King Tutankhamun, Gold Mask, Egyptian Pharaoh

King Tutankhamun, Gold Mask … Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh boy King Tutankhamun ruled 9 years from about age 9 to about age 18 (or 19) about 1332 BC to about 1323 BC during the 18th Dynasty. He is believed to be the Pharaoh Nibhurrereya of the Amarna Diplomatic Akkadian Letters and the Pharaoh Rathotis of Manetho who gave his reign as 9 years. This boy Pharaoh’s Tomb was discovered in November 1922 by Howard Carter and opened 26 November 1922 after the arrival of Carter’s patron Lord Carnarvon. 16 February 1923 they opened the final room and found the king’s stone sarcophagus inside 4 nested gilded shrines … the largest barely fitting in the room. Inside the stone sarcophagus were 3 nested coffins … the outer 2 of gilded wood … the innermost of pure gold! … 243 pounds of pure gold! And inside this was the mummy of the king with this 24 pound pure gold mask over his head! The mummy body was wrapped in layers of fine linen with pure gold amulets tucked in. Over each finger were hollow finger tips of pure gold. On his feet were sandals of pure gold. Tutankhamun (sometimes spelled Tutankhamen) married his half sister whose name was to become Ankhesenamun. Their father was Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) … the pharaoh who led a revolution by worshipping a single god Aten instead of a pantheon of gods the highest being Amun (Amen) thus changing his own name. Tutankhamun (formerly Tutankhaten) changed back to the traditional pantheon of gods and Amun thus also changing the names of himself and also of his sister wife Ankhesenpaaten … to Ankhesenamun … and his rule was followed by the rule of his Grand Vizier Ay who was followed by Tutankhamun’s general Horemheb who Tutankhamun meant as his intended heir. Ay had taken the throne while general Horemheb was away on a military campaign. Ay clinched his power by marrying Tutankhamun’s widow Ankhesenamun herself being the daughter of Tutankhamun’s father! Tutankhamun’s parents were brother and sister. Ankhesenamun’s mother was the famous Queen Nefertiti the chief great royal wife of Akhenaten. It was all this inbreeding that may have caused Tutankhamun’s illnesses and the couple’s two miscarriages (stillborn daughters). Tutankhamun suffered from a crippled leg … his tomb had many decorative canes for his use in the afterlife … and he suffered repeated Malaria and this may have been the cause of his death. This pure gold mask face is inlaid with deep dark blue stone Lapis Lazuli all the way from Afghanistan for his eyeliner and brows. The matching colour on the Nemes headdress is actually nearly identical colour glass! Thus, the theory that his face was added to the headdress of Queen Nefertiti’s own mask. Created by Mark Edward Westerfield