The Mysteries of King Tutankhamun

7 minutes read

Ancient Egypt, is a very exciting and a rather mysterious period in human history. The concept of mummies and the extremely fascinating architecture, has lured us into excavating a world that existed a very long time before ours. When I started reading about the history of Egyptian tombs and mummies, I came across a very interesting, and now popular, Egyptian Pharaoh (the common title now used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt) – King Tutankhamun or simply, King Tut. It was not as much his life story, as the dazzling objects and artifacts that were discovered in his tomb in 1922 by British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter, that piqued interest in the life of King Tut.

King Tutankhamun

But, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb wasn’t an easy one, and took a lot of years. It occurred at a time when Carter was just about to give up on his search for more tombs in the area known as ‘The Valley of the Kings’. Carter’s patron and financier, Lord Carnarvon offered him the job of leading the excavations in this area, as soon as he obtained the permission to do so in 1914. While Carter began his work with a lot of expectations in mind, it was soon interrupted with the outbreak of the First World War, that very same year. As soon as the War ended in 1917, Carter enthusiastically resumed his work. His 5-year-long search yielded no results, and in 1922 Carter was on the verge of giving up. He managed to convince Lord Carnarvon to grant him an additional year, a last year, to chance upon some discovery. And voila! That is exactly what happened!

Howard Carter, British Archaeologist and Egyptologist, in 1924

Carter returned to the Valley of the Kings and investigated a line of huts that he had abandoned a few years ago. As the crew cleared huts and rock debris underneath, on 4^th November, 1922, a young water boy accidentally stumbled upon a stone in the area, and immediately alerted Carter and his team. As the team cleared out the area, they realised the stone was actually the top of a flight of steps, that continued further down into the bedrock. Upon further digging, Carter discovered the top of mud-plastered doorway, which was stamped with obscure ‘cartouches’ (an oval with a line at one end at right angles to the oval, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name).

King Tut’s cartouche

On the 24^th of November, 1922, the entire corridor was cleared up, revealing the door to the tomb itself! Merely two days later, Carter, along with his patron Lord Carnarvon and his assistant, made a “tiny breach in the top left-hand corner” of the doorway, using a chisel (a gift his grandmother gave him on his 17^th birthday). Holding up a candle along the small carving made by him, Carter peered into the tomb to consume a magnificent site in front of him – tons of gold and ebony treasures, still intact, and a promising sealed doorway that lay between two sentinel statues. When Carnarvon asked him – “Can you see anything?”, Carter’s reply echoed through the corridor – “Yes, wonderful things!”

Howard Carter examining the innermost coffin of Tutankhamun

At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the lights, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold.

Howard Carter’s initial discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb

At that point of time, in the dull light of the flickering candle, he wasn’t sure if what he had discovered was a simply an “old cache” or tomb. But it was later to be found, that what Howard Carter had seen in the tiny old cave, was in fact, the ‘The Tomb of Tutankhamun’! If Carter didn’t know it then, he would soon be made aware of the fact that his discovery was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the time!

Click on the video below for a first-hand visual of Carter’s discovery!

King Tutankhamun’s tomb is officially opened (1923); Video Courtesy – British Pathe

But who is this mysterious king of whom we’ve heard so little? Why has he become so well-known, of the long list of pharaohs that have ruled over the Egyptian landmass? Scroll down to reveal the answers!  

The entire story begins about 3,300 years ago in 1332 BC, when the 9-year-old King Tutankhamun ascended the Egyptian throne. Recent genetic testing has revealed Tut was the grandson of the great Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and son of one of the most controversial figures in Egyptian history – Akhenaten. Why controversial, though? Allow me to explain. Akhenaten, during his rule, uprooted a centuries-old religious system in order to worship only one deity, the sun god – Aten. As if that wasn’t enough to anger his subjects, he also relocated the religious capital of Egypt from Thebes to Amarna. All this upheaval, along with the public’s growing dislike for Akhenaten, earned him the name – the ‘heretic king’.

The ‘Valley of Kings’ – where Tutankhamun’s tomb was found

After the death of his father, the ‘heretic king’, Tutankhamun was formally crowned the next Pharaoh of Egypt, at the young age of 8 or 9. It was during his reign that Egypt was soon restored to its former self, and the angered subjects and civilians, now simmered down. In fact, Tut’s father, the previous pharaoh Akhenaten, had originally named his son Tutankhaten, after the Sun god Aten, whom he placed at the centre of Egyptian culture during his reign. When King Tutankhaten came to power, he had to reverse his father’s actions in order to earn the trust of his subjects back. His first step in this direction was changing his name to Tutankhamun, thus reviving the worship of the Egyptian god Amun and reflecting royal allegiance to the creator god. Since he was very young when he ascended the throne, Tut was assisted by two senior officials of the court, who helped him in bringing Egypt’s lost glory back. Together, they restored Thebes as a religious centre. During his reign, he also ordered the repair of the holy sites and continued construction at the temple of Karnak.

The collection of treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb

But coming back to Howard Carter’s discovery. It was only after he had discovered the tomb, that Carter realised that Tutankhamun’s tomb was a literally a chest of treasures! Tut’s small tomb, the antechamber to be specific, was filled to the top, with more than 5000 artefacts, including –furniture, chariots, clothes, weapons and 130 of his walking sticks (which suggests that he suffered from some ailment that caused him to go limp). Because of the modestly small size of the young pharaoh’s tomb, Egyptologists now believe that it was most likely that Tut’s death was unexpected, and as a result, his burial was rushed by Ay, the next-in-line king.

Inside the tomb of Tutankhamun

Although all the treasures found in his tomb were beautiful and befitting the status of a king, it was the sarcophagus (a box-like stone container) of King Tut, that was the most decorated item in the tomb. The sarcophagus contained not one, but 3 coffins, inside which safely lay, Tutankhamun’s mummy. The outer two coffins were made of wood and covered with gold and many semiprecious stones such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. The inner coffin, however, was made of solid gold. But this was not how Howard Carter found it. According to Carter it was,

“Covered with a thick black pitch-like layer which extended from the hands down to the ankles. This was obviously an anointing liquid which had been poured over the coffin during the burial ceremony and in great quantity (some two buckets full).”

Howard Carter’s discovery of the sarcophagus of King Tut

Tutankhamun’s tomb – The Innermost Coffin

Tut’s death mask is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art. Originally, it lay on the pharaoh’s shoulders, inside the innermost gold coffin. Constructed of two sheets of gold, hammered together, Tut’s death mask weighs 10.23 kgs. On its back, the mask is inscribed with a Spell 151b from the ‘Book of the Dead’, which protects the various limbs of Tutankhamun as he moves into the underworld.

Tutankhamun’s Death Mask found in the innermost coffin

Tutankhamun’s early death has been attributed to multiple ailments, which were a result of his incestuous origins. Recent DNA studies have confirmed that Tut’s parents were full siblings. Even the young pharaoh’s chief wife, Ankhesenamun, was his half-sister. The researchers were in for a surprise, when they discovered two mummified foetuses, entombed with Tutankhamun’s mummy. Further DNA testing revealed that these were, in fact, Tut’s and Ankhesenamun’s daughters – most likely still born.

Tutankhamun and his queen, Ankhesenamun

The researchers also discovered that King Tut was a victim of necrosis (the death of body tissue) in his left foot –a painful ailment that forced him to walk with a cane, several of which were found in his tomb. However, necrosis, while painful, is not a life-threatening disease. The research team has found more than one strain of malarial parasite in his body, indicating that King Tut caught multiple malarial infections during his life. Among the other probable causes of his death, the most likely ones are – a hunting accident, a blood infection, a blow to the head, and poisoning.

And thus ended the life of the last pharaoh of the royal 18^th Dynasty of Egypt. Tutankhamun – a boy who ascended the throne of the mighty Egyptian Empire at the young age of 8, suffered several ailments in his short life-span and died at the age of 19; went on to become one of the most well-known and well-documented pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The treasures found in his tomb, along with several DNA evidences, have revealed more about the royal life of Ancient Egypt, than any other piece of documentation found, up until now.

This was the life of King Tutankhamun – Egypt’s young boy King…

Sources:

King Tut Mysteries Solved: Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred – National Geographic

Tutankhamun – History.com

Tutankhamun’s tomb (innermost coffin and death mask) – Khan Academy

Tutankhamun – Wikipedia

Tutankhamun – Britannica

King Tut – Biography

Howard Carter – Wikipedia