It is funny how posters and movies can alter the course of your life, or at least have a large impact on you. My bedroom wall poster of a hovercraft led me to travel to England years later, with the sole purpose of crossing the sea in a hovercraft. And I’m pretty confident that the Star Wars movies gave me my interest in space which let me to pursue a career in space engineering. But there was another poster that invoked an everlasting interest: a poster of the golden sarcophagus of king Tutankhamun of Egypt, hanging on a wall in my classroom. While now we have easy access to National Geographic documentaries about the tombs and their excavations in Egypt, in the 70s the lives of these kings and what happened to their tombs were much more a mystery. My interest was stirred even more by watching the videoclip of my favourite song ‘Golden Brown’ by the stranglers, in which the band members are in Egypt searching tombs. Apart from the interest, there was the obvious imagination (especially due to the lack of information!): in my mind Tutankhamun was as fearless and strong ruler of Egypt, possibly having magical powers and putting curses to whoever raided his tomb.
When 20 years later I was sitting in his tomb, all by myself, with Tutankhamun lying next to me in one of his sarcophagus, this was needless to say a very special moment to me. I probably put a curse on myself by taking a forbidden picture of the moment, but I knew this could be the only time in my life to make this picture. Unfortunately all my Egypt pictures are lost, apart from a few overexposed digital pictures of printed pictures. But this one came out surprisingly well.
King Tut’s story is somewhat disappointing to me, somewhat sad and yet much more interesting than I imagined. Instead of a fearless ruler, he was a boy of about eight years old when he became ruler of Egypt. His believed dad Akhenaten left Egypt in an economic and religious mess after suddenly changing the religion from Amun to Aten, and changing the capital of the country as well. King Tut was first called Tutankaten in view of his father’s religion, but changed his name to Tutankhamun and restored the ‘old’ Amun religion as well as giving power back to the priests, no doubt under a bit of influence by the previously reigning priests. He married his half-sister Ankhesenamun (daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, and star in many Hollywood mummy movies) and the couple tried to have children but likely due to the high amount of incest in the couple’s family the children (two daughters) did not survive birth. Tutankhamun’s mother has recently been identified using DNA tests on a mummy called ‘The Younger Lady’ found 1898. While formerly it was believed that the beautiful Nefertiti was Tutankhamun’s mother, his identified mother The Younger Lady is believed to be one of Akhenaten’s other wives (and full sister). She is also one of the daughters of previous pharaoh Amenothep III. Recent examination of the artefacts found in his tomb indicated that Tutankhamun needed a cane in order to walk, and had therefore physical disabilities. Other artefacts showed gifts from different countries suggesting that he restored fallen relations with those countries. The weapons found in his tomb (including a dagger with an iron blade made from a meteorite!) also suggested that with some countries, the relations were still very bad.
Looking around the tomb as I sat there, it struck me how simple and very small this tomb was compared to the other tombs I visited earlier that morning. It seems Tutankhamun’s burial was done in a hasty way. While the cause of his death (at age 18/19) is still unclear (possibly fallen during a war, but more likely a combination of diseases), the tomb he was buried in was originally assigned to the high priest Ay, as his assigned tomb was not ready yet. I could see the painting of Ay performing the mouth opening ceremony of for Tutankhamun on one of the walls in his tomb. Ay took the throne after Tutankhamun’s death, which ended the 18th dynasty. A letter believed to be written by Ankhesenamun was found in 1887, asking a Hittite ruler to send one of his sons to become her new husband, as she wished not to take one of her subjects (whatever that meant.. possibly Ay himself) as husband. The Hittite ruler did send a son, but the prince died on route. The new ruler Ay died four years later, and was buried in the large tomb originally meant for Tutankhamun.
So the image I had as a child of King Tut was that of a fearless, strong and mature King. The image I have of him now is that of a young kid with several disabilities, becoming ruler in hard times, and dying at young age without offspring; a somewhat less ‘cool’ image. But the many new discoveries still being made (as his tomb’s artefacts are still being investigated today) keep my interest growing in this pharaoh, 40 years after seeing the classroom poster. In the end, my trip to Egypt was fantastic. Food was good, seeing the mighty pyramids was stunning, and snorkelling in the Red Sea was my first underwater experience. I never felt unsafe, and could highly recommend visiting it. Also worth watching are the numerous documentaries about Tutankhamun and other pharaohs and tombs, on the National Geographic Channel. On November 4th this year it will be 100 years since Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. This will no doubt be celebrated in Egypt in particular in the new Grand Egyptian Museum where all artefacts are now located. No doubt worth a visit!
Ciao!
Robin
Would you like to be informed about other stories? Follow me on Facebook!