Archaeology & History

Egyptian pharaoh may be first known 'giant'

By T.K. Randall
August 7, 2017

Image: The Mortuary Complex of Menkaure, Egypt
Credit: Noureddin Abdulbari / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Tales of giants have been cropping up in cultures all across the world for thousands of years, but now a new study has revealed what is perhaps the earliest known true giant - a pharaoh in ancient Egypt known as Sa-Nakht who stood 6ft tall, a size that at the time would have been truly monstrous.

First discovered at a tomb in Beit Khallaf in 1901, the skeleton of this ancient ruler has since been dated back around 4,700 years to the Third Dynasty of Egypt.A recent analysis of his bones has revealed evidence of gigantism - a condition responsible for abnormal, runaway growth, most often caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland.

This makes Sa-Nakht the earliest known case of this disease and the first known true 'giant'.

"Studying the evolutionary development of diseases is of importance for today's medicine," said study co-author Michael Habicht from the University of Zurich's Institute of Evolutionary Medicine.

Source: Live Science

Tags: Egypt, Giant