Genetic Abnormalities in Ancient Egyptian Royal Families
Genetic Abnormalities in Ancient Egyptian Royal Families
It seems that throughout history, the words royalty and incest have gone hand in hand. Familial interbreeding occurred throughout a significant number of royal lines, including the British, Hawaiian, and Japanese thrones. However, none of these families, nor any other royal family for that matter, can match the profound rate at which the Egyptians practiced incest. Ancient Egyptian royal marriages were almost exclusively restricted to relatives, with very few exceptions. This practice originated from the belief that in many cases, Gods bred with their sisters or brothers, and since royals were the direct descendents of the Gods, they must practice incest as well. Since the pharaonic bloodline ran through the females, males born to royal families must marry female relatives to assume the position of pharaoh. This, in many cases, included marrying a half or even full blood sibling. Females of royal descent were prohibited from marrying down; this meant they must stay within their own royal bloodline. This caused out of control interfamilial breeding among the royals. This also meant many children born to parents of similar genetics. Today, we understand the medical repercussions of bearing children to two closely related people, and the genetic abnormalities that may ensue. Although many believe the taboo that children produced by closely related people are always sickly, or must have a genetic default of some sort, this is just not the case. Perfectly healthy children can be born to an incestuous situation, and in fact, most are perfectly healthy. The problem arises with repetitive inbreeding over hundreds of years, similar to the Egyptian royal line. This constant inbreeding allows normally recessive alleles to be expressed. These atypical recessive genes are for the most part masked by normal, dominant genes in the rest of the population where natural selection is occurring through non-related
It seems that throughout history, the words royalty and incest have gone hand in hand. Familial interbreeding occurred throughout a significant number of royal lines, including the British, Hawaiian, and Japanese thrones. However, none of these families, nor any other royal family for that matter, can match the profound rate at which the Egyptians practiced incest. Ancient Egyptian royal marriages were almost exclusively restricted to relatives, with very few exceptions. This practice originated from the belief that in many cases, Gods bred with their sisters or brothers, and since royals were the direct descendents of the Gods, they must practice incest as well. Since the pharaonic bloodline ran through the females, males born to royal families must marry female relatives to assume the position of pharaoh. This, in many cases, included marrying a half or even full blood sibling. Females of royal descent were prohibited from marrying down; this meant they must stay within their own royal bloodline. This caused out of control interfamilial breeding among the royals. This also meant many children born to parents of similar genetics. Today, we understand the medical repercussions of bearing children to two closely related people, and the genetic abnormalities that may ensue. Although many believe the taboo that children produced by closely related people are always sickly, or must have a genetic default of some sort, this is just not the case. Perfectly healthy children can be born to an incestuous situation, and in fact, most are perfectly healthy. The problem arises with repetitive inbreeding over hundreds of years, similar to the Egyptian royal line. This constant inbreeding allows normally recessive alleles to be expressed. These atypical recessive genes are for the most part masked by normal, dominant genes in the rest of the population where natural selection is occurring through non-related
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