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Tutankhamun or Tutankhaten (possibly the Nibhurrereya of the Amarna letters) was Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1334 BC/1333 BC - 1323 BC), during the period known as the New Kingdom. His original name Tutankhaten means "Living Image of Aten" while Tutankhamun means "Living Image of Ammon.
Tutankhamun (or "King Tut") is perhaps best known to modern westerners as the only pharaoh to have his nearly intact tomb (KV62) discovered. (The wealth of objects discovered in this young king's tomb naturally leads to speculation on what might have been contained in the plundered tombs of far more significant Pharaohs.) However, he is historically important as well.
Tutankamun's parentage is uncertain. An inscription calls him a king's son, but it is debated which king was meant. Most scholars consider that he was probably a son either of Amenhotep III (though probably not by his Great Royal Wife Tiye), or of Amenhotep III's son Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaton), perhaps with his enigmatic second queen, Kiya. It should be noted though that when Tutankhaten succeeded Akhenaton to the throne, Amenhotep III was already dead for seventeen years. Tutankhamun ruled Egypt for eight to ten years and examinations of his mummy suggest that he was seventeen or eighteen years old when he died. This would place his birth around 1341 BC/ 1340 BC and would make it less likely that Amenhotep III was his father.
Tutankhamun was responsible for reversing much of his father-in-law's Amarna revolution, in which Akhenaton attempted to supplant the existing priesthood and gods with a god who was until then considered minor, Aten. In year 3 of his reign (1331 BC), Tutankhamun, who was still a young boy and probably under the influence of two older advisors, restored the old pantheon of gods and their temples, granted the traditional privileges back to their priesthoods, and moved the capital back to Thebes.
Tutankhamun was married to Ankhesenpaaten, a daughter of Akhenaton. Ankhesenpaaten also changed her name from the -aten endings to the -amun ending, becoming Ankhesenamun. They had two known children, both stillborn - their mummies were discovered in his tomb.
Tutankhamun died at about the age of 19, of unknown causes, although not before changing his name to Tutankhamun. On his mummy there is evidence of an injury to his head; an {X-ray]] revealed a dense spot at the lower back of the skull, potentially a chronic subdural haematoma, which would have been caused by a blow. The injury could be the result of an accident, but it has also been suggested that the young Pharaoh was murdered. If this is the case, there are a number of theories as to who was responsible; one popular candidate is his immediate successor Ay. Interestingly, there are seemingly signs of calcification within the supposed injury, which if true means that Tutankhamun lived for a fairly extensive period of time (on the order of several months) after the injury was inflicted.
Much confusion has been caused by a small loose sliver of bone within the upper cranial cavity, which was discovered from the same X-ray analysis. Some people have mistaken this visible bone fragment for the supposed head injury. In fact, since Tutankhamun's brain was removed post mortem in the mummification process, and considerable quantities of now-hardened resin introduced into the skull on at least two separate occasions after that, had the fragment resulted from a pre-mortem injury, it almost certainly would not still be loose in the cranial cavity. It therefore almost certainly represents post-mummification damage.
A now-famous letter to the Hittite king Suppiluliumas I from a widowed queen of Egypt, explaining her problems and asking for one of his sons as a husband, has been attributed to Ankhesenamun (among others). Suspicious of this good fortune, Suppiluliumas I first sent a messanger to make inquiries on the truth of the young queen's story. After reporting her plight back to Suppilulumas I, he sent his son, Zannanza, accepting her offer. However, he got no further than the border before he died, perhaps murdered. If Ankhesenamun were the queen in question, and his death a murder, it was probably at the orders of Horemheb or Ay, who, both had both the opportunity and the motive.
In any event, after Tutankhamun's death, Ankhesenpaamun married Ay, possibly under coercion, and shortly afterwards disappeared from recorded history.
Tutankhamun was briefly succeeded by the elder of his two advisors, Ay, and then by the other, Horemheb, who obliterated most of the evidence of the reigns of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ay.
Tutankhamun's existence is believed to have been mostly forgotten at some point not too long after his death, until the 20th century. It has been suggested that his tomb was never opened, by either grave robbers or priests, exactly because he and it had been forgotten.
The Egyptologist Howard Carter (employed by Lord Carnarvon) discovered Tutankhamun's tomb on November 4, 1922 near the entrance to the tomb of Ramses VI, thereby setting off a renewed interest in all things Egyptian in the modern world. Carter contacted his patron, and on November 26 that year both men became the first people to enter Tutankhamun's tomb in over 3000 years. After many weeks of careful excavation, on February 16, 1923 Carter opened the burial chamber and first saw the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.
For many years, rumors of a "curse" (probably fueled by newspapers at the time of the discovery) persisted, emphasizing the early death of some of those who had first entered the tomb. However, a recent study of journals and death records indicates no statistical difference between the age of death of those who entered the tomb and those on the expedition who did not. Indeed, most lived to past 70.
Tutankhamun has also been commemorated in the whimsical song "King Tut" by comedian Steve Martin.
See also: Lynda Robinson
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