A Visit to Tut's Seattle Exhibit

Alice C. Linsley




I toured the Tutankhamum (Tut-ankh-amun) exhibit yesterday and I would like to share some observations about this ruler who lived about 600 years after Abraham.

King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor was discovered in 1922 by the American archaeologist Howard Carter. It had been raided by treasure hunters, but was still relatively intact. Carter purchased artifacts which had been stolen from Tut's mummy and took the matter to the Egyptian authorities who forced the grave robbers to lead them to the tomb.

All of the grave's contents were removed from the tomb and taken to Cairo. The desert grave subsequently collapsed. The discovery and recovery had taken place just in time.

Tutankhamum became pharaoh at the age of ten in 1333 BC and ruled for only nine years. His death marked the end of the royal line from the eighteenth dynasty of the New Kingdom. He was not a significant ruler, but his tomb has been one of the most spectacular finds of the century.

The exact cause of young Tutankhamun's death is not known. He suffered from malaria and necrosis of the left foot, and apparently walked with a cane. More than 100 canes were found in his tomb. One theory is that the young king, weakened by the bone disorder, succumbed to malaria. It is also possible that he died from sickle-cell disease.

As was typical of the Kushite-Egyptian marriage and ascendancy pattern, King Tut's parents were half-siblings. This feature characterized the kinship pattern of Abraham and Moses. Abraham's father had two wives and Sarah was Abraham's half-sister. Moses' father had two wives and Moses' Kushite wife was his half-sister.

Genesis 36: the line of Seir the Horite

At his ascent to the throne, Tut married his half-sister Ankhesenpaaten. Had he lived, he would have taken a second wife at a later age. She would have been a cousin or a niece.

Tutankhamum ascended to the throne of his father Akhenaten. This indicates that Tut was the firstborn son of Akhenaten by his half-sister wife. Tut's Y-chromosome would match his father's. His mtDNA would match his mother's, but not necessarily his father's.

Tut's father Akhenaton moved his capital from Thebes (Luxor) to Amarna, which he built in a desolate but more central region of the Nile. King Tut moved the royal court back to the old capital at Thebes, the center of Amun-Ra worship.

Tutankhamum's cartouche bears the words heqa-iunu-shema, which is usually rendered "Ruler of On of the South."

Heqa is the sceptre or shepherd's crook of the Egyptian rulers.

Iunu refers to the temple of Heliopolis (Biblical On). Herodutus reported that it took nine days to sail up river from Heliopolis to Thebes. The temple of Thebes was called "Heliopolis of the South." By relocating his court to Thebes, Tutankhamum may have been attempting to regain the glory of his forefathers at a time of Egypt's decline.

The corners of most of the 4th - 6th dynasty pyramids are aligned towards Heliopolis, the geodetic center of Egypt. The pyramid triads at Giza, Zaqqara and Abusir are examples. Baalbek in Lebanon, also called Heliopolis, aligns to Heliopolis in Egypt. 

Shema refers to ta-shema or Upper Egypt, the narrow valley extending south of Memphis to Abu on the First Cataract in Nubia. Thebes is between Memphis and Abu.

Ra, the Creator, is referred to as the "God of Manifestations." Ra's emblem is the sun. 

Tutankhamun Artefacts Still Missing

Four artefacts belonging to Tutankhamun, and missing since the January Revolution, were returned to the Cairo Museum in April 2011. One object was the gilded wooden statue of Tutankhamun standing on a skiff throwing a harpoon (JE 60710.1), which suffered damage.  A small part of the crown is missing as well as pieces of the pharaoh's legs.

One of the 10 missing shabtis of Yuya and Tjuya (JE 68984) was also returned, as was Tutankhamun's gilded bronze and wooden trumpet (JE 62008).

Tutankhamun’s fan (JE 62006) was also returned, but it was broken into 11 pieces and the stock was missing.

From the list of objects missing from the Cairo Museum, about twenty items were retrieved in March 2011.  Most were confiscated from dealers.

Some of Tutankhamun's treasures are still missing.



Related reading:  Moses' Wives and Brothers; Twin Pyramids and Sphinx of Zinder; Prehistoric Geodesy; Undiscovered Pyramids Seen From Space