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"Living Image of
Amun"
 
The
legendary Boy King
For many people, the tomb of this young
Pharaoh represents
a fragment of what untold
treasures and maybe
documents that others had before
and after his passing
into the afterlife. He
eluded Carter and Carnarvon for
years. He continues to raise
as many questions today as he did
when found over 80 years
ago. What is it that draws us into
the
depths of his 19 years of life? Is it the
mystery of his
untimely death? Or the fact that his
father, the herectic king,
Akhenaten changed the way Egypt lived
and
worshipped, or is it the "curse", or maybe
the awesome
treasure that was found
in his tomb? The words
of Howard Carter are still being called
today;
"Yes I see wonderful
things....
Everywhere the glint of
gold".
Just looking at the face on the
golden mask runs
chills up my spine as I stare at it in
awe and wonderment.
Who was this beautiful young
man?
Short vintage footage of Howard
Carter and his team
As I
have stated in all the stories I write, I am by far no expert
in this field. I tell it as I see it. I
will write about the so called curse,
the treasure and the mystery surrounding
his death,
the
countless theories and you be the judge.
The dates
are
only approximate due to the
conflicting mounds of so
called "experts", who are not in
agreement.
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Picture taken by Shardahab and is used
with permission.
I want to start
this section with Tutankhamun's royal lineage.
Royal Lines of
the Eighteenth Dynasty
1) Ahmose, first
Pharaoh of the dynasty, ruled at the age
of 10 for 25
years in or around 1550 BC -1525 BC
2) Amenhotep I,
left no heirs. Came to power in or around
1526 BC- 1503
BC
3) Tuthmosis I, a
commoner and military man married Amenhotep's
sister
Ahmose-Nefertary. Came into power in or around
1504 BC- 1491
BC. Ahmose-Nefertary bore him 2 sons and a
daughter,
Wadjmose, Amenmose & Hatshepsut.
The
sons both died before gainning the throne.
4) Tuthmosis II,
Son of Tuthmosis I, mother was a secondary
royal wife,
Mutnofret who was herself the sister of Tuthmosis
I's principal
queen, Ahmose-Nefertary. He ruled in or about
1491
BC-1479 BC.
5) Queen
Hatshepsut daughter of Queen Ahmose and
TuthmosisI
who was co
regent and wife of Tuthmosis II, his concubine
gave birth
to Tuthmosis III. Hathsepsut left no hiers. Ruled
jointly and
briefly in or around 1479 BC- 1473 BC before she
soley ruled
Egypt on her own. She disappears from the records
in or about 1458
B.C.
6)Tuthmosis III,
said to have been the dimise of Hatshepsut
and her daughter;
Princess Nefrura. Ruled from 1504 BC
until his death
in 1450 BC
7) Amenhotep
II
8)Tuthmosis
IV
9) Amenhotep
III
10) Amenhotep IV
, later had his named changed
to
Akhenaten.
11) Smenkhare
MIA... possibly Nefertiti
12)
Tutankhamun
13) Ay
14)Horemheb
Here
is the list of people who were part of this man's young
life and who they were.
Akhenaten; Tutankhamun's father
Nefertiti; Tutankhamun's step mother
Kiya; Tutankhamun's natural mother a Mitannian
princess Tadukhepa, daughter of Tushratta
Ankhesenamun; Tutankhamun's wife and third
daughter of Nefertiti
Ay; distant uncle & visier to
Akhenaten and successor to the
throne after the death of Tutankhamun
Horemhed; Great Commander under
Tutankhamun,
and last Pharaoh of the eighteenth
dynasty
Smenkhare (still debate over this
individual)
Nakhtmin, who was a military officer under
Horemheb
Maya, Tutankhamun's Treasurer and
Overseer
Usermontju and Pentu, his to viziers of upper and
lower Egypt
Huy, the Viceroy of Nubia.
Crowned as the new leader at the tender age
of nine
or
ten in and around 1336 B.C.. in Memphis.. And I say
this
due to the fact there are no documents that were
found when Carter opened the tomb. To Carter's
dismay, little is known about this dynasty.
What we
do
know is that Tutankhamun was a minor king. He
did
not have a war with anyone nor did he have pyramids
built etc. Unlike other Pharaoh's before
and after him,
he played only a minimal role in Egypt's
ancient history.
His
claim to fame was the so called untouched tomb with
a mother load of treasure and antiquities
they found
buried along with him. With a lack of
ducumentation,
this
dynasty is still remains debatable among
Scholars and Egyptologists.
What
we do know is that when he was born he was given
the name "Tutankhaten", "The living image
of the Aten".
Which leads me to believe he was the
direct descendant of
Akhenaten, the heretic king. Just as other
Pharoahs
before and after, he too held a throne name.
Neb-Kheperu-re, "Lord of Manifestations is
Re.
His mother is still a bit
of a mystery, but I feel Kiya who was a
secondary wife
was his natural birth mother. As strange as
it may
sound in year two of his reign, (about age 10) his name
was changed
to "Tutankhamun", "The living image of Amun".
His father
left him a country in chaos and dispair. With
religious
upheaval this young man had quite the under
taking. His
father Akhenaten turned to monotheism, to
worship
only the sun-god, the Aten. And as we all know
there were
several dozen gods the ancients worshiped.
The first thing
he had to do was to restore the old religion.
His being
so young, his power was shared with Ay and
Horemhed.
Some say
that he more than likely spent his early years in
Amarna.
It is
even said that he started a tomb in Amarna. At age of about
nine he was
married to Ankhesenpaaten, his half sister,
daughter of Nefertiti, who later changed her name to
Ankhesenamun. It is written that Ankhesenpaaten was
older then
Tutankhamun because she was of child bearing age.
Some
even say that she had a child by her father, Akhenaten.
Although I
have not seen any evidence to this. However, I do
feel that it could have been possible.
It
seems he did not succeed Akhenaten directly as ruler of
Egypt, but either an older brother "Smenkare" or his uncle Ay
or quite possibly Nefertiti who could
have gone
by the name "Smenkare" .
I
believe Tutankhamun probably had two daughters later,
but
no sons. I get this notion from the two tiny mummies that
were
found in his tomb in their own sarchophagus. These
were lost until, I believe it was Bob
Brier who found them
a few
years ago. Seen in this photo behind Anubis in a
wooden box. These children were not
carried to term.
And to my knowledge no DNA has been
extracted to confirm
that they actually fathered by
Tutankhamun.
The first tiny
mummy is less than 12" high (30 centimeters)
And as you
can see they even had a funeral mask for the
children.
This one was intact the other it is said was found in
some sort of
embalming debris in a pit and discovered in 1907.
In 1932,
autopsies were performed on these tiny mummies.
It is said that
the autopsies revealed they were female.
Both born
prematurely.
Another
examination was done with the larger mummy
with radiography. It appears that Spina
Bifida and other
malformations
were present at time of death.
"Spina
bifida is a defined as any abnormal development of the bones of the spine
that
display a typical
pattern, with or without the involvement of the brain, nerves or covering
of the
nerves (meninges). It is the most common congenital spine
abnormality.
The term spinabifida covers a
range of malformations that always include
deformities
of certain parts of the
vertebrae, the spinous process and vertebral
arch.
Some have described this process
as a failure of these bones to fuse during
early
fetal development."
Now as funny as this may
sound, some people believe
that one of these
mummies is an alien by-product.
I have seen several web
sites claiming this is proof of an
alien life form or
what's left of it. So you be the judge.
Although he
played a minor role in ancient history,
he did manage to
do a few things before his untimely
demise.
Some of the work he did manage, included the
continuation of
work done in Karnak and Luxor. Unfortunately, Ay and
Horemheb
tried to take credit for the work the young Pharaoh
carried out. This
may explain why he was not listed on the kings lists.
His building work at Karnak and
Luxor included the continuation
of the of the
entrance
colonnades of the
Amenhotep
III temple at
Luxor,
including
associated statues, and his embellishment of the Karnak
temple with
images of Amun, Amunet and Khonsu.
There were also a
whole range of statues and sphinxes depicting
Tutankhamun
himself, as well as a small temple in the king's name.
We also
know, mostly from fragments, that he built at Memphis.
At Kawa, in
the far south, he built a temple. A pair of granite lions
from that temple
today flank the entrance to the Egyptian
Sculpture
Gallery at the British Museum.
Tutankhamun
and Ankhesenamun from the back of his gold throne.
Soon after the Pharaoh's death, his
young queen, Ankhesenamun is
overwhelmed by the thought that she
would have to marry
any one of the powerful
men left behind by her beloved
Pharaoh. In desperation she
writes to the king of
the Hittites, Susppiluliumas I
explaining what has taken place
so suddenly.
She implores him to send one of
his sons to
marry her as soon as possible.
Cautious and very doubtful of this good
fortune falling into his lap he
immediately dispatches a messenger
to investigate
the queen claim.
Once he returned to Suppilulumas I,
he sends his son as
future Pharaoh Zannanza. Sadly
he never makes it.
Apparently he got no further than the border,
he was then murdered more than
likely
by the command of Ay and
Horemheb.
Just a not on the last paragraph;
I have read that this so called
letter that
was sent to the Hittite king, could
have been sent by Nefertiti.
As we all know, Ankhesenamun was
forced to marry Ay, then shortly
after she disappears from all
records. Some say that Ay was probably
the
brother of Tiy who was the wife of Amenhotep III. Amenhotep III
was most likely Tutankhamun's
grandfather. He was also
probably the father of Nefertiti, the
wife of Akhenaten.
Therefore, he got to go first, as king,
followed a short time
later by Horemheb.
The
most recent findings on the death of
King
Tut seem to
conclusively indicate that he died of
natural causes, rather than being murdered.
Specifically, the latest report is that he died
of gangrene
caused by a broken leg.
The Treasure
Unfortunately I will not be posting
all of the tombs contents...
I would here till next year lol. So
just a few of my favorites.
This has to
be my favorite piece of the colection.On this openwork gold buckle
Tutankhamun
is shown riding in his chariot, ostensibly returning from fighting
against the Asiatics and the Nubians.
Pectoral of Kheper Scarab
And who can
forget this one.
On this
pectoral, the outer face is inlaid with colored glass and semi-precious
stones,
the reverse
with chased decoration. The motif of the scarab pushing solar disc
has
been
elaborated to form the king's prenomen, Nebkheprure.
Gold Cloisonne
Earrings
Just
stunning, I love the little cobras at the end.
Tutankhamun's Ceremonial Crook and
Flail
Gold Dagger
and Sheath
Dagger length:
31.9 cm, blade 20.1 cm
Sheath length: 21 cm, width 4.4 cm
Tutankhamun's Gold
Throne
The Canopic
jars
The box of
this fine sarcophagus is made of brown quartzite
and the lid
is made of pink granite tinted to the color of the box.
Why two
different stones should have been used is not obvious,
unless the
reason was that the intended quartzite lid was
not ready
in time for the funeral and a granite lid of indifferent quality,
which
happened to be available, was substituted for it.
There was
another puzzle too: the granite lid was broken in
two and the
fracture, which was concealed with cement and
paint, must
have occurred before the shrines were put in position.
No
explanation seems possible, except that the king's
premature
death made it necessary to hurry
the work
and an accident happened
Symbolism
for magical purposes was an important feature
of Egyptian
funerary equipment. On the sarcophagus it is seen
most
clearly in the graceful figures of four goddesses, Isis, Nephthys,
Neith, and
Selket, carved in high relief on the corners,
their wings
outspread to protect the body
within the sarcophagus..
Gold Death Mask of
Tutankhamun
It weighs about twenty - four
pounds
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