How did Tutankhamun die?
348227#6
Egyptologist Bob Brier suggested that Ay murdered Tutankhamun in order to usurp the throne, a claim which was based on X-ray examinations of the body done in 1968. He also alleged that Ankhesenamun and the Hittite prince she was about to marry were also murdered at his orders. This murder theory was not accepted by all scholars, and more detailed CT scans of the mummy undertaken by National Geographic (published in late 2005) suggested that Tutankhamun did not die from a blow to his head as Brier had theorized. The "National Geographic" forensic researchers instead presented a new theory that Tutankhamun died from an infection caused by a badly broken leg since he is often portrayed as walking with a cane due to spina bifida, a hereditary trait in his family on his father's side. The bone fragments found in Tutankhamun's skull were most likely the result of post-mortem damage caused by Howard Carter's initial examination of the boy king "because they show no evidence of being inundated with the embalming fluid used to preserve the pharaoh for the afterlife". However, Brier has stated that the bone fragment in the skull is not relevant to the issue of whether Tutankhamun was murdered, acknowledging that it was likely caused by the embalmers. The evidence Brier presents for the murder is a dark spot on the base of the skull, indicating a blow to the head. Dr. Gerald Irwin agrees with Brier on this point.
Ay
29383074#8
On January 15, 2005, under the direction of Dr. Madeeha Khattab, the Dean of the School of Medicine at Cairo University, Tutankhamun was removed from the tomb and a CT scan (computerized tomography) was performed on the mummy. The scan allowed for accurate forensic reconstruction of his body and face, as well as further evidence of his cause of death. Testing showed there was no traumatic injury to the head, he had a small cleft palate that went probably unnoticed, and the elongated shape of his skull was within the normal range and appeared to be a family trait after some studies were done on mummies that were believed to have been related to Tutankhamun. Based on bone maturity and his wisdom teeth, Tutankhamun was confirmed to be 19 years old at the time of his death. The CT scan proved Tutankhamun was in good health and did not show any signs of disease that would have affected his build. Study concluded he was not murdered from traumatic head injury, but a non-violent murder could still not be ruled out. There appeared to be no indication of any long-term disease.
Tutankhamun's mummy
29383074#14
Detective Michael R. King and FBI profiler Gregory M. Cooper came together with an actual Egyptologist to form their own theory which was that Tutankhamun was murdered. With the use of forensic evidence and their extensive backgrounds in criminology, they came to the conclusion that he was likely murdered by one of his closest advisors, Ay. Ay did succeed Tutankhamun on the throne, so they used that as the motivation for the murder.
Tutankhamun's mummy
29383074#15
Christian Timmann and Christian Meyer, medical doctors and scientists at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany, have used the most recent medical testing done on Tutankhamun's mummy by Dr. Hawass and have concluded that Tutankhamun did not die from a combination of bone disease and malaria, but instead had sickle-cell disease. Dr. Timmann and Dr. Meyer believed the sickle-cell disease turned fatal when Tutankhamun also contracted severe malaria that was rampant in Ancient Egypt during his era. He is expected to have been homozygous recessive for the sickle cell gene, thus making him not immune to severe malaria, which would have been fatal.
Tutankhamun's mummy
30437#18
With the death of Tutankhamun and the two stillborn children buried with him, the Thutmoside family line came to an end. The Amarna letters indicate that Tutankhamun's wife, recently widowed, wrote to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, asking if she could marry one of his sons. The letters do not say how Tutankhamun died. In the message, Ankhesenamun says that she was very afraid, but would not take one of her own people as husband. However, the son was killed before reaching his new wife. Shortly afterward, Ay married Tutankhamun's widow and became Pharaoh as a war was fought between the two countries, and Egypt was left defeated. The fate of Ankhesenamun is not known, but she disappears from record and Ay's second wife Tey became Great Royal Wife. After Ay's death, Horemheb usurped the throne and instigated a campaign of "damnatio memoriae" against him. Tutankhamun's father Akhenaten, stepmother Nefertiti, his wife Ankhesenamun, half sisters and other family members were also included. Not even Tutankhamun was spared. His images and cartouches were also erased. Horemheb himself was left childless and willed the throne to Paramessu, who founded the Ramesside family line of pharaohs.
Tutankhamun
29383074#4
The location at the Valley of the Kings was significant to the New Kingdom because it is where the pharaohs of the time and some other important people to the king were buried. The idea behind burying them there was that it was supposed to be a hidden location in a remote area since tomb robbing was a constant problem during Ancient Egyptian times. Unfortunately the location was not as secret as it was hoped to be, and most of the tombs were broken into and either robbed or damaged. Tutankhamun's tomb did suffer from some tomb robbing, but overall much of it was left intact and some areas including the burial chamber appeared to be left unscathed.
A sarcophagus in the tomb's burial chamber housed three nested coffins which all depicted Tutankhamun. A small wreath of flower petals had been placed around the vulture-and-snake-symbol above the forehead of the outermost coffin. The innermost was made of solid gold and featured the mask of Tutankhamun. The linen wrappings of the mummy it enshrined were not removed for a year after its discovery. The excessive use of oils and unguents had aversely effected the corpse, making its mummification essentially a failure.
Tutankhamun's mummy
12768750#13
Nibhururiya, the name of the recently deceased Pharaoh as it is recorded in the annals, might equally be seen as a rendering of the prenomen of either Akhenaten (Neferkheperure ) or Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure) and the flexibility of the chronology of the period admits both possibilities. The chronology of events requires that the death of Nibhururiya occurs near the end of Suppiluliuma's life and therefore conventional Egyptian chronology favours Tutankhamun. It is also assumed that the situation at the Egyptian court (i.e. the lack of male royal offspring) fits better with the period after Tutankhamun's death. In this case Dakhamunzu should be identified as Ankhesenamun, while the anonymous pharaoh from Suppiluliuma's draft letter can be identified as Ay, a servant Dakhamunzu did not want to marry.
Dakhamunzu
3044224#14
As the finds are slowly catalogued and removed Carter becomes close to Canarvon's daughter Evelyn but his strictness begins to alienate his team. Tutankhamun was married to his own sister but the union failed to produce an heir to secure the future of the kingdom. Stories of the curse begin to circulate as Carter breaks through into the burial chamber to reveal an intact tomb. As Lacau threatens to take over the excavation and several of the experts quit Canarvon questions Carter over his leadership and his relationship with Evelyn. When he came of age Tutankhamun took over control of the kingdom from his military advisor Ay only to die from unknown causes shortly thereafter. Carter rushes to Canarvon's death-bed where the two make-up. Upon Tutankhamun's death Ay seized the throne and married the widowed queen. Carter, disappointed by Evelyn's engagement to another man, returns to continue his work. Tutankhuman's death came before the royal tomb could be completed so he was hastily buried in the tomb Ay had prepared for himself. Lacau takes over the running of the tomb in 1924 when Carter and his team stop work to protest continued Egyptian interference.
Egypt (TV series)
2021721#16
The death of Akhenaten occurred circa 1336 BC and it was not long before the traditional religious practices began to resume. It is possible that Nefertiti ruled under another name and, perhaps, was an influence in the royal family until near the end of the rule of Tutankhamun (1333–1324 BC), but if she did, she did not prevent the revival.
Tutankhamun began ruling as a child of nine under the name of Tutankhaten. Some think that he was the son of Akhenaten by a minor wife. During his reign his name was changed away from the deity of his father, replacing "aten" with "amun". This marks the beginning of a transition back to Thebes as the capital as well.
God's Wife of Amun
47465#20
Akhenaten was considered the "high priest" or even a prophet of Aten, being the main propagator of the religion in Egypt during his reign. After the death of Akhenaten, his son, Tutankhamun, reinstated the cult of Amun and the ban on religions in competition with Atenism was lifted. The point of this transition can be seen in the name change of Tutankhaten into Tutankhamun indicating the loss of favor in the worship of Aten. With the death of Akhenaten, the city of Amarna was abandoned, along with the worship of Aten. There is evidence that the people under Akhetaten's rule did not directly worship Aten, but "Worshiped the king and queen worshiping the disc" The cult of Aten was still in Egypt for another ten years or so as it faded and there was no purge of the cult after Akhenaten's death. When Tutankhamun came into power, his religious reign was one of tolerance, the only difference was that Aten was no longer the only god. Tutankhamun rebuilt the temples that were destroyed during Akhenaten's reign and he reinstated the old pantheon of gods. This return to the gods that were before Aten was "a move based publicly on the doctrine that Egypt's woes stemmed directly from its ignoring the gods, and in turn the gods' abandonment of Egypt:.
Aten