Sanakht is listed as the "third or fourth" pharaoh of the III dynasty of Ancient Egypt, and little is known about his personality. Now archaeologists have reason to believe that he could be the most ancient known "giants".
Myths and legends abound with stories of giants and titans, from Scandinavian legends to ancient Greek ones. However, not all giants were just fiction. Faster growth - a condition known as gigantism - can occur when the body produces too much growth hormone. This usually happens with a tumor in the pituitary gland in the brain, Live Science reports.
Scientists examined a mummy found in 1901 in a tomb near Beit Hallaf in Egypt. Previous analyzes have shown that the burial belongs to the third dynasty of Egypt, which ruled around 2700 BC. e.
The remains belonged to Pharaoh Sanakht. His height was outstanding at that time - 198 cm - with an average height for the ancient Egyptians, which barely reached 170 cm.
Probably, the ancient Egyptian pharaohs ate better and were much healthier than their subjects, so it is not surprising that their growth was much larger. However, Sanakht was much taller than Ramses II (175 cm).
Therefore, scientists reanalyzed Sanakht's skull and bones, finding that he suffered from gigantism. Sanakht unexpectedly turned out to be the oldest known "giants" and hinted to scientists about the possibility of studying the evolution of diseases.