Who was Tutankhamun?

Although the treasures of Tutankhamun have made this young king known world wide, we really know very little about his life. We are not even sure who his parents were. Indeed, his parentage is one subject which keeps scholars busy, year after year, hence there are always new theories. Perhaps the most convincing and currently acceptable is that he was the son of the heretic king Akhenaten. His mother was not Akhenaten’s famous wife Nefertiti, but probably a minor wife of the king. Another popular theory makes Tutankhamun the half brother of Akhenaten, as son of the Pharaoh Amenophis III and his queen Tiye. Whoever his parents were, it is certain that he was of the Royal House of Amarna, and that his claim to the throne was strong enough for him to succeed as Pharaoh of all Egypt in about 1333 BC, when he was only nine years old.

Life and Death of Tutankhamun

His relationship to the heretic king Akhenaten almost certainly caused the downfall and possibly the death of the young king Tutankhamun. For his short reign of only nine years seems to have been taken up with rectifying the chaos and errors bequeathed to him by Akhenaten.

Tutankhamun or as he was first called Tutankhaten, was born in a time of great change and upheaval. The 18th Dynasty of Egypt had, until the reign of Akhenaten, been a prosperous one. The Pharaohs had been great warriors. They had added to their country’s wealth, and added to Egypt’s territories, from which came valuable minerals and particularly gold. Akhenaten was the complete antithesis of these early kings. He was not a warrior, he was a dreamer and philosopher more interested in theoretical theology and the arts, than in mastering the art of kingship.

He brought in great changes to a conservative land. He introduced the worship of the sun-disc, the Aten, as the official religion, removing the royal patronage from the god and priests of Amun. He moved the capital from Thebes and established a new capital 240 miles to the north, which he called Akhetaten “The Horizon of the Aten”. He neglected to secure Egypt’s borders, and chaos broke out, vassal princes broke away and the economy fell into ruins. Thus at his death, he had the establishment, the priesthood, and the people against him. It was against this background that Tutankhamun succeeded to the throne. In line with Egyptian tradition he secured his position by marrying his half sister (or sister or other relation, depending on which theory is correct) Ankhesenpaaten, the third daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

Was Tutankhamun murdered?

Forensic examination of Tutankhamun’s mummy has thrown little light on the probable cause of death. X-rays of his skull have revealed that he suffered a severe blow to the head. The wound, however, shows some signs of healing, and thus early observers have dismissed it. It now seems probable that this healing could have taken place while Tutankhamun was in a coma, and that the blow was sufficient to have killed him. Whether the blow was sustained by accident or by intent cannot be proved.

Circumstantial evidence, however, suggests that the young king, influenced as he undoubtedly was by his early years at the court of Akhenaten, may have shown signs of moving his policies more in line with those of his predecessor. This would have been sufficient to cause alarm, not only to the court but also to the priesthood, and it may have been to prevent chaos returning to Egypt that Tutankhamun was killed. What is clear is that Tutankhamun died unexpectedly and without heirs. His own tomb was unfinished and it seems that he was buried in a tomb originally intended for Ay.

_{Further Reading: http://www.tutankhamun-exhibition.co.uk/}

Tuesday 8th March 2005 – News wired from Egypt early this morning announced that tests, including a CT scan, recently carried out on the body of the young King Tutankhamen, have proven conclusively that Tutankhamen died of natural causes, and was neither murdered nor died from an accidental blow.

The “blow” falls instead on the many Egyptologists who have claimed in print and in TV documentaries that his death was suspicious. To our knowledge only one expert challenged these theories, claiming that the archaelogical evidence proved he died of natural causes – Christine El Mahdy. Professor El Mahdy is today celebrating since the news confirms her own conclusions published in Tutankhamen – the Life and Death of a Boy King. As of today, her book is the ONLY authentic account of what happened to the boy-king!

Reader Reviews of Tutankhamen – the Life and Death of a Boy King

Christine El Mahdy has produced one of the most fascinating books written about Tutankhamen. In this encapturing book, El Mahdy goes beyond the treasures surrounding Tutankhamen’s discovery and into the personal life of the young King, questioning his ancestry and his death. The most intriguing moment of this book is when Christine talks of her own discovery of a fragment of evidence which could prove the identity of Tutankhmen’s mother. Christine El Mahdy has produced a novel of which goes into the period of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten and she puts forward a strong case to argue the so-called herecy of Akhenaten and provides the reader with a more sympathetic argument as to the allegations of heresy, homosexuality and incest. It is her study of these allegations which prove them otherwise and thus leads to the reason why this unknown boy Tutankhamen was crowned Pharaoh more than three and a half thousand years ago. Not only does Christine El Mahdy prove the ancestry of Tutankhamen but she also questions the theories surrounding his death. It is her strong evidence which sets the basis of being able to tell the full story of Tutankhamen’s life and death. I congratulate Christine El Mahdy on producing such a wonderful book.

_{(by Katie Ludlow)}

Christine El Madhy has written a riveting book that keeps your attention from start to finish. This book will appeal to the Egyptologists and the person in the street because there is enough for the enthusiast but not too much for the casual reader. The author uses her experiences in the Bolton Museum to help recreate what may have happened in 18th dynasty Egypt and in particular Armarna. Christine traces the family history and holds you spellbound with snippets of information about the main players. The enigmatic Akhenaten is dissected and the reader is treated to glimpses inside the mind, an excursion that includes the Sphinx from Akhenaten’s perspective. The boy kings short life is recreated pulling in the major influences, both human and material, that played a part in his development. An image of Tutankhamen you can almost touch rises up in your mind and speaks to you. However, for those who seek an alternative view on who was found in tomb KV55, who was Smenkare, and what happened to Tutankhamen’s wife when he died this book is a must. The attempted erasure from history of Akhenaten, Smenkare and Tutankamen is analysed complete with the role of Howard Carter and others in piecing it back together again. And on the subject of Howard Carter, did he know more about Tutankhamen’s tomb pre-1922 than is documented in his diary…

_{(by M. A. Bowles)}

El Mahdy’s argumentation is detailed and meticulous. She presents the reader with an overview of the evidence in the form of the artifacts found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. She also outlines the `traditional’ view of the Amarna period and proceeds to refute many of the traditional arguments using the evidence she has laid out. Her presentation of the so-called traditional view (Akhenaten as radical heretic, forced out of Thebes by the priests of Amun) is somewhat exaggerated and melodramatic, but it does provide a useful background for the presentation of her own views.

Many of the arguments she puts forward are cogent and persuasive. Evidence is carefully analyzed to suggest that Akhenaten’s beliefs were in some respects not as radical as they appear, that the reign of Tutankhamen saw a co-existence between Atenism and more traditional religion. The possible events surrounding the succession on Tutankhamen’s death are also methodically reconstructed from the evidence available.

Some of the major arguments in the book remain unconvincing, however. Akhenaten is supposed to have shifted the capital of Egypt to Akhetaten because he `wanted a place of his own’. After claiming that the priesthood of Amun could not have forced Akhenaten out of Thebes, whatever role they did play is left unexplored. El Mahdy rails against others who have speculated on the events of the Amarna period on the basis of mere shreds of evidence or have used modern concepts to interpret events in the past, but occasionally falls into the same trap herself. Her claims that Nefertiti was intent on establishing a female dynasty to succeed Akhenaten, that Akhenaten `lived for peace and brotherhood’, that Ay and Horemheb made a power-sharing agreement on Tutankhamen’s accession to the throne are largely speculation, but are presented as fact. This is unfortunate, as it tends to undermine the painstakingly thorough argumentation she presents in other areas.

All in all, the book is a fascinating engagement with the evidence available for the period. I thoroughly recommend it.

_{(by Gordon Eldridge)}

_{Further Reading: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312280645/}