Tomb of King Tutankhamen

							Tomb of King Tutankhamen
The Boy King
  • Ironically, our greatest royal
    treasure from ancient Egypt
    comes from a short lived boy
    king.
     – King Tutankhamun was not even in
       the same category of achievement
       as the great Egyptian kings
        • such as Khufu
            – (builder of the Great Pyramid)
        • Amenhotep III
            – (prolific builder of temples and
              statuary throughout Egypt),
        • or Ramesses II
            – (prolific builder and usurper)
     – in terms of the length of his reign
       or the depth of his
       accomplishments.
Indeed, it is
  his little
   known
 status that
contributed
    to the      His tomb was
 successful      actually
                 covered over
  hiding of      by a later
  his tomb       pharaoh
                  • who was
                    clearing
                    away an
                    area in
                    which to
                    cut his
                    own tomb.
 On November 26,
1922, Howard Carter
made archaeological
       history
                      by unearthing
                         the first
                        Egyptian
                        pharaonic
                      tomb that still
                        contained
                        most of its
                        treasures
                             This tomb
                           also yielded
                            something
                           else that had
                            never been
                              found in
                              modern
                              history -
• the pristine mummy of an Egyptian king,




•laying intact in his original burial furniture.
A museum replica of the tomb
  as it was found by Howard
         Carter in 1922.
            The Antechamber




• A pair of guardian statues guard the entrance into the
  burial chamber. The two statues are life-sized figures of
  the king in black, gold kilted, gold sandaled, armed with
   mace and staff, with the protective sacred cobra upon
                       their foreheads.
• The Annex
  contained pottery
  wine-jars,
  alabaster
  vessels
  containing oils
  and unguents,
  baskets of fruit
  and assorted
  furniture - boxes,
  stools, chairs,
  bedsteads, etc.
  The only part of the complex
 that contains wall paintings is
      the Burial Chamber.
• One of the scenes
  depicts the Opening
  of the Mouth
  Ceremony
  – where the senses are
    restored to the
    deceased
    Tutankhamun.


    In this case the person performing this duty is
          Ay, who became the next pharaoh.
The south wall depicts the king, wearing the
        bag-shaped khat-headdress

                      • ,He is being
                        welcomed into the
                        realm of the
                        underworld by Hathor,
                        principle goddess of
                        the west.
                      • Behind the king
                        stands the embalmer
                        god, Anubis.
    Behind Anubis stands Isis and behind her sit
       three minor deities of the underworld.




The opening in the south wall leads into the Antechamber.
• The east wall of the
  Burial Chamber
  depicts the
  mummified king, lying
  supine within a tall,
  garland-bedecked
  shrine



                          He is being dragged by
                          five groups of men
                          dressed in white and
                          wearing white mourning
                          bands upon their brows.
The opening in the east wall
  leads into the Treasury.

               • The entrance to The
                 Treasury was
                 dominated by a
                 majestic image of the
                 jackal god Anubis,
                 – lord of the west.
               • It was mounted upon
                 a shrine equipped
                 with carrying poles.
The Canopic Shrine dominated
 the middle of the Treasury's
          east wall
Canopic Chest
     • The complex mummification ritual
       practiced in ancient Egypt included the
       removal of the vital organs and their
       preservation in so-called "canopic"
       jars.
     • Tutankhamen's vitals — liver, lungs,
       stomach and intestines — were
       interred in this superbly crafted calcite
       chest placed within a gilded shrine in
       the treasury.
     • The four heads are actually the tops of
       four cylindrical chambers drilled into
       the calcite matrix that held the "four
       sons of Horus," as the mummified
       organs were known.
     • Incised around the exterior of the
       chest are four patron goddesses —
       one for each organ — and their
       protective invocations.
            Scarab Pectoral




• This magnificent pectoral ornament features the
  familiar motif of the winged scarab pushing the sun
  disc Re upward,
  – a symbol of both the dawn and rebirth.
Falcon Standard
      • The precise function of this
        gilded hawk figure found in the
        treasury is uncertain, but this
        bird of prey was an ancient
        emblem of divine power.
      • Originally mounted on a pole, it
        was probably carried as a
        standard in royal processions or
        displayed in temples.
      • The flail mounted under its wing
        was a symbol of authority
        carried by the pharaohs and the
        god Osiris.
                     Wishing Cup
• Fashioned from calcite in the shape of a lotus flower with flanking stem
  and bud handles, this cup was found in the doorway of the
  antechamber, as if it had been set aside or abandoned just before the
  corridor was sealed.




 •The excavators christened it the "Wishing Cup" after the endearing
 invocation incised around the rim that reads in part, "mayst thou spend
 millions of years ... sitting with thy face to the north wind, and thy eyes
 beholding happiness."
Ebony Fan
    • Among the many "practical"
      items placed within the burial
      chamber were several ornate
      fans intended to cool the king
      in his journey through the
      afterlife.
    • This example, known as the
      "Ebony Fan," is fashioned in
      the shape of a palm frond and
      bears Tutankhamen's twin
      cartouches framed by paired
      representations of the vulture
      goddess Nekhbet wearing the
      crowns of Upper and Lower
      Egypt.
    • It originally had an impressive
      spray of ostrich feathers
      attached to the upper rim.
                  The Painted Box
Carter considered this box to be "one of the greatest artistics
               treasures" found in the tomb.
The superb miniature paintings on
  its lid and long sides depict
  Tutankhamen in a series of
  heroic, chariot-borne scenes;
    – on the side visible here the
      king is routing the Nubians,
      Egypt's ancient southern
      enemies.
    – On the lid, he hunts lions and
      other desert game.
• The box — with a trove of
  children's clothing inside —
  was found resting on the floor
  of the antechamber just in front
  of the sealed entrance to the
  tomb chamber.
The Golden Throne
       • Aptly dubbed the "Golden
         Throne," this chair is by far the
         most spectacular of the six
         found in Tutankhamen's tomb.
       • The wood frame was wrapped
         with sheets of gold and silver
         and then inlaid with an array of
         semiprecious stones and
         colored glass, which together
         were worked into a wealth of
         symbolic and decorative
         elements.
       • Finely detailed lion's legs
         support the chair, while the arm
         panels take the form of winged
         uraei (or cobras) surmounted by
         the double crown of Upper and
         Lower Egypt.
The Golden Throne
       The exquisitely rendered chair
        back, which depicts Queen
            Ankhesenamun…




                            …anointing
                            her husband
                            beneath the
                              life-giving
                             rays of the
                               sun disc.
                   Harpoon Statue
• This gilded wooden figure
  depicts Tutankhamen as the
  god Horus preparing to spear
  and ensnare the hippopotamus
  of Seth,
    – one of the symbolic acts that
      helped ensure a successful
      passage through the afterlife.
• Seth
    – the brother, murderer and
      archenemy of Osiris, the Lord
      of the Underworld
    – was a malevolent deity who,
      for magical reasons, was
      usually never portrayed.
• Tutankhamen's tomb held
  more than 30 ritual figures of
  various types.
    – Most, like this one, had been
      crammed into small double-
      doored shrines in the treasury.
Tomb Robbers
Robber's cloth rag,
      found in
  Tutankhamen's
       tomb,
 which contained
  gold rings. The
 thieves probably
 dropped it when
     caught by
necropolis officials.
Carter estimated that perhaps 60 percent of the
jewelry, along with other articles — particularly
oils, unguents and glass — had been plundered.

                           Despite two visits by
                           tomb robbers not long
                           after the burial,
                           Tutankhamen's last
                           resting place still held
                           over 200 pieces of
                           jewelry when it was
                           opened in 1922.
        Curse of King Tut




          "Death Comes On Wings
To He Who Enters The Tomb Of A Pharaoh"
• Due to Howard
  Carter’s great
  archaeological
  discovery, many
  other archaeologists
  went to the Valley of
  the Kings.
• Soon after,
  mysterious things
  began to occur.
• Many of the
  archaeologists that
  entered the tomb got ill
  and eventually died.
• It is recorded that
  during the 1920's, more
  than two dozen of these
  men died shortly after
  entering King Tut's
  tomb.
• This was the beginning
  of the curse of King
  Tut.
          Lord Carnarvon
• Around the Spring
  of 1923, Lord       was bitten by a
  Carnarvon           mosquito on the
                      cheek.
• When shaving, he
  cut the mosquito
  bite.
• It got infected and
  then Lord
  Carnarvon died
• and at that exact moment all the
  lights in the city of Cairo mysteriously went
  out.
     The morning that
Lord Carnarvon died his dog
      began to howl.
and then all of a sudden
     dropped dead
AND PROMPTLY ROSE FROM
       THE DEAD!
Just kidding…still dead
Does the curse truly exist or at
      least did it exist?

                  • To many the curse
                    of King Tut is still a
                    mystery,
                  • to others it is just
                    superstition, but yet
                    there are still those
                    who truly believe
                    in the curse.
Do you believe in the "Curse of
    King Tutankhamen"?