Tomb Raiders, Meet Rump Raiders

Boy-on-boy action really isn’t anything new, you know. Your dad’s football team did it, so did Granddad’s Civil War buddies, and hey — now the New York Times is suggesting that ancient Egyptians not only counted gay men among them, they sent them into the afterlife in high fashion.

Monday’s edition tells the story of a tomb unearthed in 1964 that’s been controversial from that day. Though it didn’t contain jewels like the royal tombs of Tutankhamen, the tomb has elaborate art. And on the tomb’s walls is a painted pictograph of two men embracing. The men—Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, says the inscription—were the chief manicurists to the king.

Then as it is now, doing the royal mani-pedi was an occupation reserved for honorable men (and today, Vietnamese women). Even more interesting, the men appeared to be nose-kissing—kind of the “drop it like it’s hot” of the day. Were they friends, conjoined twins or lovers? The Egyptology community can’t seem to get it straight. And for all eternity, neither could these boys.

A Mystery, Locked in Timeless Embrace: NYTimes [Free Subscription Required]

Egyptology.com