Why Did King Tut Have a Flat Head

Why is Tutankhamun significant?

How old was Tutankhamun when he ascended to the throne?

What did Tutankhamun accomplish during his reign?

How did Tutankhamun die?

Who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb?

Tutankhamun, also spelled Tutankhamen and Tutankhamon, original name Tutankhaten, byname King Tut, (flourished 14th century bce), king of ancient Egypt (reigned 1333–23 bce), known chiefly for his intact tomb, KV 62 (tomb 62), discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. During his reign, powerful advisers restored the traditional Egyptian religion and art, both of which had been set aside by his predecessor Akhenaten, who had led the "Amarna revolution." (See Amarna style.)

The parentage of Tutankhaten—as he was originally known—remains uncertain, although a single black fragment originating at Akhetaton (Tell el-Amarna), Akhenaten's capital city, names him as a king's son in a context similar to that of the princesses of Akhenaten. Medical analysis of Tutankhaten's mummy shows that he shares very close physical characteristics with the mummy discovered in KV 55 (tomb 55) of the Valley of the Kings. Some scholars identify these remains as those of Smenkhkare, who seems to have been coregent with Akhenaten in the final years of his reign; others have suggested the mummy may be Akhenaten himself.

With the death of Smenkhkare, the young Tutankhaten became king, and was married to Akhenaten's third daughter, Ankhesenpaaton (later known as Ankhesenamen), probably the eldest surviving princess of the royal family. Because at his accession he was still very young, the elderly official Ay, who had long maintained ties with the royal family, and the general of the armies, Horemheb, served as Tutankhaten's chief advisers.

Tutankhamun; Ankhesenamen
King Tutankhamun and Queen Ankhesenamen, detail from the back of the throne of Tutankhamun; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Hirmer Fotoarchiv, Munich

By his third regnal year Tutankhaten had abandoned Tell el-Amarna and moved his residence to Memphis, the administrative capital, near modern Cairo. He changed his name to Tutankhamun and issued a decree restoring the temples, images, personnel, and privileges of the old gods. He also began the protracted process of restoring the sacred shrines of Amon, which had been severely damaged during his father's rule. No proscription or persecution of the Aton, Akhenaten's god, was undertaken, and royal vineyards and regiments of the army were still named after the Aton.

Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

In addition to a palace built at Karnak and a memorial temple in western Thebes, both now largely vanished, the chief extant monument of Tutankhamun is the Colonnade of the Temple of Luxor, which he decorated with reliefs depicting the Opet festival, an annual rite of renewal involving the king, the three chief deities of Karnak (Amon, Mut, and Khons), and the local form of Amon at Luxor.

Tutankhamun unexpectedly died in his 19th year. In 2010 scientists found traces of malaria parasites in his mummified remains and posited that malaria in combination with degenerative bone disease may have been the cause of death. Whatever the case, he died without designating an heir and was succeeded by Ay. He was buried in a small tomb hastily converted for his use in the Valley of the Kings (his intended sepulchre was probably taken over by Ay). Like other rulers associated with the Amarna period—Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, and Ay—he was to suffer the posthumous fate of having his name stricken from later king lists and his monuments usurped, primarily by his former general, Horemheb, who subsequently became king. Although Tutankhamun's tomb shows evidence of having been entered and briefly plundered, the location of his burial was clearly forgotten by the time of the 20th dynasty (1190–1075 bce), when craftsmen assigned to work on the nearby tomb of Ramses VI built temporary stone shelters directly over its entrance. The tomb was preserved until a systematic search of the Valley of the Kings by the English archaeologist Howard Carter revealed its location in 1922.

Inside his small tomb, the king's mummy lay within a nest of three coffins, the innermost of solid gold, the two outer ones of gold hammered over wooden frames. On the king's head was a magnificent golden portrait mask, and numerous pieces of jewelry and amulets lay upon the mummy and in its wrappings. The coffins and stone sarcophagus were surrounded by four text-covered shrines of hammered gold over wood, which practically filled the burial chamber. The other rooms were crammed with furniture, statuary, clothes, chariots, weapons, staffs, and numerous other objects. But for his tomb, Tutankhamun has little claim to fame; as it is, he is perhaps better known than any of his longer-lived and better-documented predecessors and successors. His renown was secured after the highly popular "Treasures of Tutankhamun" exhibit traveled the world in the 1960s and '70s. The treasures are housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Peter F. Dorman

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

ancient Egypt: The aftermath of Amarna

…possibly a son of Akhenaton, Tutankhaten, a nine-year-old child, succeeded and was married to the much older Ankhesenpaaten, Akhenaton's third daughter. Around his third regnal year, the king moved his capital to Memphis, abandoned the Aton cult, and changed his and the queen's names to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamen. In an…
furniture: Metal

…the tomb of the youthful Tutankhamen (14th century
bce
), were rich in gold mounts (decorative details). In ancient Greece, bronze, iron, and silver were used for making furniture. Finds that were buried in the ashes of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy included tables with folding underframes and beds made partly…
furniture: Egypt

…found in the tomb of Tutankhamen were put together with bronze hooks and staples so that they could be dismantled or folded to facilitate storage and transportation; furniture existed in small quantities and when the pharaohs toured their lands, they took their beds with them. In the same tomb was…