The Boy King

Tutankhamun, the Boy King, was born around 1367BC. His birth name was Tutankhaten.¹. At the age of 9, in 1358BC, he acceeded the Egyptian throne, the last but one Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. He was the son of a lesser wife of the Pharaoh, named Kiya. The marriage between Tutankhaten and his half-sister Ankhesenpa'aten had already taken place. They shared the same father, Akhenaten the Heretic, who was responsible for changing the religion of the Egyptians from the worship of many gods, to monotheism²; that god being the Solar Disc, Aten {or Aton}.

Tutankhamun's Queen

Ankhesenpa'aten was the daughter of Nefertiti, the beloved wife of Akhenaten, and Queen of Egypt. Princess Ankhesenpa'aten changed her name to Ankhesenamun, upon the restoration of the old religions. It is known that the young couple had at least two offspring, unfortunately they were stillborn. The mummified foetuses were found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Once widowed, the young Queen was forced to marry Ay³, her own grandfather, to assure his accession to the Egyptian throne. Her fate after this is not known.

Tutankhamun's Reign

After Tutankhamun became Pharaoh, he set about restoring the old deities, reverting to the old religions and thus giving the power back to the priests of Amun. This is when he changed his name to Tutankhamun. Exact pronunciation of Egyptian names is not known, because vowels were not written down. His name has a variety of spellings thus: Tutankhamen/on/un. Another name he was known by was Nebkheperu, as Egyptian Pharaohs had two names. Tutankhamun also reinstated Thebes {Luxor} as capital of Egypt; Thebes having been relegated in favour of a new city built especially for his beloved wife, by Akhenaten. The new city, Akhetaten,⁴ was never accepted as capital of Egypt by the Egyptian people. During a battle in 1350BC, Tutankhamun was killed or murdered; Ay claimed Queen Ankhesenamun as his wife but ruled for only four years. The fact that she produced no living heirs effectively sealed the end of the 18th dynasty. Upon Ay's death, an army officer named Harmhab seized the throne and founded the 19th Dynasty.

The Burial

After the Pharaoh's fluids and vital organs were removed, the mummification process could begin. The body was treated with preservative chemicals and then wrapped in cloth {usually linen} which had been seeped in oils. Personal jewellery was placed upon the mummy, and, touchingly, the remains of flowers were found in close proximity to the body. A total of 13 layers of linen were used altogether. Enclosed within the wrappings were 143 amulets and charms, to ward off evil spirits. The solid gold death mask {which was said to resemble Tutankhamun} was placed upon the finished mummy. The body with the mask on were placed inside the solid gold coffin which was shaped like a Pharaoh, but this does not resemble Tutankhamun. This coffin was then placed inside a wooden coffin covered in gold, also pharaoh-shaped.⁵ Four more coffins were utelized, until the largest filled almost the entire burial chamber. The vital organs were placed in canopic jars⁶. These were also placed in the burial chamber. The burial took 70 days in all, as was the custom. It was Ay's duty as next Pharaoh to give Tutankhamun a worthy burial. As he had been so young at the time of his death, he had not started building his own tomb. Ay most probably plundered other tombs to furnish Tutankhamun's. Some of the treasures depict a female Pharaoh, it is estimated that 80% of the 5,000 items did not belong to Tutankhamun.

The Tomb

The boy King was buried at Thebes in the Valley of the Kings in 1349BC with a vast treasure, which lay undiscovered until 1922AD. The discovery, by Howard Carter, caused a sensation worldwide. This was the first time a Pharaoh's tomb had been discovered intact. The reason why this tomb was missed by grave-robbers is because its location was never recorded, and later, a much larger tomb was built almost on top of it. Carter, excavating in the Valley of the Kings, found steps buried under a layer of stone chips.

"By the solemn silence all around caused by the stoppage of work, I guessed that something out of the ordinary had occurred", Carter wrote later. "My reis (foreman) told me that the beginnings of a staircase had been discovered". Further clearing of the steps revealed the top of a doorway. On November 26th the tomb was finally opened. The burial chamber lay as it had been on the day the priests had tied the knots on the shrine enclosing the sarcophagus and impressed upon them the seal of the pharaoh. Carter, accompanied by Lady Evelyn and Lord Carnarvon, were the first people to see the interior of Tutankhamon's tomb since it had been sealed. Carter cleared a small hole. "I inserted the candle and peered in. At first I could see nothing, but as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details began to emerge. Strange animals, statues, and gold, everywhere the glint of gold. For a moment, {an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by}; I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon enquired anxiously if I could see anything, it was all I could do to utter the words, "Yes, wonderful things"."

In the following years Howard Carter excavated the contents of the tomb. It was a phenomenal task. Carter wrote: "This was no ordinary find, to be disposed of in a normal season's work; nor was there any precedent to show us how to handle it. The thing was bewildering, and for the moment it seemed as though there were more to be done than any human could accomplish." Alongside the Pharaoh's burial chamber was another room containing all he would need for the afterlife. What must have been an incomparable wealth of gold and other treasures were sealed up with their ruler. Tutankhamun's body was removed for study then replaced in the tomb. The tomb is open to the public, but there is not much left to see. The treasure is housed in the museum at Cairo, Egypt, along with the death mask.

The Death Mask

Tutankhamun's death mask is incomparable and priceless. It was crafted in gold, lapis lazuli, odsidian, quartz, amazonite and polychrome glass. It is currently housed in the museum in Cairo, Egypt.

The Afterlife

In accordance with his people's beliefs, the young Pharaoh was buried with everything he would need in the afterlife. Found in the tomb were servants {fake} and food {fake} which the ancient Egyptians believed would become real in the afterlife. The Pharaoh's chariot and all his personal belongings were entombed with him. Tutankhamun, though an insignificant ruler, has become immortalized thanks to the discovery of his intact tomb.

The Curse

An ancient curse was rumoured to smite those who disturbed the mortal remains of the dead King. When Lord Carnarvon died on 5th April 1923, seven weeks after the official opening of Tutankhamun's burial chamber, rumours were rife about a curse. News of Tutankhamun's tomb and its discoverers had sent the world's media into a frenzy, and the death of Lord Carnarvon added another twist for eager journalists. All sorts of links were found. The lights of Cairo were said to have gone out at the moment of his death⁷. Back at Carnarvon's English estate, his dog, Susie, was supposed to have howled and died at the same time. Carnarvon's death came just a couple of weeks after a public warning by novelist Mari Corelli that there would be dire consequences for anyone who entered the sealed tomb. The media and public lapped it up. Arthur Conan Doyle,⁸ a believer in the occult, announced that Carnarvon's death could have been the result of a "Pharaoh's curse". One newspaper even printed a curse supposed to have been written in hieroglyphs at the entrance of the tomb, the translation being: "They who enter this sacred tomb shall swift be visited by wings of death."

One inscription, found on the Anubis⁹ shrine in the tomb's treasury, did say: "It is I who hinder the sand from choking the secret chamber. I am for the protection of the deceased." However, a reporter went on to add his own words to the reported inscription: "And I will kill all those who cross this threshold into the sacred precincts of the Royal King who lives forever." Reporting of the curse was further fuelled by more deaths, many with very stretched associations to Tutankhamun. Five months after Carnarvon died, his younger brother died suddenly. Closer to the tomb, another "casualty" was the pet canary of the tomb's discoverer, Howard Carter. The bird was swallowed by a cobra on the day the tomb was opened. This was interpreted as retribution for violation of the tomb, particularly as a cobra was depicted on the brow of the pharaoh!¹⁰. According to one list, of the 26 individuals present at the official opening of the tomb, six had died within a decade. In reality, many of the key individuals associated with the discovery and work on the tomb lived to a ripe old age. When some of the treasures of Tutankhamun went on tour overseas in the 1970s, some people were still of the belief that a curse might be at work. One example was from San Francisco where a policeman guarding Tutankhamun's gold funerary mask tried to claim compensation for a mild stroke based on the effect of the curse. The judge dismissed the claim.

A list of the major players involved and their fates

Lord Carnarvon

Carnarvon had been in poor health for over 20 years following a motoring accident in Germany. Less than two weeks after the official opening of the burial chamber, Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito. The bite became infected after he cut it whilst shaving. Carnarvon fell ill and, with his resistance lowered, developed pneumonia and eventually died at the age of 57.

Howard Carter

Lady Evelyn Herbert

Harry Burton

Alan Gardiner

Dr. D.E. Derry

Two unknown workers

Referenced Researchers

Duncan {Spearcarrier} Jones
Gnomon
NexusSeven
Referenced Entry

Mummies