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using data from 2000 cat scans of his
mummy and other research material a BBC
show in 2014
came up with an updated view of an
enduring mystery what killed the ancient
Egyptian King Tutankhamun but it was the
image the program makers created but it
was the image the program makers created
of what the legendary Pharaoh probably
looked like the deeply shocked viewers
that's because it's a presentation that
clashes harshly with the beauty of
Tutankhamun's funerary artifacts King
Tutankhamun ruled some 34 centuries ago
from about 1332 BC to 1323 BC during the
period of ancient Egyptian history the
academics call the new kingdom he came
to the throne aged about nine or ten
after the death of his father
akhenaten tutankhamun mother was most
likely Akhenaten sister or cousin at
that time members of the Egyptian royal
family normally married siblings or
close relatives eminent french
egyptologist mark kobold believes that
Tutankhamun's mother was Nefertiti
Akhenaten's cousin in any case the truth
about exactly who Tutankhamun's mother
was remains unsolved after 3400 years
but we do know that shooting Haman
carried on the Pharaoh mnek tradition of
sibling unions by marrying his own
half-sister akka cinema
the couple had choose stillborn
daughters whose mummified fetuses were
probably buried with their father still
Tutankhamun was just a child when he
ascended to the throne we could only
assume that there must have been
influential figures who actually ran the
affairs of state it seems that one
general Horemheb took the position of
Lord of the land
well Grand Vizier I was a powerful man
who was to succeed Tutankhamun during
his reign Tutankhamun rolled back some
of the religious reforms that his father
had instigated he initiated a program of
building works to glorify the god a moon
in contrast to his father who had
favored another Egyptian deity attend he
also gave up his original name
Tutankhaten becoming Tutankhamun meaning
living image of a moon
Tutankhamun's rain was cut short by his
death about 1323 BC when the young
Pharaoh was aged only about 18 he was
then buried in an extravagantly
decorated and furnished tomb in the
Valley of the Kings and it's the
discovery of that tomb in the 20th
century that's made Tutankhamun possibly
the best known of all Egyptian pharaohs
despite his relatively short reign it
was the British Egyptologist and
archaeologist Howard Carter who
discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 a
tomb known to academics as the
distinctly unglamorous kV 62 Carter had
been working in Egypt excavating ancient
sites since 1891 when he was only
seventeen his discovery of Tutankhamun's
tomb with its extravagantly lavish
burial Goods made him a household name
what was particularly outstanding about
Tutankhamun's tomb was not that it was
unusually lavish in fact by the
standards of Egyptian royalty it was
relatively modest but it had largely
escaped the attention of looters over
the centuries so it was uniquely intact
and it was a last-gasp discovery for
Carter since his sponsor Lord Carnarvon
had become disillusioned with a lack of
significant finds and had told Carter
that this would be his last season of
funding for excavation but on November
22nd 1922 with Lord Carnarvon in
attendance and using a chisel that had
been a 70th birthday present from his
grandmother Carter made the first break
in the door of the tomb once inside the
tomb the sheer opulence of Tutankhamun's
last resting place soon became apparent
to Carter Carnarvon
and others it was filled with
extraordinary artifacts that were lying
around in heaps presumably they'd been
disturbed by the to grave robberies that
had happened probably not long after
interment Carter himself wrote about the
experience of discovery at first I could
see nothing the hot air escaping from
the chamber causing the candle flame to
flicker but presently as my eyes grew
accustomed to the light details of the
room within emerged slowly from the mist
strange animals statues and gold
everywhere the glint of gold in fact it
was to take eight years of painstaking
work to clear the tomb
the mystery of Tutankhamun has remained
the cause of the Pharaohs premature
death and sent some 3400 years have
passed since the boy Pharaoh was
entombed it's no easy task for even the
most advanced science and our disposal
in the 21st century to come up with
answers to this conundrum over the years
since the discovery of Tutankhamun's
tomb there have been no shortage of
theories about the strange unexplained
death of this young man after all you
would expect that a king would enjoy the
best care that could be offered in this
era so what was it that killed him
theories about the cause of his death
have included murder with Tutankhamun
falling victim to political
assassination however no compelling
evidence has been uncovered to support
this theory more plausibly it's been
theorized by some that he might have
died in an accident perhaps a chariot
crash it's even been surmised that he
might have been killed by an angry hippo
but a virtual autopsy carried out in
2014 by the BBC came up with a different
answer the post-mortem was carried out
by analyzing some 2000 cat-scans
that have been taken of Tutankhamun's
mummy in 2006 added to this was evidence
gained by analyzing DNA a cat scan
showed that tooten hominid suffered a
break in his leg subsequently this
fracture had become badly infected an
affliction that even royalty could not
escape 3400 years ago and the
researchers also discovered that
Tutankhamun had a club foot on top of
that
Tutankhamun suffered some unpleasant
diseases as the scientists discovered
from the DNA analysis it turned out that
he had contracted malaria furthermore he
was also the victim of Koller disease a
painful and rare condition that affects
the bones the genetic evidence also
backed up the idea that the young
Pharaoh's parents were siblings
Egyptologist Gail Gibson a consultant on
the BBC program told history.com we have
to give up the idea that he was a
healthy young prince riding across the
desert in his chariot or that he was
killed at war and killed by an enemy
what we're looking at is a young man who
was not in good health and had a pretty
sad life in a lot of respects
so did Tutankhamun died from a mixture
of infirmities and diseases his health
fatally compromised by the habitual in
breeding of his royal ants
testers some scientists are unconvinced
Egyptologist Bob Bryar of Long Island
University New York is one skeptic it's
a very difficult thing to get DNA out of
ancient bodies most of us in the field
are a little hesitant to say this is
right Brier told history calm so
Tutankhamun it seems is yet to reveal
all of his secrets
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