The Life And Times Of King Tut

King Tutankhamun

One of the most abiding legacies of the 18th Dynasty, and particularly the Amarna renaissance, is the power of its art.  Despite suppression of references to Amarna by Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the dynasty, art of peerless quality has reached us in the treasures buried with a relatively minor pharaoh whose tomb largely escaped the robbers who raided the tombs of more illustrious pharaohs.  That pharaoh was, of course, King Tut whose largely-intact tomb was found by Howard Carter in 1922.

Tutankhamun came to the throne as a child of nine in around 1333 BCE, and died before he reached 19.  Ongoing DNA tests of royal mummies may soon establish who his father was. Informed guesses are that Amenhotep III or, more probably, his son Akhenaten, fathered the boy king. 

The Amarnan Royals

Akhenaten, the defining pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty and the so-called Amarna period, discarded a religion based on a pantheon of gods that had survived for over a thousand years to establish worship of a single god, the Aten. He also moved the court from Waset, Thebes (modern Luxor) 250 miles north to Middle Egypt at what is now el-Amarna. If Akhenaten was Tutankhamun’s father, then Akhenaten’s secondary wife Kiya was probably his mother.

Atenism was unpopular.  A couple of years into his reign in 1331 BCE, Tutankhaten, as he was originally named, surrendered to political pressures.  He reverted to the old religion, changed his name to Tutankhamun (recognising Amun, the most important god in the old pantheon), and moved the capital back to Thebes. 

What happened to the mummies of the Amarnan royal family is unknown, but many believe their mummies were reinterred in the Valley of the Kings and their funerary goods reallocated.  Items of Tutankhamun’s funerary equipment show signs of alteration.  Some alterations may reflect his change of name, but some items may have been recycled from other royal tombs. One large shabti, for example, was probably originally intended for a woman’s burial.  Even the famous golden coffins show telltales that the faces have been modified. 

The Art Of Amarna

The art of the Amarna period is renowned for its realism and Tutankhamun’s treasures may represent a cross-section of some of the best Amarnan works dating back as far as Akhenaten’s reign.  Akhenaten’s city is now little more than foundations, but we can see some indication of the period’s architectural style in the works Tutankhamun commissioned at Luxor and Karnak temples.  Tut was probably was also responsible for dismantling Akhenaten’s chapels at Karnak.  However, his relationship with his wife, Ankhesenamun, is celebrated by a colossal statue at Luxor Temple showing the couple as Amun and Mut.

Some of the tomb’s key treasures are original commissions.  Particularly fascinating are the images of Tutankhamun with his Ankhesenamun on items like the little gold shrine and the golden throne.  Beautiful in their own right, they also show Tutankhamun as a young man who lived and loved in a very human way.  That humanity was reinforced by the discovery of two coffins each containing the mummified body of a tiny baby.  One was miscarried at five months; the other probably died at birth.  Planned DNA tests should show conclusively whether Tutankhamun was the father; however, it is believed he fathered no other children. 

Death Of A King

Tutankhamun was succeeded by the vizier Ay, and there are suspicions that Ay actually arranged Tutankhamun’s murder.  Early X-rays of Tutankhamun’s skull show a hole that suggests that the king had received a blow to the head.  However, CT scans performed in 2005 suggest the hole was created during the embalming process.  It is now believed that he died of natural causes, perhaps from an infection in his leg which he fractured shortly before his death either in a chariot accident or as a battle injury, suffered perhaps in the fighting we know of against the Hittites or Nubians. 

Similarly we can debunk claims of a curse falling on those who opened Tutankhamun’s tomb.  Although Lord Carnarvon who sponsored the dig died within months, Carter lived another 17 years.  Another common misconception is that Tutankhamun’s tomb was found intact - it was robbed on two separate occasions a few years after it was sealed.   Perhaps 60% of the jewellery was stolen but fortunately the robbers did little damage and never penetrated the shrines protecting the coffined mummy.   

By 1916 most Egyptologists believed the Valley of the Kings had revealed all its secrets.  Carter knew there was at least one missing king’s tomb, Tutankhamun, but by 1921 Carnarvon’s willingness to fund further fruitless excavation was waning.  Carter’s obstinacy won through and within 3 days of starting the 1921/2 season, he found the steps leading to Tutankhamun’s tomb.   Had Carter not persuaded Carnarvon to support one last season, Tutankhamun’s tomb could still lie undiscovered beneath piles of shale, just as some other missing tombs perhaps still await the archaeologists who are even now excavating in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.

Images by Sandro Vannini. All rights reserved.

Written by Kate Phizackerley

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About The Author

Kate Phizackerley

Last three pieces by this author:

The Valley of the Kings | Carnarvon's Life of Adventure

Kate’s father was the Lancashire landscape artist PT Phiz whom she accompanied on sketching trips throughout her childhood.  He also introduced her to architecture through books like Banister Fletcher and visits to the great churches and houses of Britain.  Although Kate’s professional career has taken her into HR, IT and…