Tutankhamun - The Boy Pharaoh Documentary

Join us on a captivating journey into the heart of ancient Egypt with our latest podcast episode, "King Tutankhamun: Unveiling the Mysteries of Egypt's Boy Pharaoh." Delve into the enigmatic life and reign of Tutankhamun, the young king whose story has fascinated historians and archaeologists for centuries. This episode transports you back to the 18th dynasty, exploring the political and religious upheavals that defined Tutankhamun's era. Discover how this young pharaoh navigated the turbulent transition back to traditional Egyptian beliefs after Akhenaten's radical monotheistic reforms.

We'll unravel the complexities of Tutankhamun's reign, from his strategic relocation of the capital and restoration of the old gods to his personal life, including his marriage to his half-sister, Ankhesenamun. Witness the challenges he faced in reviving the dynastic lineage amidst personal tragedies and the broader implications of his governance over Egypt's territories. As we explore these pivotal moments, you'll gain insights into the era's diplomatic tensions and power dynamics.

Our episode also highlights the remarkable discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter, an event that reignited global interest in the boy king and unveiled a treasure trove of artifacts that provide new perspectives on his reign. Far from being just a tragic figure, Tutankhamun emerges as a testament to enduring historical significance, with his hidden treasures offering timeless allure.

Join us as we delve into the rich tapestry of political intrigue, historical drama, and cultural heritage that defines Tutankhamun's impactful, albeit brief, reign. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about one of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, this episode promises to captivate and enlighten.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
The man known to history as Tutankhamun was born in the
middle of the 14th century BC, during the 18th Dynasty of
ancient Egypt. Although we cannot be sure of
his exact date or even year of birth, it is generally agreed
that it occurred sometime in thelate 1340s BC.

(00:26):
Tutankhamun's parentage is disputed, though.
His father was most probably Arkanartan, who ruled Egypt as
Arman Hotep the 4th before he established A monotheistic
religion known as Artanism, focused on the worship of the
Sun Disc Artan, beginning about five years before Tutankhamun
was born. Around the same time he changed

(00:48):
his name to Arkanartan. Arkanartan had at least six
daughters with his great royal wife, Queen Nefertiti.
It is possible that she was alsoTutankhamun's mother.
Alternatively, his mother may have been a wife of
Arkhanartan's, known only as theYounger Lady.
At the time of his birth, Tutankhamun was given the name

(01:09):
Tutankartan, or the living imageof Artan in honor of the sun
God. Despite being one of the best
known Pharaohs or kings of ancient Egypt.
As a result of the discovery of his tomb and famous death mask
by Howard Carter in 1922, details of Tutankhamun's short
life and reign are still being pieced together by

(01:31):
archaeologists and Egyptologistsusing artifacts from his tomb
and other evidence. He is likely to have been born
in Armana, the modern day name of Arkatan, the short lived
capital city founded by his father on the eastern Bank of
the River Nile, around 200 milesto the South of Egypt's modern
day capital of Cairo. The young Egyptian Prince was

(01:55):
born with a club foot on his left leg, forcing him to use a
walking stick. Throughout his life.
He was brought up by his wet nurse, a woman named Maya, from
his father's Harim. Among the artifacts found in
Tutankhamun's tomb are toys he owned and played with as a
child, including an ivory monkeywith moving arms and a small

(02:17):
wooden bird. At around the age of four, he
learned how to write, starting with the cursive hieratic script
used on a daily basis before moving on to the formal and
sacred hieroglyphs found on ancient Egyptian monuments.
Tutankhaten learned to write by copying out ancient texts, which
also offered political wisdom for kings and Princess preparing

(02:40):
for kingship. He would also have studied
administration, geography, history, diplomacy, and
religion, as well as the theory and practice of warfare, which
included chariot riding and archery.
Tutankhaten grew up during a revolutionary period in Egyptian
history, driven by his father's religious changes.

(03:01):
The traditional Egyptian polytheistic belief system
involved the worship of many different gods, amongst whom the
creator God Amun and the sun GodRA were most prominent.
However, Arkanatan had introduced the cult of Arton, a
sun God depicted as a golden disc with rays of light
radiating downwards in a fan. While Arkanatan allowed his

(03:25):
subjects to continue worshippingthe traditional gods, only
stipulating that Arton was the supreme God.
By the 9th year of his reign, a few years before Tutankhaten's
birth, Arton was increasingly portrayed as the pre eminent
deity. Under the new religion.
The Arton was regarded as the creator of the world and

(03:46):
everything within it, and each morning at sunrise the king
would make offerings to the Arton at the temples he built in
his capital. Akhenaten identified as the son
of Artan and served as the chiefpriest of his cult, and it is
possible that Tutankhen receivedhis religious instruction
directly from his father. During his travels with his

(04:07):
tutors across the country, the Prince may have seen the names
of the old gods being removed from the monuments even while
many people continue to worship them.
The boy may also have noticed the different artistic styles in
the old temples and the new civic buildings rising up from
the desert around him In Arkanartan.

(04:28):
Around the 14th year of Arkanartan's reign, when
Tutankartan was around six yearsold, the latter's sister or half
sister, Princess Mecca Tartan, died at the age of 10.
While her cause of death remainsunknown, a plague had been
spreading throughout the EasternMediterranean world.
In any case, an infectious disease is a likely explanation,

(04:50):
as Neka Tartan's youngest sisters, Nefa, Nefa Year, and
Seta Penra, also died around this time.
Older female members of the family followed, including
Tutankatan's grandmother Queen Tia and Akanatan's secondary
wife Queen Kia. Following these deaths in the
royal family, Arkhanarten hoped to secure his succession and the

(05:13):
continuation of his religious reforms by naming a man named
Smenkare, possibly a relative ofhis, as his Co Regent.
This Menkare was responsible forthe construction of a Great Hall
in Arcanartan's royal palace andwas expected to be Arcanartan's
successor, but died after a yearor two.

(05:34):
Arcanartan died around the same time in what was possibly the
17th year of his reign and around 1336 BC Following
Akhenaten's death. The throne possibly passed to
Smenkare for a brief time beforehis death and then appears to
have passed to a king named Nefer Neferuaten who may have

(05:54):
ruled as Co Regent alongside Tutankhaten.
The new king is believed to havebeen a royal woman and may have
been the eldest daughter of Meritaten, or more likely his
great wife Nefertiti. King Nefer Neferuaten continued
to develop the cult of Artan, but was prepared to reintroduce
the cult of Ammon and the other gods in order to appease the

(06:16):
followers of the traditional faith.
She abandoned her plans to builda tomb at Akhenaten and instead
ordered Craftsman to build a tomb and Mortuary temple in the
Valley of Kings near Thebes, modern day Luxor, the
traditional capital and royal burial ground for the kings of
Egypt. In the second Millennium BC.

(06:37):
The Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawas theorized that Nafer
Nefaratan also moved her capitalto Thebes, but Shaw suggests
that she remained in Arkatatan in the palace she shared with
her late husband. However, she would only live
another two years, leaving the throne to the 10 year old
Tutankhatan. By the time he ascended to the

(06:59):
throne, the 10 year old King Tutankartan was still a child
receiving his education and could not be expected to
exercise royal power by himself.He was therefore advised by
courtiers and officials much older than him who had served
his father Akhenaten. His most influential advisor was
IA relative, who may have been the brother of his grandmother,

(07:23):
Queen Tai, while a man named Mayer controlled the treasury.
As for military matters, the young king relied on the advice
of General Horemheb, commander of the Egyptian army.
Although these men had dutifullypromoted Artanism during the
previous reigns, the calamities of recent years, including the
plague and the deaths of royal family members in quick

(07:46):
succession, were interpreted as a sign of divine punishment for
neglecting the worship of the Old Gods.
With Akhenaten and Nefertiti gone, Tutankarten's courtiers
now had the opportunity to educate the new pharaoh in the
old religion and persuade him toreturn to the old ways and
restore divine favor to the realm.

(08:08):
Although the King's advisors wielded considerable power and
influence, Tutankarten would have been required to perform
ceremonial tasks and to announceimportant decisions in person.
Even as a child ruler, As with all Egyptian Pharaohs, he had
important religious duties as chief priest of the state
religion. As part of the coronation

(08:30):
ceremony that marked his assumption of royal authority,
the young king was transformed from a human being into a living
God. The rituals were conducted
according to the old traditions,with offerings made to Amun, his
wife, the mother goddess Moot, and their son Konsu, God of the
moon. Priests and priestesses

(08:51):
represented gods and goddesses who placed various crowns upon
the King's head, including the red crown of Lower Egypt, the
white crown of Upper Egypt, and the blue crown worn by 18th
Dynasty Pharaohs or kings duringwar and religious ceremonies.
The king was then given his crook and flail, symbols of

(09:12):
royal power in Egypt. According to Egyptian royal
tradition, the pharaoh would have chosen 4 extra names to
reflect his personal qualities and regal majesty.
Of these 4 royal names, only oneis known.
His throne name, Nebke Barore, meaning Lord of Manifestations,
is RA. While Tutankhaten still used his

(09:34):
birth name when he assumed the throne, not long afterward, the
artan in the King's name was replaced with Amman, thus
Tutankhaten became Tutankhamun, the living image of Amman King
Tutankhamun would have been crowned alongside his wife and
half sister Anka Sanaman, one ofthe daughters of Akanatan and

(09:55):
Nefertiti. The marriage of siblings in this
way was commonplace amongst the Royals of ancient Egypt.
She was a year older than Tutankhamun, and the two had
already been married when the latter became king.
Anka Sanaman appears to have been his only queen.
The 18th Dynasty was known for its powerful Queens, and Anka

(10:16):
Sanaman would have learned aboutthe deeds of her illustrious
ancestor. Hatchop Suit the female pharaoh
who reigned a century and a halfearlier and built a grand
Mortuary temple in the Theben necropolis near the Valley of
the Kings. She had also just seen her
mother Nefertiti rule Egypt as King Nefar Nefaruatan.

(10:37):
Accordingly, Anka Sanaman was present alongside Tutankhamun
throughout his reign for royal ceremonies and audiences, and
corresponded with foreign rulersin her own name.
Her most important duties included serving as the
manifestation of the Egyptian goddesses during religious
ceremonies. Of course, as in almost all

(10:58):
other monarchies, the Queen's main task was to continue the
dynastic lineage by bearing the King's children.
Anka Sanaman was pregnant twice,but on both occasions her
daughters were stillborn. Early in his reign,
Tutankhamun's advisors persuadedhim to move his capital away
from Arkatatan, with power beingreturned to the cities of

(11:20):
Memphis in northern Egypt near the Nile Delta and Thebes in the
South. Memphis had been the capital of
the Old Kingdom of Egypt in the third Millennium BC, when the
Great Pyramids and Sphinx were built on the Giza Plateau near
the city. Thereafter, Thebes had become
the capital. Following the establishment of

(11:41):
the 18th Dynasty in the mid 16thcentury BC, Memphis regained its
importance as a political center, while Akhenaten built a
temple of Artan in the city. From Memphis and Thebes,
Tutankhamun and his advisors embarked on the complete
reversal of Akhenaten's religious reforms.

(12:01):
The king issued a royal decree which stated that during the
previous reigns, the Old Gods had been neglected and withdrawn
their divine protection. As a result, Egypt was in chaos
and its armies had been defeatedon the battlefield.
The text adds that after Tutankhamun came to the throne
and moved his court to Memphis, the old gods were venerated once

(12:24):
again and prosperity was restored to the land.
The proclamation was inscribed into stone steely in prominent
locations around the country, such as the Temple of Karnak in
Thebes. Although the text of these
restoration steely claimed that all was well once again, in
reality the process of restoration was just beginning.

(12:46):
Tutankhamun had been brought up at his father's court in Armana,
surrounded by depictions of art and on palace walls, and
witnessed his father taking partin the elaborate rituals of
worshipping the sun disk every morning.
To issue a proclamation discrediting the belief system
he grew up with must have been adifficult experience for the

(13:06):
young king. The King's closest advisors, I,
Maya and Horemheb, had risen to positions of influence during
the reign of Akhenaten and had tombs made for them in Armana
with Artanist inscriptions, but they formed the vanguard of the
move back to tradition. I is believed to have been the
power behind the throne. By the end of Tutankhamun's

(13:30):
reign, he may have assumed the office of Grand Vizier.
Treasury Chief Maya was also responsible for royal
construction projects, and it was he who began the work of
restoring the temples to the oldgods.
While Akhenaten had ordered the destruction of images of the old
gods, in particular, Amun Tutankhamun ordered his chief

(13:50):
sculptor Ushahat Hatieh to repair the images or to make new
ones from scratch. Meanwhile, Hodem had personally
appointed men to fill the priesthoods that have been left
vacant during Akhenaten's reign.Interestingly, though the
temples of Artan in Armana were closed, the Temple of Artan in
Memphis remained open. Around two or three years into

(14:15):
Tutankhamun's reign, with the revival of the old religion very
much under way, the former capital of Arkataten was being
abandoned by its inhabitants, taking the bodies of their
relatives with them. King Tutankhamun followed suit
and decided to exhume the tombs in the royal cemetery to the
east of Armana and transfer their contents to the Valley of

(14:38):
the Kings, which had served as the royal necropolis for the
Pharaohs and their family members from the reign of
Tutmosa, the first at the beginning of the 15th century BC
until Akhenatens moved to Armana.
Tutankhamun ordered a new tomb to be created in the Valley of
the Kings, in which he placed the body of his father Akhenaten

(15:00):
in a coffin originally intended for Queen Kia.
The body of Tutankhamun's grandmother, Queen Tia, was
buried in the tomb of her husband, King Amenhotep the 3rd.
As part of his duties as High Priest, Tutankhamun travelled
across the country to attend religious festivals.
As he lacked familiarity with the complex old rituals, he

(15:23):
relied on assistance from his chief advisor, I.
Every year, Tutankhamun would celebrate the OPET festival in
Thebes. The ceremony began at the temple
of Karnak, where the king stood before 3 model boats carrying
statues of Amman, Moot and Konsu, the three gods known
collectively as the Theben Triad.

(15:45):
After making offerings, the kingLED a procession to the Nile,
followed by the priests carryingthe boats on their shoulders.
The king, queen and effigies of the three gods would then travel
up the river to another temple, while soldiers and courtiers
marched along the riverbanks to the sound of religious hymns
sung by priests and accompanied by royal musicians.

(16:08):
Once inside the main Temple of Thebes, Tutankhamun and his
priests would proceed into the inner sanctum to reenact the
coronation ceremony and renew the King's divine power.
While construction of the Luxor Temple had begun during the
reign of his grandfather Amenhotep the Third, Tutankhamun
carried on building work in the temple and had the Colonnade

(16:31):
Hall decorated with images of him and Anchor Sanamun taking
part in the Opep festival. In addition to restoring the
images and monuments of the old gods throughout the country,
Tutankhamun initiated building projects of his own.
Aside from the Colonnade Hall inthe Temple of Luxor, he ordered

(16:51):
the construction of a Sphinx Ave. at Karnak, near the
Pyramids of Giza. Tutankhamun built a small palace
for himself which served as a hunting lodge in his day-to-day
activities. The king was assisted by his
palace administration headed by the High Steward of Memphis EP,
who had formerly managed Akhenaten's palace at Armana.

(17:14):
After EP's death, his office wasassumed by Inuya, who had
previously worked as a scribe for Maya.
At the treasury, as in modern royal households, a team of
servants was responsible for theroyal crowns and the King's vast
wardrobe, which included outfitsfor every possible occasion.

(17:34):
Tutankhamun's Kingdom extended beyond the modern day borders of
Egypt. To the South, Egypt ruled Nubia
in what is now Sudan. To the northeast, the Egyptian
Pharaohs vassalized the rulers of the Levant, the eastern
Mediterranean region, including Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and
Syria. Many of these conquests were

(17:56):
carried out by Tutmosa the Third, the stepson of
Hatshepsut, who ruled a century before Tutankhamun and was one
of the greatest military commanders in ancient Egyptian
history. Accordingly, Tutankhamun held
audiences with his vassals and with foreign rulers, during
which he would receive expensivegifts.

(18:16):
Many of these gifts would have been given to the temple as
offerings to the gods, but the king would keep some for
himself, which were later found in his tomb.
General Horemheb played a vital role in these meetings,
transmitting messages between the king and his foreign
visitors via an interpreter. As commander in chief of
Tutankhamun's armies, Horemheb was also responsible for putting

(18:40):
down a Nubian uprising in the 1320s BC.
While Horemheb campaigned both in Nubia and in the Levant, it
is unclear if the king himself was present at the battles.
Although there are depictions ofTutankhamun firing arrows from
his chariot, these were most likely idealized images, as the

(19:00):
King's youth and disability would have Hanford his ability
to play an active part in battles.
The Nubian territories were administered by a government
official with the title of Viceroy of Kush.
Tutankhamun appointed as his viceroy a man named Hui, who
happened to be married to the chief of the royal Harim.

(19:21):
Hui supervised the collection oftribute for the king from the
Nubians, including vast quantities of gold, Ebony, ivory
tusks and other artistic objects.
A few years into Tutankhamun's reign, Hui returned to the
King's court with the tribute, accompanied by a procession of
Nubian Princess and prisoners ofwar, perhaps captured during

(19:43):
Horemheb's campaign. After a decade of hardship, the
attendees at the ceremony welcomed this sign of a return
to prosperity. The Old Gods had been returned
to their rightful places, memories of the Atonist Heresy
were gradually fading away, and the abandoned city of Armana had
been systematically dismantled, and the remaining traces of it

(20:05):
were being covered by the desertsands.
The teenage Tutankhamun seemed secure on his throne and could
be expected to exercise power inhis own right within a few
years. Perhaps a new golden age was
imminent after the heresy of thereign of Arkanartan.
During Arkanartan's reign, the Egyptians lost control of the

(20:26):
Levantine city of Kadesh on the border of Syria and Lebanon, a
major trade hub at the time. The Hittites of eastern Turkey
were expanding their empire intothe Levant and captured Kadesh,
replacing the Egyptian vassal Shutatara with his son Atakama,
who supported the Hittites whilepublicly maintaining his

(20:47):
allegiance to Egypt. Though Arkhanarten had sent a
military expedition to Kadesh, it failed to retake the city
from the Hittites. Late in Tutankhamun's reign, the
king sent Horemheb with an army aiming to retake Kadesh and
reverse the humiliation sufferedduring his father's reign.
Horemheb's campaign was commemorated in war scenes

(21:10):
commissioned by Tutankhamun, butthere is no further detail on
how the campaign transpired. The city of Kadesh stood in the
middle of a meander of the RiverOrantes, with trees all around
terrain that was unfamiliar to the Egyptians.
Although the depictions of the campaign show Horemheb returning

(21:30):
to Egypt with Atacama as a prisoner of war, along with
Egyptian soldiers successfully storming a fortress, the
Egyptians failed to recapture Kadesh, which remained in
Hittite hands until the Egyptianking Seti the First briefly
reconquered the city in the early 13th century BC.
Even without achieving the primary aim of taking Kadesh,

(21:52):
the Egyptian depictions of the campaign, which could be pure
propaganda, show the Egyptian commander parading Hittite
prisoners in front of Tutankhamun.
The king Julie provided Horemhebwith rich rewards before going
to the temple of Karnak to deposit a share of the spoils of
war for the gods. Some of the prisoners captured

(22:13):
by Horemheb may have been executed as a sacrifice to the
gods. While Horem Head was away on
campaign, Tutankhamun presided over the celebrations of the New
Year festival. On the first day of the New
Year, Tutankhamun sat on his royal throne as gifts from the
royal workshops and foreign dignitaries were laid down in

(22:35):
front of his feet. These gifts would be
meticulously recorded by scribes, and the king would
distribute a selection of them to his courtiers.
In the evening, Tutankhamun and Anker Salaman invited their
courtiers to a banquet. The guests ate bread along with
duck, ox meat and goose, while the king was given food that had

(22:55):
been purified at the temple fit for a God.
The New Year celebration was accompanied by large quantities
of beer and wine from the royal vineyards.
The king and his courtiers may have ended the day celebration
by playing one of the board games that was found in his
tomb. Early in the 20th century, a
popular game was Senate, played on a board with 30 squares and

(23:17):
at least 10 counters. While the rules of the game have
been lost and may have evolved over the centuries, the game is
likely a variation of the Royal Game of ER, the oldest board
game in existence, dating to around 3000 BC, where players
threw dice or knuckle bones and raced their counters to the end
of the board. Two of the game sets found in

(23:39):
Tutankhamun's tomb were designedfor travel and contained small
drawers to hold the counters, and the King and queen may have
kept themselves entertained withthis during their travels across
the country. Around the time of the New Year
festivities, the APIs Bull in Memphis had died.
The bull was worshipped as an incarnation of the God Pattar, a

(24:01):
creator God whose worship was centered in Memphis.
After the death of each bull, the city priests would search
for the next incarnation with the same characteristics, a
black bull with a white diamond on the top of its head and an
eagle pattern on its back. Before the priests could begin
their search, Tutankhamun presided over the burial

(24:22):
ceremony for the bull at the Serapeum, the burial site for
the sacred bulls in the ancient royal necropolis of Sakara,
which may have been founded by Tutankhamun's grandfather,
Amenhotep the Third. The king would have hoped that
these rituals would bring his army's glory in the Levant.
As he shouldered more of the burdens of government.

(24:44):
In his late teens, Tutankhamun enjoyed the opportunity to relax
by going hunting. While the most common hunting
weapon was the bow and arrow, the king also haunted birds from
a boat using a curved throw stick, much like a boomerang.
For close combat, he had his choice of clubs, maces or
swords. The young king enjoyed hunting

(25:06):
while riding in a chariot, firing arrows from his bow while
a charioteer steered the horses.Among the items found in
Tutankhamun's tomb is a wooden chest illustrated with hunting
scenes depicting the king in hischariot with his bow drawn,
targeting the mass of fleeing animals about to fall prey to

(25:26):
his arrows. Yet this taste for hunting would
prove fatal. During the 9th year of his
reign, Tutankhamun was out hunting when he fell from his
chariot. As the king fell to the ground,
he broke his left leg and lay bleeding.
His servants carried him back tohis palace and onto his bed with
anchor Sanaman at his side. The injured king was attended by

(25:48):
the royal doctors and the priests of Sekhmet.
As the doctors examined the wound, they realized that little
could be done to save the king. Nevertheless, they did all they
could in the circumstances and wrapped the King's leg in linen
soaked in oil and honey to hold the leg in place and stop the
bleeding. Despite their best efforts, the
King's leg became infected and within a matter of days the 19

(26:11):
year old King Tutankhamun was dead.
After just nine years on the throne, there would be no long
and prosperous reign and the Egyptian Kingdom was in turmoil
once again. With the death of her husband
Angka Sanaman appears to have been the remaining survivor from
amongst Akhenaten's children andruled as Regent in the absence

(26:32):
of an obvious successor. While it would have been
possible for her to follow in her mother's footsteps and rule
in her own right, the court decided she should marry a man
who would become Pharaoh. The Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty
were accustomed to marrying their own family members, but
there were no close relatives left.
As Anka Sannaman insisted on marrying a man of royal status,

(26:54):
she took the surprising decisionof sending a message to the
Hittite king, Sabi Lulu Yuma theFirst explaining the situation
in Egypt and asking if he could offer a solution in the form of
a son who would marry her and become Pharaoh in place of her
late husband. When Sabi Lulu Yuma received the
letter 2 weeks later, he could hardly believe what he was being

(27:15):
offered. He had been fighting the
Egyptians in the Levant for decades, and now he had an
opportunity to incorporate Egyptinto his empire in an instant.
Nevertheless, he remained cautious and decided to send an
envoy to Egypt to find out if the offer was genuine or if
Tutankhamun was alive and well and the whole scheme had been an

(27:36):
elaborate Egyptian ruse to cripple Hittite power.
Anker Salaman was not pleased tolearn that the Hittite king had
not immediately accepted her offer, as she was in something
of a race against time. Traditionally, A pharaoh would
be buried 70 days after dying, but the late king could not be
buried without a successor in place.

(27:57):
Without carrying out the necessary rituals for his
burial, Tutankhamun's passage tohis eternal afterlife would be
blocked. With winter approaching, there
was no chance that anchor Salaman would get an answer from
the Hittite king within 70 days.Nevertheless, the royal artisans
hurried to prepare the items forTutankhamun's tomb that would

(28:18):
help his journey into the afterlife.
Egyptian kings typically had their grave goods made far in
advance, but Tutankhamun had reigned for only nine years and
died unexpectedly when still very young, while for most of
his reign artists and sculptors had been busy restoring the
temples of the old gods rather than producing his funerary

(28:40):
goods. No matter how fast they worked,
the royal artisans could not be expected to make an entire
assemblage of grave goods for Tutankhamun within a mere 70
days, but they could repurpose those prepared for Nefen
Nefruatan, which for some reasonor other remained unused.
The most spectacular object among these items was a golden

(29:01):
death mask, which the late King's Goldsmiths changed to
bear his likeness while replacing the name Nefen
Nephroartan with Tutankhamun. In addition to the items
intended for Nephro Nephroartan,the artisan selected hundreds,
if not thousands, of items either owned by the late king or
kept in the palace Storums. Also intended for burial in

(29:24):
Tutankhamun's tomb were the mummified remains of his two
stillborn daughters in tiny coffins.
Although work had started on a tomb for Tutankhamun, it was by
no means ready. As Maya and other officials
inspected the Valley of the Kings near Thebes for an
alternative tomb, they decided to use the one being prepared

(29:45):
for I, the late King's chief advisor and distant relative.
The undecorated tomb was not yetsuitable for Tutankhamun, and
the Craftsman were ordered to excavate a new chamber that
would become the King's burial chamber, together with a small
room beyond it known as the treasury.
The two existing rooms in the tomb would later be known as the

(30:06):
anti chamber and the annex. After excavating the burial
chamber, the royal Craftsman painted the walls, transferring
existing designs from papyrus prepared during the Amana
period. In accordance with the
traditions of the time, Tutankhamun had the Mortuary
temple built for him in the Thebane necropolis, where

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priests would make offerings to keep his spirit alive in the
afterlife, The late King's body was taken nearby to be embalmed,
preserving his body as a vessel into which his soul could return
to rest. His brain and internal organs
were removed, including his heart, which was typically left
inside the body. Traditionally, the internal

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organs would have been placed incanopic jars, but Tutankhamuns
were placed in a chest divided into 4 compartments protected by
the goddesses Isis, Neftis, Neath and Circuit.
The King's body was covered withnatron, a salt used in the
mummification process to dry outthe body and stop it from
decaying. After 40 days, the natron was

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removed and the body was wrappedin linen bandages interspersed
with amulets and other pieces ofjewelry, while two daggers were
placed on his body. The King's hands were crossed in
front of his body, holding his crook and flail.
On Tutankhamun's head, the embalmers placed Akanatan
skullcap and the royal diadem between layers of bandages, all

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covered by the golden death mask, the final and most
spectacular item on the mummy. Early the next year, the Hittite
envoy was able to return to Sabiluliyumah's capital of
Hatusa, in what is now central Turkey, alongside an Egyptian
envoy bearing a letter from AnkaSanaman.
The queen was outraged that the Hittite king had not believed

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her and repeated her offer once again.
Sabiluliyumah continued to have his suspicions, but was
persuaded by both his own envoy and the Egyptian messenger that
the offer from the Egyptian queen was genuine.
He duly dispatched his fourth son, Prince Zananza, to travel
to Egypt to marry Queen Anka Sanaman and become the new

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pharaoh. When Zanza died on route to
Egypt in unclear circumstances, his father accused the Egyptians
of murdering him. Upon the death of her
prospective husband, Anka, Sanaman decided she had no
choice other than to marry the elderly Eye, her grand uncle who
became the new king. In his correspondence with his

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Hittite counterpart, King I acknowledged that Zananza was
dead, but denied any wrongdoing.Sabi Luliuma responded by
launching an invasion of Egyptian territories in the
Levant, only for the captured Egyptian prisoners to bring the
plague which had been troubling Egypt for many years, to Hatusa,
a disease outbreak which killed the Hittite king.

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With I in place as Tutankhamun'ssuccessor, the late King's
funeral was scheduled for the end of March, seven months after
his death, much later than was typical.
On the N wall of the burial chamber, the artists hurriedly
painted the figure of I performing the opening of the
mouth ritual on his predecessor's body, a ceremonial

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act symbolizing rebirth in the afterlife.
This ceremony was typically led by the Crown Prince,
strengthening Eye's tenuous claims to Tutankhamun's throne.
There was no time to build a wall separating the burial
chamber from the Anti chamber, so only three walls were
decorated for the time being. The scenes from Tutankhamun's

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burial ritual had already been painted on the walls of his
burial chamber before the ceremony had taken place.
The King's mummified body was presented with food and drink
before being placed on a sled and dragged across the sands up
the slopes of the Valley of the Kings into the tomb that had
been prepared for him. Before the body entered the

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tomb, I performed the opening ofthe mouth ceremony by gently
touching Tutankhamun's lips withan ads allowing him to speak in
the afterlife. With his mummy carried by
priests, the late king entered the darkness of his tomb and was
placed into 3 nested coffins inside a red sarcophagus.
The innermost coffin was made ofsolid gold, while the outer two

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were made of wood and decorated with glass and jewels.
After the lids were placed on each of the three nested
coffins, they were sealed with resin, but the heavy granite lid
of the sarcophagus cracked and had to be repaired.
The workmen then discovered the lid could not close properly as
the feet of the outer coffin were too tall and had to be

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filed down before the sarcophagus could be sealed
tight. The workers then put together
the wooden panels forming the four shrines that covered the
King's body, but in their haste assembled the shrine the wrong
way round, swapping east and West and North and South.
In the meantime, Tutankhamun's canopic chest was placed in a

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shrine on the east wall of the treasury, with a box containing
the remains of Tutankhamun's stillborn daughters placed
nearby. At the entrance to the treasury,
A shrine containing items used in the King's mummification was
guarded by a Jackal representingthe God Anubis, the God of
funerary rites. After the funeral, the artisans

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built the 4th wall of the burialchamber, decorating it with a
scene of Tutankhamun in the afterlife in the traditional
artistic style. After their work was done, the
entrance to the tomb was blocked, covered with plaster
and stamped with official seals.Several months later than
anticipated, Tutankhamun could begin his journey to the

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afterlife, where he would be engaged in a daily cosmic battle
alongside the gods against the forces of evil that threatened
to disrupt the earthly world. Yet the late King's continued
existence in the afterlife couldonly be guaranteed if the
priests at his Mortuary temple continued to utter his name, and
if his tomb and body were to remain undisturbed.

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After King I assumed the throne,Tutankhamun's prospects for an
afterlife seemed bleak. Although he had married Anka
Sanaman to legitimize his authority as pharaoh, I quickly
elevated his existing wife Tay as his great royal wife.
Anka Sanaman was not featured inany of his royal inscriptions

(36:37):
and disappears from the historical record.
As far as Tutankhamun's spirit was concerned, worse was to
follow when his tomb was broken into twice within the space of a
year. The thieves may have been
artisans who had worked on the tomb and knew the layout, and
they carried out various small precious items that could not be
traced back to the tomb. While the authorities made some

(37:00):
attempt to tidy up the ransackedtomb, not everything returned to
its original place and the tomb was simply resealed.
Within a year of Tutankhamun's burial, a heavy rainstorm broke
out over the Valley of Kings anddeposited a metre of rubble over
the entrance of the tomb, ensuring that the tomb of
Tutankhamun would remain undisturbed for over 3000 years.

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After reigning for around 4 years, the elderly King I died.
His designated successor, General Nachtman, who may have
been his son, died shortly before him.
Since Anka Sannaman was either already dead or in any case out
of the picture, the succession was claimed by Horemheb, the
highest ranking courtier. As Tutankhamun had been buried

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in I's intended tomb, I chose totake over the tomb in the
Western Valley of the Kings, originally intended for
Tutankhamun but not finished before his death.
Unlike I, Porremheb had no royalblood whatsoever, though his
great royal wife Mud Nejmed may have been I's daughter.
While he continued his military campaigns against the Nubians

(38:09):
and the Hittites, the new king considered it his primary duty
to restore political order at home.
While Horemheb continued Tutankhamun and I's work to
restore the Old Religion, he decided to erase the memory of
his immediate predecessors, replacing their names on temples
and monuments with his own. By doing so, he not only

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consigned their names to oblivion in the mortal world,
but extinguished their spirits in the afterlife.
Not only did Horemheb order the desecration of I's tomb and the
possible destruction of his mummy, he also usurped his
predecessor's Mortuary temple. He took credit for Tutankhamun
and I's construction projects atthe temples of Luxor and Karnak

(38:53):
all over the country. Horemheb replaced Tutankhamun's
imagery with his own. He would undoubtedly have done
the same thing to Tutankhamun's tomb, but it was more difficult
to access after being buried under rubble.
As Horemheb had no surviving children of his own.
He named as his successor a senior official named Paramesu.

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After a reign of around 14 years, Horemheb died and his
successor assumed the throne as Rameses the First, the founder
of a new 19th dynasty, The second and third Pharaohs of the
19th dynasty, Seti the 1st and Rameses the Second, the latter
of whom is more widely known as Rameses the Great, were warrior

(39:36):
kings who helped to restore muchof the prestige lost in the
aftermath of the Amana period. Horemheb's efforts to erase the
memory of this period had been so successful that over time,
memory of King Tutankhamun fadedaway.
In the mid 12th century BC, around 200 years after
Tutankhamun's burial, the men working on the Tomb of Rameses

(39:59):
the 6th built their huts directly above the rubble that
covered the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb.
Over the course of the followingthree millennia, Alexander the
Great, Julius Caesar, Saladin and Napoleon Bonaparte all
conquered Egypt without ever hearing of the existence of the
Pharaoh named Tutankhamun. It seemed that memory of his

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reign had been almost entirely lost to history when Napoleon
Bonaparte LED his expedition to Egypt in 1798.
He was accompanied not only by his officers and men, but also
by a large team of scientists tostudy the artistic legacy of the
ancient Egyptians. Egyptian artifacts, including

(40:40):
the Rosetta Stone, were brought back to Europe for further
examination. In the 1820s Jean Francois
Champollion successfully deciphered the hieroglyphic
script of the ancient Egyptians using the Rosetta Stone.
This initiated the modern study of ancient Egypt, or Egyptology
as it is known. Over the course of the 19th

(41:02):
century, Egypt fell under the influence of British and French
officials. The European interest in Egypt
was partly economic, motivated by a desire to link the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea bythe Suez Canal, but interest in
Egyptian heritage also played a part.
Although officially part of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt was

(41:23):
effectively ruled by the British.
From 1882 onwards, wealthy aristocrats and businessmen from
Europe and the United States flocked to Egypt and applied to
the Egyptian Antiquities Servicefor permits to carry out
excavations. These wealthy individuals
financed the archaeological digsand hired Egyptologists to carry

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out the work, laying claim to a share of the finds.
By the end of the 19th century, archaeological activity was
underway at sites throughout Egypt which would have been
familiar to Tutankhamun, his father's capital of Arkitatan,
the ancient capital Memphis, themonumental religious buildings
of Thebes, the Mortuary, templesand tombs of the Theba

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necropolis, and most importantly, the Valley of the
Kings. The concession to dig in the
Valley of the Kings was considered the most prestigious
among the archaeologists workingin Egypt, who all aspired to be
the first to discover an intact royal tomb, as most of the tombs
in the Valley of the Kings had been plundered by grave robbers

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either in antiquity or in more recent times.
Between 19 O 5 and 1914, the concession was held by American
businessman Theodore Davis. In February 19 O 5, the intact
tomb of Yuya and Thuya, the parents of Queen Tia and
accordingly the great grandparents of Tutankhamun, had

(42:49):
been discovered intact by James Quibel, a British Egyptologist
sponsored by Davis. By this point, Tutankhamun's
name was known to the archaeologists working in Egypt,
as his name appeared on the inscriptions of tombs of
officials, but otherwise his life and reign remained a
mystery. Over the course of a decade,

(43:10):
Davis had financed the discoveryof more than 10 further tombs in
the Valley of the Kings, including a small chamber
containing gold foil depicting aking on a chariot bearing the
names of Tutankhamun, Ankasanaman, and I, which Davis
identified as the tomb of Tutankhamun.
By 1914, Davis gave up his concession and declared that the

(43:32):
entire valley had been exhaustedbetween 19 O 5 and 19 O 8.
Davis had been assisted by Howard Carter, a British
archaeologist who had previouslyworked as an inspector for the
Antiquities Service before his resignation in the summer of 19
O 5, several months after an incident involving Egyptian

(43:53):
guards and French tourists caused him to be reassigned by
nineteen O 9. Following the recommendation of
Gaston Maspero, the director of the Antiquities Service, Carter
began his collaboration with George Herbert, the 5th Earl of
Carnarvon, who began to visit Egypt every year to help his
recovery from a car accident. When Davis gave up his

(44:15):
concession for the Valley of theKings, Carter and Carnarvon
believed that there were more discoveries to be made in the
area and successfully obtained permission to dig.
The outbreak of the First World War disrupted their plans, as
Carnarvon was unable to travel to Egypt, while Carter worked in
Cairo as an intelligence officerand did not have the time to

(44:36):
carry out any new excavations yet.
In his spare time, Carter continued to examine the map of
the Valley of the Kings and focused on the Central Valley,
the region where the tombs of Horemheb and the reburied Armana
Royals had been discovered by Davis.
He was not convinced that Tutankhamun's tomb had already
been found and theorized that the King's tomb still awaited

(44:59):
discovery. By 1917, Carter was able to
begin work to test his theories,but after five years of
excavating, nothing of real significance had been found,
certainly not any intact royal tomb.
By 1922, Lord Carnarvon had losthope and informed Carter that he
was withdrawing his sponsorship.The archaeologist urged his

(45:23):
patron to give him one last chance, pointing to the group of
workmen's huts near the tomb of Rameses the 6th, which had not
been clear to the bedrock. Carter was even prepared to
finance an extra season of digging himself, so long as
Carnarvon authorized him to carry out the work under his
permit. Impressed by Carter's
determination, he agreed to sponsor one final season of

(45:46):
work. On the 1st of November 1922,
Carter's team began to remove the workmen's huts.
On the 4th of November, the teamstumbled upon a single step
before uncovering A doorway leading to a sealed tomb.
Although the tomb did not look like a royal tomb and he could
not make out a name, he excitedly sent word to Carnarvon

(46:08):
announcing the discovery of a tomb with its seal intact.
Carter reburied the steps until Carnarvon's arrival on the 24th
of November. The steps and doorway were
uncovered to reveal the name of King Tutankhamun.
As the excavation continued, Carter could not yet be certain
that it was a tomb and not a cache of funery goods from

(46:30):
different kings, and he was disappointed to see signs that
the tomb had been broken into before it was resealed.
By the 26th of November, the entrance corridor had been
cleared. Accompanied by Carnarvon and his
daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, Carter poked a hole into the
ante chamber and asked for a candle.

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As he peered inside, he saw a glittering collection of golden
treasures and could hardly believe his eyes.
Carnarvon broke the silence and asked Carter if he could see
anything, to which the archaeologist replied yes,
wonderful things. The following day, accompanied
by an Egyptian official, Carter and Carnarvon became the first

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people to step inside Tutankhamun's tomb.
For well over 3000 years. Carter and Caernarvon found
signs that the burial chamber had been broken into and in
order to reassure themselves that the burial was still
intact, they are alleged to havebroken through the same opening
before resealing it. An official opening of the tomb
was then held on the 29th of November.

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The discovery was reported in the Times of London the
following morning. As the man who discovered an
intact royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Carter knew he had
a great responsibility. He installed a steel gate at the
tombs entrance to bolster security, and he decided to
document each item from the tombin its original location and

(47:56):
after it had been taken for examination.
In this work he was assisted by the chemist Alfred Lucas and the
photographer Harry Burton, whilea nearby tomb was commandeered
to serve as a laboratory for theconservation and documentation
of the artifacts. By the 16th of February 1923,
the Anti chamber had been emptied of its contents and work

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could begin on the burial chamber.
A number of factors hindered thework on Tutankhamun's tomb,
including the attention of the world's press and the arrival of
thousands of tourists and dignitaries keen to catch a
glimpse of the golden treasures Carter had uncovered.
Work was further delayed by the death of Lord Carnarvon after a
mosquito bite on his face becameinfected.

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Lady Carnarvon was allowed to keep her late husband's permit,
but work stopped amidst disputesbetween the Egyptian government
and the Carnarvon estate over the distribution of the fines
from the tomb. When the press claimed that
Carnarvon had succumbed to an ancient curse, an irritated
Carter insisted that the tomb was safe and no such curse
existed. It wasn't until September 1925

(49:05):
the work began to remove the Pharaoh's body from his coffins.
After the lids of the first two coffins were removed, the golden
innermost coffin was revealed inall its splendor.
As the two inner coffins were stuck together by the resin used
to seal the coffins, they were brought to the antechamber where
the lid of the golden coffin could be opened, revealing the

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mummy with its famous gold deathmask on its head.
Since the mummy itself was stuckto the golden coffin, Carter's
workmen carried the two coffins into the laboratory.
Unable to separate the mummy from the coffin, Carter decided
to unwrap Tutankhamun inside hiscoffins, an operation carried
out by the anatomist Douglas Derry and an Egyptian assistant.

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As layer after layer of the linen bandages were removed, the
amulets and jewelry were collected for further analysis.
By the time the King's corpse was revealed, it was found to be
in very poor condition. In order to remove all the items
found on the King's body, Carter's team had to dismember
the body until the decapitated head remained still, covered by

(50:11):
the golden mask. Derry eventually separated the
mask from the head with heated knives, revealing the face of
the king, whom he had just cut to pieces.
It was not until 1932 the conservation work was finally
completed on the tomb, but Carter's discovery had elevated
the status of a relatively minorpharaoh, one who was forgotten

(50:34):
for three millennia to become the most widely known of all
Egyptian rulers. A replica of the tomb's anti
chamber was made for the BritishEmpire Exhibition at Wembley
Park in 1924 and 1925, while shops in London were full of
merchandise bearing images of artifacts from the tomb, most
notably the golden mask which was first exhibited to the

(50:57):
public in the Egyptian Museum inCairo.
In January 1926, Carter reassembled Tutankhamun's body
and returned it to the outermostcoffin and the sarcophagus in
the burial chamber. Carter died in March 1939,
shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.
It is believed that during the war the tomb was broken into and

(51:19):
the body disturbed, and a team of researchers in 1968 found
that the body was no longer in the position Carter had
described when he returned it tothe tomb.
In January 2005, Tutankhamun wastaken out of his tomb for CT
scanning. In November 2007, Tutankhamun's
body was moved into the ante chamber for better preservation

(51:42):
in a climate controlled case pending the discovery of any new
royal tombs. He is the only Egyptian pharaoh
to be resting in his own tomb. In recent decades, researchers
have used the data collected from Tutankhamun's body to draw
conclusions about Tutankhamun's life and death.
The theory that he had a club foot is supported by what

(52:05):
appeared to be numerous walking sticks found in his tomb, but it
is possible that his remains were damaged either during the
embalming process or by Carter'steam, and that these sticks were
actually used as symbols of royal authority rather than to
help the king walk. Similarly, there are competing
theories about the cause of his death.

(52:26):
DNA testing suggests that he suffered from malaria, while a
dislodged piece in his skull hasfueled the belief that he was
murdered, challenging the idea that his death was owing to a
hunting accident. The absence of Tutankhamun's
heart and damage to his rib cagepoints to a traumatic wound to
the chest, though this may have been the result of damage to the

(52:48):
mummy which occurred during the break in during the Second World
War. Although Tutankhamun's body
remained in Egypt, the artifactsfrom his tomb have been
exhibited abroad on several occasions, beginning in 1961
with a tour of North America accompanied by a campaign to
raise awareness for the conservation of archaeological

(53:09):
sites impacted by the construction of the Aswan High
Dam in Egypt. During the late 1960s and early
1970's, the treasures travelled to Europe, including London,
Paris and throughout the Soviet Union.
Since the 1980s, Tutankhamun's famous gold mask has remained in
Egypt, where it is expected to stay forever, but other items

(53:33):
from the tomb have been exhibited internationally since
2004 until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The whole collection of artifacts from Tutankhamun's
tomb, over 5000 objects in total, is being prepared for
display at the Grand Egyptian Museum, newly built near the
Pyramids of Giza. Over a century after Howard

(53:57):
Carter's discovery of his tomb, the story of Tutankhamun's life
is still being re evaluated. New technology and scientific
methods may uncover mysteries surrounding the brief life and
reign of the pharaoh whose successors attempted to erase
him from history. Likewise, there are many details
about Tutankhamun's family members from the Armana period

(54:19):
that remain unknown, and the young pharaoh's parentage even
remains a matter of debate. Thus, King Tutankhamun, despite
being the most famous of all Egyptian Pharaohs, whose death
mask has become a symbol of ancient Egypt, remains something
of a mysterious figure. He grew up in Akhenaten's Court
at Armana, where he witnessed the establishment of the Cult of

(54:42):
Arten, the memory of which was later obliterated by his
successors. After spending the first decade
of his life accompanied by religious upheaval and political
disorder, Tutankhamun came to the throne and began the process
of restoring the old gods and disestablishing the Cult of
Artan, abandoning Armana for thetraditional political and

(55:04):
religious centres of Memphis andThebes.
After his death at a very young age, his legacy as a man who
began to restore the Old religion was usurped by his
advisors and successors, Horemheb in particular, who
sought to erase Tutankhamun fromhistory.
For more than 3000 years thereafter, Tutankhamun remained

(55:25):
unknown and undisturbed until Howard Carter's discovery of his
tomb elevated him to a degree ofinternational fame that easily
eclipsed the significance of hisown brief reign.
What do you think of Tutankhamun?
Was he the tragic boy king who spent most of his short reign
controlled by his courtiers, or should he be recognized as an

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important historical figure in his own right, responsible for
restoring a degree of political and religious order after the
upheavals of Akhenaten's reign? Please let us know in the
comment section and in the meantime, thank you very much
for watching. The.

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Music.