The face of the Egyptian pharaoh was deified when he died

Cicero Morares, a Brazilian 3D designer specializing in portrait reconstruction, created the image of pharaoh Amenhotep I through combining many faces created from a series of methods, Sun reported on September 26. Amenhotep I, the second king of the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, died 3,500 years ago at the age of about 35 before being embalmed. He was the first pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings, the resting place of most pharaohs of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties. Amenhotep I was worshiped as a god after his death, mainly because of his brought Egypt into a period of peace and prosperity during his reign.

One method Morares used involved distributing soft tissue thickness markers across the pharaoh’s skull, based on computed tomography (CT) data from the donor. The other technique he applied was called anatomical deformation, in which a digitally reconstructed model of a donor’s head was adjusted until it matched the pharaoh’s skull.

Morares conducted a reconstruction with CT images of Amenhotep I’s skull taken in 2021. Research by paleoradiologist Sahar N. Saleem at Cairo University and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass helped “unwrap” the mummy. digital pharaoh, revealing many details about his appearance, bone structure and some of his preserved internal organs, including his heart and brain.

Scans do not reveal the cause of Amenhotep I’s death, but researchers estimate the age of death to be 35 and that the pharaoh had many injuries after death that could have been caused by tomb robbers or by an embalmer. his body later, according to archaeologist Michael Habicht at Flinders University in Australia. Amenhotep I was about 1.7 meters tall, his teeth were in good condition and he had curly hair.

Comparing the data with all the estimates, Morares’ team created busts and completed the portraits with historical costumes. Morares noticed that the reconstructed face did not match the god depicted on the statues. “Many pharaohs like Amenhotep had a receding chin or a deep bite. This is not reflected in the statue. In general, the statue of Amenhotep I matches the reconstruction in terms of the nose, but the forehead between the eyebrows is more elegant and the chin protrudes more,” Morares commented.

Amenhotep I was the son of King Ahmose I and when his father died, Amenhotep I succeeded him at Thebes, when he was still a child. He ruled from about 1525 – 1506 BC. Amenhotep I was deified after his death and became the patron god of the village he founded at Deir el-Medina.