspects of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep and the ancient Egyptian culture, it could be theorized that twins were viewed as the human and its ba, both living together, but separate.

      While the debate still rages about the relationship shared by Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, it cannot be said the tomb is not beautiful.  The two men sharing the tomb were obviously highly respected and greatly honored by the pharaoh and other high officials.  They were important men in life, with a great affection for each other, and that is reflected in the paintings adorning their tomb’s walls.

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Tags: Anubis, Ba, bata, brothers, conjoined twins, family, identical twins, infant mortality, khnum, Khnumhotep, Niankhkhnum, twins

This entry was posted by Page Strong on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 13:01 and is filed under Ancient Egypt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.