Tutankhamun
18th Dynasty boy king with an intact tomb
- Reigned
- c. 1333–1323 BCE
- Born as
- Tutankhaten
- Died
- In about his 19th year
- Tomb
- KV62, Valley of the Kings, found 1922
- Wife
- Ankhesenamun
A short-lived pharaoh famous for his nearly intact tomb, found in 1922, which included a scarab carved from Libyan desert glass.
What is Tutankhamun known for?
Tutankhamun came to the throne as a child around 1333 BCE and died about ten years later, in roughly his nineteenth year. Born Tutankhaten, he changed his name as the court abandoned Akhenaten's Aten cult and restored the old gods, moving away from Amarna.
Britannica notes he achieved little as king and is known chiefly for his tomb. Howard Carter found it in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 with most of its contents still in place, now largely in Egyptian museums in Cairo and Giza.
One pectoral from the tomb has a winged scarab carved from yellow-green Libyan desert glass. In 1998 the mineralogist Vincenzo de Michele identified the material; the glass formed about 29 million years ago, most likely from a meteor impact or airburst.
His pectoral's scarab is carved from Libyan desert glass, formed by a cosmic event millions of years earlier.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeLibyan desert glass (Tutankhamun's scarab)
- PersonAlan Gardiner
- PersonHugh G. Evelyn-White
- PersonVincenzo de Michele
- PlaceGreat Sand Sea
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Tutankhamun'Reference
- Wikipedia, 'Tutankhamun'Reference
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