Egyptian pharaohs made a standard practice of defacement. As each Pharaoh was a living god, any previous pharaoh whose beliefs countered theirs was considered a threat to their godhood. As a result, any images statues and the like were deliberately defaced or destroyed in order to rewrite a history more glorifying to the present ruler. A good example of this is from the reign of Tutankhamen's father Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. They rejected the idea of multiple gods and led Egypt to the worship of one god the Aten in 1350-1334 B.C. After their deaths and Tutankhamen came to power as a boy the old ways were restored, and as time passed much evidence of his father's rule was destroyed.

De*face"ment (?), n.

1.

The act of defacing, or the condition of being defaced; injury to the surface or exterior; obliteration.

2.

That which mars or disfigures.

Bacon.

 

© Webster 1913.

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