King Tutankhamen ruled Egypt for nine years, from approximately 1355 to 1346 B.C. He ascended the throne at age nine, and he remained in power until his sudden death at age 18. In this paper we will examine the life and death of Tutankhamen, but, as we will see, he appears to have been little more than a bit player in a time of great cultural turbulence. As noted German archaeological author Philipp Vandenberg says, "He conducted no wars, gave rise to no scandals; during his reign there was no great prosperity; only one single temple was built. No, we must resign ourselves to the fact that Tutankhamen was a comparatively insignificant pharaoh." Tutankhamen was a boy-king whose entire short reign, and short life, was overshadowed by the political and religious giants of his time.
We know remarkably few hard facts about Tutankhamen, and we know absolutely nothing about his personal character. Even the circumstances of his birth are something of a mystery. He was born circa 1365 B.C. with the name Tutankhamen. A recently discovered inscription makes it fairly certain that he was a king's son, but there is no proof of which king exactly was his father. Most experts agree, however, that the heretic king Akhenaten was almost certainly his father and that his mother was most likely one of Akhenaten's lesser wives or a certain Babylonian princess who came to Egypt around the time of his birth.
Part of the reason for all of this confusion is that, in 14th century Egypt, marriages were not formal events, even for pharaohs. No priest was required, no vows were exchanged, and no registrar was available to record the match officially. The higher the social standing of a couple, the freer the relationship became. This lack of formalization and marital taboos is part of the reason why we see so many incestuous relationships in the Egyptian dynasties.
At this point it is necessary to present some background information on Akhe...