Tutankhamen he was a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty and reigned in Egypt for nine years, from 1336 to 1327 BC. Ç..
He was the son of Pharaoh Aquenaton and a concubine. He was, therefore, the stepson of Nefertiti, the main wife of Pharaoh. During his reign, Aquenaton tried to introduce the worship of a single god, the god Aten, identified with the sun in Egypt.
Note: the name of the pharaoh was written for a long time in Portuguese as Tutankhamun, a botched reprint of English. However, today the spelling is used Tutankhamen, more in line with Portuguese.
Mortuary mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun
Biography
Born to one of his father's secondary wives, Tutankhamun suffered from some degenerative disease due to frequent sibling marriages. He suffered constant pain in the bones and had to walk supported by a crutch.
He married his half-sister Anchesenamon (daughter of Aquenaton and Nefertiti) at age nine. The couple left no heirs, but had two daughters who died when they were still babies.
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During his brief government, he restored the cult of the old gods and Thebes returned to being the capital of the kingdom. However, the young king was practically a hostage of Ay, a high court official who served several pharaohs.
Ambitious, many scholars attribute that Ay may have assassinated Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Anyway, it was he who controlled the entry of people to the royal palace and influenced the pharaoh to make any important decisions.
After Tutankhamun's death, Ay married Tutankhamen's widow, Anchesenamon, in order to gain legitimacy on the throne. It is also believed that she was killed by him months later.
Historical context
The reign of pharaoh Aquenaton was marked by an unprecedented event in antiquity: the attempt to establish the monotheism within a deeply polytheistic culture.
Pharaoh transferred the capital of the Kingdom to Amarna where he worshiped the new god along with his family. This experience lasted ten years and ended up bringing social and political disturbances throughout the Egyptian kingdom.
The large priestly class did not welcome the closing of the temples and the loss of their privileges. Likewise, the simple people did not like the change from worshiping only one god.
After the death of Pharaoh Aquenaton, the ancient cult of the gods was restored by his son and successor Tutankhamun.
Later, Aquenaton would be considered a heretic by his successors. In this way, his name and his family name were deleted from the list of Egyptian pharaohs.
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Discovery of the Tomb and Mummy
Tutankhamun reigned only nine years during a turbulent time. However, the discovery of his virtually intact tomb in 1922, thanks to British archaeologist Howard Carter, restored his name in ancient Egyptian history.
Secluded in the Valley of the Kings, the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun escaped thieves' loot. So he left Egyptologists an incomparable treasure that allowed them to rewrite this part of Egyptian history.
Ancient Egyptians believed that after death, life continued with the gods. So they should be prepared, taking food, drinks, furniture, fabrics and everything else that was necessary to be well received.
However, thieves robbed the tombs and deprived them of their riches ignoring the punishment from beyond. The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was left intact, allowing historians a source of unpublished documents.
The pharaoh's death mask, made of solid gold, is one of the best-known images of ancient Egypt, both for its beauty and its perfection.
In the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun were found:
- the 110,4 kg sarcophagus of pure gold
- a golden chariot
- a statue of Anubis represented as a jackal
- two statues of gilded wooden sentries
- shrines to various gods
- A golden bust of the Celestial Cow Mehet-Weret
- white and red wine pitchers;
- boat replicas
- personal items such as ebony boxes and chairs
- a knife made of metal from a meteorite
- two coffins containing two bodies of babies, identified as the daughters of Tutankhamun and Anchesenamon.
Howard Carter studying the tomb in 1923
Curiosities
When Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered there were several deaths with people related to its opening. British sensationalist newspapers exploited these deaths to the full and invented the "Curse of the Pharaoh" to explain such events.
Pharaoh Tutankhamun is the only one still buried in the Valley of the Kings.
