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He was the son or half brother of Akhenaten and succeeded to the throne after a brief reign by Akhenaten successor Smenkhkara.
Under Akhenaten the god Amun had been replaced by Aten , and the reaction in favor of Aten ended under Tutankhamen,
thus, the Pharaoh who had been known as Tutankhaten, changed his name. He also abandoned Akhenaten new capital,
Akhetaten (Amarna), to return to Thebes , sacred to Amun; he restored the name of Amun, deleted from the monuments by Akhenaten.
When he was crowned at nine years old, he obviously took the throne with the help of advisors and chancellors, including his Vizier Ay,
and the chief officer of state Horemheb, they controlled affairs, successfully stemming the tide of dissolution that had threatened to engulf the kingdom under Akhenaten.
The undisturbed tomb of Tutankhamen was found in 1922 by Howard Carter and the earl of Carnarvon in the Valley of Kings
near Luxor. Its great wealth of objects afforded a new store of knowledge on Egyptian sculpture and life of the 18th dynasty.
The tomb was filled with over 5000 pieces of ggold jewelry. The coffin is made of solid gold,
weighs 110.4 kg and is 188 cm in length. This coffin contained the mummy of the young Pharaoh, covered by the famous mask.
The funeral mask of Tutankhamen was made in the traditional form of the god Osiris.
The Egyptians believed that by enacting magical burial rites his body would be reanimated as Osiris had.
This mask was made of gold with glass eyes and lapis lazuli eyebrows and eyelashes.
The manner of painting the eyes is also identified with Amun. His body was elaborately dressed for a long journey,
perfumed with spices and surrounded with flowers, food and wine. His body was wrapped in gold tissue
and he wore gold collars.
Page last updated: 15 Feb 2008
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