Tim lawson
Tutankhamun: son of the heretic Pharaoh
March 31st 2010 03:34
On February 17th of this year, at the Cairo Museum, Egyptian archaeologist and Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, along with his team, announced the findings of DNA research that they had been conducting on the mummies of Tutankhamun and ten others. The testing unravelled some of the mysteries surrounding the birth and death of the ‘boy Pharaoh’.
Tutankhamun is perhaps the world’s most well known of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. This is due to the fact that his tomb was discovered virtually untouched, providing a horde of valuable historical artefacts - the most well known of which was his glorious burial mask.
The DNA testing helped the researchers to map out parts of King Tutankhamun’s family tree. It was found that Tutankhamun was almost certainly the son of Akhenaten, a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt.
Akhenaten was known as Amenhotep IV for the first four years of his seventeen year reign, although he changed his name as part of his reformation of traditional Egyptian religious practice in which he proclaimed the solar deity Aten as the one true God. Akhenaten is sometimes referred to as the ‘heretic Pharaoh’, as his departure from traditional Egyptian polytheistic religion was looked upon as evil by many.
Akhenaten had such conviction in his chosen deity Aten, that he moved the capital of Egypt from its traditional place in Thebes to a new city which he constructed in mid-Egypt which he named Akhenaten. Today the city is simply known as el-Armana. Following the death of Akhenaten, the capital was moved back to Thebes, his new capital was defaced and damaged – particularly in the 19th dynasty – and traditional polytheistic religious practices were restored.
Tutankhamun was originally named Tutankhaten by his father; meaning living image of Aten, but later changed it. Tutankhamun means living image of Amun; Amun-Ra is one of the most well known of the ancient Egyptian Gods. Tutankhamun, possibly under guidance from his advisors, began the shift back to the traditional religious forms and practices that preceded Akhenaten’s reign.
Tutankhamun's death at about 19, after ten years of rule between 1333 to 1324 BC, has been a source of much speculation. A major revelation of the DNA testing provided strong evidence as to how the young Pharaoh died. It was found that a hole at the back of Tutankhamun’s skull, which some experts had taken as evidence that he was murdered, was actually a hole made by embalmers. Hawass and his team also concluded that the most likely form of death was due to a fall in which Tutankhamun broke his leg, which was exacerbated by the fact that he had malaria. "We found evidence from DNA that proves he had very severe malaria," Hawass said. “He was ill, weak (and) walked on a cane. When he was 19 and got malaria, he fell. How? We don't know. Maybe he fell in the bathroom.”
Hawass also mentioned that Tutankhamun’s weakness was most likely due to the tradition of inbreeding that the royalty of Ancient Egypt were accustomed to. Other significant findings of the study include the fact that Tutankhamun, most likely with his wife, Ankhsenpaamon, had two children that were stillborn and that a previously unidentified mummy was confirmed as being his mother. This disproved a popular theory that Tutankhamun’s mother was the famous Queen Nefertiti.
DNA research is helping us to piece together more and more of the magnificent puzzle that is ancient Egyptian culture and mythology. Recently a team of archaeologists discovered the head of a 3,000-year old statue of King Amenhotep III. The statue was discovered during excavations at the Pharaoh’s funerary temple in the Kom El-Hettan area of Luxor’s West Bank. The DNA research conducted by Hawass and his team has verified that this was indeed Tutankhamun’s grandfather.
INTERESTING FACT: Tutankhamun’s father, Akhenaten, was possibly the world’s first proponent of Monotheistic religion, the basis of the modern monotheistic religions that began with Judaism could have evolved from his line of thinking. Many scholars have devoted attention to this possible link. Sigmund Freud, in his book Moses and Monotheism, proposes that Akhenaten was the pioneer of monotheistic religion and that Moses before the Exodus followed the teachings of Akhenaten.
Tutankhamun is perhaps the world’s most well known of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. This is due to the fact that his tomb was discovered virtually untouched, providing a horde of valuable historical artefacts - the most well known of which was his glorious burial mask.
The DNA testing helped the researchers to map out parts of King Tutankhamun’s family tree. It was found that Tutankhamun was almost certainly the son of Akhenaten, a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt.
Akhenaten was known as Amenhotep IV for the first four years of his seventeen year reign, although he changed his name as part of his reformation of traditional Egyptian religious practice in which he proclaimed the solar deity Aten as the one true God. Akhenaten is sometimes referred to as the ‘heretic Pharaoh’, as his departure from traditional Egyptian polytheistic religion was looked upon as evil by many.
Akhenaten had such conviction in his chosen deity Aten, that he moved the capital of Egypt from its traditional place in Thebes to a new city which he constructed in mid-Egypt which he named Akhenaten. Today the city is simply known as el-Armana. Following the death of Akhenaten, the capital was moved back to Thebes, his new capital was defaced and damaged – particularly in the 19th dynasty – and traditional polytheistic religious practices were restored.
Tutankhamun was originally named Tutankhaten by his father; meaning living image of Aten, but later changed it. Tutankhamun means living image of Amun; Amun-Ra is one of the most well known of the ancient Egyptian Gods. Tutankhamun, possibly under guidance from his advisors, began the shift back to the traditional religious forms and practices that preceded Akhenaten’s reign.
Tutankhamun's death at about 19, after ten years of rule between 1333 to 1324 BC, has been a source of much speculation. A major revelation of the DNA testing provided strong evidence as to how the young Pharaoh died. It was found that a hole at the back of Tutankhamun’s skull, which some experts had taken as evidence that he was murdered, was actually a hole made by embalmers. Hawass and his team also concluded that the most likely form of death was due to a fall in which Tutankhamun broke his leg, which was exacerbated by the fact that he had malaria. "We found evidence from DNA that proves he had very severe malaria," Hawass said. “He was ill, weak (and) walked on a cane. When he was 19 and got malaria, he fell. How? We don't know. Maybe he fell in the bathroom.”
Hawass also mentioned that Tutankhamun’s weakness was most likely due to the tradition of inbreeding that the royalty of Ancient Egypt were accustomed to. Other significant findings of the study include the fact that Tutankhamun, most likely with his wife, Ankhsenpaamon, had two children that were stillborn and that a previously unidentified mummy was confirmed as being his mother. This disproved a popular theory that Tutankhamun’s mother was the famous Queen Nefertiti.
DNA research is helping us to piece together more and more of the magnificent puzzle that is ancient Egyptian culture and mythology. Recently a team of archaeologists discovered the head of a 3,000-year old statue of King Amenhotep III. The statue was discovered during excavations at the Pharaoh’s funerary temple in the Kom El-Hettan area of Luxor’s West Bank. The DNA research conducted by Hawass and his team has verified that this was indeed Tutankhamun’s grandfather.
INTERESTING FACT: Tutankhamun’s father, Akhenaten, was possibly the world’s first proponent of Monotheistic religion, the basis of the modern monotheistic religions that began with Judaism could have evolved from his line of thinking. Many scholars have devoted attention to this possible link. Sigmund Freud, in his book Moses and Monotheism, proposes that Akhenaten was the pioneer of monotheistic religion and that Moses before the Exodus followed the teachings of Akhenaten.
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