In the early 20s of the twentieth century, a British archaeological expedition uncovered the tomb of one of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. Until that time, the place of the last shelter of the pharaoh Tutankhamun for more than 33 centuries remained intact. Neither the medieval robbers nor the numerous tomb raiders disturbed the peace of the pharaoh. In the tomb, a large number of jewelry, jewelry, magnificent examples of art, which ancient Egypt was famous for, were discovered . The mummy was in a magnificent sarcophagus, and the face of the ancient ruler was covered with the golden mask of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Howard Carter
An amazing discovery occurred in 1922, the expedition of archaeologists was led by Howard Carter. This Egyptologist from his youth devoted himself to the history of the Ancient World. Since 1899, Carter has been participating in archaeological expeditions. Success brought him the discovery of the burial of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut west of Thebes.
Work with Lord Carnarvon
The familiarity of Howard Carter with the amateur archaeologist Lord Carnarvon helped to find funds to achieve the cherished goal - finding the untouched tomb of one of the many Egyptian rulers. Since 1914, the team, led by the tandem of a professional scientist and amateur aristocrat, began active excavations in the Valley of the Kings. Numerous failures and modest finds in the ruined graves of ancient kings cooled the aristocracy’s enthusiasm, and the scientific community of that time was skeptical about the probability of finding an untouched burial place.
In total, Carter spent 22 years searching for the untouched tomb of the Egyptian lords, but in the end his searches were still rewarded. On November 4, 1922, an undisturbed tomb was found, in which were the remains of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. The archaeological find has attracted the attention of scientists from all over the world, because many even questioned the existence of this ruler.
The youth of the king
Tutankhamun ascended the throne at the age of 8 or 9 years. The name of the ancient ruler at first sounded like Tutankhaton, which meant "Image of Aton." He was the successor to the famous pharaoh-rebel Akhenaten. The famous heretic pharaoh made the Egyptians exalt the new god Aton. Fans of ancient beliefs were deprived of donations and forgotten.
The whole upbringing of the young pharaoh was based on worship of the image of the sun god - Aton. His teachers were Meye and Horemhba. Meye was the high priest under the authority of the previous pharaoh, and Horehba was a retired military commander. Both were unhappy with the previous ruler of Egypt, both pursued their own goals, teaching the young king. Having assumed power over all of Egypt, Tutankhamun did not forget the lessons of his teachers and resolutely took up the changes.
Reign of Tutankhamun
The history of Tutankhamun, as the ruler of Egypt, begins after his accession in 1333 BC. e. Pharaoh radically changes the direction of the religious and political life of the country. From now on, his supreme god is Amon, the same as his ancestors had before Akhenaten; and his name sounds like Tutankhamun. The city of priests Ahetaton, the place of worship of the overthrown deity, was destroyed and buried in oblivion. Formally, Thebes was the capital of Egypt, where the Egyptian pharaohs traditionally ruled, but Tutankhamun spent most of his short life in Memphis. Naturally, the court nobles, military leaders, architects and priests tried to live closer to the pharaoh.
Tutankhamun Necropolis
Even after their death, the powers of the world wanted to be closer to the messenger of the god Amon - this is how one of the necropolises of that time arose - Saqqara. It was here that the military leaders, priests and former teachers of the young pharaoh wished to arrange their tombs. Tutankhamun kept and restored ancient sanctuaries, left behind many architectural monuments. The design of the colonnade, built in honor of Amenhotep III, was completed in the Luxor Sanctuary, the Nubian temple, glorifying this ruler, was completed. A number of military campaigns were also carried out in Nubia and Lower Egypt, some of which were successfully completed.
Perhaps Tutankhamun would have been famous for centuries as the greatest ruler, but fate gave him less than ten years of reign. In the end, his reign was no different from the activities of other pharaohs. Even the cardinal change of the supreme god was not something out of the ordinary. Pharaoh died at a very young age, at the time of his death he was incomplete 19 years. As befits the true ruler of Egypt, the king took care of his tomb in advance - the Tutankhamun pyramid was erected during his lifetime.
Tomb of Tutankhamun
During the existence of the Valley of the Kings, Egyptian architects built 65 tombs for their pharaohs. The pyramid of Tutankhamun was also built there. The technology of erecting tombs for 500 years has not changed. In the thickness of the rock, the steps were hollowed out, going underground to a depth of 200 m, which led into the burial chamber. In the middle of the central grotto, a sarcophagus was installed, in which three coffins were inserted one into one. The last and put the body of the pharaoh. The outer coffin was made of gilded wood, on which were images of a kite and cobra. These symbols personified the North and South of Egypt. Images of animals still amaze with subtle work and rich decor. Each feather on the wings of a kite, each scale on the hood of a cobra was given great importance, all the details were carefully made by unknown masters.
The second coffin was decorated with stained glass. He played an intermediate role between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The third coffin, in which the body of Tutankhamun rested, was made of a whole sheet of pure gold.
The remains of the ruler were placed in the thinnest canvas, and his face was covered by the funeral mask of Tutankhamun. Many of the things that were in the "Golden Hall", remained timeless and survived until our days in almost complete safety. The objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun surrounding the body of the deceased were surprising with their luxury and wealth, each of these works of art was supposed to facilitate the life of the ruler in the kingdom of the dead.
Mystery of death
However, it was not the life and rule of the lord of Egypt at that time that interested scientists. It was much more fun to find the cause of such an early death. Several hypotheses have been put forward explaining the posthumous secrets of Tutankhamun. His death was beneficial to the regent Eye, who reigned over Egypt after the death of a 19-year-old ruler. Tutankhamun was not loved by the priests of the overthrown Athos, who lost their cities and temples. Among the possible causes of death were strangulation, head injury, or poisoning. But studies in 2005 showed that the head injury was inflicted on the pharaoh after his death, most likely, it was received as a result of mummification of the body of the ruler. One by one, the hypotheses of violent death were rejected, new details of the short life of the young pharaoh were revealed.
Research data
The great ruler of Egypt, according to scientists, was a chronically ill young man who had a history of several genetic abnormalities that other Egyptian pharaohs of this dynasty suffered from. Tutankhamun could not move normally, congenital lameness and an incomplete number of fingers on his right foot prevented this. Finally, a team of researchers revealed the true cause of the death of the lord of Egypt. She turned out to be a microscopic bacillus plasmodium falciparum, causing severe forms of malaria. The infection was fatal for the king, whose body was weakened by congenital malaise and suffered trauma caused by a blow or a fall from a horse.
Tomb opening
Notes by Howard Carter speak of many years of searching for the smallest mention of the Valley of the Kings. Indeed, for three millennia the pyramids were covered with sand, the countries changed their outlines, even the relief of the ancient country called Egypt changed. Tutankhamun hid behind a veil of history so that many scientists even doubted its existence. Only many years after the start of excavations in the Valley of the Kings, under the house of one of the workers, Carter noticed the steps leading down. Excavations discovered the tomb of the king, not disturbed by either the robbers or natural disasters. Apparently, the builders who built the tomb for the pharaoh of a later time, diligently filled the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun. On February 16, 1923, Carter discovered the Golden Hall - the immediate resting place of the pharaoh.
In the grave of the ancient ruler there were more than three thousand jewelry and works of art created by ancient Egyptian masters. Among the objects were found beds upholstered in sheets of pure gold, and gilded
military chariots, ship models and chests with numerous decorations.
The Mummy of Pharaoh
The body of the ruler was found only in the third coffin. Through the efforts of the ancient burials, the mummy was wrapped in swaddling clothes of the finest canvas. The topmost cover was decorated with embroidered applique with the image of golden hands. Pharaoh, as it were, was holding a rod and whip in his hands - ancient symbols of a ruler. Between the swaddling clothes were many jewels and personal items of the pharaoh, as well as transverse stripes of pure gold, with the minting of ancient prayers and images from the book of the dead. When swaddling, the compositions of aromatic resins, which were lost today, were used, which over thirty centuries tightly glued the funeral covers to the body of the mummy.
Amazing find
But the most amazing find was the mask of Tutankhamun, covering his face. The archeologists saw the amazing creation of ancient masters. This item rightly deserves a separate description. The masks of the rulers of Egypt were typical enough for that time. But not a single funeral mask could be seen by our contemporaries. The grave thieves who ravaged the ancient graves for millennia are to blame for this. It is thanks to black archaeologists that modern Egyptology tests its hypotheses and assumptions based on only a few ancient plains that have not been plundered. And all the more important was the discovery of Carter of an untouched ancient burial.
Description of the mask of Pharaoh
The golden mask of Tutankhamun covered the head and upper body of the ruler. Its total weight was 11.26 kg. This jewelry was attached with perfect accuracy to the upper body and to the face of the ruler of Egypt. The mask depicts the face of the pharaoh himself with large open eyes, failed by antimony, the eyes themselves are made of obsidian. This amazing work of art is made of thick sheet gold and decorated with unique jewelry. The shawl, eyebrows and eyelids are expertly instructed in dark blue glass, the necklace resting on the chest of the mummy was decorated with semiprecious stones. Thanks to special aromatic resins, the golden mask of Tutankhamun was tightly glued to the face of the mummy. It took a long and painstaking work to separate this unique thing without spoiling its beauty. And thanks to the art of ancient masters, modern anthropologists were able to determine with sufficient confidence the facial features of the ancient pharaoh.
Symbol of egypt
An amazing archaeological find was widely covered in the press and provided the basis for various discussions and near-scientific assumptions. The name of Tutankhamun became widely known and caused a surge of interest in studying the past of Egypt and the Ancient World as a whole.
The golden mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun still does not have a certain market value. This ancient jewelry has enormous historical, cultural and jewelry value. In a sense, Tutankhamun’s mask is a symbol of both ancient and modern Egypt, the main exhibit of the Cairo National Museum. They tried to abduct her several times, the last attempt was made in 2011 during the so-called Egyptian spring. Modern Egyptians regard the mask as a talisman, whose ancient forces guarded the secrets of Tutankhamun for over thirty centuries. The Egyptians hope that their ancient country will soon again become one of the greatest countries in the world, and the mask of Tutankhamun will certainly help them in this.