The Life And Curse Of King Tut — страница 2

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religion and art style was restored. Since Tutankhamun was at young age when he first became king, he was not responsible for the real decision making. It was mainly handled by two high officials called Ay (possibly the father of Nefertiti) and Horemheb, who was the commander-in-chief of the army. Sometime under their tutelage moved his residence to Memphis, the administrative capital, near modern Cairo, and restored his father s Theban palace. Sometime around the ninth year of Tutankhamun s reign, possibly 1323 BCE, he died. There was evidence of an injury to the skull. It is said that he may have suffered an accident, such as falling from his horse drawn chariot, or perhaps he was murdered. Today, no one knows the cause of his death. After the death of King Tut, Ankhesenamun

was left in a dilemma – there was no male in line to take the throne. (Two stillborn female fetuses found in the tomb) Ankhesenamun was very desperate. So she wrote to Suppiluliumas I, king of the Hittites, asking him to send on of Brockway-4 his sons to marry her and become Pharaoh. Being an enemy of Egypt, the Hittite king suspected a trick and sent an envoy to check. The widow s situation was confirmed and he then sent a son, who was murdered at the border. General Horemheb was suspected to have sent agents. In the end, Ay became Pharaoh and took Ankhesenamun as his queen. It is not known what happened to her after this. Ay ruled for four years and after his death Horemheb grabbed power. He soon got rid of all traces of (Valley of the Kings) evidence of the reigns of

Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ay. He also substituted his own name on many monuments. Tutankhamun remained at rest in Egypt s Valley of the Kings for over 3,300 years. All that had changed in November 1922, when Tutankhamun s tomb was discovered by the British Egyptologist Howard Carter who was excavating on behalf of Lord Carnarvon. It would turn out to be one the greatest archeological finds ever. Carter had been searching for a tomb for a number of years and Carnarvon had decided that enough time and money was expended with little return. Carter persuaded Carnarvon to fund one more season and within a few days, the tomb was found. The tomb today still contains the pharaoh s remains, hidden from view inside the outermost of the three coffins. He is the only pharaoh residing in

the Valley of the Kings. The tomb of King Tut itself is very small and appears to have been for didn t have as much impact on the Egyptian civilization as other Pharaohs did. In the burial tomb, the only part that has walls paintings is the Burial Chamber. One of Brockway-5 the scenes shows the Opening of the mouth Ceremony where the senses are restored to the deceased Tutankhamun. In ones of the pictures, the person performing this duty is Ay, who became the next pharaoh. It also contained four gilded shrines nested one inside the other. The innermost of these covered a stone sarcophagus. Inside this was three coffins – the innermost being made of 110 kilograms of solid gold. (Map of Tutankhamun s Tomb) The pharaoh himself lay wearing the famous gold mask. The Treasury was the

home to much of the supporting equipment for Tutankhamen s afterlife. It s said to have had a dazzling array of boats, gilded figures, and the canopic chest within which were various internal organs belonging to the king. Gathered around the chest in their protective stance were four beautiful gilded figures of goddesses. The Antechamber contained dismantled chariots, containers of food, various funeral couches, thrones, and two black guardian figures at the entrance of the Burial Chamber. This was the first area in which Carter first seen when he made a hole in the blocked-off far end of the entry passage. A small Annex was a jumble of other equipment. Carter had concluded that the tomb had been broken into on two different occasions soon after the pharaoh was buried. After the

break-in the tomb was resealed by officials of the necropolis. It was fortunate that the tomb robbers did not get away with too much and much of Brockway-6 the material sealed in with King Tut my now be viewed in Cairo s Egyptian Museum with a few items in the Luxor Museum. Lord Carnarvon died on April 5, 1923, seven weeks after the official opening of the King Tut s burial chamber. Rumors had been flying around that a curse had killed Carnarvon. News of Tutankhamun s tomb and it s discovers had sent the world s media into a frenzy. There are said to be many links that there was a curse. Such as that the lights in Cairo were said to have gone out at the moment of Carnarvon s death (not an uncommon occurence back then), while back at home his dog, Susie, was supposed to have