For example, the figures of two aspirants to the throne who could change the course of Ancient Egypt:
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that of the generalissimo Nakhtmín, who after the death of Tutankhamun, the child pharaoh, and his immediate successor Ay, competed with the future king Horemheb, with whom Curiously, he shared the highest military rank; or that of Prince Tuthmosis, son of Amenhotep III, the "pacifist", whose premature death caused a dynastic crisis and made Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten monarch, who would impose a monotheistic religion, disrupting Egyptian society and civilization and altering the international balance. .
Padró also collects the theories that have identified this last pharaoh with Moses, which are based on the appearance of the cult of a single god in Egypt and Israel on similar dates; a debate between biblical scholars and Egyptologists in which Freud even got involved, but in which the Catalan researcher prefers to remain "eclectic": "Akhenaten is an erased historical figure [later pharaohs applied damnatio memoriae to his reign], and only rescued by archaeology. Moses, on the other hand, is a mere figure of memory, without historical evidence of his real existence.
Egyptian civilization is surprising not only for the monumental vestiges that have survived to this day, but also for its beliefs and certain pre-democratic foundations: divorce was allowed, the two members of the marriage were equal before the law and they disposed of their property with independence from each other, slavery was residual... "The one who has most negatively influenced Ancient Egypt is Hollywood, with its films of slaves building the pyramids. There are recent documents that narrate what the work of the workers was like during the construction of the first Great Pyramid of Cheops: they were hired, they did their work and the State paid them and fed them," says Padró.
Monogamy vs incest
In fact, the Catalan Egyptologist highlights that "Pharaonic Egypt was the most humane and bloodless State of the ancient Mediterranean." And he justifies it by putting the measuring stick on art: "There are representations of battles but not scenes of cruelty or torture like those of other peoples such as the Sumerians, Assyrians or Hittites." Although the correction was perverted on certain occasions. Padró summarizes two assassinations well documented by primary sources—those of Amenemes I (c. 1991-1962 BC) and Ramses III (1184-1153 BC), whose mummy had a gash in the trachea identified in 2012—although the conspirators They were unable to elevate their candidate to the throne.
Just a couple of pharaohs killed during the Three Thousand Year Empire. In Ancient Rome, in just four centuries, more than twenty emperors fell dead due to unnatural causes. Of course, killing a king was like attacking a god: they were deified; and precisely that exempted them from the chastity demanded of the people. This society was monogamous and considered adultery a sin, but monarchs could not only have several wives, but also practice incest - something evident considering that the gods were married to their sisters. There was also prostitution, which was a socially accepted activity, and homosexuality, tolerated but frowned upon.