The mystery of the mummy of King Tut, the most luxurious pharaoh in ancient Egypt

Tutankhamun, today commonly known as King Tut , was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh buried in a lavish tomb filled with golden artifacts in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was discovered in 1922 by an archaeological team led by British Egyptologist Howard Carter . This tomb area was all made by the Egyptians.

King Tut is sometimes called the "young king" because he ascended the throne at age 9 or 10, in the 14th century BC. He died about a decade later. His tomb filled with treasure was discovered almost intact , especially since most tombs in the Valley of the Kings have been looted since ancient times.

King Tutankhamun ascended the throne of ancient Egypt at age 9 or 10, in the 14th century BC, and died about a decade later. (Photo: Romilly Lockyer via Getty Images)

The discovery of his tomb in 1922 attracted worldwide attention and turned King Tut into a household name.

Although Tutankhamun's tomb was sumptuous, historical and archaeological evidence suggests that the young pharaoh was ailing and spent his short reign sabotaging a religious revolution led by his father. himself, Akhenaten initiated.

Son of Akhenaten, a revolutionary

King Tut, born Tutankhamen, was born in ancient Egypt around 1341 BC. His father, Akhenaten , was a revolutionary pharaoh who attempted to center Egypt's polytheistic religion around the worship of the solar disc, Aten. In his zeal, Akhenaten ordered the destruction or defacement of the names and images of other Egyptian gods. He also built a new capital at Tell el-Amarna. Akhenaten was condemned posthumously, Anna Stevens, an Egyptologist at Monash University in Australia, wrote in her book.

Tutankhamen's biological mother is unknown but likely was not Akhenaten's primary wife, Queen Nefertiti - although Egyptologists debate this, said Bob Brier, an Egyptologist at Long Island University, wrote in the book "Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World" (Oxford University Press), 2022).

Tutankhamun ascended the throne around 1332 BC. Due to his young age, the young king will have to rely heavily on advisors. At some point, Brier writes, he changed his name from Tutankhamen to Tutankhamun, deleting the word "aten" - a reminder of his father's efforts at religious revolution - and replacing it with " amun" . This name belongs to an important Egyptian god whom some Egyptians considered the king of the gods. This change illustrates King Tut's departure from his father's religious changes, returning Egypt to its former polytheistic beliefs.

Tutankhamun condemned his father's actions in a stele found at Karnak, near modern-day Luxor, which said that Akhenaten's religious revolution caused the gods to ignore Egypt. This action may have helped him consolidate his power.

A relief showing King Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti and their children, along with the sun disc, Aten (Photo: UniversalImagesGroup / Contributor).

Who is King Tut's wife?

Tutankhamun married his half-sister Queen Ankhesenamun , and the couple's twin daughters were both stillborn; Their fetuses were buried in jars in the pharaoh's tomb. The couple left no heirs to the throne. Queen Ankhesenamun's tomb has not yet been found.

Surviving letters show that, after Tut's death, Ankhesenamun tried to maintain the throne, even writing to Suppiluliuma I, the Hittite king of Anatolia, to nominate one of his sons to succeed him. kiss her. Ankhesenamun was eventually forced to marry the official Ay, who became pharaoh.

What did King Tut look like?

A 2010 study of King Tut's remains published in the journal JAMA found that he was 1.67m tall and suffered from many illnesses, including malaria and Kohler's disease, a rare foot bone disorder. Archaeologists also found a number of sticks in Tutankhamun's tomb, which shows that this pharaoh sometimes had difficulty walking.

Despite these ailments, he may have worn armor - although whether he went into battle himself is unclear. A 2018 analysis of leather armor found in Tutankhamun's tomb showed that the armor was worn.

Hutan Ashrafian, a clinical lecturer in surgery at Imperial College London, said Tutankhamun may have walked with a limp, had a slightly longer skull than normal, had slightly enlarged breasts (due to a condition called gynecomastia, due to hormonal imbalance), has protruding teeth and is relatively thin.

How old was King Tut when he died?

The young king died around 1323 BC, at about 18 years old. His death may have been a surprise, and his tomb appears to have been hastily completed. In 2011, Ralph Mitchell, then a professor of applied biology at Harvard University, helped analyze brown spots in the tomb. The stains turned out to be the remains of bacteria that had once grown on the wall, possibly because the paint was still wet when the pharaoh was buried.

How did King Tut die?

How King Tut died is a matter of debate among scholars. Egyptologists have proposed many theories over the years. In the JAMA article, a team of researchers suggested that a combination of malaria and necrosis (tissue death) from a fracture in his left foot may have caused his death.

Despite Tutankhamun's health problems, historical and archaeological remains suggest he managed to stay active and the broken bone may have been caused by a hunting accident.

Where is King Tut's tomb?

King Tut was buried in a lavish tomb in the Valley of the Kings, near present-day Luxor. This valley contains the tombs of many pharaohs who lived during the New Kingdom period (circa 1550 to 1070 BC) in Egyptian history. During that time, Egypt stopped building pyramids for the pharaohs and instead buried them in this valley. Security concerns related to tomb robberies may have been one reason the pharaohs were buried in the valley.

What's inside Tutankhamun's tomb?

Carter's group discovered the entrance to the tomb on November 4, 1922 and entered the tomb on November 26.

Carter and his team discovered that the tomb contained countless untouched treasures. The marvelous collection of treasures includes: two strange black ebony effigies of a King, wearing golden sandals, staff and mace, emerging from a cloak of darkness; gilded benches in strange shapes, lion heads, Hathor heads and infernal monsters…

Among many other treasures are a dagger with iron taken from a meteorite and a throne with two lions facing out as if guarding the throne.

Among the discoveries was the mummy of Tutankhamun. In a 2013 study published in the journal Études et Travaux, Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, argued that returning Egypt to traditional polytheism is important for Egypt. with Tutankhamun and his advisors, he requested to be embalmed there , an unusual way to emphasize his close connection to Osiris, the god of the underworld.

Ikram wrote that Tutankhamun's skin was soaked in oil after his death, causing his skin to turn black. His heart was also taken, although the Egyptians usually did not remove hearts. Additionally, his penis was mummified at a 90-degree angle, which is unusual.

In legend, Osiris had black skin, strong regenerative abilities, and a heart that was hacked to pieces by his brother Seth.

However, the large amount of flammable oil caused Tutankhamun's mummy to catch fire immediately after burial.

While King Tutankhamun's wealth was staggering, the tomb was unusually small for a pharaoh's burial, with a total volume of 277 cubic meters ^, the Theban Mapping Project website notes. King Tut's tomb was divided into a hallway, a burial chamber, a vestibule and two rooms today called the 'annex' and the 'treasury'.

The tomb may have been small because the pharaoh died young and unexpectedly, leaving no time to dig a larger tomb. It is possible that the tomb was not originally intended for a pharaoh at all.

King Tutankhamun's golden mask

The most iconic treasure in King Tut's burial chamber is his death mask, made of gold along with inlaid stone and glass. "Tutankhamun's mummy mask is made from two solid gold plates inlaid with glass, porcelain [glazed ceramics] and semi-precious stones" and weighs 10.2 kg, said Susan Allen, senior research scholar at the Museum of Art. Metropolitan Art, wrote in the book "Tutankhamun's Tomb: The Thrill of Discovery" (Met Publications, 2006).

Allen noted that resin and oil were poured onto this mask along with the rest of the mummy. As the resin and oil cool, they darken and harden.

What is the curse in King Tut's tomb?

Within months of the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, the man who sponsored the excavation - George Herbert, fifth Earl of Carnarvon in England - became ill and died. It didn't take long for people to question whether the "mummy's curse" doomed the count. The press still perpetuates the myth that the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb awakened a curse that killed those who helped find it.