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Tutankhamen
Reigned 1361-1352 B.C.
Tutankhamen, the twelfth King of the Eighteenth Egyptian
Dynasty, became the most famous of the Pharaohs when his
treasure-filled tomb was discovered in the 20th century.
The
parentage of Tutankhamen is unknown. When he became king, he was
only a child, for although he reigned 8 full years, examination
of his body showed that he was little more than 18 years old at
the time of his death.
Tutankhamen acceded to the throne shortly after the death of
Ikhnaton. He may have owed his accession to his marriage to
Ankhnesamun, the third daughter of Ikhnaton and Nefertiti.
Tutankhamen had originally been named Tutankhaten, but both he
and Ankhnesamun (originally Ankhnespaten) deleted from their
names all reference to the sun disk Aten as soon as they
abandoned Amarna, the city built by Ikhnaton for the sole
worship of Aten. Tutankhamen apparently left the city very early
in his reign, for, with the exception of a few scarabs, no trace
of him has been found at Amarna.
The addition to Tutankhamen's name of the epithet "Ruler of
Southern On" indicates that he regarded Thebes as his principal
city. There can be little doubt that he made every effort to
placate the supporters of the god Amun, and a stele erected near
the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak depicts Tutankhamen
offering to Amun and Mut. The accompanying text refers to the
state of decay into which the temples and shrines of the gods
had fallen during the period of the Atenist heresy. Tutankhamen
had a large peristyle hall at Luxor decorated with reliefs
illustrating the festival of Amen-Re.
Despite the existence of conventional representations of the
Pharaoh slaying his foes, it is doubtful that Tutankhamen
engaged in any serious military operations. There is some
indication that the actual power behind the throne was an
elderly official named Ay, who is depicted on a fragment of gold
leaf with Tutankhamen. On another fragment Ay bears the title of
vizier. He had already posed as a coregent before the death of
Tutankhamen; and as regent Ay is represented undertaking his
obsequies on the walls of the young pharaoh's burial chamber.
Tutankhamen is probably the best-known of the pharaohs owing to
the fortunate discovery of his treasure-filled tomb virtually
intact. His burial place in the Valley of the Kings had escaped
the fate of the tombs of his predecessors. The entrance was
hidden from plunderers by debris heaped over it during the
cutting of the later tomb of Ramses VI.
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Nebkheperure Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-,
-amen, -amon), was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty (ruled
1333 BC – 1324 BC in the conventional chronology), during the
period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His
original name, Tutankhaten, meant "Living Image of Aten", while
Tutankhamun meant "Living Image of Amun". He is possibly also
the Nibhurrereya of the Amarna letters. He was likely the
eighteenth dynasty king 'Rathotis', who according to Manetho, an
ancient historian, had reigned for nine years—a figure which
conforms exactly with Flavius Josephus' generally accurate
version of Manetho's Epitome.
Significance
In historical terms, Tutankhamun is of only moderate
significance, and most of his modern popularity stems from the
fact that his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was discovered
almost completely intact. However, he also is significant as a
figure among those who managed the beginning of the transition
from the heretical Atenism of his predecessors Akhenaten and
perhaps Smenkhkare back to the familiar Egyptian religion. As
Tutankhamun began his reign at age nine, his vizier and eventual
successor Ay was probably making most of the important political
decisions during Tutankhamun's reign. Nonetheless, Tutankhamun
is, in modern times, one of the most famous of the pharaohs, and
the only one to have a nickname in popular culture ("King Tut").
The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun's nearly
intact tomb (subsequently designated KV62) received worldwide
press coverage and sparked a renewed public interest in ancient
Egypt, for which Tutankhamun remains the popular face.
Parentage
Tutankhamun's parentage is uncertain. An inscription calls him a
king's son, but it is not clear which king was meant. Most
scholars think that he was probably a son either of Amenhotep
III (although probably not by his Great Royal Wife Tiye), or
more likely a son of Amenhotep III's son Akhenaten around 1342
BC. However, Professor James Allen argues that Tutankhamun was
more likely to be a son of the short-lived king Smenkhkare
rather than Akhenaten. Allen argues that Akhenaten consciously
chose a female co-regent named Neferneferuaten as his successor
rather than Tutankhamun which would have been unlikely if the
latter had been his son. Tutankhamun was married to
Ankhesenpaaten (possibly his sister), and after the
re-establishment of the traditional Egyptian religion the couple
changed the –aten ending of their names to the –amun ending,
becoming Ankhesenamun and Tutankhamun. They are known to have
had two children, both stillborn girls—whose mummies were
discovered in his tomb. The "boy king" died at the age of
nineteen by reasons still disputed. Some believe that he was
murdered by his advisors, but it is also possible that he died
from injuries suffered in an accident or while at war. He was
buried in the Valley of the Kings, in a small tomb today known
as KV62, that was not intended for a king.
The first theory was that he was a son of Amenhotep III and
Queen Tiye. This theory seems unlikely since Tiye would have
been more than fifty years old at the time of Tutankhamun's
birth. Another theory is that Tutankhamun was the son of
Smenkhkare and Meritaten. This is possible, but not plausible.
Smenkhkare came on the scene when Akhenaten entered year 14 of
his reign and it is thought that during this time Meritaten
married Smenkhkare. So, if Smenkhkare is the father of
Tutankhamun, he would have needed at least a three year reign,
because if it had been shorter, Tutankhamun would have been
barely seven when he came to the throne. However, if there had
been lengthy co-regency between Amenhotep III and Akhenaten,
Amenhotep definitely could be Tutankhamun's father.
The current theory is that he was the son of Akhenaten and his
minor wife Kiya. Queen Kiya's title was "Greatly Beloved Wife of
Akhenaten" so it is possible that she could have borne him an
heir. Supporting this theory, images on the tomb wall in the
tomb of Akhenaten show that a royal fan bearer standing next to
Kiya's death bed, fanning what is either a princess or more
likely a wet nurse holding a baby, which would indicate that the
wet nurse was holding the boy-king-to-be.
Reign
During Tutankhamun's reign, Akhenaten's Amarna revolution (Atenism)
was being reversed. Akhenaten had attempted to supplant the
traditional priesthood and deities with a god who was until then
considered minor, Aten. In Year 3 of Tutankhamun's reign (1331
BC), when he was still a boy of about eleven and probably under
the influence of two older advisors (Akhenaten's vizier Ay and
perhaps Nefertiti), the ban on the old pantheon of deities and
their temples was lifted, the traditional privileges were
restored to their priesthoods, and the capital was moved back to
Thebes. The young pharaoh adopted the name Tutankhamun, changing
it from his birth name Tutankhaten. Because of his age at the
time these decisions were made, it is generally thought that
most if not all the responsibility for them falls on his
advisors. Also, King Tutankhamun restored all of the traditional
deities and restored order to the chaos that his relative had
caused. Many temples devoted to Amun-Ra were built.
Tutankhamun's wooden box depicts him going to war against
Hittites and Nubians suggesting that he may have gone to war in
the last few years of his reign, and perhaps even died from
injuries suffered in the campaign.
Events after his death
A now-famous letter to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I from a
widowed queen of Egypt, asking for one of his sons as a husband,
has been attributed to Ankhesenamun (among others). The royal
lineage of Egypt was carried by its women. Marriage to a woman
of the royal line was essential for a male pharaoh, even if he
came from outside the lineage. Suspicious of this good fortune,
Suppiluliumas I first sent a messenger to make inquiries about
the truth of the young queen's story. After receiving reports
that the situation was as related to Suppiluliuma I, he sent his
son, Zannanza, accepting her offer. However, Zannanza got no
further than the border before he was killed, according to the
Hittite archives. If Ankhesenamun were the queen in question,
and his death a strategic murder, it was probably at the orders
of either Horemheb or Ay, who both had the opportunity and the
motive to kill him.
Cause of death
For a long time the cause of Tutankhamun's death was unknown,
and it is still the root of much speculation. How old was the
king when he died? Did he suffer from any physical
abnormalities? Had he been murdered? Some of these questions
were finally answered in early 2005 when the results of a set of
CT scans on the mummy were released, but many still remain to be
solved.
The body originally was inspected by Howard Carter’s team in the
early 1920s, although they were primarily interested in
recovering the jewellery and amulets from the body. To remove
these objects from the body, which often were stuck fast by the
hardened embalming resins used, Carter's team cut up the mummy
into various pieces: the arms and legs were detached, the torso
cut in half and the head was severed. Hot knives were used to
remove it from the golden mask to which it was cemented by
resin.
Since the body was placed back in its sarcophagus in 1926, the
mummy has subsequently been X-rayed three times: first in 1968
by a group from the University of Liverpool, then in 1978 by a
group from the University of Michigan, and finally in 2005 a
team of Egyptian scientists led by Secretary General of the
Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, who
conducted a CT scan on the mummy.
X-rays of his mummy, which were taken previously, in 1968, had
revealed a dense spot at the lower back of the skull. This had
been interpreted as a subdural hematoma, which would have been
caused by a blow. Such an injury could have been the result of
an accident, but it also had been suggested that the young
pharaoh was murdered. If this were the case, there are a number
of theories as to who was responsible. One popular candidate was
his immediate successor Ay and other candidates included his
wife and chariot-driver. Interestingly, there seem to be signs
of calcification within the supposed injury, which if true,
meant Tutankhamun lived for a fairly extensive period of time
(on the order of several months) after the injury was inflicted.
Much confusion had been caused by a small loose sliver of bone
within the upper cranial cavity, which was discovered from the
same X-ray analysis. Some people have suggested this visible
bone fragment for the supposed head injury. In fact, since
Tutankhamun's brain was removed post mortem in the mummification
process, and considerable quantities of now-hardened resin
introduced into the skull on at least two separate occasions
after that, had the fragment resulted from an injury while he
was alive, some scholars, including the 2005 CT scan team, say
it almost certainly would not still be loose in the cranial
cavity. But other scientists suggested, that the loose sliver of
bone was loosened by the embalmers during mummification, but
that it had been broken before. A blow to the back of the head
(from a fall or an actual blow), is said to have caused the
brain to move forward, hitting the front of the skull, breaking
small pieces of the bone right above the eyes.
Discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb
Tutankhamun seems to have faded from public consciousness in
Ancient Egypt within a short time after his death, and he
remained virtually unknown until the early twentieth century.
His tomb was robbed at least twice in antiquity, but based on
the items taken (including perishable oils and perfumes) and the
evidence of restoration of the tomb after the intrusions, it
seems clear that these robberies took place within several
months at most of the initial burial. Subsequently, the location
of the tomb was lost because it had come to be buried by stone
chips from subsequent tombs, either dumped there or washed there
by floods. In the years that followed, some huts for workers
were built over the tomb entrance, clearly not knowing what lay
beneath. When at the end of the twentieth dynasty the Valley of
the Kings burials were systematically dismantled, the burial of
Tutankhamun was overlooked, presumably because knowledge of it
had been lost and even his name may have been forgotten.
For many years, rumours of a "Curse of the Pharaohs" (probably
fuelled by newspapers seeking sales at the time of the
discovery) persisted, emphasizing the early death of some of
those who had first entered the tomb. However, a recent study of
journals and death records indicates no statistical difference
between the age of death of those who entered the tomb and those
on the expedition who did not. Indeed, most lived past seventy.
Some of the treasures in Tutankhamun's tomb are noted for their
apparent departure from traditional depictions of the boy king.
Certain cartouches where a king's name should appear have been
altered, as if to reuse the property of a previous pharaoh—as
often occurred. However, this instance may simply be the product
of "updating" the artifacts to reflect the shift from
Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Other differences are less easy to
explain, such as the older, more angular facial features of the
middle coffin and canopic coffinettes. The most widely accepted
theory for these latter variations is that the items were
originally intended for Smenkhkare, who may or may not be the
mysterious KV55 mummy. Said mummy, according to craniological
examinations, bears a striking first-order (father-to-son,
brother-to-brother) relationship to Tutankhamun.
The 1922 discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen made
"King Tut" an instant celebrity and placed him among the most
famous of Egypt's ancient rulers. Tut's tomb was broken into by
English archaeologist Howard Carter. One of the best-preserved
tombs ever found, it was filled with thousands of artefacts, and
the golden death mask which covered his mummy is now a famous
relic of the ancient world. Before Carter's discovery,
Tutankhamen was practically unknown, and his life still remains
something of a mystery; probably he was the 12th ruler in
Egypt's 18th Dynasty. Tut most likely was the son of Pharaoh
Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten), and was married to his
probable half-sister Ankhesenamun, the daughter of Akhneten and
the famous Queen Nefertiti. Tut died when he was about 18,
having ruled for nine years, and so is often called the Boy
King. Tut's death is also something of a mystery. X-rays taken
in 1968 indicated he may have been killed by a blow to his head,
but 21st-century scientific analysis suggested he may have died
after a broken leg led to fatal blood poisoning.
Tutankhamen (reigned 1361-1352 B.C.), the twelfth King of the
Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty, became the most famous of the
Pharaohs when his treasure-filled tomb was discovered in the
20th century.
The parentage of Tutankhamen is unknown. When he became king, he
was only a child, for although he reigned 8 full years,
examination of his body showed that he was little more than 18
years old at the time of his death.
Tutankhamen acceded to the throne shortly after the death of
Ikhnaton. He may have owed his accession to his marriage to
Ankhnesamun, the third daughter of Ikhnaton and Nefertiti.
Tutankhamen had originally been named Tutankhaten, but both he
and Ankhnesamun (originally Ankhnespaten) deleted from their
names all reference to the sun disk Aten as soon as they
abandoned Amarna, the city built by Ikhnaton for the sole
worship of Aten. Tutankhamen apparently left the city very early
in his reign, for, with the exception of a few scarabs, no trace
of him has been found at Amarna.
The addition to Tutankhamen's name of the epithet "Ruler of
Southern On" indicates that he regarded Thebes as his principal
city. There can be little doubt that he made every effort to
placate the supporters of the god Amun, and a stele erected near
the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak depicts Tutankhamen
offering to Amun and Mut. The accompanying text refers to the
state of decay into which the temples and shrines of the gods
had fallen during the period of the Atenist heresy. Tutankhamen
had a large peristyle hall at Luxor decorated with reliefs
illustrating the festival of Amen-Re.
Despite the existence of conventional representations of the
Pharaoh slaying his foes, it is doubtful that Tutankhamen
engaged in any serious military operations. There is some
indication that the actual power behind the throne was an
elderly official named Ay, who is depicted on a fragment of gold
leaf with Tutankhamen. On another fragment Ay bears the title of
vizier. He had already posed as a coregent before the death of
Tutankhamen; and as regent Ay is represented undertaking his
obsequies on the walls of the young pharaoh's burial chamber.
Tutankhamen is probably the best-known of the pharaohs owing to
the fortunate discovery of his treasure-filled tomb virtually
intact. His burial place in the Valley of the Kings had escaped
the fate of the tombs of his predecessors. The entrance was
hidden from plunderers by debris heaped over it during the
cutting of the later tomb of Ramses VI.
Nebkheperure Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-,
-amen, -amon), Egyptian twt-?n?-i?mn; *tuwt-?ankh-yaman, was a
Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty (ruled 1333 BC – 1324 BC in
the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian
history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten,
meant "Living Image of Aten", while Tutankhamun meant "Living
Image of Amun". He is possibly also the Nibhurrereya of the
Amarna letters. He was likely the eighteenth dynasty king 'Rathotis',
who according to Manetho, an ancient historian, had reigned for
nine years—a figure which conforms exactly with Flavius
Josephus' generally accurate version of Manetho's Epitome.
Significance
In historical terms, Tutankhamun is of only moderate
significance, and most of his modern popularity stems from the
fact that his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was discovered
almost completely intact. However, he also is significant as a
figure among those who managed the beginning of the transition
from the heretical Atenism of his predecessors Akhenaten and
perhaps Smenkhkare back to the familiar Egyptian religion. As
Tutankhamun began his reign at age nine, his vizier and eventual
successor Ay was probably making most of the important political
decisions during Tutankhamun's reign. Nonetheless, Tutankhamun
is, in modern times, one of the most famous of the pharaohs, and
the only one to have a nickname in popular culture ("King Tut").
The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun's nearly
intact tomb (subsequently designated KV62) received worldwide
press coverage and sparked a renewed public interest in ancient
Egypt, for which Tutankhamun remains the popular face.
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