Murder of King Tut

							It is believed that around 1305 B.C., one of the most widely known pharaohs was born. This is of course Tutankhamun or King Tutankhaten as he was first known. Through modern day analysis by leading Egyptologists and ceremonialists a new theory on the death or more likely murder was created. There are four possible suspects in this murder plot, his wife Ankhesenamun, his military commander Horemheb, Meyer, or Aye his prime minister. Before one looks at the suspects they must first understand the history that led up to King Tutankhamun’s rein. King Tut’s story starts off with his believed father Amenhotep IV. Amenhotep was a man who was shunned from his family. He is the only child who is not depicted in any of the family drawings, statues, or writings. He is the black sheep of the Egyptian royal family. It is believed that this was because of his slightly disfigured face. It is also believed that because of this shunning, Amenhotep felt that change was in order for his rein. When Amenhotep turned Pharaoh, one of the first things he did was to change the religion of Egypt and his name. Amenhotep was changed to Akhenaten (Servant of the Aten). He changed the religion of a polytheistic to monotheistic religion in which only one god, Aten existed. He also moved the capital from Thebes (modern day Luxor) to a new spot in the desert north which he named Akhetaten (horizon of the Aten). These changes that Akhenaten made in Egypt were not widely accepted. There was an out lash against him and this is one of the reasons he moved his capital. The biggest portions of opposition were from the Priests of Amun, who prior to this period, were powerful in the political world of Egypt. During Akhenaten’s reign, there were many attempts on his life, many from the Priests of Amun who wanted their power back.

During this time, it is also believed that Akhenaten and one of his lesser wives, Kiya, had a son which they named Tutankhaten. Tutankhaten, “...spent most of his early years in the palaces of Akhetaten, being tutored in many skills, including reading and writing.” (Life) Sometime around 1316 B.C. Akhenaten died and the leadership of Egypt fell to a young nine year old boy, Tutankhaten. Tutankhaten was quickly married to his half sister Ankhesenpaaten. The first order of business was for the young boy to bring back order to Egypt. With the help of Aye, both his and his father’s prime minister, the young Tut threw out his father’s way of life. He brought back the old polytheistic religion, brought back Amun, and brought Thebes back as the capital. He and his wife also changed their names in order to portray a more political promising view of them selves. They were changed to Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamun. King Tut only reined for approximately nine years. His death was sudden and unexpected. The X-Ray to the right shows two very interesting aspects of King Tut’s skull. If one is too look at the top of the spinal column they can see what looks like a sub Doral hematoma. This could have been caused by a blow to the back of the head from the murderer or via some sort of accident. However, a specialist at Long Island University states that, “The blow was to a protected area at the back of the head which you don’t injure in an accident, someone had to sneak up from behind” (Killed)

Also, if one was to look in the skull towards the bottom of the x-ray one can see a bone that appears to be just sitting there. Some people believe this to be a bone from spinal cord that would proves that King Tut was murdered. Just to keep the facts straight this is highly unlikely. During the embalming process the Egyptians placed glue like material into the skull after they removed the brain. This can be seen by the extended white “L” shaped area in the above x-ray. Because of this that bone would have sunk in to this substance and we would have not record of it in the x-ray. Most likely this piece of bone was chipped off from the spinal cord due to a poorly done autopsy. (Dr. Brier) The first suspect in the murder of King Tut is his wife, Ankhesenamun. There is the possibility that she murdered him out of desperation. In order to see how this is possible, one most side track from the suspect list and travel to King Tut’s tomb. Inside of King Tut’s tomb, two mummified fetuses were discovered. One born premature and the other, still born. Forensic scientists who have autopsied the two fetuses have discovered that one of them has Congenital Clibgrifile and Scoliosis. Through examination of King Tut’s tomb, Howard Carter found walking sticks that were not ceremonial. These walking sticks were used. Also through x-rays of King Tut’s spine it was found that he did have what appeared to be Scoliosis. Scientists believed that though these two discoveries they have a probable link of heredity from King Tut to the two fetuses.

From the above mentioned probabilities a simple conclusion is that Ankhesenamun could have been so distraught by not having kids and not being able to go to another man to have them, she murdered her husband. However, this is unlikely. All of the paintings of King Tut and Ankhesenamun are always touching and caressing each other. This was unheard of in ancient Egyptian time. The picture to the right is one such example of this. This is the first time in the history of Egypt that a show of affection was portrayed with any Pharaoh. This is just one suggestion that she wouldn’t have murder him. The pictures prove that, they were obviously in love. The next piece of evidence that shows that she wouldn’t have murdered him: it is her role in King Tut’s life. She looked out for him. She was not only the older half-sister but his wife. She made sure he was ok. The combination of these two historic facts shows that her being suspect of murder is clearly wrong. Meyer, the financial man of Egypt is the next suspect. He saved Egypt from financial ruin during King Tut’s father’s rein. There is a theory that he was afraid the Tutankhamun was sending the country to ruin like his father did before. Meyer didn’t want to fix it again so he killed King Tut. This is unlikely. He had no real motive. He was already rich, and there was no profit to be made from King Tut’s murder. Also there is a key action that Meyer did after King Tut died. Shortly after King Tut’s tomb was sealed, it was robbed. Meyer learned of this and completely restocked the tomb with jewels and resealed it. He then destroyed all of the maps to the tomb in order to keep it safe for his afterlife. It appears that Meyer truly cared for the Pharaoh and as can be seen, did what he could to protect him. No murderer

would kill, not profit from the murder, and then help the victim out. It simply doesn’t make sense. This is yet another suspect that is off the list. The commander and chief of the Egyptian armed forces at the time was Horemheb. He is the next suspect on the list. There is a theory that he murdered King Tut in order to keep Maat (order) in Egypt. King Tut was disabled, that was learned when his x-rays were examined to see if he was the father of the two fetuses in his tomb. It is possible that Horemheb murdered King Tut because he was weak and weakness in a Pharaoh would be taken as Egypt being weak and he couldn’t take that. However, the more widely believed theory is that Horemheb was loyal to Tutankhamun. He was probably as loyal to him as Tut’s wife was. The next problem with him being the murderer is that a murder would cause resources to be diverted from the army and it is highly unlikely that a man like Horemheb, a pure military man would want that to happen. This leaves one suspect and the most likely to murder King Tut: Aye. Aye has a long history in Egypt. He was a High Priest of Amun before he was prime minister of Egypt. He started in this position under Akhenaten. This is the man who tossed the idea of Amun out. Aye was a shady character who at the flip of a coin would change his beliefs for personal gain. While Akhenaten was in power, Aye started to build a burial chamber that was clearly in the name of Aten. Then Akhenaten died and he decided that he must get Tutankhamun to change the religion back to Amun. In Aye’s later life, he builds a new burial chamber that is clearly in the name of Amun. Aye is a man who apparently was a father figure to Tutankhamun (Dr Brier). This is also a man that would “stab” his “son” in his back. There are many interesting

coincidences surrounding the next pharaoh of Egypt. The successor to Tut was Aye. A commoner which brings forth a questioning letter that Akhenaten sent to Suppiluliumas I, the king of Hittites. In this letter Akhenaten is desperate to find a husband to marry. She has no children, and is scared of the consequences and quite possibly scared of what will happen to her if she does not marry. “...Never shall I take a servant of mine and make him my husband.” This brings forth an interesting circumstance. Akhenaten, who writes that she is frightened, is stating that she will never marry a commoner. Yet the next pharaoh of Egypt is Aye, a commoner. The only way that this is possible is for Akhenaten and Aye to marry. In the 1920’s a ring was found in an Egyptian antique store that showed a marriage between the two. This ring is the only source of proof that a marriage occurred other then Aye becoming pharaoh. There is no written record of this marriage other than the ring. Nor are there any other writings that Aye became pharaoh except for in King Tutankhamun’s tomb. The picture to the left shows the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. It is being performed by Aye. This ceremony can only be done by somebody of Aye’s new stature, a Pharaoh. Aye has the motive (power), opportunity (proximate to Tut), and the means. After Aye is pharaoh, there is no written record of Akhenaten. Apparently she vanishes after her usefulness runs out.

There is one more interesting bit of information in Aye’s tomb. It has a depiction of a hunting scene on the wall which is common only with commoners. There is a belief that this is a sort of remorse to the gods about what he did to Tutankhamun. There are also writings on the walls that state he is not responsible for the murder. Something an innocent man would not have to write. In conclusion, the above paper shows a theory of in the murder of King Tutankhamun. It shows how three of the four suspects Ankhesenamun, Horemheb, and Meyer have little evidence to show there guilt and how the evidence more than out weights the burden of proof required to show guilt.

Works Cited

“The Assasingnation of King Tut.” 2002. Discover Channel Productions. “The Assassination of King Tut.” 2002. http://www.forensicpsych.com/articles/artDiscoveryTut10.10.02.html Dunn, Jimmy. “Who Killed King Tut.” 1999. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/killtut.htm Rigby, Mark. “Tutankhamun.” 1997. http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/tut1.htm Rigby, Mark. “Tutankhamun’s Life.” 1998. http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/tut2.htm “Who Killed King Tut?” Discover Channel. 2002 http://dsc.discovery.com/anthology/unsolvedhistory/kingtut/kingtut.html

The Assassination of King Tut

Matthew Kassin 116-66-4037