50 Facts About Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun's mother was identified through DNA testing as The Younger Lady buried in KV35; she was a full sister of her husband.

Tutankhamun acceded to the throne around the age of nine following the short reigns of his predecessors Smenkhkare and Neferneferuaten.

Tutankhamun married his presumed half-sister Ankhesenpaaten, who was probably the mother of his two infant daughters.

Tutankhamun moved the royal court from Akhenaten's capital, Amarna, back to Memphis.

Tutankhamun reestablished diplomatic relations with the Mitanni and carried out military campaigns in Nubia and the Near East.

Tutankhamun was one of only a few kings who was worshipped as a deity during his lifetime.

Tutankhamun died unexpectedly aged about 18; his health and the cause of his death have been the subject of much debate.

Tutankhamun was succeeded by his vizier Ay, who was probably an old man when he became king, and had a short reign.

Under Horemheb, the restoration of the traditional ancient Egyptian religion was completed; Ay and Tutankhamun's constructions were usurped and earlier Amarna Period rulers were erased.

In modern times, Tutankhamun became famous as a result of the 1922 discovery of his tomb by a team led by the British Egyptologist Howard Carter and sponsored by the British aristocrat George Herbert.

Tutankhamun was born in the reign of Akhenaten, during the Amarna Period of the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.

Tutankhamun's parentage is debated as they are not attested in surviving inscriptions.

Tutankhamun was certainly a prince, as a fragmentary inscription from Hermopolis refers to "Tutankhuaten" as a "king's son".

Tutankhamun is generally thought to have been the son of Akhenaten or his successor Smenkhkare.

Inscriptions from Tutankhamun's reign treat him as a son of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, but that is only possible if Akhenaten's 17-year reign included a long co-regency with his father, a possibility that many Egyptologists once supported but is being abandoned.

Tutankhamun's mother has been variously suggested to be Akhenaten's chief wife Nefertiti, Amenhotep III's daughter Beketaten, or Akhenaten's daughters Meritaten or Meketaten.

Tutankhamun was wet nursed by a woman named Maia, known from her tomb at Saqqara.

Tutankhamun's parents were full siblings, both being children of Amenhotep III and his chief wife Tiye.

Tutankhamun fathered two daughters who died at or soon after birth and were buried with him in his tomb.

Tutankhamun's death marked the end of the royal bloodline of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Tutankhamun became pharaoh between eight and nine years of age following the short reigns of Akhenaten's successors Smenkhkare and Neferneferuaten.

Tutankhamun noted his ability to calm the young king when his temper flared.

Tutankhamun ended the worship of the god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy.

Tutankhamun made several endowments that enriched and added to the priestly numbers of the cults of Amun and Ptah.

Tutankhamun commissioned new statues of the deities from the best metals and stone and had new processional barques made of the finest cedar from Lebanon and had them embellished with gold and silver.

Diplomatic relations with other kingdoms had been neglected, and Tutankhamun sought to restore them, in particular with the Mitanni.

The extent to which Tutankhamun participated in battles is an open question and has yet to reach consensus among researchers.

Egyptologist Bob Brier has argued leaning towards Tutankhamun being an actively participating warrior in his later years.

Tutankhamun had other health issues, including scoliosis, and had contracted several strains of malaria.

Tutankhamun likely died of complications from a broken leg, possibly compounded by malaria.

CT investigations of Tutankhamun's skull revealed an excellent condition of his dentition.

Tutankhamun had large front incisors and an overbite characteristic of the Thutmosid royal line to which he belonged.

James Gamble instead suggests that the position is a result of Tutankhamun habitually walking on the outside of his foot due to the pain caused by Kohler disease II; this theory has been refuted by members of Hawass' team.

The appearance of ancient Egyptians, especially Tutankhamun, has remained area of inquiry and debate.

In 2023, researchers developed a new version of Tutankhamun's face using further CT scans.

Depictions of Tutankhamun deemed Afrocentristic have repeatedly generated protest and tension.

Since the two children of Tutankhamun were either stillborn or did not survive long after birth, and Tutankhamun was presumably the last of the royal male siblings, there was no immediate heir apparent to assume the throne.

Records in Horemheb's tomb state that Tutankhamun appointed him "lord of the land" as Iry-pat, which is essentially the designated hereditary prince to maintain law.

Tutankhamun was buried in a tomb that was unusually small considering his status.

Tutankhamun's tomb was robbed at least twice in antiquity, but based on the items taken and the evidence of restoration of the tomb after the intrusions, these robberies likely took place within several months at most of the initial burial.

Davis did find several objects in KV58 referring to Tutankhamun, which included knobs and handles bearing his name most significantly the embalming cache of the king.

Tutankhamun believed this to be the pharaoh's lost tomb and published his findings as such with the line; "I fear the Valley of the Tombs is exhausted".

Tutankhamun's tomb is the only royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings found in near-intact condition.

Only in 2022, a complex technological and material study of the Tutankhamun's mask was published.

On 4 November 2007,85 years to the day after Carter's discovery, Tutankhamun's mummy was placed on display in his underground tomb at Luxor, when the linen-wrapped mummy was removed from its golden sarcophagus to a climate-controlled glass box.

Tutankhamun's doctor recommended a warmer climate so in 1903 the Carnarvons traveled to Egypt where the Earl became interested in Egyptology.

Tutankhamun's fame is primarily the result of his well-preserved tomb and the global exhibitions of his associated artifacts.

In 1965, the Tutankhamun exhibit traveled to Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo, Japan where it garnered more visitors than the future New York exhibit in 1979.

The Treasures of Tutankhamun tour ran from 1972 to 1979.

In 2018, it was announced that the largest collection of Tutankhamun artifacts, amounting to forty percent of the entire collection, would be leaving Egypt again in 2019 for an international tour entitled; "King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh".