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Who Was King Tut 图坦卡蒙法老 Chapter 2 An Unusual Father

时间:2018-02-06 09:01来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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Of all the pharaohs who ruled Egypt, Tut’s father had to be among the strangest.
First of all, there was the way he looked. Amenhotep’s head was oddly shaped. It was very long and narrow. And his hips1 were very large for a man. Was a rare disease the cause? Some historians think so.
In spite of his looks, Amenhotep married a very beautiful queen. Two museums, one in Cairo and one in Berlin, own a bust2 of her. (A bust is a sculpture of someone’s head and shoulders.) Her name was Nefertiti. Although not of royal birth, Nefertiti looked every inch a queen.
Nefertiti became the pharaoh’s head wife. Women in ancient Egypt did not have the same rights as men. For example, they did not attend school. But Nefertiti was a powerful woman. She was an important adviser3 to her husband.
She backed him up when he decided4 to make changes. Big changes.
A WOMAN PHARAOH
ALTHOUGH WOMEN IN ANCIENT EGYPT WERE NOT THE EQUALS OF MEN, IN 1504 B.C. A WOMAN BECAME PHARAOH. HER NAME WAS HATSHEPSUT. SHE TOOK POWER AFTER THE PHARAOH DIED SUDDENLY, LEAVING BEHIND ONLY ONE VERY YOUNG SON (THUTMOSE III).
MOST OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HATSHEPSUT COMES FROM DEPICTIONS OF HER IN ART. AT FIRST, SHE IS SEEN IN THE TYPICAL DRESS OF A WOMAN. BUT LATER SHE IS SHOWN IN THE CROWN OF THE PHARAOH. SHE ALSO WEARS THE FALSE BEARD OF THE PHARAOH. HATSHEPSUT BEGAN MANY GREAT BUILDING PROJECTS. BUT AFTER HER DEATH AROUND 1450 B.C., THUTMOSE III BECAME PHARAOH. HE DID HIS BEST TO ERASE5 ANY RECORDS OF HER.
What kinds of changes did Amenhotep make?
For one thing, he decided to change the religion.
For hundreds and hundreds of years, the people of Egypt had prayed to many gods and goddesses. Some looked like people. Some looked like animals. Some had an animal head and a human body.
There was Thoth. He was the god of the moon. Anubis was the god of the cemeteries6. Isis was a goddess who protected children.
In all, there were about a thousand different gods. Some were only local gods. But the important gods had great temples devoted7 to them. People could visit the temples and pray for the god’s help. (Common people, however, were not allowed inside.)
The most important god of all was Amun-Ra, god of the sun. He appeared in human form. Every day he rode his chariot across the sky.
GODS AND GODDESSES
OSIRIS, ISIS, SETH, AND HORUS WERE ALSO VERY POWERFUL GODS AND GODDESSES. THESE FOUR ARE IN THE MYTH OF HOW THE EARTH AND THE UNDERWORLD BEGAN. ACCORDING TO THE MYTH, OSIRIS AND ISIS WERE KING AND QUEEN OF THE EARTH. THEY HAD A SON NAMED HORUS.
BUT OSIRIS’S BROTHER WAS JEALOUS AND WANTED TO RULE EARTH. HIS NAME WAS SETH. SO HE KILLED OSIRIS AND SENT HIM TO THE UNDERWORLD. HOWEVER, OSIRIS’S SON (HORUS) TOOK BACK THE KINGDOM FROM SETH. NOW HORUS BECAME KING OF THE EARTH. HIS FATHER, OSIRIS, BECAME KING OF THE UNDERWORLD.
SETH WAS SHOWN WITH THE HEAD OF AN IMAGINARY ANIMAL THAT LOOKS KIND OF LIKE A GREYHOUND. HE WAS GOD OF THE DESERT.
OSIRIS, GOD OF THE DEAD, WAS ALWAYS PICTURED WRAPPED TIGHT LIKE A MUMMY.
ISIS WAS THOUGHT TO PROTECT CHILDREN AND PEOPLE IN NEED.
HORUS HAD THE HEAD OF A HAWK8 AND WAS GOD OF THE SKY. THE EGYPTIANS BELIEVED EVERY PHARAOH WAS THE SON OF HORUS.
Amenhotep, however, decided to do away with all the gods and goddesses. From then on there was going to be only one god. This god was also god of the sun. But it did not appear in human form like Amun-Ra. Instead, it looked like the disk of the sun. Sun rays spread out from it. And at the end of each ray was a hand. The hands were a sign that the god was watching over the people of Egypt. The god’s name was Aten-Ra.
The pharaoh believed he was Aten-Ra’s messenger on Earth. The only way people could reach the god was through him.
Amenhotep got rid of all the priests who served other gods. Money from their temples now went to Aten-Ra. Amenhotep changed his name (to Akhenaten). His new name meant “servant of Aten.” Nefertiti changed her name, too (scientists believe to Nefernefruaten). This new name meant “fair is the goddess of Aten.”
The royal family moved from the city of Thebes. A new capital was built. It was called Amarna. This was where Tut spent his childhood. He grew up learning the new beliefs.
The city of Amarna spread for eight miles on either side of the Nile. Here again, Amenhotep did something different.
Usually the land west of the river was where the dead were buried. Why? Because the sun sets in the west every evening. Just as sunset brings an end to the day, death brings an end to life. So the dead were buried in the western lands. But Amenhotep decided to do the opposite in the new city. A cemetery9 was built east of the river. The west side of Amarna was where people lived. New homes and palaces were built as well as new temples, all to Aten-Ra.
Before this, temples had long halls that led to dark inner-rooms. This was where the priests would pray. The new temples to Aten-Ra were open-air buildings that let in the divine light of the sun.
The pharaoh also wanted to change the style of paintings. The old style had many rules for artists to follow. A person was always shown from the side. A head was always shown in profile, with one eye looking straight at the viewer. A person’s face always looked young and perfect. No wrinkles or gray hair! Both shoulders always faced front, but the torso had to be shown in profile. One leg was always placed directly in front of the other. The paintings were often very beautiful, but the people in them never looked natural or three-dimensional.
Why were there so many rules for artists? The ancient Egyptians believed that a painting of a dead person could come to life. So it needed to include all the different parts of the body. An arm or a leg couldn’t be left out. And the person would want to look the way he or she did when young and healthy, not when old or sick.
But Amenhotep decided to change the rules. He wanted to be portrayed10 as he really looked, with his long head and narrow eyes.
He also wanted paintings of people to seem more natural. Not so formal. One painting shows Amenhotep and his wife playing fondly with three of their six little daughters. Never before had anything like this been shown.
The changes, however, did not last. They were stopped soon after Amenhotep’s death. (He was the pharaoh for about sixteen years.) The new city of Amarna was soon deserted11. The old customs were brought back.
It must have been a very confusing time for the whole country. Just when people were getting used to all the changes, they were told to forget them. Even if Tut had already been a grown man, it would have been a difficult time to become pharaoh.
The eye ofHorus wards12 off evil.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 hips f8c80f9a170ee6ab52ed1e87054f32d4     
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的
参考例句:
  • She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
  • They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 bust WszzB     
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部
参考例句:
  • I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
  • She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。
3 adviser HznziU     
n.劝告者,顾问
参考例句:
  • They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
  • Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。
4 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
5 erase woMxN     
v.擦掉;消除某事物的痕迹
参考例句:
  • He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
  • Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。
6 cemeteries 4418ae69fd74a98b3e6957ca2df1f686     
n.(非教堂的)墓地,公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里,邻近墓地的地方,时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句
7 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
参考例句:
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
8 hawk NeKxY     
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员
参考例句:
  • The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
  • The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。
9 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场
参考例句:
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
10 portrayed a75f5b1487928c9f7f165b2773c13036     
v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 );描述;描绘;描画
参考例句:
  • Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中,他始终把自己说成是受害者。
  • The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
11 deserted GukzoL     
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
参考例句:
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
12 wards 90fafe3a7d04ee1c17239fa2d768f8fc     
区( ward的名词复数 ); 病房; 受监护的未成年者; 被人照顾或控制的状态
参考例句:
  • This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
  • It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区,下设三个分区。
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