Tutankhamen the Boy Pharoah

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The Tomb
In 1922 two Englishmen found something that thrilled the world. In a room they found piles of gold and stacked high were golden statues, chariots, furniture, tools and shrines. They belonged to a king known as a Pharaoh, whose name was Tutankhamen. He lived about 3,300 years ago and his body was found in the next room wrapped in linen. It had peacefully rested there for many hundreds of years.

Howard Carter and George Carter were the archaeologists who made the amazing discovery. George Carter, who was the Earl of Carnarvon, died a mysterious death only five months after the find. This was followed by several reports of other mysterious deaths of people who were in some way associated with the find.The newspaper headlines told this story around the world and it was then when people started considering the curse of Tutankhamen's tomb was maybe not just a myth.

The Possible Causes of the Deaths
Here are some suggested theories: 1) Fungus - One theory is that fungus in the tombs caused a fever as many of those who died had suffered from a fever.
2) Poison - Another idea is that ancient priests used poison to protect the dead. The tombs were air tight and the poison could remain in the tombs and when people opened the tombs and touched things, the posion would be released. In some cases the poison lead to death.
3) Bacteria - Several explorers died of pneumonia, which can be caused by bacteria. According to some people, the mummies bred germs that would have infected the people exploring the tombs causing them to become ill.
4) The Curse - Many people believed in the curse of the Pharaohs. They believed that when you entered the pharaoh’s tomb you would die from the curse.

A lot of people argue about why all these poeple died and unless we discover the secret of time travel we may never know.

The Armarna Revolution
The Armarna Revolution lasted for a short 17 years. It started and ended with the pharoh Akhenaton, or as he was first known, as Amenhotep IV. He reigned for 17 years (1379-1362 B.C.). Within the first few years of Akhenaton’s reign some changes began to happen which were quite strange. He abandoned worshipping most of the Egyptian gods and made up a new god known as Aton, the god of the sun for whom he buillt a temple.

Akhenaton then shifted the capital city from the overcrowded Thebes, to a new city which called Akheton, which he named after himself.

When Akhenaton died Tutankhamen became the pharaoh of Egypt at the age of 9!

Tutankhamen the Baby
Tutankhamen was born around the year 1350 B.C. We are not sure who his father or mother were, however he was apparently related to the royal family so of course when he was born there would have been much rejoicing. A royal baby in a land full of slaves, Tutankhamen would have had many servents waiting on him as well as having his own head nurse and nursing staff.

Tutankhamen would not have had to worry about love because Akhenton was married to a very beautiful woman called Nefertiti. Akhenaton and Nefertiti had 6 daughters and no sons meaning that they would have made a lot of fuss about the baby boy.

The Coronation
Tutankhamen was not expected to be a pharaoh as Akhenaton shared his throne with a young man who may have been Tutankhamen’s older brother. This young man who was 22 at the time was expected to outlive Akhenaton. However, they both died within a few months of each other and Tutankhamen was proclaimed Pharaoh. At that time Tutankhamen was married to Ankhesenpaton, Akhenaton's daughter and was probably only 6 or 7 years old.

Seventy days had to pass between the death of a pharaoh and the crowning of a new one. This was the time where the mummification of the pharaoh took place.

Tutankhamen was then crowned in Karnak so that right from the start he made it obvious to everyone that he believed in the old way of things and not the sun god Aton.

On the day of coronation he would have been wearing a loin-cloth and nothing else. He would have been led to the great temple of Karnak to a temple. In the temple were two priests, one wearing the mask of horus, the god of the horizon (which was the falcons head.), and the other the mask of Aton.

Next he was taken to the hall and to a pool where gour 4 priests representing gods threw purification liquid over him. He was then taken to the very holiest part of the temple and in here there were two temples, one representing the North of Egypt ,and the other representing the South of Egypt. Tutankhamen was told to enter the Temple representing the North of Egypt where a priestess was wearing a huge mask of the head of the Cobra.

Now came the crowning where five crowns were placed on Tutankhamen's head. All of these crowns were his to look after until his death.

Tutankhamen’s Reign
Tutankhamen did not live for very long and since he was very young, Ay, a priest, instructed Tutankhamen in what to do. All the temples had been forgotten because of Akhenaton's different beliefs. Ay directed Tutankhamen to fix the templesand to stop the weeds from growing in the holiest of holy places and this is what Tutankhamen did.

Tutankhamen got bored of all his royal duties and he toured the countryside with his wife. All across Egypt they went sleeping in the best accommodation drinking the finest of drinks and eating the best of foods.

Tutankhamen knew he was dying around the time of his eighteenth birthday. No one knows what he died from or where he died, but we do know that he knew he was dying as he instructed his queen to marry a Hittite King after he had died, however no one knows if she did.

Tutankhamen did not do anything of great importance during his reign (like build a Pyramid or a temple) The most important thing he did was die and while this may sound cruel, from his dying and his grave not being disturbed, we are able to find out a lot about ancient Egyptian culture and government.

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