King Tut | Can’t Sleep? Learn About The Famous Pharaoh

Tutankhamun ruled ancient Egypt for only a short time, yet he became one of the most famous pharaohs in history. This episode explores the story of King Tut, from his place in Egypt’s royal dynasty to the remarkable discovery of his nearly intact tomb. Along the way, you’ll hear about royal succession, the restoration of traditional religion, and the discoveries that continue to shape our understanding of ancient Egypt.

It’s steady and consistent, with no whispering and no sudden changes, just enough to give your mind something to follow as you wind down. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, Where I help you drift off one fact at a time. I'm your host Benjamin Boster, And today's episode is about Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun was an antepenultimate pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt, Who ruled circa 1332 to 1323 BC. Born Tutankhamen, He instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of ancient Egyptian religion, Undoing a previous shift to the religion known as Ottonism. Tutankhamun's reign is considered one of the greatest restoration periods in ancient Egyptian history, And his tomb door proclaims his dedication to illustrative constructions of the ancient Egyptian gods. His endowments and restorations of cults were recorded on the Restorations Dealer. The cult of the god Amun at Thebes was restored to prominence, And the royal couple changed their names to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, Replacing the Aten suffix. He also moves a royal cord from Akhenaten's capital, Amarna, Back to Memphis, Almost immediately on his ascension to the kingship. He re-established diplomatic relations with Sumitani and carried out military campaigns in Nubia and the Near East. Tutankhamun was one of only a few kings known to be worshipped as a deity during their lifetime. He likely began construction of a royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings and an accompanying mortuary temple, But both were unfinished at the time of his death. Tutankhamun died unexpectedly, Aged about 18. In 2012, It was suggested he died from a combination of malaria and a leg fracture. Since his royal tomb was incomplete, He was instead buried in a small non-royal tomb adapted for the purpose. He was succeeded by his vizier, Ai, Who was probably an old man when he became king, And had a short reign. I was succeeded by Hormheb, Who had been the commander-in-chief of Tutankhamen's armed forces. Under Hormheb, The restoration of the traditional ancient Egyptian religion was completed. High and Tutankhamen's constructions were usurped, And earlier Amarna period rulers were erased. Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered in 1922 by excavators, Led by Howard Carter and his patron, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Although it had clearly been raided and robbed in ancient times, It retained much of its original contents, Including the king's undisturbed mummy. The discovery received worldwide press coverage. With over 5, 000 artifacts, It gave rise to renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, For which Tutankhamen's mask, Preserved at the Egyptian Museum, Remains a popular symbol. Before it was relocated to the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2005, Some of his treasures have traveled worldwide with unprecedented response. The Egyptian government allowed tours of the tomb beginning in 1961. Since the discovery of his tomb, He has been referred to colloquially as King Tut. Tutankhamun was born in the reign of Akhenaten during the Amarna period of the late 18th dynasty of Egypt. His original name was Tutankhaten, Meaning living image of Aten, Reflecting the shift in ancient Egyptian religion known as Atenism, Which characterized Akhenaten's reign. His parentage is debated, As it is not attested in surviving inscriptions. He was certainly a prince, As a fragmentary inscription from Hermopolis refers to Tutankhaten as a king's son. He is generally thought to have been the son of Akhenaten, Or his co-ruler, Successor, Smenkhare. Inscriptions from Tutankhamen's reign treat him as a son of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III. But that is only possible if Akhenaten's seventeen-year reign included a long co-regency with his father, A possibility that many Egyptologists once supported, But is now being abandoned. His mother has been variously suggested to be Akhenaten's chief wife, Nefertiti, Amenhotep III's daughter, Beketaten, Or Akhenaten's daughters, Meretaten or Meketaten. DNA testing identified his father as the mummified man from tomb KV55, Thought to be either Akhenaten or Smenkhare. The younger lady, An anonymous mummy cached in tomb KV35, Was identified as Tutankhamun's mother. According to genetic research, His parents appear to be full siblings, Both being children of Amenhotep III and his chief wife, Tiyya. The exact identity of the younger lady is unknown. Nefertiti is not known to be a sister of Akhenaten, Which seemingly excludes her. However, Researchers such as Mark Kabold and Aidan Dodson claim that it remains a possibility, With the alternative reading of genetic results that proposes Tutankhamun was a result not of a brother-sister pairing, But instead of three generations of first-cousin marriage. The theory works under assumption that Nefertiti and Akhenaten were related to each other. Kara Kuni considers unlikely both Nefertiti being Tutankhamen's mother and the younger lady being Akhenaten's sister. She instead proposes that Akhenaten fathered his son by one of his daughters, Meritaten or Mekhetaten. Juan Belmonte acknowledges the genetic possibility of Akhenaten's daughter being the Younger Lady, Although he notes it would be very improbable. Assuming the accuracy of the results, The Younger Lady is most likely one of Amenhotep III and Tia's younger daughters, Perhaps Nebita or Beketaten. The validity and reliability of the genetic data from mummified remains have been questioned due to possible degradation due to decay, As well as ambiguous readings of the results. Joyce Tildesley ignores the genetic results altogether, And considers KV55 male and the younger lady more likely to be Sminkare and Meratodden as Tutankhamun's half-siblings, With Tutankhamun being a son of Akhenaten by Kiya in her reconstruction. Juan Belmonte argues that female succession after Akhenaten seems to suggest that Tutankhamun was not viewed heir apparent to the throne. Based on that, Belmondi suggests Tutankhamun was neither Akhenaten's son nor grandson, But instead Akhenaten's nephew as child of Smenkhari, By his sister consort who never became the great royal wife herself. When Tutankhamun became king, He married Angkha-Sinpaatin, One of Akhenaten's daughters, Who later changed her name to Angkha-Sinamun. He fathered two daughters who were buried with him in his tomb. DNA testing has suggested that anonymous mummy KV21A is their mother, But the data is not statistically significant enough to allow her to be securely identified as his only known wife. Regardless of KV21A's maternity, Genetic research suggests that male mummy KV55, Who is suggested to be Anka-Sanamun's father, Akhenaten, Cannot be the two girls' maternal grandfather. Assuming the accuracy of the obtained data, This could mean that the mother of the two princesses was not Akhasanamun, But some unknown wife of Tutankhamun. Although there also remains a possibility that Akhenaten was not Akhasanamun's biological father, Or that KV55 male is not Akhenaten, But Smenkhari. Two other children, A boy and a girl, Are depicted alongside Tutankhamun and Akhazanamun on ivory box. They have been proposed to be either a symbolic representation of the royal couple, Or the pair's otherwise unknown offspring. Tutankhamun's death marked the end of the royal bloodline of the 18th dynasty. Tutankhamun became pharaoh between eight and nine years of age, Following the short reigns of Akhenaten's successors, Smenkhare and Nefeneferuaten. It is uncertain whether Spinkari's reign outlasted Akhenaten's. The female ruler, Nefer-Neferuaten, Is now thought to have either been co-regent shortly before Akhenaten's death, Or to have had a sole reign of two or three years before the accession of Tutankhamun, Which means that she was Tutankhamun's predecessor according to Athena of Andipere and Azumi Kawai. On acceding to the throne, Tutankhamun took the throne name Neb-Keperoy. He reigned for about nine years. During Tutankhamun's reign, The position of Azir was split between Upper and Lower Egypt. The principal vizier for Upper Egypt was Usur-Montu. Another figure named Pentju was also Vizier, But it is unclear which lands. It is not entirely known if I, Tutankhamen's successor, Actually held this position. A gold foil fragment from KV58 seems to indicate, But not certainly, That I was referred to as a Priest of Maad, Along with an epithet of Vizier, Doer of Maad. The epithet does not fit the usual description used by the regular vizier, But might indicate an informal title. It might be that I used the title of Azir in an unprecedented manner. An Egyptian priest named Manasso wrote a comprehensive history of ancient Egypt, Where he refers to a king named Orus, Who ruled for 36 years and had a daughter named Asenchrys, Who reigned for 12 years, And her brother Rhasodas, Who ruled for only 9 years. The Amarna rulers are central in the list, But which name corresponds with which historic figure is not agreed upon by researchers. Horus and Ascencheres have been identified with Horemheb, And Akhenaten and Rathotas with Tutankhamun. The names are also associated with this Menkaure, Amenhotep III, I, And the others in differing order. For the Pharaoh who held divine office, To be linked to the people and the gods, Special epithets were created for them at their accession to the throne. The ancient Egyptian titulary also served to demonstrate one's qualities and link them to the terrestrial realm. The five names were developed over the centuries, Beginning with the Horus name. Tutankhamun's original name, Tutankhatun, Did not have a neb-tee name or a gold falcon name associated with it, As nothing has been found with the full five-name protocol. At the beginning of Tutankhamen's reign, The royal court was still located at Amarna, And evidence from his tomb shows that the Aten was still acknowledged. But several pieces of evidence suggest that his chord was trying to reconcile Atenism with the traditional religion, And activity at Amarna decreased during the first four years of his reign. These years saw dramatic reversals of Akhenaten's policies, Which, Given the king's young age, Must have been instigated by his advisers. In his third regnal year, Tutankhamun reversed several changes made during his father's reign. He ended the worship of the god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy. The ban on the cult of Amun was lifted, And traditional privileges were restored to its priesthood. The king changed his name to Tutankhamun and that of his queen to Akhasanamun. Tutankhamun enriched and endowed the priestly orders of important cults, And initiated a restoration process for old monuments that were damaged during the Amarna period, And recorded these actions on the restoration stele erected in his regnal year four. The stele was later usurped by Horemheb. He reburied his father's remains in the Valley of the Kings. It has been argued that it was in fact Tutankhamun himself, And not his successors, Who began reversing Akhenaten's religious changes on a large scale. Around this time, The royal court abandoned Amarna. Memphis became the main seat of royal administration, Continuing a trend that dated back to Akhenaten's predecessors toward administering the country from that central location rather than the more outlined side of Thebes. The capital was moved back to Thebes, And the city of Akhataten was abandoned. With Amun restored as Egypt's preeminent deity, Thebes once again became its greatest center of religious activity. Tutankhamen's treasurer, Maya, Titled Overseer of the Treasuries, Was instrumental in executing Tutankhamen's regal orders of the restoration program. In his autobiography he described himself as one who carried out the plans of the king of my time, And one who did not neglect what he had commanded to make splendid the temples and fashioning the images of the gods. This countermand rendered Tutankhamen's reign one of the greatest restoration periods in ancient Egyptian history. The action established his legacy as such. Concurrently, Tutankhamen's tomb door describes him as he who spent his life fashioning images of the gods. As part of the restoration of the traditional cults, The king initiated building projects, In particular at Karnak in Thebes, Where he laid out the Sphinx Avenue leading to the Temple of Mud. The sphinxes were originally made of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. They were given new ram heads and small statues of the king. At Luxor Temple he completed the decoration of the entrance colonnade of Amenhotep III. Tutankhamun made several endowments that enriched and added to the priestly numbers of the cults of Amun and Ptah. He commissioned new statues of the deities from the best metals and stone, And had new processional barks made of the finest cedar from Lebanon, And had them embellished with gold and silver. A building called the Temple of Nebkeperure, Beloved of Amun who puts Thebes in order, Which may be identical to a building called Temple of Nebkeperre in Thebes, A possible mortuary temple, Used recycled Talatad from Akhenaten's East Karnak Aten temples, Indicating that the dismantling of these temples was already underway. Many of Tutankhamun's construction projects were uncompleted at the time of his death, And were completed by or usurped by his successor, Especially Horemheb's. The Sphinx Avenue was completed by his successor I, And the whole was usurped by Hormheb. Pieces of the Temple of Neb Kippurure in Thebes were recycled into Hormheb's own building projects. The country was economically weak and in turmoil following the reign of Akhenaten. Diplomatic relations with other kingdoms had been neglected, And Tutankhamun sought to restore them, In particular with Simitani. Evidence of his success is suggested by the gifts from various countries found in his tomb. Despite his efforts for improved relations, Battles with Nubians and Asiatics were recorded in his mortuary temple at Thebes, Both victories for Egypt. Also, As far as is known, Tutankhamen's military reign was undefeated, And is one of several other undefeated reigns in ancient Egypt's history. The extent to which Tutankhamen participated in battles is an open question and has yet to reach consensus among researchers. On one hand, His tomb contained extensive military armament, Such as bows, Kopesh swords, Daggers, Wrist guards, Maces, Shields, And a club, Indicating he had extensive weaponry training. Many such items were inscribed with his name and clearly in used condition. High quality archery weaponry and archery equipment was in abundance in his tomb. For example, There were over 400 arrows and over 40 bows. Various imagery in ancient Egypt's classic battle narrative art genre does depict Tutankhamun as directly participatory in warfare, Such as graphic battle depictions on the painted treasure chest in his tomb, And a gold leaf picture of him during chariot archery against enemies. Additional figurative military art depicts him dominating enemies, Such as imagery of him as a sphinx trampling foes. Other personalized artifacts, Such as the nine bows, Footstool, Walking sticks, And sandals depicting enemies, Suggest that he was personally involved in Egypt's international conflict. On the other hand, Given Tutankhamen's youth and hypothesized physical disabilities, Like a speculated cane handicap, Some historians are skeptical that he participated in these battles. However, There are strong objections to both concerns. For example, Some experts, Such as biomedical Egyptologist Sophia Aziz and other researchers, Have taken the position that the speculations of Tutankhamen's physical frailty are overestimated, Arguing that mummy damage has led to misdiagnosis. Egyptologist Salima Ikram has also argued against the physical disability view, Arguing for Tutankhamen's active battle participation, Noting that mummy damage could be the source of the suspected physical disabilities. Furthermore, The leather armor, Suit, And other weaponry discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb also indicate active battle participation. In ancient Egypt, Pharaohs were venerated after their deaths through mortuary cults and associated temples as deities. This form of apotheosis was typically reserved for deceased pharaohs. But Tutankhamun was one of the few pharaohs who was worshipped in this manner during his lifetime. This is known from the several different points of evidence, Such as temples in Nubia and distinct Karnak stelae that all indicated worship of Tutankhamun as a deity during his lifetime. At least two temples of his code were built in Nubia. One temple was built in Kawanubia that was dedicated to the god Amun, And the god Amun in its local form incarnation, Which was literally identical to Tunkhamen. Another smaller temple was built in Farasnubia, In a town referred to as, He who appeases the gods. The temple was called, Pacifying the Gods, Which is the same as Tutankhamen's Golden Horus name. His temple was dedicated to the gods of the traditional indigenous ancient Egyptian religion, As opposed to the Aten. Namely, The gods associated were Amun, Amun-Ra, Rei-Horat-Ki, And the deified form of Tutankhamun himself, As a local incarnation of Amun. In addition to temple, The theological purposes, It is also functioned as a headquarters of Egypt's Nubian administration. Egyptologist Laini Bell described the meaning of a cryo-sphinx imagery, A kawa, As a representation of the deified form of Tutankhamen as Amun-Rai. In the context of the extensive evidence available in the assimilation of the king to Amun-Re, Especially Anubia, Tutankhamen's adoration of himself as a form of his god Akkawa is hardly as outlandish as might at first have seemed. In this he was following the precedent of Amenhotep III. Ramses II merely displayed the symbolism of his predecessors on an unparalleled scale. Tutankhamun patterned his cold parallel to Amenhotep III, Except emphasizing Amun instead of Adan. Then Ramses II would amplify this colt structure in the design of his own colt.