King Tut's man-boobs may give clue to cause of death
QMI AGENCY
FIRST POSTED: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 02:56 PM EDT | UPDATED: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 03:09 PM EDT
A worker passes in front of a large mock funerary mask of King Tutankhamun at the booth of Egypt prior to the upcoming international tourism industry fair (ITB) in Berlin March 7, 2011. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch)
King Tutankhamun's large breasts and wide hips may provide a clue to his untimely, mysterious death from a genetic disease that could cause feminine features, a medical expert says.
The latest theory into the ancient boy king's sudden death at 19 comes after numerous others, including murder, tuberculosis and a snake bite.
Hutan Ashrafian, a surgeon at the Imperial College in London, told the Washington Post and New Scientist that the Egyptian pharaoh may have suffered from a genetically inherited disorder as his predecessors also died young with feminine bodies.
He believes Tut and his family could have suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy as the disease can cause the brain to alter hormones responsible for sexual development and could explain the king's large breasts.
Epilepsy could also be to blame for causing hallucinations as Tut and a relative are believed to have had religious visions, Ashrafian said.
The mystery remains, however, as there's no definitive genetic test for epilepsy, experts told the Post.
Tut's mummified body and his elaborate tomb -- considered the most significant archeological discovery of the century -- was discovered in 1922.
