Who is Tutankhamun

January 30th 2011
Some of Tutankhamun's Treasures are among those smashed in the Egyptian Museum. Some were also stolent. I will create a lens when I have time

1) Egyptology News
2) News from the Valley of the Kings

I will update details on my Squidoo lenses as soon as I can. But as you will see from this lens, these are some of the top cultural treasures of the world.

Despite the treasures recovered from his tomb, relatively little about Tutankhamun's life is known with certainty. He was born into the Amarnan royal family as Tutankhaten sometime about 1341 BC. His parentage has been traced by DNA analysis of his mummy and that of several others found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. His father was the mummy recovered from tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings; his mother was the mummy known as the Younger Lady which was found in KV35.

It would, of course, be good to put names to his parents. That is rather more difficult. KV55 is a very mysterious tomb. Many Egyptologists believe that it was the last resting place of the famous (perhaps infamous) Pharaoh Akhenaten, that is Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten. The alternative is the very little known Pharaoh Smenkhare. We are certain, however, that his paternal grandfather was the long-lived Pharaoh Amenhotep III by his wife, Queen Tiye

His mother's name is also still subject to debate. She was also the daughter of Amenhotep III and the sister of the mummy in KV55 (Akhenaten or Smenkhare). In case that's unclear, Tutankhamun's parents were brother and sister and the children of Queen Tiye.

If Tutankhaten's parentage is uncertain, his childhood is clouded in even more doubt. For a long time, the prevailing view was that Tutankhaten was born and raised at Amarna but Dr Hawass has suggested he had a palace at Saqqara. He was close to his wet nurse Maya (meaning flesh of the gods) whose tomb is at Saqqara as shown in this video.

What is without doubt is that he succeeded to the throne in about 1333 BC aged about nine and reigned for less than ten years although all or most of these would have been under the regency of Ay who succeeded Tutankhamun to the throne on his death.

Perhaps a couple of years into Tutankhaten's reign, bowing to policical pressure, the royal family and court moved back from Amarna to the old royal capital at Thebes (Luxor) and abandoned Akhenaten's religion of Atenism and reverted to the old polythistic religion. The chief god in the old religion was Amun and in recognition of their changed affiliation, the royal couple took new names. Tutankhaten became Tutankhamun and Ankhesenpaaten became Ankhesenamun. (Egyptian names were spelt in hieroglyphs and English translations vary. Sometimes Amen is spelt with an 'e' rather than as Amun. The couple's names are therefore sometimes spelt as Tutankhamen and Ankesenamen. It is worth remembering this if searching for information on the Web.)

Tutankhamun was still only about 10 and it is unlikely that the move back to Thebes and his religious conversion was his idea. Indeed, there is some evidence that the royal couple in private continued in Atenistic practice. It is more likely that the decision was made by the powers behind the throne - the vizier Ay and General Horemheb - who would in turn succeed Tutankhamun as Pharaoh.

When he took the throne at age nine (or so), Tutankhaten was married to Ankhesenpaaten who may have been his half-sister by their father Akhenaten and just four or five years his senior. When Tutankhtaten changed his name to Tutankhamun, Ankhesenpaaten's name was similarly changed to Ankesenamun.

Ankesenamun was Tutankhamun's Great Royal Wife and Queen throughout his relatively brief reign of ten years or so. Vizier Ay took the throne on the death of Tutankhamun so it is obvious that Tutankhamun had no surviving son. There is also no record of any daughters. Two mummified foetuses were found in Tutankhamun's tomb. DNA tests may prove Tutankhamun's paternity; Ankhesenamun is presumed to be the mother as Tutankhamun is not known to have a second wife. With the degree of marriage within the royal family it is perhaps not surprising if genetically the royal line had become weak. The smaller foetus is five months in gestational age and just less than 12 inches in height while the other is estimated to be a birth of between seven and nine months in gestational age and measures just over 15 inches and suffered from Sprengel's deformity with spina bifida and scoliosis. Despite the different gestational ages, it is thought that they may be twins although the umbilical cord of the younger foetus is still attached while that of the older is cut; however, the residual had not dried suggesting that the infant was birthed, possibly drew breath, but did not survive long.

It is likely that Ankhesenamun shared many of the duties with the Pharaoh. She is depicted together with Tutankhamun on a number of items found in his tomb, most famously in a beautiful scene on the back of his 'throne' which depicts a loving royal couple on the back. For more details of the objects found, please see my lens on Tutankhamun's Tomb.

Photographs © Kate Phizackerley, 2003 under a creative commons attribution sharealike license on the terms set out here on my site

It is assumed that Akhenaten fathered children by both Meritaten and Ankhesenamun (Ankhesenpaaten). It is most likely that Ankhesenamun was Tutankhamun's half-sister. However, if the theory that Mekaten was him mother was correct, then Ankhesenamun was also his aunt! Whatever the exact relationship, it is clear that marriage within the royal bloodline was common. Not surprisingly this resulted in a number of genetic weaknesses being observed within members of the royal family.

• elongated skull in males, especially Akhenaten but observed in Tutankhamun
• one leg shorter than the other observed in Tutankhamun and the mummy from Tomb KV55
• Curvature of the spine - both Tutankhamun and the foetuses found in his tomb

Some Egyptian pharoahs like Tuthmosis III were renowned warriors; some, like Ramses the Great as builders of maginificent temples. What was Tutankhamun famous for? Nothing in particular. We know of no great battles. Maybe he died too young - although there is some thought that he had a accident in a war charriot shortly before his death so it is possible he was fighting. His building achievements are modest - although perhaps he did build palaces and temples at Memphis which are now lost to us.

In truth, in the surviving monuments and archaeology, his reign is modest for a pharoah who sat the throne of Egypt for nearly a decade. He did commission some building work at Karnak Temple, beginning the demoliton of chapels built by Akhenaten and possibly built the avenune of Sphinxes between the precinct of the Temple of Amun and the precinct of the Temple of Mut. A reasonable number of statutes tentatively attributed to his reign have also been found in Karnak Temple. There is also a statue of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun in Luxor Temple.

It is also assumed that he had a Mortuary Temple on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor (Thebes) but nothing remains of this and its scale is unknown.

One thing that the videos don't mention is that 15 years before Tutankhamun's tomb was found, another sealed tomb was found in the Valley of the Kings. The occupant's seal was missing but was eventually found in pieces in rubble near the entrance. The name on the seal was ... Tutankhamun and the tomb was the mysterious KV55. There's a lot on my to do list at present but I will write up the story of this enigatic tomb when I get chance.

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