The life and death of King Tutankhamen

The door of the tomb opened with a loud “Creek!” Carter and his team walked inside, and turned on their flashlights. They found their way to the burial chamber and when they lifted the lid of the solid gold coffin, they found themselves staring, mouths opened into the eyes of King Tutankhamen. He was the boy-king with the mysterious life, death, tomb and curse, in which you are about to learn about.

Tutankhamen was originally given the name Tutanamen, meaning “the living image of Amen.” He was born and raised in Thebes, Egypt along with his six sisters. When he was nine years of age, he took his father’s place and became pharaoh of Egypt in the 18^th dynasty. Although he was very young at the time, he was much loved by his people. By this time he was in his early teens and was married to his half sister, Ankhesenamun. Tut and his wife later had two stillborn baby girls, found mummified in his tomb.

During King Tutankhamen’s reign, he re-established the belief in a pantheon of gods throughout Egypt. this means that Egypt now beleived in polyism or the worship of more than one god. He also re-opened all the temples for the sake of worship. But because he was still quite young, he was partially dependant on his advisors in making major decisions. Unfortunately, King Tut’s reign was short.

At the early age of 18 years, King Tutankhamen mysteriously died. Some say it was murder committed by his wife, Ankhesenamun, his Prime Minister, Ay, of his army general, Horenheb. Others say he died of gangrene because of a broken leg. Upon discovery in 1922, scientists uncovered a blow to the back of his head, but there was no sign of bleeding.  Some motives for murder include power over the land of Egypt, his wife Ankhesenamun, or Tut’s vast fortune. Unfortunately, we still don’t know what or who killed King Tut.

What we do know is that after his death one very surprising thing happened. Horenheb erased his name from all the records, and replaced them with his own.  He was the army general during Tut’s reign. Later he would become the prime suspect in Tut’s murder.

It wasn’t until 1922 that Howard Carter and Lord Carnovon discovered King Tut’s tomb in the Valley of Kings. It all started when Carter discovered Tut’s name on a stone wall and believed that his tomb existed. When he got a lead on where the tomb might be, he called Lord Carnovon, who owned the rights to dig in the Valley of Kings. Carter needed permission to start the expedition. His permission was granted, and after five years of looking, Lord Carnovon gave up and returned to England.  A couple of months later, the tomb was found and Lord Carnovon came back to help with the expedition.

Inside the tomb, Carter, Lord Carnovon and their team found more than six hundred artifacts, including a rare perfume kept fragrant for over three thousand years. Among the many treasures found in the tomb, the solid gold coffin found in Tutankhamen’s burial chamber was by far the greatest. Tut’s mummy was kept in a gold coffin, surrounded by four more gold coffin, making him the most well preserved mummy ever discovered.

Upon entering the burial chamber, however, the team uncovered a slate with the words “Death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peace of the pharaoh” written across it. About a week later, Lord Carnovon died. As soon as he died, the lights in the hospital went out for five minutes, and at the exact same moment his dog back in England howled, and then dropped dead. Also, of the two hundred people present on the expedition, two dozen had died.

Later, a group of scientists discovered a bacteria living and feeding on the food in the tomb, which was lethal to the human body when inhaled. This would explain the deaths. But, then the real question is: what about the curse? Well, a group of explorers found that the slate with the words written on it was never there. The media had taken the opportunity to write a story about a nonexistent curse.

Up until 1922 very few people had heard the name “Tutankhamen.” Before the discovery of the tomb, no one knew the mystery. No one knew the betrayal.  After the discovery of his tomb everyone knew. King Tut’s reign was nothing special. He didn’t expand the borders. He didn’t make any big decisions. His fame came only because carter found his tomb. The riches from the boy-king’s tomb have traveled the world and are what make him famous to millions of people today.