King Tutankhamen
General information about the Golden King of Egypt:
King Tutankhamun, (1341 B.C - 1323 B.C), restored the cult of the god Amun, the traditional religion that Egypt used to follow before the rebellion took place during the reign of his father Akhenaten. He was the twelfth ruler of the 18th dynasty and was famous for having prospered in Egypt by returning to the traditional religion of the cult of Amun in addition to his golden collection that was found intact and now exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which is a traditional visit during the Egyptian Museum tour from our variety of tours from Cairo.
Tutankhamun was born in Amarna in 1341 B.C. and is remembered by historians as the child pharaoh. The successor of the pharaoh Akhenaten, he was the twelfth ruler of the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom, his original name, Tutankhaton, which means "living image of Aton", referred to the cult of Aton, the solar deity of ancient Egypt. Aton was adored forcefully by the pharaoh Akhenaten, who commanded us to worship this one god instead of the many deities of ancient Egypt.
Although his reign lasted only a short time due to his peaceful death, he is one of the most well-known Egyptian pharaohs of all time. Around the age of nine, he first came into power. The most well-known person in the annals of ancient Egypt is likely King Tut.
The Golden Pharaoh
The reign of Tutankhamun was extremely short: sick from childhood, he died in 1323 B.C. before turning 20 and without having left an heir to the throne of Egypt. Although he ruled, as reported by the ancient historian Manetho, only for 9 years do we remember the reign of this pharaoh because he married the half-sister Ankhesanamon, who also forced her to change her original name was Ankhesenpaaton. He also brought back the capital of Egypt from Amarna, the city built by Akhenaten, in Thebes which is Luxor nowadays.
His tomb was discovered during the expedition directed by Howard Carter 1922, a British archaeologist, and Egyptologist, and sponsored by Carnarvon.
After five years of excavation in the Valley of the Kings, Carnarvon was about to abandon the search for the pharaoh's tomb, but Carter convinced him to finance even more excavations.
After 22 days after the start of this new investment, Carter opened a crack in the access road to the grave. The mummy of the pharaoh, totally wrapped and contained inside the innermost sarcophagus, was covered with jewels and amulets. Tutankhamun's face was covered with a very precious funeral mask which is now among the funeral collection in the museum.
The death of the young king probably happened suddenly and therefore a real grave had not yet been set up for him. According to some archaeologists, these circumstances prompted the family to prepare for his burial in the tomb of Nefertiti, as some theories believed, who died seven years earlier and to seal the access routes between the two tombs with hidden doors.
In Egypt, even if a king died unexpectedly, there were 70 days to fill the grave destined for him with objects that according to traditions could be useful to him in the Afterlife. Seventy days was the time necessary before the mummification process was completed.
His mummy was not found amongst those mummies we found in El-Dier El-Bahari cachette, it was buried in a very small tomb in the Valley of the Kings not compared to the royal tombs in the valley or famous monuments built by his ancestors in Giza and visited every year by millions during the tour to Giza Pyramids.
The mummies and tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs are said to be haunted by an old curse that states that anyone who dares to disturb the tranquility of these embalmed mortal remains will suffer from illness, death, or both. Lord Carnarvon was discovered dead not long after the tomb's discovery.
Explore Egypt's rich history and visit all the important historical sites with Cairo Top Tours. Our expert guides will provide you with detailed explanations about the Pharaohs and their way of life. We offer a range of tours, from one-day trips to longer excursions, all with convenient services to make your trip comfortable and enjoyable. For more information, please visit our website.
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