Relative History

"Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it."
- Oscar Wilde

History seems absolute, like time, a quantity that has expressed itself in the way our civilization has evolved and progressed. In actuality, history belongs to the victors of specific times and struggles. Simply put, the events that occur are always open to interpretation and they often are interpreted - by the people in power at that time. As such, much of our current consensus of history is nothing but relative history based on what is assumed to be the correct version of the facts. But, one has to wonder exactly how one can be certain what we are told is really what has happened many, many ages ago. Archeology is a fascinating science that seeks to uncover the actual history of time, the events that occured in the past that shaped man's destiny. Oftentimes, what's discovered is that history was deliberately re-written by one group upon the death of another group. Thus, people are always making history but only the kings and queens get to write it. A fine example of this premise is found in the Egyptian royalty. Where archeologists have congregated for much time, they have made many intriguing discoveries. One of the most recent and controversial potential "rewritings" was featured on Discovery Channel in a documentary entitled Nefertiti Resurrected . This documentary opens the door to some of the most fascinating speculations of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty. Nefertiti was the wife and co-regent of Akhenaten. Akhenaten overthrew the polytheistic religion in favor of a monotheistic worship of the sun god, Aten. This angered the priests and much of the country began to fall apart. Akhenaten further defied tradition by allowing his wife, Nefertiti, to rule as co-regent before his death. After his death, it is said Nefertiti disappeared and another supposedly male regent took the position as Pharaoh, however feminine in appearance. Many claim that this male regent was actually Nefertiti in disguise since there was no record of whatever happened to her. Dr. Joann Fletcher now claims she knows what happened to Nefertiti and if true, it would pose some interesting re-writes of history as a woman who wielded power as Pharoah, much like Hapshetsut did. Also, like Queen Hapshetsut, her memory was reviled, her history deliberately erased by the males who came after her. Her proof is in a mummy discovered in a very unregal tomb which holds a woman whose right arm was bent as a Pharoah would and who bears the striking resemblance to the famous bust of Nefertiti. This story alone is amazing, but then comes the story of how possibly, the stories of Akhenaten and Moses have entertwined together - two monotheists that tried to convert people to the worship of one God. Coincidence? Or were Moses and Akenaten familiar with each other? Everyone is familiar with the story of Moses, the child swept by the Nile into the arms of an Egyptian Princess. But, if Moses did indeed live in the Egyptian palaces and was considered a "Prince of Egypt" why do we not know which one he was? That was because he changed his name, as written in the Bible. He changed it to Moses. Interestingly enough, Moses is short for Thutmoses, the names of several rulers around the time of Hatshepsut. Although scholars had assumed the identity of the Pharoah was Ramses, in fact, the Bible does not name the ruler of the time of Moses. It merely claims it was during the time of the building of the City of Ramses. So, is it possible the princess who picked up Moses from the Nile was none other than Hapshetsut? If so, then her adopted son (offspring by the god Amen), Thutmoses II, would have been Moses! So, here we have a possible scenario where history was written by two parties: the Egyptians and the Hebrews. The Egyptians took great pains to erase the memory of Hapshetsut and Thutmoses II, destroying temples and buildings and defacing inscriptions. Is it possible this was the sin so grievous that Thutmoses III hated Hatshepsut for? Read more about the interesting corrleations between Moses and the Egyptians at The Hidden Moses. This would explain how Akhenaten (whose contemporaries were not supposed to be monotheists) suddenly became a convert. It would also explain how Akhenaton had seventeen versus writtin in a song to his new god that correspond directly to Psalm 104. Some people even speculate that Moses was Akhenaten but the age of each and the timing of the Bible stories appears to contradict this idea. It is probably safe to say however that they did indeed know each other. Knowing this, it is interesting that Nefertiti may have been murdered and her legacy tampered with for the same crime as Hapshetsut- taking the role of Pharoah and also allowing a foreign element into the Divine Rulers of Egypt. This just goes to show that for every side there are at least two stories and many of them are still waiting to be told.               Copyright © 1999-2003 Claire Moylan