In fact, his form was quite feminine, which has puzzled experts for years. And he seemed to have a head shaped like an egg.

Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He presented his findings at an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh’s body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Braverman believes. And Akhenaten’s head was misshapen because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age.

The pharaoh had “an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male, and he was fertile, and he had six daughters,” Braverman said before the presentation. “But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique.”

Braverman is accustomed to sizing up the health of individuals based on portraits. He teaches a class at Yale’s medical school that uses paintings from the university’s Center for British Art to teach observation skills to first-year students. For his study of Akhenaten, the professor used statues and carvings.

Akhenaten, best known for introducing a revolutionary form of monotheism to ancient Egypt, reigned in the mid-1300s B.C. He was married to Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut, may have been his son or half brother.

Egyptologist and archaeologist Donald B. Redford, who also spoke at the conference, said afterward that he still supports the competing theory that Akhenaten had Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by lengthened features, including fingers and the face.

However, Redford said he believed the pharaoh may have suffered from multiple conditions.

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