Tutankhamun (/ˌtuːtənkɑːˈmuːn/ TOO-tən-kah-MOON), Tutankhamon or Tutankhamen (/ˌtuːtənˈkɑːmən, -mɛn/ TOO-tən-KAH-mən, -men; c. 1341 BC – c. 1323 BC), also known as Tutankhaten, was the antepenultimate pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. His death marked the cessation of the dynasty's royal line.
Tutankhamun ascended to the throne around the age of nine
and reigned until his death around the age of nineteen. The preeminent action
of his reign is the countermanding of the religiopolitical changes enacted by
his predecessor, Akhenaten, during the Amarna Period: he restored the
traditional polytheistic form of ancient Egyptian religion, undoing the
religious shift known as Atenism, and moved the royal court away from
Akhenaten's capital, Amarna. Also, Tutankhamun was one of few kings worshipped
as a deity during his lifetime; this was usually done posthumously for most
pharaohs. In popular culture today, Tutankhamun is known for the vastly opulent
wealth found during the 1922 discovery of his tomb, KV62, the only such tomb to
date to have been found in near-intact condition. The discovery of his tomb is
widely considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.
Since then he has been referred to colloquially as "King Tut".
Tutankhamun acquired kingship during a tumultuous time
period. Akhenaten's Atenism had engendered nationwide destabilization, and his
successor, likely Tutankhamun's paternal older half-brother, Smenkhare, had an
abruptly short reign. This was followed by another abruptly short reign of
Neferneferuaten, likely Smenkhare's widow, Meritaten. It was under these
tenuous circumstances that after Neferneferuaten's death, Tutankhamun inherited
the throne and expounded the reversal of Atenism, which involved extensive
reconstruction and the reconsecration of the traditional cults and clergymen,
as evidenced most eminently by the artifact known as the Restoration Stela.
During this time, the traditional cult of the god Amun was reestablished, and
the king subsequently retitled himself from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. In
accordance with this, his wife also retitled herself from Ankhesenpaaten to
Ankhesenamun.
Following Tutankhamun's untimely death after a decade reign,
his vizier, and perhaps granduncle, Ay, assumed the throne, likely marrying
Ankhesenamun, despite Tutankhamun's commander-in-chief, Horemheb, being
designated by Tutankhamun as heir. Ay's reign was abruptly short, and Horemheb
became pharaoh next, also possibly briefly marrying Ankhesenamun until her
untimely death a couple years into Horemheb's lengthy reign. Horemheb was able
to secure the throne due to the death of Ay's designated heir, generalissimo
Nakhtmin, toward the end of Ay's reign. It was Horemheb who saw to it that the
restoration of the traditional ancient Egyptian religion was completed,
restabilizing the nation. In due course, Horemheb had selected then civilian
military officer, Ramesses I, as heir to the throne, who already had a
grandson, Ramesses II, who would then go on to become the third pharaoh of the
Nineteenth dynasty.
Ancestry
Background
Tutankhamun, whose original name was Tutankhaten or
Tutankhuaten, was born during the reign of Akhenaten, during the late
Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Akhenaten's reign was characterized by a dramatic
shift in ancient Egyptian religion, known as Atenism, and the relocation of the
capital to the site of Amarna, which gave its name to the modern term for this
era, the Amarna Period. Toward the end of the Amarna Period, two other pharaohs
appear in the record who was apparently Akhenaten's co-regents:
Neferneferuaten, a female ruler who may have been Akhenaten's wife Nefertiti or
his daughter Meritaten; and Smenkhkare, whom some Egyptologists believe was the
same person as Neferneferuaten but most regard as a distinct figure. It is
uncertain whether Smenkhkare's reign outlasted Akhenaten's, whereas
Neferneferuaten is now thought to have become co-regent shortly before
Akhenaten's death and to have reigned for some time after it.
Name
His names — Tutankhaten and Tutankhamun — are thought to
have meant "living image of
Aten" and "living image of
Amun" in the ancient Egyptian language, with the god Aten having been
replaced by the god Amun after Akhenaten's death.
Some Egyptologists, including Battiscombe Gunn, have claimed
that the translation may be incorrect, instead being closer to "the-life-of-Aten-is-pleasing" or
"one-perfect-of-life-is-Aten"
(the latter translation by Gerhard Fecht).
Genealogy and
population affinities
A genetic study, published in 2020, revealed Tutankhamun had
the haplogroups YDNA R1b, which originated in western Asia and which today
makes up 50–60% of the genetic pool of modern Europeans, and mtDNA K, which
originated in the Near East. He shares this Y-haplogroup with his father, the
KV55 mummy (Akhenaten), and grandfather, Amenhotep III, and his mtDNA
haplogroup with his mother, The Younger Lady, his grandmother, Tiye, and his
great-grandmother, Thuya. The profiles for Tutankhamun and Amenhotep III were
incomplete and the analysis produced differing probability figures despite
having concordant allele results. Because the relationships of these two
mummies with the KV55 mummy had previously been confirmed in an earlier study,
the haplogroup prediction of both mummies could be derived from the full profile
of the KV55 data
In 2022, S.O.Y. Keita analyzed 8 Short Tandem loci (STR)
data originally published by Hawass et al. in studies from 2010 and 2012. The
first of these studies had investigated familial relationships among 11 royal
mummies of the New Kingdom, which included Tutankhamun and Amenhotep III, as
well as potential inherited disorders and infectious diseases. The second of
these studies had investigated the Y-haplogroups and genetic kinship of
Ramesses III and an unknown man buried along with him in the royal cache at
Deir el Bahari. Keita analyzed the STR data from these studies using an
algorithm that only has three choices: Eurasians, sub-Saharan Africans, and
East Asians. Using these three options, Keita concluded that the majority of
the samples had a population "affinity
with 'sub-Saharan' Africans in one affinity analysis". However, Keita
cautioned that this does not mean that the royal mummies "lacked other affiliations", which he argued had been
obscured in typological thinking. Keita further added that different "data and algorithms might give
different results", reflecting the complexity of biological heritage
and the associated interpretation.
Parentage
His parentage is debated, as they are not attested in
surviving inscriptions. DNA testing has identified his father as the mummy
within tomb KV55, thought to be the pharaoh Akhenaten. His mother was
identified as a mummy from tomb KV35, which was also his aunt, informally
referred to as "The Younger Lady"
but is otherwise unknown.
An inscription from Hermopolis refers to "Tutankhuaten" as a "king's son", and he is
generally thought to have been the son of Akhenaten, although some suggest
instead that Smenkhkare was his father. Inscriptions from Tutankhamun's reign
treat him as a son of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, but that is only
possible if Akhenaten's 17-year reign included a long co-regency with his
father, a possibility that many Egyptologists once supported but is now being
abandoned.
While some suggestions have been made that Tutankhamun's
mother was Meketaten, the second daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, based on
a relief from the Royal Tomb at Amarna, this possibility has been deemed
unlikely given that she was about 10 years old at the time of her death.
Another interpretation of the relief names Nefertiti as his mother. Meritaten
has also been put forward as his mother based on a re-examination of a box lid
and coronation tunic found in his tomb. Tutankhamun was wet nursed by a woman
named Maia, known from her tomb at Saqqara.
In 2008, genetic analysis was carried out on the mummified
remains of Tutankhamun and others thought or known to be New Kingdom royalty by
a team from University of Cairo. The results indicated that his father was the
mummy from tomb KV55, identified as Akhenaten, and that his mother was the
mummy from tomb KV35, known as the "Younger
Lady", who was found to be a full sister of her husband. The team
reported it was over 99.99 percent certain that Amenhotep III was the father of
the individual in KV55, who was in turn the father of Tutankhamun. More recent
genetic analysis, published in 2020, revealed Tutankhamun shared his
Y-haplogroup with his father, the KV55 mummy (Akhenaten), and grandfather,
Amenhotep III, and his mtDNA haplogroup with his mother, The Younger Lady, his
grandmother, Tiye, and his great-grandmother, Thuya, upholding the results of
the earlier genetic study.
The identity of The Younger Lady is unknown but she cannot
be Nefertiti, as she was not known to be a sister of Akhenaten. However,
researchers such as Marc Gabolde and Aidan Dodson claim that Nefertiti was
indeed Tutankhamun's mother. In this interpretation of the DNA results, the
genetic closeness is not due to a brother-sister pairing but the result of
three generations of first-cousin marriage, making Nefertiti a first cousin of
Akhenaten. The validity and reliability of the genetic data from mummified
remains has been questioned due to possible degradation due to decay.
Children
Within tomb KV21, the mummy KV21A was identified as having
been the biological mother of Tutankhamun's two daughters — it is therefore
speculated that this mummy is of his only known wife, Ankhesenamun, who was his
paternal half-sister. Their two daughters were identified as the 317a and 317b
mummies; daughter 317a was born prematurely at 5–6 months of pregnancy while
daughter 317b was born at full-term, though both died in infancy.
When Tutankhaten became king, he married Ankhesenpaaten, one
of Akhenaten's daughters, who later changed her name to Ankhesenamun. They had
two daughters, neither of whom survived infancy. While only an incomplete
genetic profile was obtained from the two mummified foetuses, it was enough to
confirm that Tutankhamun was their father. Likewise, only partial data for the
two female mummies from KV21 has been obtained so far. KV21A has been suggested
as the mother of the foetuses but the data is not statistically significant
enough to allow her to be securely identified as Ankhesenamun. Computed
tomography studies published in 2011 revealed that one daughter was born
prematurely at 5–6 months of pregnancy and the other at full-term, 9 months.
Tutankhamun's death marked the end of the royal bloodline of the 18th Dynasty.
Reign
Tutankhamun was between eight and nine years of age when he
ascended the throne and became pharaoh, taking the throne name Nebkheperure. He
reigned for about nine years. During Tutankhamun's reign the position of Vizier
was split between Upper and Lower Egypt. The principal vizier for Upper Egypt
was Usermontu. Another figure named Pentju was also vizier but it is unclear of
which lands. It is not entirely known if Ay, Tutankhamun's successor, actually
held this position. A gold foil fragment from KV58 seems to indicate, but not
certainly, that Ay was referred to as a Priest of Maat along with an epithet of
"vizier, doer of maat." The
epithet does not fit the usual description used by the regular vizier but might
indicate an informal title. It might be that Ay used the title of vizier in an
unprecedented manner.
An Egyptian priest named Manetho wrote a comprehensive
history of ancient Egypt where he refers to a king named Orus, who ruled for 36
years and had a daughter named Acencheres who reigned twelve years and her
brother Rathotis who ruled for only nine years. The Amarna rulers are central
in the list but which name corresponds with which historic figure is not agreed
upon by researchers. Orus and Acencheres have been identified with Horemheb and
Akhenaten and Rathotis with Tutankhamun. The names are also associated with
Smenkhkare, Amenhotep III, Ay and the others in differing order.
In order for the pharaoh, who held divine office, to be
linked to the people and the gods, special epithets were created for them at
their accession to the throne. The ancient Egyptian titulary also served to
demonstrate one's qualities and link them to the terrestrial realm. The five
names were developed over the centuries beginning with the Horus name.
Tutankhamun's original nomen, Tutankhaten, did not have a Nebty name or a Gold
Falcon name associated with it as nothing has been found with the full
five-name protocol. Tutankhaten was believed to mean "Living-image-of-Aten" as far back as 1877; however, not
all Egyptologists agree with this interpretation. English Egyptologist
Battiscombe Gunn believed that the older interpretation did not fit with
Akhenaten's theology. Gunn believed that such a name would have been
blasphemous. He saw tut as a verb and not a noun and gave his translation in
1926 as The-life-of-Aten-is-pleasing. Professor Gerhard Fecht also believed the
word tut was a verb. He noted that Akhenaten used tit as a word for 'image', not tut. Fecht translated the
verb tut as "To be
perfect/complete". Using Aten as the subject, Fecht's full translation
was "One-perfect-of-life-is-Aten".
The Hermopolis Block (two carved block fragments discovered in Ashmunein)
has a unique spelling of the first nomen written as Tutankhuaten; it uses ankh
as a verb, which does support the older translation of Living-image-of-Aten.
End of Amarna period
At the beginning of Tutankhaten's reign, the royal court was
still located at Amarna, and evidence from his tomb shows that the Aten was
still acknowledged. But several pieces of evidence suggest that his court was
trying to reconcile Atenism with the traditional religion, and activity at
Amarna decreased during the first four years of his reign.
These years saw dramatic reversals of Akhenaten's policies,
which, given the king's young age, must have been instigated by his advisors.
In the third year of Tutankhaten's reign, his name was changed to "Tutankhamun", and that of his
queen to "Akhesenamun". The
Restoration Stela, which probably dates to Year 4 of Tutankhamun's reign,
characterizes the Amarna Period as a time of disaster, saying "temples and the estates of the gods
and goddesses from Elephantine to the marshes of the Delta had fallen into
ruin… If you asked a god for advice, he would not attend; and if one spoke to a
goddess likewise she would not attend." The stela proclaims the
rebuilding of the traditional cults; priests and other members of temple staffs
were restored to their former positions.
Around this time, the royal court abandoned Amarna.[69]
Memphis became the main seat of royal administration, continuing a trend that
dated back to Akhenaten's predecessors, toward administering the country from
that central location rather than the more outlying site of Thebes. With Amun
restored as Egypt's preeminent deity, Thebes once again became its greatest center
of religious activity.
Military campaigns
The country was economically weak and in turmoil following
the reign of Akhenaten. Diplomatic relations with other kingdoms had been
neglected, and Tutankhamun sought to restore them, in particular with the
Mitanni. Evidence of his success is suggested by the gifts from various
countries found in his tomb. Despite his efforts for improved relations,
battles with Nubians and Asiatics were recorded in his mortuary temple at Thebes,
both victories for Egypt. Also, as far as is known, Tutankhamun's military
reign was undefeated, and is one of several other undefeated reigns in ancient
Egypt's history.
Battle participation
The extent to which Tutankhamun participated in battles is
an open question and has yet to reach consensus among researchers. On one hand,
his tomb contained extensive military armament, such as bows, khopesh swords,
daggers, wristguards, maces, shields and a club, suggesting he had extensive
weaponry training. Some imagery, while likely figurative, does depict
Tutankhamun as directly participatory in warfare, such as the graphic battle
depictions on the painted treasure chest in his tomb. Other artifacts, such as
the Nine Bows footstool, walking sticks and sandals depicting enemies, and a
gold leaf picture of him during chariot archery against enemies, also suggest
that he was actively engaged in Egypt's international conflict. Egyptologist
Bob Brier has argued leaning towards Tutankhamun being an actively
participating warrior in his later years.
On the other hand, given Tutankhamun's youth and
hypothesized physical disabilities, like a speculated cane handicap, some
historians are skeptical that he participated in these battles. Yet some
experts, such as Sofia Aziz, Campbell Price and Raksha Dave have taken the
position that the speculations of Tutankhamun's physical frailty are
overestimated, arguing that mummy damage has led to misdiagnosis. Instead, they
argue that the more rigorous, scientific view is that he was physically active,
and perhaps militarily participatory. Egyptologist Charlotte Booth states that
Tutankhamun participated in at least two battles (one Nubian battle, and one
Asiatic battle), nevertheless noting that other researchers suggest that he may
have only accompanied the army to the battlefield for moral support, as opposed
to actively participating.
Monuments and
construction
Tutankhamun enriched and endowed the priestly orders of two
important cults, initiated a restoration process for old monuments that were
damaged during the Amarna Period, and reburied his father's remains in the
Valley of the Kings. Given his age, the king probably had advisers which
presumably included Ay (who succeeded Tutankhamun) and General Horemheb, Ay's
possible son in law and successor. Horemheb records that the king appointed him
"lord of the land" as
hereditary prince to maintain law. He also noted his ability to calm the young king
when his temper flared.
In his third regnal year Tutankhamun reversed several
changes made during his father's reign. He ended the worship of the god Aten
and restored the god Amun to supremacy. The ban on the cult of Amun was lifted
and traditional privileges were restored to its priesthood. The capital was
moved back to Thebes and the city of Akhetaten was abandoned. As part of the
restoration of the traditional cults, the king initiated building projects, in
particular at Karnak in Thebes, where he laid out the sphinx avenue leading to
the temple of Mut. The sphinxes were originally made for Akhenaten and
Nefertiti; they were given new ram heads and small statues of the king. At
Luxor temple he completed the decoration of the entrance colonnade of Amenhotep
III. Tutankhamun made several endowments that enriched and added to the
priestly numbers of the cults of Amun and Ptah. He commissioned new statues of
the deities from the best metals and stone and had new processional barques
made of the finest cedar from Lebanon and had them embellished with gold and
silver.
A building called the
Temple-of-Nebkheperure-Beloved-of-Amun-Who-Puts-Thebes-in-Order, which may be
identical to a building called Temple-of-Nebkheperre-in-Thebes, a possible
mortuary temple, used recycled talatat from Akhenaten's east Karnak Aten
temples indicating that the dismantling of these temples was already underway.
Many of Tutankhamun's construction projects were uncompleted at the time of his
death and were completed by or usurped by his successors, especially Horemheb.
The sphinx avenue was completed by his successor Ay and the whole was usurped
by Horemheb. The Restoration Stele was usurped by Horemheb; pieces of the
Temple-of-Nebkheperure-in-Thebes were recycled into Horemheb's own building
projects.
Lifetime deification
Kings were venerated after their deaths through mortuary
cults and associated temples. Tutankhamun was one of the few kings worshiped in
this manner during his lifetime. A stela discovered at Karnak and dedicated to
Amun-Ra and Tutankhamun indicates that the king could be appealed to in his
deified state for forgiveness and to free the petitioner from an ailment caused
by sin. Temples of his cult were built as far away as in Kawa and Faras in
Nubia. The title of the sister of the Viceroy of Kush included a reference to
the deified king, indicative of the universality of his cult.
Personal life
Health issues
Tutankhamun's health and early death are heavily debated.
The most recent study suggests Tutankhamun had bone necrosis and a possible
clubfoot, which may have rendered him dependent on assistive canes. This theory
is disputed, as neither the canes nor his sandals show the kinds of the wear
expected. He also had other health issues, including scoliosis, and had
contracted several strains of malaria. He likely died of complications from a
broken leg, possibly compounded by malaria.
Tutankhamun was slight of build, and roughly 167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
tall. CT investigations of Tutankhamun's skull revealed an excellent condition
of his dentition. He had large front incisors and an overbite characteristic of
the Thutmosid royal line to which he belonged. Analysis of the clothing found
in his tomb, particularly the dimensions of his loincloths and belts indicates
that he had a narrow waist and rounded hips. In attempts to explain both his
unusual depiction in art and his early death it has been theorized that Tutankhamun
had gynecomastia, Marfan syndrome, Wilson–Turner X-linked intellectual
disability syndrome, Fröhlich syndrome (adiposogenital dystrophy), Klinefelter
syndrome, androgen insensitivity syndrome, aromatase excess syndrome in conjunction
with sagittal craniosynostosis syndrome, Antley–Bixler syndrome or one of its
variants. It has also been suggested that he had inherited temporal lobe
epilepsy in a bid to explain the religiosity of his great-grandfather Thutmose
IV and father Akhenaten and their early deaths. However, caution has been urged
in this diagnosis.
In 1980, James Harris and Edward F. Wente conducted X-ray
examinations of New Kingdom pharaohs' crania and skeletal remains, which
included the mummified remains of Tutankhamun. The authors determined that the
royal mummies of the 18th Dynasty bore strong similarities to contemporary Nubians
with slight differences.
In January 2005 Tutankhamun's mummy was CT scanned. The
results showed that the young king had a partially cleft hard palate and
possibly a mild case of scoliosis. Additionally, he was diagnosed with a flat
right foot with hypophalangism, while his left foot was clubbed and had bone
necrosis of the second and third metatarsals (Freiberg disease or Köhler
disease II). However, the clubfoot diagnosis is disputed. James Gamble instead
suggests that the position is a result of Tutankhamun habitually walking on the
outside of his foot due to the pain caused by Köhler disease II; this theory
has been refuted by members of Hawass' team. The condition may have forced
Tutankhamun to walk with the use of a cane, many of which were found in his
tomb. However, none of them show the wear expected of essential aids; the wear
on his sandals, where present, is also even on both feet. The presence of such
a number of sticks is not unexpected, as canes were a symbol of status in
ancient Egypt. Genetic testing through STR analysis rejected the hypothesis of
gynecomastia and craniosynostoses (e.g., Antley–Bixler syndrome) or Marfan
syndrome. Genetic testing for STEVOR, AMA1, or MSP1 genes specific for
Plasmodium falciparum revealed indications of malaria tropica in 4 mummies,
including Tutankhamun's. This is currently the oldest known genetic proof of
the ailment. The team discovered DNA from several strains of the parasite,
indicating that he was repeatedly infected with the most severe strain of
malaria. His malaria infections may have caused a fatal immune response in the
body or triggered circulatory shock. The CT scan also showed that he had
experienced a compound left leg fracture. This injury being the result of
modern damage was ruled out based on the ragged edges of the fracture; modern
damage features sharp edges. Embalming substances were present within the
fracture indicating that it was associated with an open wound; no signs of
healing were present.
Facial reconstruction
A facial reconstruction of Tutankhamun was carried out in
2005 by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and National Geographic.
Three separate teams—Egyptian, French, and American—worked separately to
approximate the face of the boy king. While the Egyptian and French teams knew
their subject was Tutankhamun, the American team worked blind. All teams
produced very similar results, but it was that of the French team that was
ultimately cast in silicone.
Criticism
Stuart Tyson Smith, Egyptologist and professor of
anthropology at University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2008 expressed
criticism of the forensic reconstruction in a journal review. He noted that "Tutankhamun's face" was
depicted as "very
light-skinned," reflecting a "bias"
among media outlets. Smith further added that "Egyptologists have been strangely reluctant to admit that the
ancient Egyptians were rather dark-skinned Africans, especially the farther
south one goes".
Death
There are no surviving records of the circumstances of
Tutankhamun's death; it has been the subject of considerable debate and major
studies. Hawass and his team postulate that his death was likely the result of
the combination of his multiple weakening disorders, a leg fracture, perhaps as
the result of a fall, and a severe malarial infection. However, Timmann and
Meyer have argued that sickle cell anemia better fits the pathologies exhibited
by the king, a suggestion the Egyptian team has called "interesting and plausible".
Murder by a blow to the head was theorized as a result of
the 1968 x-ray which showed two bone fragments inside the skull. This theory
was disproved by further analysis of the x-rays and the CT scan. The
inter-cranial bone fragments were determined to be the result of the modern
unwrapping of the mummy as they are loose and not adherent to the embalming
resin. No evidence of bone thinning or calcified membranes, which could be
indicative of a fatal blow to the head, was found. It has also been suggested
that the young king was killed in a chariot accident due to a pattern of
crushing injuries, including the fact that the front part of his chest wall and
ribs are missing. However, the missing ribs are unlikely to be a result of an
injury sustained at the time of death; photographs taken at the conclusion of
Carter's excavation in 1926 show that the chest wall of the king was intact,
still wearing a beaded collar with falcon-headed terminals. The absence of both
the collar and chest wall was noted in the 1968 x-ray and further confirmed by
the CT scan. It is likely that the front part of his chest was removed by
robbers during the theft of the beaded collar; the intricate beaded skullcap
the king was pictured wearing in 1926 was also missing by 1968.
Tomb
In 1922, a team led by British Egyptologist Howard Carter in
the Valley of the Kings excavated Tutankhamun's tomb, in an effort that was
funded by British aristocrat George Herbert. The discovery of Tutankhamun's
tomb received worldwide press coverage; with over 5,000 artifacts, it gave rise
to renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's mask, now
preserved at the Egyptian Museum, remains a popular symbol. Some of his
treasure has traveled worldwide with unprecedented response; the Egyptian
government allowed tours beginning in 1961. The deaths of some individuals who
were involved in the unearthing of Tutankhamun's mummy have been popularly
attributed to the "curse of the
pharaohs" due to the similarity of their circumstances.
Tutankhamun was buried in a tomb that was unusually small
considering his status. His death may have occurred unexpectedly, before the
completion of a grander royal tomb, causing his mummy to be buried in a tomb
intended for someone else. This would preserve the observance of the customary
70 days between death and burial. 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,
these robberies likely took place within several months at most of the initial
burial. The location of the tomb was lost because it had come to be buried by
debris from subsequent tombs, and workers' houses were built over the tomb
entrance.
Rediscovery
The concession rights for excavating the Valley of the Kings
were held by Theodore Davis from 1905 until 1914. In that time, he had
unearthed ten tombs including the nearly intact but non-royal tomb of Queen
Tiye's parents, Yuya and Thuya. As he continued working there in the later
years, he uncovered nothing of major significance. Davis did find several
objects in KV58 referring to Tutankhamun, which included knobs and handles
bearing his name most significantly the embalming cache of the king (KV54). He
believed this to be the pharaoh's lost tomb and published his findings as such
with the line; "I fear the Valley of
the Tombs is exhausted". In 1907, Howard Carter was invited by William
Garstin and Gaston Maspero to excavate for George Herbert, 5th Earl of
Carnarvon in the Valley. The Earl of Carnarvon and Carter had hoped this would
lead to their gaining the concession when Davis gave it up but had to be
satisfied with excavations in different parts of the Theban Necropolis for
seven more years.
After a systematic search beginning in 1915, Carter
discovered the actual tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in November 1922. An ancient
stroke of luck allowed the tomb to survive to modern times. The tomb's entrance
was buried by mounds of debris from the cutting of KV9 over 150 years after
Tutankhamun's burial; ancient workmen's huts were also built on the site. This
area remained unexcavated until 1922 due to its proximity to KV9, as
excavations would impede tourist access to that tomb. Carter commenced
excavations in early November 1922, before the height of the tourist season.
The first step of the tomb's entrance staircase was uncovered on 4 November
1922. According to Carter's account the workmen discovered the step while digging
beneath the remains of the huts; other accounts attribute the discovery to a
boy digging outside the assigned work area.
By February 1923 the antechamber had been cleared of
everything but two sentinel statues. A day and time were selected to unseal the
tomb with about twenty appointed witnesses that included Lord Carnarvon,
several Egyptian officials, museum representatives and the staff of the
Government Press Bureau. On 17 February 1923 at just after two o'clock, the
seal was broken.
Letters published in 2022 of correspondence between Rex
Engelbach and Alan Gardiner, reveal that Howard Carter had stolen objects from
the tomb, such as a 'whm amulet',
before the tomb was officially opened. Rex Engelbach said in a letter to
Gardiner about a 'whm amulet' gifted to Gardiner from Carter that "The whm amulet you showed me has been
undoubtedly stolen from the tomb of Tutankhamun."
Contents
There were 5,398 items found in the tomb, including a solid
gold coffin, face mask, thrones, archery bows, trumpets, a lotus chalice, two
Imiut fetishes, gold toe stalls, furniture, food, wine, sandals, and fresh
linen underwear. Howard Carter took 10 years to catalog the items. Recent
analysis suggests a dagger recovered from the tomb had an iron blade made from
a meteorite; study of artifacts of the time including other artifacts from
Tutankhamun's tomb could provide valuable insights into metalworking
technologies around the Mediterranean at the time. Complete study of the iron
artefacts from the tomb (besides the blade of a richly decorated golden dagger,
small iron chisel blades set into wooden handles, an Eye of Horus amulet, and a
miniature headrest) demonstrated that all were made of similar material. Only
in 2022, a complex technological and material study of the Tutankhamun's mask
was published. Many of Tutankhamun's burial goods show signs of being adapted
for his use after being originally made for earlier owners, probably Smenkhkare
or Neferneferuaten or both.
On 4 November 2007, 85 years to the day after Carter's
discovery, Tutankhamun's mummy was placed on display in his underground tomb at
Luxor, when the linen-wrapped mummy was removed from its golden sarcophagus to
a climate-controlled glass box. The case was designed to prevent the heightened
rate of decomposition caused by the humidity and warmth from tourists visiting
the tomb. In 2009, the tomb was closed for restoration by the Ministry of
Antiquities and the Getty Conservation Institute. While the closure was
originally planned for five years to restore the walls affected by humidity,
the Egyptian revolution of 2011 set the project back. The tomb re-opened in
February 2019.
Rumored curse
For many years, rumors of a "curse of the pharaohs" (probably fueled by newspapers
seeking sales at the time of the discovery) persisted, emphasizing the early
death of some of those who had entered the tomb. The most prominent was George
Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who died on 5 April 1923, five months after the
discovery of the first step leading down to the tomb on 4 November 1922.
The cause of Carnarvon's death was pneumonia supervening on
[facial] erysipelas (a streptococcal infection of the skin and underlying soft
tissue). The Earl had been in an automobile accident in 1901 making him very
unhealthy and frail. His doctor recommended a warmer climate so in 1903 the Carnarvons
traveled to Egypt where the Earl became interested in Egyptology. Along with
the stresses of the excavation, Carnarvon was already in a weakened state when
an infection led to pneumonia.
A study showed that of the 58 people who were present when
the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within a dozen years;
Howard Carter died of lymphoma in 1939 at the age of 64. The last survivors
included Lady Evelyn Herbert, Lord Carnarvon's daughter who was among the first
people to enter the tomb after its discovery in November 1922, who lived for a
further 57 years and died in 1980, and American archaeologist J.O. Kinnaman who
died in 1961, 39 years after the event.
Legacy
Tutankhamun's fame is primarily the result of his
well-preserved tomb and the global exhibitions of his associated artifacts. As
Jon Manchip White writes, in his foreword to the 1977 edition of Carter's The
Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun, "The
pharaoh who in life was one of the least esteemed of Egypt's Pharaohs has
become in death the most renowned".
The discoveries in the tomb were prominent news in the
1920s. Tutankhamen came to be called by a modern neologism, "King Tut". Ancient Egyptian
references became common in popular culture, including Tin Pan Alley songs; the
most popular of the latter was "Old
King Tut" by Harry Von Tilzer from 1923, which was recorded by such
prominent artists of the time as Jones & Hare and Sophie Tucker.[158]
"King Tut" became the name of products, businesses, and the pet dog
of U.S. President Herbert Hoover.[161] While The Treasures of Tutankhamun
exhibit was touring the United States in 1978, comedian Steve Martin wrote a
novelty song King Tut. Originally performed on Saturday Night Live, the song
was released as a single and sold over a million copies. In 2023, an extinct
whale discovered in the Eocene deposits of Egypt was named Tutcetus, after Tutankhamun,
due to the small size and immature age of the type specimen.
International
exhibitions
Tutankhamun's artifacts have traveled the world with
unprecedented visitorship. The exhibitions began in 1962 when Algeria won its
independence from France. With the ending of that conflict, the Louvre Museum
in Paris was quickly able to arrange an exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasures
through Christiane Desroches Noblecourt. The French Egyptologist was already in
Egypt as part of a UNESCO appointment. The French exhibit drew 1.2 million
visitors. Noblecourt had also convinced the Egyptian Minister of Culture to
allow British photographer George Rainbird to re-photograph the collection in
color. The new color photos as well as the Louvre exhibition began a
Tutankhamun revival.
In 1965, the Tutankhamun exhibit traveled to Tokyo National
Museum in Tokyo, Japan (21 August–10 October) where it garnered more visitors
than the future New York exhibit in 1979. The exhibit next moved to the Kyoto
Municipal Museum of Art in Kyoto (15 October–28 November) with almost 1.75
million visitors, and then to the Fukuoka Prefectural Cultural Hall in Fukuoka
(3 December–26 December). The blockbuster attraction exceeded all other
exhibitions of Tutankhamun's treasures for the next 60 years. The Treasures of
Tutankhamun tour ran from 1972 to 1979. This exhibition was first shown in
London at the British Museum from 30 March until 30 September 1972. More than
1.6 million visitors saw the exhibition. The exhibition moved on to many other
countries, including the United States, Soviet Union, Japan, France, Canada,
and West Germany. The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized the U.S. exhibition,
which ran from 17 November 1976 through 15 April 1979. More than eight million
attended. The showing in the United States was part of a diplomatic effort
begun by Henry Kissinger to further convince Americans of the value of Egypt as
an ally. It traveled first to Washington D.C., then Chicago, New Orleans, Los
Angeles, and Seattle, and finished in New York.
In 2005, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, in
partnership with Arts and Exhibitions International and the National Geographic
Society, launched a tour of Tutankhamun treasures and other 18th Dynasty
funerary objects, this time called Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the
Pharaohs. It featured the same exhibits as Tutankhamen: The Golden Hereafter in
a slightly different format. It was expected to draw more than three million
people but exceeded that with almost four million people attending just the first
four tour stops. The exhibition started in Los Angeles, then moved to Fort
Lauderdale, Chicago, Philadelphia and London before finally returning to Egypt
in August 2008. An encore of the exhibition in the United States ran at the
Dallas Museum of Art. After Dallas the exhibition moved to the de Young Museum
in San Francisco, followed by the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York
City.
Tutankhamun
exhibition in 2018
The exhibition included 80 exhibits from the reigns of
Tutankhamun's immediate predecessors in the 18th Dynasty, such as Hatshepsut,
whose trade policies greatly increased the wealth of that dynasty and enabled
the lavish wealth of Tutankhamun's burial artifacts, as well as 50 from
Tutankhamun's tomb. The exhibition did not include the gold mask that was a
feature of the 1972–1979 tour, as the Egyptian government has decided that
damage which occurred to previous artifacts on tours precludes this one from
joining them.
In 2018, it was announced that the largest collection of
Tutankhamun artifacts, amounting to forty percent of the entire collection,
would be leaving Egypt again in 2019 for an international tour entitled; "King Tut: Treasures of the Golden
Pharaoh". The 2019–2022 tour began with an exhibit called; "Tutankhamun, Pharaoh's Treasures,"
which launched in Los Angeles and then traveled to Paris. The exhibit featured
at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris ran from March to September 2019.
The exhibit featured one hundred and fifty gold coins, along with various
pieces of jewelry, sculpture and carvings, as well as the renowned gold mask of
Tutankhamun. Promotion of the exhibit filled the streets of Paris with posters
of the event. The exhibit moved to London in November 2019 and was scheduled to
travel to Boston and Sydney when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the tour. On
28 August 2020 the artifacts that made up the temporary exhibition returned to
the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, and other institutions. The treasures will be
permanently housed in the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, expected to open
between October 2023 and February 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment