King Tutankhamen: The Mysterious Pharaoh of Egypt
King Tutankhamen was not an important pharaoh, or a successful one.
However, he is the most famous pharaoh, thanks to the incredible and exciting discovery
of his tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 1. The young pharaohs tomb
may not have been the biggest, most elaborate tomb, but he and his family had at their
command the wealth of the greatest period of Egyptian history 2. King Tutankhamens
fame today is due to his tomb and what was found in it. It was the only Egyptian tomb of
a pharaoh with most of its contents intact, found in history 3.
King Tutankhamen was born over 3,000 years ago. No exact date is known 4.
Tutankhamen was believed to be born in Malkata, a place in Southern, Egypt 5. To this
day the true parentage of Tutankhamen is unknown 6. Most historians believe that
Tutankhamen is the son of the old pharaoh, Amenhotep III and his chief wife Queen
Tiye7. Because his parentage remains a mystery, it is very possible that he could even be
the blood of a common towns person 8.
King Tutankhamen, only nine years old, was
crowned as pharaoh in 1336 BC in Memphis 9. He was still a child when he was pharaoh
and thus King Tut still carried out normal childhood events while he was pharaoh. King
Tutankhamen began school at four years of age as did other well-born Egyptian children.
He learned to read and write. King Tutankhamen was a very good writer and a great
quantity of scribal equipment was found placed in his tomb 10. He was a good pupil and
graduated with honors 11.
As a pharaoh, King Tutankhamen had a great diet. The
contents of his tomb reflected a diet of breads and cakes made of barley and wheat,
seasoned with spices and sweetened with honey. Dates, figs, grapes, almonds, and fruit
of palm were considered desserts. He possibly could have snacked on watermelon seeds;
eleven baskets were found when his tomb was excavated. he drank wine at mostly every
meal and was amply supplied with thirty large jars of vintage wine for his afterlife 12.
Tutankhamen practiced many activities in his spare time also. King Tut indulged in
riding in his chariots, fishing, archery, and swimming 13. Hunting was a true love for
King Tutankhamen. He hunted antelopes, waterfowl, hare, gazelle, ibex, ostriches, and
even the powerful dangerous hippopotamus 14. King Tutankhamen had numerous dogs
that he loved to play with while he was relaxing in the palace 15.
King Tutankhamen
could have possibly collected walking sticks also. One hundred thirty walking sticks
were found in his tomb. They were decorated with ebony, ivory, silver, and gold. The
use of boomerangs as a spare time activity is also suggested because several of these were
also found in his tomb 16.
King Tut was also entertained by playing senet, an ancient
Clothing was a very important thing in King Tutankhamens time. The dressing
of a pharaoh was a very big ritual event that was carried out in front of favored courtiers.
Tutankhamen was well equipped for this event. Many of his clothing items were placed
in his tomb with him when he was buried.
Clothing, sandals, necklaces, jewels, a pair of
mirror boxes, and a life-size mannequin were all found in his tomb. The mannequin was
cut off at the elbows and above the hips. It was the same size as Tutankhamen and was
probably used to display options he had for robes and elaborate jeweled collars. King Tut
usually wore his customary knee length kilt with a triangular loin cloth tied around his
waist underneath it. Occasionally King Tutankhamen wore undershirts which were
adorned with embroidery around the neckline.
These simple garments represented a
significant investment of labor. Some of his undershirts are estimated to have taken three
thousand hours to complete. Many cosmetic cases were found in King Tutankhamens
tomb also. This suggested that he wore makeup along with a lot of other Egyptians. The
main feature he enhanced with makeup was his eyes. Everyday he outlined his eyes in
kohl, a paste of ground malachite mixed with liquid.
This created a dark liquid to define
his eyes, resembling the eyeliner of today 18.Tutankhamen married his half sister, Ankhesenamun soon after his crowning of
pharaoh. This marriage was an attempt to make King Tut more capable of ruling Egypt
in the public eye 19.Although, they did not have any children together, two female
fetuses were found buried next to Tutankhamen.
These are believed to be their stillborn
Tutankhamen was worshipped as a living god, having immense power and wealth,
like all the other pharaohs of ancient Egypt. He had numerous responsibilities also. He
had the responsibility of building monuments that would please the gods, he had to
perform ceremonies to ensure fertile land for the growing season, and he had to make
offerings to gain the gods favor for Egypt. King Tutankhamen also made all of the laws
was the commander-in-chief of the army. Along with all of his other duties, King
Tutankhamen also had to rebuild Egypt after the horrible rule of Akhenaton. He did all
of this while being in his early teenage years 21.
Tutankhamen had official guides to generally guide him in the affairs of the state
because he was a child pharaoh. Tutankhamen had two official guides, Aye and
Horemheb, who were both court officials. Aye was of higher ranking than Horemheb 22.
A lot of Tutankhamens brief reign was spent rebuilding and restoring Egypt to what it
was before Akhenaton reigned 23. Akhenaton, during his rule, abolished Egypts main
religion, which was polytheism. Akhenaton proclaimed Aten as the one and only god.
He forced people to abandon their other gods and convert to monotheism. Tutankhamen,
during his reign, brought back the old religion and changed the country back to their old
ways 24. Tutankhamens changes in religions greatly pleased the priests and the general
public of the ancient faith. Tutankhamen also enlarged and improved the temples of gods
25. King Tuts restoration policies had a positive effect on all of Egypt.
Under his
leadership the country grew stronger then before and the people of the country profited
26. Tutankhamens reign was a very successful one, considering how short his rule
lasted. Tutankhamens rule was very brief. His rule began when he was approximately
nine years old and ended when he had an unexpected death at the age of eighteen 27.The unexpected death of King Tutankhamen happened when he was eighteen. To
this day no one knows for sure why or how he died.
Historians have created two major
theories that explain the cause of King Tutankhamens mysterious death 28. Some
scholars believe that King Tut inherited the physical frailty that plagued many Egyptian
royals of the time and died from tuberculosis 29. Although, a modern autopsy was
performed in the 1920s when king Tuts mummy was found. His skull had a wound
caused by a forceful blow or fall 30. With this knowledge of an injury to the head, King
Tutankhamens death could have been an accident or a murder. When King Tut reached
the age of eighteen he was able to make decisions on his own and rule Egypt without the
help of his advisors Aye and Horemheb.
Some historians believe that the powers behind
the throne did not want this and therefore murdered the boy king 31. Aye is the historians
main suspect in the murder of King Tut. Aye was ranked above Horemheb, therefore,
Aye would be the next king if King Tut died childless. King Tut died childless, leaving
Aye to rule the throne 32. No matter how or why King Tutankhamen died, he did and in a
The discovery of King Tutankhamen was very exciting . It is one of the most
famous discoveries in the whole world.
The discovery took place over 3,000 years after
King Tutankhamen died. In November of 1922, Lord Carnarvon funded an expedition to
the Valley of the Kings. The British archaeologist, Howard Carter, led the group 33.
Lord Carnarvon had already been searching for King Tutankhamens tomb for seven
years. Britain had owned Egypt for many years, but now the native population wanted its
freedom.
This revolt made Lord Carnarvon very uneasy and so he decided that this
would be the last digging season to look for King Tutankhamens tomb 34. Howard
Carter had been digging in the Valley of Kings since 1903 and made few important
discoveries. He was beginning to believe that there was nothing left to find. Then on
November 4, 1922 the beginning of the staircase to King Tutankhamens tomb was found
35. The two archaeologists kept digging and on November 26, 1922 Howard Carter and
Lord Carnarvon entered the tomb 36. When they entered they realized that King
Tutankhamens tomb was not made for a pharaoh at all.
When a pharaoh is crowned their
tomb is started, but because the tombs are so elaborate for the kings it takes many years to
complete them. Because King Tutankhamen died so shortly after he became pharaoh, his
tomb was not ready. Aye was the man who arranged King Tutankhamens funeral. Aye
put King Tutankhamen in a tomb made for a nobleman instead 37. When Carter and
Carnarvon discovered the tomb King Tutankhamens mummy lay within many shrines
and coffins. The first layer that was opened was the outer shrine.
The pall frame was
opened next. After these the second and third shrine were opened. Inside the third shrine
lay the inner shrine. Lastly, laying inside the inner shrine was the sarcophagus.
The
sarcophagus is where King Tutankhamens coffin laid. It was carved from a single block
of the hardest quartzite. The sarcophagus was a golden-yellow color and was elaborately
painted and engraved with pictures and Hieroglyphics. All of the shrines were painted
and carved but the sarcophagus was the most elaborate. The sarcophagus was opened up
to find three coffins inside one another. these coffins fit together like Russian dolls.
The
lid of each coffin was modeled to look like the dead pharaoh, Osiris. He was wearing a
broad collar and wristlets. His arms were crossed across his chest to clutch the symbols
of kingship, the crook and the flail. Each coffin was elaborately designed and plaited in
gold 38. King Tutankhamens face was covered by a stupendous mask covered in gold
and elaborate decor on the innermost coffin. This coffin is made of 22 carat gold and
weighs 296 pounds.
It is estimated to be worth 1.5 million dollars 39. For an Egyptian
pharaoh. death was just an unfortunate crossing point between tow lives. 40 After his
human death, Tutankhamens life and his position as pharaoh would carryon in his
afterlife. His tomb was filled with the numerous items a pharaoh would need in the
afterlife 41.
When discovered, King Tutankhamens tomb contained over 5,000 treasures.
The most famous of these was the cornelian and gold mask worn by his mummy 42.Carnarvon and his men began to prepare for the removal of King Tutankhamens coffin
and objects in the tomb. They got packing crates and boxes ready 43.
When it came time
to go into the tomb and excavate the coffin Carnarvon became very ill. Twelve days later
he died 44. This was just the beginning of the well-known Curse of Tutankhamen.
Rumors began to spread rapidly about the curse and that death would overcome anyone
who disturbed the eternal rest of the pharaoh. people connected with the tomb began to
drop off in rapid succession. Georges Benedite, the head of the Department of Egyptian
Anquities at Louvre Museum in Paris, died shortly after Carnarvon.
A.C. Mace, a
member of the Carnarvon-Carter expedition, died shortly after Benedite 45. The
pharaohs curse was being blamed for all of these deaths. Over twenty consecutive
deaths were considered by some to be the revenge of Tutankhamen.
Public chaos led to
investigation of written curses which might have been written on Egyptian artifacts. No
curse has ever been found on any Egyptian artifacts. Although, even today the legend of
the curse has not been forgotten 46. The discovery of King Tutankhamens tomb greatly
supplemented our knowledge of Ancient Egyptian art and culture. At the same time it
created a world-wide interest for all Egyptian things 47.
Bibliography:
Endnotes
1Pemberton, Jeremy & Putnam, James.
Amazing Facts About Ancient Egypt. p 7.
2Editors of Time-Life Books. Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs p.34
3Tuts Legacy, http://www.
norfacad.pvt.k12.va.
us/project/tut/tut6.htm
4Landau, Elaine. The Curse of Tutankhamen, p.10.
5Tutankhamens Interests, http://www.
norfacad.pvt.k12.va.
us/project/tut/tut3.htm
6Tutankhamens Early Life, http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.
us/project/tut/tut2.htm
7Ibid. Tutankhamens Early Life,
http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.
va.us/project/tut/tut2.htm
8Landau, Elaine. The Curse of Tutankhamen, p. 10.
9Murdoch, David. Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh p. 42.
10Editors of Time-Life Books. Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs p. 152.
11Tutankhamens Interests, http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.
va.us/project/tut/tut3.htm
12Editors of Time-Life Books. Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs p.
149.13Tutankhamens Interests, http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.
va.us/project/tut/tut3.htm
14Ibid. Tutankhamens Interests,
http://www.norfacad.
pvt.k12.va.us/project/tut/tut3.htm
15Tutankhamens Interests, http://www.norfacad.
pvt.k12.va.us/project/tut/tut3.
htm
16Editors of Time-Life Books. Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs p. 152.17Tutankhamens Interests, http://www.norfacad.pvt.
k12.va.us/project/tut/tut3.htm.
18Editors of Time-Life Books.
Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs p. 154.19Tutankhamens Early Life, http://www.norfacad.
pvt.k12.va.us/project/tut/tut2.
htm
20Murdoch, David. Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh p. 42.21Ibid. Murdoch, David. Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh p.
40.22Landau, Elaine. The Curse of Tutankhamen, p. 12.23Ibid. p.
12.V 5 Landau, Elaine. The Curse of Tutankhamen, p.12)
24Ibid. V p.
12.25Ibid. V p.12.
26Netzley, Patricia D. The Curse of King Tut, p. 12.27Landau, Elaine. The Curse of Tutankhamen, p.
12.28Tutankhamens Death., http://www.norfacad.
pvt.k12.va.us/project/tut/tut5.
htm
29Landau, Elaine. The Curse of Tutankhamen, p. 12
30Eschle, Lou. The Curse of Tutankhamen p.
10.31Eschle, Lou. The Curse of Tutankhamen p. 10.32Netzley, Patricia D. The Curse of King Tut p.
14.33Eschle, Lou. The Curse of Tutankhamen p. 7.
34Ibid. IV p7.35Ibid. IV p8)
36Ibid. IV p12)
37Pemberton, Jeremy & Putnam, James.
Amazing Facts About Ancient Egypt. p. 8.38Reeves, Nicholas. The Complete Tutnakhamen, p. 100-110.
39Pemberton, Jeremy & Putnam, James. Amazing Facts About Ancient Egypt p.8.40Murdoch, David. Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh p. 32.
41Ibid. Murdoch, David. Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh p. 32.
42Tuts Legacy, http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.
us/project/tut/tut6.htm
43Eschle, Lou. The Curse of Tutankhamen p. 15.44Ibid. p16.
45Green, Robert. Tutankhamen, p. 56.46Ibid. p.58
.47Tuts Legacy, http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.us/project/tut/tut6.htm
