The Treasures of King Tut’s Tomb
It would be improper to discuss the many wonders of the tomb of Tutankhamen without first discussing however briefly the life of the man himself, known popularly today as King Tut.
Among the list of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, Tutankhamen was far from the most important, the most famous or the most influential. His reign during the 14th century BCE was brief, lasting only 9 years. He was a boy king, coming to the throne when he was only 9 years old and dying when he was 18.
Tutankhamen’s father was a far more famous, or infamous man. Although we know his name today to be Ankhenaton, the Egyptians of King Tut’s day sought to have his name completely wiped from the books of history. He had attempted to completely revolutionize Egyptian religion, doing away with the vast pantheon of gods and goddesses and worship only Aton, whose symbol was the Sun. He sought to remake all Egyptian art and culture into his image of Aton.
King Tut’s name at birth was even after the god Aton: Tutankhaton. This was changed after his father’s death, when he was renamed Tutankhamen. The priests of the day reinstated the traditional religion of Egypt. He died early, and Egypt came under the control of an entire new dynasty, whose most famous member would be Ramesses II, 50 years after the time of King Tut.
The Valley of the Kings
It had once been the tradition of Egyptian pharaohs to be buried in large monuments, most famously encapsulated in the Great Pyramids of Giza. However, these elaborate tombs made easy targets for the many grave robbers of the era, and new burial places were sought.
The Valley of the Kings was located on the other side of the Nile from the city of Thebes, capital of ancient Egypt. While still complex and richly decorated, the tombs of Pharaohs were now buried inside of mountains beneath piles of dirt that their final resting places might be hidden from looters.
Moving their tombs to the Valley of the Kings did not work as well as hoped, however. Grave robbers still found the sites, and every tomb in the Valley of the Kings, including King Tut’s, was entered by grave robbers.
Fortunately for us today, however, King Tut’s tomb was not actually robbed, and its artifacts left intact. Why this should be is a mystery.
The Discovery in 1922
The tomb of Tutankhamen was kept sealed and isolated for thousands of years, until the excavations of the famous Egyptologist Howard Carter, sponsored by Lord Carnarvon of England.
Howard Carter had started his career in Egypt as an artist, tracing hieroglyphs as an assistant for other Egyptologists. Eventually he began to work on his own excavations. He was destined to become the most famous Egyptologist of all time.
For 9 years Carter searched the Valley of the Kings, including an interruption during World War I, knowing that Tutankhamen’s tomb had never been found, and might still be found intact. The search was long and hard: the Valley of the Kings is a treacherous place for travel, but finally Carter found what he had been searching for.
In 1922, Lord Carnarvon wanted to give up the search, but Carter convinced him to stay on for just one more year. Carnarvon acquiesced, and Carter continued on with his excavations.
Part of the problem, in Carter’s mind, was that the Egyptian government had not allowed him to dig near the excavated tomb of Ramessess VI. This was a popular tourist attraction in Egypt at the time, and the government did not want Carter’s excavations interfering.
On November 4th, 1922, a step was found, buried into the rock underneath the tomb of Ramesses VI. There was only one thing it could be: the entryway to another tomb. Carter and Carnarvon were thrilled: they had found it!
Carter was worried, however, that the tomb would be found ransacked by ancient grave robbers, just as all the other tombs in Egypt were. His fears were given extra weight when it was found that the door to the tomb had been damaged long ago. However, Carter and his crew made their way into the tomb.
Although Carter found ancient footprints in the dust, evidence that someone had entered the tomb at some point, he found that all of the treasures of the tomb were still there. It was the find of a lifetime, both for Egyptology and the field of archaeology as a whole. Besides the actual treasure that the tomb contained, it was a wealth of information for life in ancient Egypt.
The Treasures of King Tut’s Tomb
Carter and his crew found a great number of artifacts buried within the four rooms of King Tut’s tomb. Funeral boxes, statues, idols, thrones: it was an incredible find.
The most famous artifact from the tomb of King Tut was his funeral mask. Formed from gold, it shows the face of Tutankhamen as he had appeared at the time of his death. There is no other funeral mask like it in all of Egypt, and since its original find in 1923 it has put a human face upon ancient Egypt for all the world.
The treasures of King Tut’s tomb was a fountain of knowledge for the fields of Egyptology and Archaeology, and created a buzz across the world. Tutmania became the fad of the times, and everyone was interested in King Tut. The discovery was inspiration for the next generation of archaeologists and Egyptologists.
The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb
One of the most popular stories of the discovery of King Tut is the supposed curse of his tomb. All Egyptian tombs were protected by curses, which would bring forth disaster on any who dared violate the sanctity of the tomb.
Because King Tut’s tomb was the sole tomb in all of Egypt to escape destruction, it was thought by many that the curse protecting his tomb must be especially strong. That was why, it was reasoned, the ancient grave robbers who had entered the tomb had left without taking a single thing.
The myth of the curse seemed to come alive in 1923, when Howard Carter’s sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, died of an infected mosquito bite. Those who supported the theory of the curse thought it obvious that his death was a direct result of his involvement with the unearthing of King Tut’s tomb.
But was King Tut’s curse real? Lord Carnarvon might have perished, but Carter, the lead Egyptologist on the mission, lived out the rest of his days peacefully, cataloguing the many treasures of his spectacular find. He died of natural causes at the age of 64.
Whether or not the curse was real remains a matter of debate even to this day. While most discount the theory of the curse of King Tut’s tomb, there are many who still believe that the curse was real, and that any who come into contact with the artifacts of King Tut will die a painful death.
