Tut’s father has been identified as the heretic Akhenaten, but the identity of his mother remains unknown. © Provided by Mental Floss Genetic testing has verified that King Tut was the grandson of the great pharaoh Amenhotep III, and almost certainly the son of Akhenaten, a controversial figure in the history of the 18th dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom (c.1550-1295 B.C.). It even may have been an early version of backgammon. The tomb of Tutankhamun contained many extraordinary objects, one of which was a dagger carved from a meteorite. The greatest and perhaps now most iconic treasure was the king’s death mask, containing more than 20 pounds of gold. Other items buried with him to ensure that he remained strong, wealthy, and well fed in the afterlife included a leopard-skin cloak, four game boards, six chariots, 30 wine jars, and 46 bows. Tutankhamun was one of the most famous Egyptian Pharaohs. In 2015, a British archaeologist put forth a theory based on laser scans that a second room was hidden behind a wall of the tomb and waiting to be explored. Run over by a chariot? Carter found the tomb in shambles with entryways blocked off to provide further protection to Tutankhamun. Today the most fragile artifacts, including the burial mask, no longer leave Egypt. King Tut’s tomb has inspired many legends since it was discovered decades ago. From his confusing lineage to his impact on pop culture, here’s what you need to know about King Tutankhamun. Did you know? Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, What you need to know about coronavirus on Monday, October 19, Walmart Was Just Rated the Top Grocery Store for This Service, 20 Surprising Facts About King Tutankhamun. Before that, little was known about the young pharaoh now known as the “Boy King”. The mummy was placed inside the Russian nesting doll-style coffins, and everything was put inside a large quartzite stone sarcophagus with a pink granite top. Tutankhamun was likely inbred—something that wasn’t uncommon with royal families trying to maintain a “pure” bloodline throughout history. This was no ordinary trumpet: It had been retrieved 17 years earlier in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, a 14th-century B.C. Because he was so young when he came into power, his uncle Ay was likely in charge during those early years. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New ...read more, When British archaeologist Howard Carter opened a sarcophagus in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings for the first time on February 16, 1923, he stoked intrigue and mystery over an ancient Egyptian boy king. The tomb’s antechambers were packed to the ceiling with more than 5,000 artifacts, including furniture, chariots, clothes, weapons and 130 of the lame king’s walking sticks. Today, Tutankhamun is most commonly known as King Tut. Her reign was a time of tremendous cultural upheaval, as Akhenaten ...read more, Built during a time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, the pyramids—especially the Great Pyramids of Giza—are some of the most magnificent man-made structures in history. King Tut didn’t need to do much to impress his subjects—his father, pharaoh Akhenaten, had been a disastrous ruler. The top 10 interesting facts about King Tutankhamun . Who was King Tutankhamun, the occupant of the burial chamber who ruled 3,300 ...read more, The trumpeter held the silver instrument to his lips. It’s believed that Tut’s inbred lineage contributed to his physical issues. Tut’s impact was felt for decades after his discovery. This helped him earn the trust of his people during his brief reign. Even after it was excavated, King Tut’s tomb continued to capture the imaginations of archaeologists. Tutankhamun was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt who reigned over its kingdom for a period of around 10 years in fourteenth century BC.He most prominently restored Amun as the supreme God of Egypt after his father Akhenaten had made Aten the King of Gods during his reign. The Egyptian aesthetic infiltrated the 1920s, appearing in fashion, home design, and architecture. © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC. King Tut had a severe bone disease that left him disabled. The entrance corridor was apparently looted soon after the burial, but the inner rooms remained sealed. If you can only name one Egyptian pharaoh, it’s likely King Tut. The discovery of King Tut's pristine tomb in 1922 remains one of the most important moments in all of Egyptian archaeology. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.—ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world. King Tut’s mummy was discovered with a hole in its skull, leading some people to believe that the young pharaoh had been assassinated with a blow to the head. Photograph by De Agostini Picture Library, G. Dagli Orti/Bridgeman Images. Some of the victims of this so-called curse include George Jay Gould, a financier who got sick after visiting the tomb in 1923, and George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who died of blood poisoning after funding the dig. He was tall but physically frail, with a crippling bone disease in his clubbed left foot. at Amarna, Egypt. © Provided by Mental Floss In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamun or “King Tut” is probably the most well-known Egyptian pharaoh. The chariots used by royalty in ancient Egypt were small and light, allowing them to reach high speeds. The discovery made headlines around the world. Thanks to his glorious burial, King Tut did more in death to advance the modern study and interest in Egyptian history than all his fellow pharaohs combined. He was born with the name Tutankhaten, which translates to “living image of Aten.” After he become pharaoh, he changed his name to Tutankhamun or “living image of Amun.” This change was a reflection of Tut’s devotion to the god Amun, whom his father had neglected in favor of the god Aten. Fast-forward 3,000 years. Since he was too young to judge independently, most of his decisions as a king were made on his behalf by his viziers. Cleopatra became co-regent with her younger brother (and husband) Ptolemy XIII in 51 BCE when he was just 10 years old. This theory has since been widely debunked by experts. It’s much more likely that the infection in his leg was the cause of his death. © Provided by Mental Floss The pharaohs who followed Tut chose to ignore his reign, as despite his work restoring Amun, he was tainted by the connection to his father’s religious upheavals. In ancient art he is regularly depicted sitting down when engaging in physical activities like archery, whereas other pharaohs were always shown standing up in similar scenarios. Here are ten key facts about the life of the ‘boy king’. The first break-in took place shortly after Tutankhamun was laid to rest. At the time of the discovery, archaeologists believed that all the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, across the river from ancient Thebes, had already been cleared. For almost 30 centuries—from its unification around 3100 B.C. Excitement about the new tomb—the most intact ever found—quickly spread worldwide. This so-called curse has been blamed for more than a dozen deaths. English Egyptologist Howard Carter examines the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in Egypt in 1923. Tutankhamun was one of many ancient Egyptian pharaohs. When he ascended the throne at the age of nine, the country was still in chaos from the decision made by his late father, Akhenaten, to switch Egypt from its polytheistic religion to a monotheistic one. Such a high nickel percentage indicated that the iron came from a meteorite, not Earth. A royal adviser named Ay seems to have stage-managed the young royal as his puppet, particularly in his order to reverse Akhenaten’s policy and reinstate the beloved old gods and their temples. The boy king’s reign was unremarkable. Carter’s patron, Lord Carnarvon, died four months after first entering the tomb, leading journalists to popularize a “Curse of the Pharaohs,” claiming that hieroglyphs on the tomb walls promised swift death to those who disturbed King Tut. By conducting a virtual autopsy of his mummy with CT scan data, scientists were able to build a 3D model of what King Tut may have looked like when he was alive 3000 years ago. By the time he discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter had been excavating Egyptian antiquities for three decades. It’s now suspected that the hole was either put there by embalmers when King Tut was being mummified or it was created when archaeologists first removed the mummy’s gold mask.