King Tutankhamen

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,

Related Essays

Ancient Egypt .... The great "boy" king, Tutankhamen, known as King Tut, would come to restore the traditional religious system preceding Akhenaton, but this was not a decision .... (4878 20 )

Art Nouveau, Art Deco .... The discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the early 1920s created a fascination in design for the styles, materials and shapes of Ancient Egypt in .... (1938 8 )

History of the Trumpet .... in the Epic of Gilgamesh, from about 2000 BC The oldest existing trumpets, both silver, from 1353 BC, were discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamen in Egypt. .... (1416 6 )

Pyramids of Latin America and Egypt .... by double temples, which were "dedicated, respectively, to the Rain God and to their tribal hero" (King, 103). .... Among these was the famous tomb of Tutankhamen. .... (3807 15 )

Urbanization Theories .... The city was first conceived by king Akhenaten, but it was abandoned just .... died, his new religion died with him, and his successor, Tutankhamen, returned to the .... (4908 20 )

It is only at this point in history that the name of Tutankhamen suddenly appears. He seems to have been pulled out of obscurity by Nefertiti and her advisor Ay as the only male with Akhenaten's blood in his veins who could be considered as a feasible successor. Though he was only nine years old, he was promptly married to Akhenaten and Nefertiti's third daughter, and his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten. Ankhesenpaaten was only about twelve, but she had already been married to her father Akhenaten and had given birth to their daughter, Ankhesenpaaten Tashery (Ankhesenpaaten the Younger). The young royal couple lived with Nefertiti in Akhetaten for the next three years, until Nefertiti died. Nefertiti had been one of her husband's strongest supporters in his faith, and it was mostly due to her efforts that Atenism remained dominant for the first few years after Akhenaten's death. Ay, the other power behind Tutankhamen's throne, had no such enduring loyalties. Ay was Queen Tiye's brother and was married to Nefertiti's nurse. He was the favorite courtier of Akhenaten during his reign, and, in Howard Carter's words, was "Chief Priest, Court Chamberlain, and practically Court everything else." When Nefertiti died, Ay took the op

Category: History - K