KING TUTANKHAMEN - The Famous Boy king

King Tutankhamun was an Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living Image of Aten", the Egyptian God. King Tut , as he is popularly known ,was one of the most famous of all the kings found in the Valley of the Kings He died in mid-January, 1343 B.C He is so famous because out of the many tombs that have been discovered of Egyptian pharaohs over the years, his tomb was in the most perfect condition at the time of its discovery. The tomb had been robbed once very soon after he was put in, but everything lost was replaced as soon as possible. Tutankhamun's parentage has been considered uncertain. An inscription calls him a king's son, but it is not clear which king was meant. One of the most common hypothesis holds that Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, and his minor wife Queen Kiya.
The 1922 discovery by the archeologist, Howard Carter of Tutankhamun's intact tomb received worldwide press coverage and sparked a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's burial mask remains the popular face. Howard Carter was born on May 9th, 1874 in the small town of Kensington, London, England. He developed an early interest in Egypt, so when he was 17 years old, under the influence of Lady Amherst, a family acquaintance, he set sail for Alexandria, Egypt. A British aristocrat, Lord Carnarvon funded this famous discovery.
A certain Curse too is associated with the discovery of the tomb. The hype began when Lord Carnarvon, died shortly after the discovery. Once Carnarvon died the media went wild with stories of his death. They claimed King Tut wanted vengeance and announced a mummy's curse, which targeted those who had entered the tomb. Not only did the death of Carnarvon get all the people in an uproar but other stories began to surface as well. Did King Tut's Tomb really unleash a curse? New findings are showing that bacteria on the wall of the tomb might have been the cause of the curse. The myth of the curse has remained with King Tut and continues to make people question as to whether the curse was really unleashed.
One of the major mysteries associated with King Tut is that of his death. There are several theories of his death but the most recent findings seem to conclusively indicate that he died of natural causes, rather than being murdered. Specifically, the latest report is that he died of gangrene caused by a broken leg. There was more than a little reason to believe that King Tut may have been murdered. The two principal suspects, Aye who succeeded him as king, and General Horemhab who in turn succeeded Aye to the throne, both appear to have been powerful men who, in effect, ruled Egypt while King Tut was a child. It would not be unreasonable at all to believe that, as King Tut grew into a young man, the two elder men would have resented losing much of their power However, one of the main reasons that murder has ragged on as a possible cause of King Tut's death is because of a fracture to the back of his head. Revealed in an X-ray of his mummy made by the University of Liverpool, a trauma specialist theorized that the blow was not caused by an accident. However Dr. Zahi Hawass does reveal in recent media that is it known it was not murder. But other specialists argue about the hypothesis that King Tut may have been poisoned. Hence as it was not certain as to how he died, murder could not be ruled out. Over the years several findings have been made about the famous boy king, but the latest is the facial reconstruction that has been carried out by French , Egyptian and American teams in association with National Geographic. Even though it has been nearly a century since his tomb was discovered, King Tut’s story continues to interest people even today.

Navashree Bharadwaj