Introduction
When British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the remarkably preserved tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, he created a worldwide sensation. The only tomb of its era found intact and full of indescribable treasures, it was also the first major discovery in the age of easy worldwide communication. That, along with rumors of a mysterious curse, helped make Tutankhamun the most popular of the Egyptian pharaohs in the modern world.
While the modern world may know of Egyptian accomplishments, few people remember the names of these important pharaohs.
Instead, it is the name of Tutankhamun, a short-lived king, which conjures up the image of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh today. He may have ruled for only about a decade at the end of the 18th Dynasty, but because his tomb survived the millennia and provided thousands of marvels of his culture, we think of Tutankhamun as Egypt's most famous pharaoh.
Tut as Pharoah
Tutankhamun began life with the name Tutankhaten (“Living Image of the Aten”). Most
likely the son of the heretic King Akhenaten and his lesser wife Kiya, the young prince would have grown up at Akhetaten, the controversial new capital city.
Near the time of his father’s death, Tutankhaten married Ankhsenpaaten—probably his half-sister and the daughter of Akhenaten by Nefertiti, the famous beauty and chief wife.
Tutankhamun’s Early Reign
Sometime soon after Akhenaten’s passing, the ten-year-old Tutankhaten ascended the throne of Egypt. His coronation would have been a grand affair, full of pomp and pageantry.
One of Tutankhaten’s first actions as pharaoh was to move away from the Amarna religion, because his father's belief in one god, the Aten, had proved to be quite unpopular with the people.
Restoring Traditional Beliefs
Tutankhaten quickly re-established the orthodox belief in the pantheon of the gods and reopened their temples. By his second year, King Tutankhaten and his queen had changed their names to Tutankhamun and Ankhsenamun.
Although they did not abandon Amarna completely, members of the royal family re-established the old capitals and now spent most of their time at the traditional administrative center of Memphis.
Daily Life in Tut’s World
For both King Tutankhamun and his subjects, life in ancient Egypt centered on the Nile, the longest river in the world. Each year in early summer, heavy rains in the Ethiopian highlands south of Egypt caused the river to flood. When the water receded, fertile soil remained, allowing the Egyptians to plant and then harvest fruit, vegetables, and grains.
This regular and annual flooding cycle, along with the daily cycle of the rising and setting sun, defined the orderly worldview of the ancient Egyptians, structured their calendar and acted as a model for their beliefs about the afterlife.
Tut’s Death and Burial
After a brief, nine-year reign, the boy king passed away unexpectedly before reaching his twentieth birthday. The cause of Tutankhamun’s death remains uncertain. A 1968 x-ray seemed to show damage to the base of the skull, perhaps due to a blow to the head, but CT scans have disproved that theory. Recent examination showed a compound fracture of the left thigh. If Tutankhamun sustained such an injury, he could have quickly died of infection, but the soft tissue is too damaged to provide conclusive proof. Whatever the cause of death, Tut’s advisors quickly saw to his funeral arrangements.
Beliefs about Death
The Egyptians believed that at the moment of death, the ba and ka—two parts of the person’s total identity—separated from the body:
The ka was the life force, perhaps the most crucial part of a person’s identity. In order to function in the afterlife, the ka needed food, drink, incense, clothing and perpetual ritual care.
The ba can be understood as the soul or personality. Represented as a bird with a human head, it could leave the tomb and affect the lives of loved ones left behind on earth.
It was only through the properly mummified body and well-executed funerary rites that the ba, ka, and body could be reunited, allowing the deceased to become an akh, an effective and blessed spirit that could dwell in peace for eternity.
The Robbery and Rescue of Tut’s Tomb
Thieves invaded Tutankhamun’s tomb fairly soon after his burial, but they were caught in the act. Official inspectors reorganized the contents and then resealed the tomb.
Shortly thereafter, workmen constructing the nearby tomb of another pharaoh built their huts over the young king’s place of burial, thus obscuring it. Later flooding in the area erased any evidence of its existence. Tutankhamun’s tomb would remain hidden for more than three thousand years. In 1871, an Egyptian stumbled across a hidden reserve that contained many of the most famous kings of the New Kingdom.
Tut’s Mummy
In the early months of 1924, Howard Carter opened the gilded shrines that surrounded Tut’s mummy and removed the lid from the huge stone sarcophagus. The third coffin found was of solid gold and hardened black resin. With great difficulty, the lid was finally raised to reveal King Tut’s mummy. Over four days, the team delicately unraveled the bandages and recorded each of the artifacts hidden within the wrappings.
Examining the Body
To view the body more closely, Carter’s team cut off the head at the neck and used hot knives to extract the skull from the mask. Next, they separated the pelvis from the trunk and detached the arms and legs.
After reassembling it on a large tray, two forensic specialists examined the mummy. Their report concluded, based on inspection of the bones and teeth that the young king had died between the ages of 18 and 22.