Editing Akhenaten (section)

===Possible illness===

[[File:Hieratic inscription on a pottery fragment. It records year 17 of Akhenaten's reign and reference to wine of the house of Aten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Hieratic inscription on a pottery fragment. It records year 17 of Akhenaten's reign and references wine of the house of Aten. From Amarna, Egypt. Petrie Museum, London.]]
[[File:Limestone trial piece of a king, probably Akhenaten, and a smaller head of uncertain gender. From Amarna, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Limestone trial piece of a king, probably Akhenaten, and a smaller head of uncertain gender. From Amarna, Egypt – 18th Dynasty. Petrie Museum, London.]]

The unconventional portrayals of Akhenaten—different from the traditional athletic norm in the portrayal of pharaohs—have led Egyptologists in the 19th and 20th centuries to suppose that Akhenaten had some kind of genetic abnormality.{{sfn|Takács|Cline|2015|pp=5–6}} Various illnesses have been put forward, with [[adiposogenital dystrophy|Fröhlich's syndrome]] or [[Marfan syndrome]] being mentioned most commonly.{{sfn|Ridley|2019|p=87}}

[[Cyril Aldred]],{{sfn|Aldred|1991}} following up earlier arguments of [[Grafton Elliot Smith]]{{sfn|Smith|1923|pp=83–88}} and [[James Strachey]],{{sfn|Strachey|1939}} suggested that Akhenaten may have had Fröhlich's syndrome on the basis of his long jaw and his feminine appearance. However, this is unlikely, because this disorder results in [[infertility|sterility]] and Akhenaten is known to have fathered numerous children. His children are repeatedly portrayed through years of archaeological and iconographic evidence.{{sfn|Hawass|2010}}

Burridge{{sfn|Burridge|1995}} suggested that Akhenaten may have had Marfan syndrome, which, unlike Fröhlich's, does not result in mental impairment or sterility. People with Marfan syndrome tend towards tallness, with a long, thin face, elongated skull, overgrown ribs, a funnel or pigeon chest, a high curved or slightly cleft palate, and larger pelvis, with enlarged thighs and spindly calves, symptoms that appear in some depictions of Akhenaten.{{sfn|Lorenz|2010}} Marfan syndrome is a dominant characteristic, which means those affected have a 50% chance of passing it on to their children.{{sfn|National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences|2017}} However, DNA tests on Tutankhamun in 2010 proved negative for Marfan syndrome.{{sfn|Schemm|2010}}

By the early 21st century, most Egyptologists argued that Akhenaten's portrayals are not the results of a genetic or medical condition, but rather should be interpreted as stylized portrayals influenced by Atenism.{{sfn|Reeves|2019|pp=154–155}}{{sfn|Montserrat|2003}} Akhenaten was made to look androgynous in artwork as a symbol of the androgyny of the Aten.{{sfn|Montserrat|2003}}