Pharaoh & Prophet

Was a case of Marfan syndrome responsible for the foundation of the Judeo-Christian religions? Quite possibly. The oldest written documentation of monotheistic religious beliefs belong to the Egyptians, and date back to the 14th century BCE, centuries before the earliest portions of the Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament were penned. At this time, near the beginning of what was called The New Kingdom, a remarkable ruler named Ahkenaten took the reigns of power. This was a time when the native Egyptians had reasserted sovereignty over Asiatic conquerors of Semitic origin, called the Hyksos or "Shepherd Kings." Many biblical scholars agree that these were the predecessors of the Hebrews who left Egypt at the time of Moses.

Aside from his rather revolutionary religious views, Ahkenaten's rule coincided with a new and more realistic art form in Egyptian monuments and papyri. Interestingly, the first impression I had upon seeing artistic depictions of Ahkenaten was that he was remarkably slight and long-limbed, with a narrow face and tapering fingers. He was also reputed to have had poor vision. In short, he had the typical body habitus of Marfan syndrome, and after an online search, I discovered that I wasn't the first to suspect this. Alwyn Burridge in his "Biblical Archaeologist" had noticed and commented on these findings, refuting Dr. G.E. Smith's earlier assertions that this pharaoh had Froehlich's syndrome. Far from being impotent, as would occur with Froehlich's, Ahkenaten fathered six daughters with his wife, Nefertiti.

Marfan syndrome is passed on in autosomal dominant fashion, and would have been amplified by the ancient Egyptian custom of the royals marrying close family members, often sisters and daughters. Burridge feels this might account for "…the apparent deformities, frailties, and early deaths in the royal house of the late Eighteenth Dynasty." He also wonders if the visual abnormalities with Marfan's could have been responsible for the pharaoh's attraction to the concept of the sun, in the form of Aten, as being the one and only supreme being.

Ahkenaten had indeed instituted a major and revolutionary change in Egyptian religious beliefs. Previously, the god, Amen, had been the chief among multiple deities, and his powerful priesthood could not have been pleased when the pharaoh, who began his reign as Amenophis IV, decided to change his name. By taking the appellation Ahkenaten, the pharaoh signified a change of allegiance from the god Amen, to the god Aten, lord of the solar disc. He also moved his capital city, building a huge and luxurious complex at El Amarna, which he called Ahketaten.

Why would Ahkenaten make these major changes? Some believe that the pharaoh feared the growing power of the priests of Amen. But Ahkenaten may have had more of an ax to grind with the old gods. They had played a cruel trick on the ruler, giving him supreme power, but endowing him with a physical form which was frail, feminine, and spindly, diminishing his vision, and ensuring he would feel even more alienated and alone than the burden of supreme power would entail. If Ahkenaten suffered from ectopia lentis, dislocated lenses, as often occurs with Marfan syndrome, his vision would have been poor, but the appearance of the sun, so prominent in the Egyptian sky, would have been quite amazing. With the lens displaced, no doubt the sun would diffract into a spectacular halo of rays, and would be a logical place for the ruler to search for a supreme deity. Interestingly, a unique artistic device occurs during Ahkenaten's reign in works depicting Aten. The god is shown as a disk from which multiple rays beam out in a fan shape, each ending in a hand grasping an ankh, the Egyptian cross of life. Did Ahkenaten instruct his artists to depict the solar disk in a way in which he alone perceived it?

The reign of Ahkenaten was not extremely long, only about 16 years. He died at a relatively young age, possibly from the abnormalities of the ascending aorta, which occur with Marfan syndrome, or perhaps murdered by disaffected devotees of Amen. His capital city was abandoned, and his name expunged from many records. No doubt those who had embraced his religion would have been similarly persecuted when the vengeful priests of Amen regained power.

The stage is now set for an interesting scenario. The Hyksos, or Semitic rulers of Egypt, had been overthrown fairly recently. This group would no doubt now represent an underclass or perhaps slave class in Egyptian society. Disaffected groups are always ripe ground for religious conversion and would likely hold onto their beliefs in a single God far more vigorously than the upper class converts of convenience. If this is not enough to suggest Ahkenaten's early influence on the Hebrews, one only need look as far as Psalm 104. Scholars have long noticed a strong similarity between this biblical work and "The Great Hymn to the Aten," contemporary with, and said to have been written by, Ahkenaten himself.

It is believed that the biblical Exodus occurred not too long after the fall of Ahkenaten. Moses is not a Hebrew name, it is Egyptian. Ahkenaten had an older brother named Thutmoses and numerous members of the Eighteenth Dynasty royal family used variations of this name. The Bible tells us that Moses was raised as a prince of Egypt before becoming disaffected with the rulers of the land. Perhaps affected by religious zeal for the One God, he may have been one of the few of the upper class who remained true to the religion of Aten. Moses is recorded as having struck down an overseer who was beating a Hebrew worker, i.e., he was an upper class advocate for the Hebrews. Surely they would trust and follow him. (In an intriguing, but probably irrelevant aside, a whip was found recently in an Egyptian tomb of this time period, inscribed with the name of Ahkenaten's brother, Thutmoses.)

Moses leads a revolt of the Hebrews against the ruling pharaoh, a successor of Ahkenaten, but who is not known for sure. Ancient Egyptian records don't record any multiple great plagues at this time, but the simplest way to deal with a rebellious underclass and disaffected member of the royal family would have been to let them wander off into the desert east of Egypt. At best they would perish and at worst they would go bother someone else. The book of Exodus records that Moses had a "speech impediment," and his brother Aaron had to translate for him. I believe he simply didn't speak Hebrew very well, which would make sense for one raised with Egyptian royalty. As the Hebrews wandered the desert, many kept backsliding to the pagan gods. This hardly suggests a well-established religion. A group of modern Jews or Christians wouldn't start raising golden calves at the first sign of trouble, but recent converts might backslide quickly if they felt their new God was letting them down.

In summary then, we have an alienated pharaoh in the 14th century BCE with the typical physical signs of Marfan syndrome, who founds the world's first documented religion devoted to one god. We have a disaffected Semitic population, which may have embraced this religion, only to see it suppressed, and the previous priestly class of Amen and multiple other gods reinstated. We have a prophet of royal origin and convert to monotheism, who leads these people, whose language he barely speaks, out of bondage. Ancient history and the Bible coincide nicely.

An alternate and perhaps to some a more acceptable view would be that Ahkenaten may have been influenced to monotheism by a Semitic confidant, perhaps even Moses himself. He may have chosen to implement this new religion using a deity already familiar to the Egyptians, Aten. I'll let the readers decide for themselves on this one. Whatever the circumstances, Marfan syndrome is a highly probable diagnosis in Ahkenaten, and the pharaoh made profound and early innovations in mankind's religious thought. This was quite likely influenced by his medical condition, the most probable diagnosis of which is Marfan syndrome.

For information about Marfan syndrome, see:

• National Marfan Foundation

• MedlinePlus (Marfan syndrome)

• eMedicine.com (Marfan syndrome)

• Canadian Marfan Association

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George M Burden, MD

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