The mystery of Egypt's most famous pharaoh's mother

Many Egyptians believe that Emperor Tutankhamun was the result of a close marriage between two siblings, but others insisted that he was the son of a cousin.

The truth about King Tutankhamun's mother

Many Egyptologists believe that the most famous Egyptian pharaoh's mother, the young king Tutankhamun , or King Tut , may be Queen Nefertiti or Kiya, according to Kingtutone.

The hypothesis Nefertiti is the mother of King Tut because she often appears in portraits with her husband Akhenanten. Another theory is that Kiya, she is often used to describe the "beloved wife of the Egyptian king".

Sketch the portrait of King Tutankhamun.(Photo: Live Science).

However, many are inclined to Tut's Kiya hypothesis, because wall paintings and reliefs portray Nefertiti and Akhenanten and 6 daughters, not even depicting Nefertiti and Tut.

Inbreeding marriage

In 2008, an analysis of DNA samples showed that Kiya and Akhenanten were sisters, both born by King Amenhotep III and his wife, Queen Tiye. In ancient Egypt, this was not considered incest, because many kings married their sisters to ensure royal blood circulation. In fact, King Tut later also took Ankhesenamun, his half-sister. Therefore, it is very likely that Kiya is King Tut's mother.

Sketch portraits of King Tut's mother.(Photo: Kingtutone).

However, in 2013, at an archaeological conference held at Harvard University, an analysis by French archaeologist Marc Gabolde proved Tut's mother was not his father's sister, that could be Nefertiti, Akhenanten's relative. The result of Tut's DNA examination showed that he did not carry the gene that was the result of inbreeding between his siblings, but the result of crossing the first generation with each other.

"The consequence of that is the third-generation DNA between DNA-like relatives of the close-blooded generation of siblings," Gabolde said. He is the director of archeology program of Paul Valery-Montpellier University III. "I believe Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, and Akhenaten and Nefertiti are cousins."

Hope

Tut is pharaoh who ruled Egypt about 3,300 years ago. He was crowned at 8-9 years old and ruled for 10 years. Tutankhamun died in 1323 BC, about 19 years old. Tut is considered the most famous pharaoph in Egypt because of his intact tomb discovered by Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, in the Valley of the Kings in 1922.

British archaeologist Reeves (third from left), exchanged with colleagues in King Tutankhamun's tomb.(Photo: Telegraph).

In August, Dr. Nicholas Reeves, a University of Arizona archaeologist, insisted that a passage leading to another room could be seen underneath the painted wall and plastered in the Tutankhamun tomb leading to Resting place Queen Nefertiti.

On October 1, he and his colleagues were allowed to use radar and thermal imaging technology to explore King Tut's tomb. The exploration will take one to three months. They hope to find a secret path to Nefertiti's tomb, helping to solve the mystery of the long-standing Egyptian in learning about the status of mother Pharaoh Tutankhamun.