Explain about, King Tut and his Ancestors
From the chapter Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues ...............
Answers
King Tut’s father or grandfather, Amenhotep III, was a powerful King, who ruled for almost four decades. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded him. He was a very strange King. He promoted the worship of Aten, the sun disk, and changed his name to Akhenaten. He moved the religious capital from Thebes to Akhetaten, now known as Amarna. He shocked the country by attacking a major god ‘Amun’ by breaking his images and closing down his temples. Ray Johnson, Director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, called this King very odd. He said it must have been a terrible time for the people because the family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end. After Akhenaten’s death, Smenkhkare, a mysterious ruler, ruled for a brief period and departed with hardly any sign. It was then that a very young King Tutankhaten took over the throne. The boy soon changed his name to Tutankhamun, known as King Tut today. He oversaw revival of the old ways. King Tut ruled for nine years and then died unexpectedly.
Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues is a chapter which gives us an in-depth insight of Tutankhamun, the last ruler of the powerful Pharaoh Dynasty in Egypt. He was a teenager when he died and his death was a mystery. Some speculated that he was murdered. He ruled in Egypt and its empire for centuries. In 1922, his tomb was discovered by Howard Carter, a British Archaeologist. After 80 years, he was taken from his resting place for CT scan which offers to solve the mystery of his life and death by creating a forensic reconstruction. Tut’s father or grandfather, Amenhotep III, was a very powerful Pharaoh who ruled over a period of forty years. His son, Amenhotep IV, thrived him and began the strangest period in the history of Egypt. He promoted the worship of Aten (the sun disk). He changed his name to Akhenaten meaning servant of the Atens. He also moved the religious capital from Thebes to the new city of Akhenaten, called Amarna. Further, he attacked Amun, a god, smashed his images and closed his temples. Another mysterious ruler succeeded him who died soon. Next, Tutankhamun, also known as Tut, sat on the throne and ruled for nine years. He worshipped god Amun in the old ways. However, he died mysteriously. When Tut’s mummified body was discovered, he was laid with lots of gold, wealth and everyday items like a bronze razor, games, clothes, cases of food and wine. Carter discovered him after searching for many years. After researching on the treasures, he decided to investigate his three nested coffins. Some parts of the Tut’s treasures in the tomb were already looted. His tomb was rock-cut, 26 feet underground, which had wall paintings. On the outer coffin, Tut’s face was gilded. In the first coffin, he found the garlands of olives, lotus petals, and cornflowers. It showed that he was buried in the months of March or April. The third and final coffin put Carter into trouble. The resins used to cement Tut to the bottom of the solid gold coffin was hardened enough making it impossible to move. He put the coffin in the sun for several hours in hope for the resins to loosen up but it didn’t work. Finally, he removed the resins with the help of chisel and hammer. Carter felt he didn’t have any other choice as to if he hadn’t cut the mummy from limb to limb, thieves would have looted the gold. His men first removed his head, then they cut off every joint. After removing the body parts, they placed it on the layer of sand in a wooden box and put it at the original place. In 1968, the mummy was X-rayed by an anatomy professor, revealed few facts – his breast bone and front ribs were missing. Later, on January 05 2009, Tut was taken for CT (Computed Tomography) scan which takes hundreds of X-Rays and creates a three-dimensional image. The night of the scan, the workmen carried his body from the tomb in a box. They climbed ramp and stairs and lifted it on a hydraulic trailer that held the scanner. The scanner stopped working which paused the procedure. After using a pair of spare fans, the scan was finally done. After three-hours, his body was taken back to his tomb where his body is resting in peace.