Tutankhamen Biography - life, childhood, children, parents, story, death, wife, mother, son Tutankhamen Biography Tutankhamen was the twelfth king of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty (reigned 1361–1352 B.C.E. ). Although his reign was relatively unimportant, Tutankhamen became the most famous of the pharaohs (Egyptian kings) when his treasure-filled tomb was discovered in the early twentieth century. The vast and untouched contents of his tomb offered historians great insight into the ancient Egyptian culture. Early life Little is known of Tutankhamen's childhood; even the identity of his parents remains a mystery. Historian believe Tutankhamen was the son of either Amenophis III or Akhenaten. His mother was probably one of the king's many wives, most likely Kiya, a wife of Akhenaten who was often referred to as the "Greatly Beloved Wife." Tutankhamen was only a child when he became king, for although he reigned eight full years, examination of his body has shown that he was little more than eighteen years old at the time of his death.

He may have owed his rise to king to his marriage to Ankhnesamun, the third daughter of the fourteenth century Egyptian rulers, Ikhnaton and Nefertiti. The couple would have no children. Tutankhamen had originally been named Tutankhaten, meaning "gracious life is Aton," but both he and Ankhnesamun (originally Ankhnespaten) dropped from their names all references to the sun god Aten and the cult (a religious following) that was promoted by Akhenaten. He then became known as Tutankhamen, "gracious life is Amon (an Egyptian god)." Soon after, the royal couple abandoned Amarna, the city built by Akhenaten for the sole worship of Aten. Tutankhamen apparently left the city very early in his reign, for, with the exception of a few scarabs (Egyptian beetles that were inscribed and buried alongside mummies), no trace of him has been found at Amarna. The reign of King Tutankhamen The addition to Tutankhamen's label as "Ruler of Southern On" shows that he regarded Thebes as his capital city.

There can be little doubt that he made every effort to satisfy the supporters of the god Amun; a stele (statue) erected near the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak depicts Tutankhamen offering to gods Amun and Mut. The accompanying text tells of the state of decay into which the temples and shrines of the gods had fallen Tutankhamen. Library of Congress . during the period of Aten. Tutankhamen had a large hall at Luxor decorated with reliefs illustrating the festival of Amen-Re. Despite the existence of the standard paintings of the pharaoh slaying his foes, it is doubtful that Tutankhamen engaged in any serious military operations. Tutankhamen was a trained archer and in his tomb were found many trophies from his hunts. There is some indication that the actual power behind the throne was an elderly official named Ay, who is depicted on a fragment of gold leaf with Tutankhamen. On another fragment Ay bears the title of vizier, or high government official. He had already posed as a coregent (coruler) before the death of Tutankhamen. After Tutankhamen's death, Ay married his widow.

The cause of Tutankhamen's death is unknown, although, due to skull damage found in his remains, many believe he was assassinated. The tomb of Tutankhamen Tutankhamen is probably the best-known of the pharaohs, owing to the fortunate discovery of his treasure-filled tomb virtually intact. His burial place in the Valley of the Kings had escaped the fate of the tombs of other ancient Egyptian kings. Fortunately, the entrance was hidden from tomb raiders by debris heaped over it during the cutting of the later tomb of the twelfth century B.C.E. King Ramses VI. In 1922 Howard Carter (1873–1939) discovered Tutankhamen's tomb after searching for nearly ten years. Tutankhamen's tomb remains as one of the greatest and most important discoveries in archeology (the study of ancient forms of life). From Carter's discovery, historians were able to piece together the life of King Tutankhamen. The tomb room contained more than five thousand objects, many of which were covered with gold and beautifully carved. The most famous of these objects is probably the lifelike gold mask that covered the face of Tutankhamen's mummy.

Carter also uncovered military items, clothing, jewelry, and many statues of Tutankhamen and Egyptian gods. In fact, there were so many items in the tomb that many are still being examined today and have yet to be displayed in museums—nearly eighty years after their discovery. For More Information Brier, Bob. The Murder of Tutankhamen: A True Story. New York: Putnam, 1998. Carter, Howard, and A. C. Mace. The Tomb of Tut-ankh-amen. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1963. Desroches-Noblecourt, Christiane. Tutankhamen: Life and Death of a Pharaoh. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965. El Mahdy, Christine. Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of the Boy-King. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. James, T. G. H. Tutankhamun. Vercelli, Italy: Friedman/Fairfax Publishers, 2000.

User Contributions: King Tut Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred, DNA Shows Mystery of Bizarre Bird Deformities May Be Solved Instead, a new DNA study says, King Tut was a frail pharaoh, beset by malaria and a bone disorder—his health possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins. ( King Tut Pictures: DNA Study Reveals Health Secrets. ) The report is the first DNA study ever conducted with ancient Egyptian royal mummies. It apparently solves several mysteries surrounding King Tut, including how he died and who his parents were. "He was not a very strong pharaoh. He was not riding the chariots," said study team member Carsten Pusch, a geneticist at Germany's University of Tübingen . "Picture instead a frail, weak boy who had a bit of a club foot and who needed a cane to walk." Regarding the revelation that King Tut's mother and father were brother and sister, Pusch said, "Inbreeding is not an advantage for biological or genetic fitness. Normally the health and immune system are reduced and malformations increase," he said.

Short Reign, Lasting Impact of King Tut Tutankhamun was a pharaoh during ancient Egypt's New Kingdom era, about 3,300 years ago. He ascended to the throne at the age of 9 but ruled for only ten years before dying at 19 around 1324 B.C. ( Pictures: "King Tut's Face Displayed for First Time." ) Despite his brief reign, King Tut is perhaps Egypt's best known pharaoh because of the wealth of treasures—including a solid gold death mask—found during the surprise discovery of his intact tomb in 1922. (See pictures of King Tut tomb treasures or see them in person in Toronto through April 30 .) The new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association , marks the first time the Egyptian government has allowed genetic studies to be performed using royal mummies. "This will open to us a new era," said project leader Zahi Hawass , the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

(National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society .) "I'm very happy this is an Egyptian project, and I'm very proud of the work that we did." (See "King Tut: Unraveling the Mysteries of Tutankhamun" —a 2005 National Geographic magazine report on forensic studies that recreated Tut's face, among other developments.) King Tut's Close-Knit Family In the new study, the mummies of King Tut and ten other royals that researchers have long suspected were his close relatives were examined. Of these ten, the identities of only three had been known for certain. Using DNA samples taken from the mummies' bones, the scientists were able to create a five-generation family tree for the boy pharaoh. The team looked for shared genetic sequences in the Y chromosome—a bundle of DNA passed only from father to son—to identify King Tut's male ancestors. The researchers then determined parentage for the mummies by looking for signs that a mummy's genes are a blend of a specific couple's DNA. In this way, the team was able to determine that a mummy known until now as KV55 is the "heretic king" Akhenaten—and that he was King Tut's father.

Akhenaten was best known for abolishing ancient Egypt's pantheon in favor of worshipping only one god. ( Pictures: "Who Was King Tut's Father?" [2007].) Furthermore, the mummy known as KV35 was King Tut's grandfather, the pharaoh Amenhotep III, whose reign was marked by unprecedented prosperity. Preliminary DNA evidence also indicates that two stillborn fetuses entombed with King Tut when he died were daughters whom he likely fathered with his chief queen Ankhensenamun, whose mummy may also have finally been identified. (See "King Tut Tomb Fetuses May Reveal Pharaoh's Mother." ) Also, a mummy previously known as the Elder Lady is Queen Tiye, King Tut's grandmother and wife of Amenhotep III. King Tut's mother is a mummy researchers had been calling the Younger Lady. While the body of King Tut's mother has finally been revealed, her identity remains a mystery. DNA studies show that she was the daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye and thus was the full sister of her husband, Akhenaten.

Some Egyptologists have speculated that King Tut's mother was Akhenaten's chief wife, Queen Nefertiti—made famous by an iconic bust ( Nefertiti-bust picture ). But the new findings seem to challenge this idea, because historical records do not indicate that Nefertiti and Akhenaten were related. (See "Nefertiti's Real, Wrinkled Face Found in Famous Bust?" ) Instead, the sister with whom Akenhaten fathered King Tut may have been a minor wife or concubine, which would not have been unusual, said Willeke Wendrich , a UCLA Egyptologist who was not involved in the study. "Egyptian pharaohs had multiple wives, and often multiple sons who would potentially compete for the throne after the death of their father," Wendrich said. Inbreeding would also not have been considered unusual among Egyptian royalty of the time. King Tut Plagued by Malaria, Required Cane The team's examination of King Tut's body also revealed previously unknown deformations in the king's left foot, caused by the necrosis, or death, of bone tissue.

"Necrosis is always bad, because it means you have dying organic matter inside your body," study team member Pusch told National Geographic News. The affliction would have been painful and forced King Tut to walk with a cane—many of which were found in his tomb—but it would not have been life threatening. Malaria, however, would have been a serious danger. The scientists found DNA from the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria in the young pharaoh's body—the oldest known genetic proof of the disease. The team found more than one strain of malaria parasite, indicating that King Tut caught multiple malarial infections during his life. The strains belong to the parasite responsible for malaria tropica, the most virulent and deadly form of the disease. The malaria would have weakened King Tut's immune system and interfered with the healing of his foot. These factors, combined with the fracture in his left thighbone, which scientists had discovered in 2005 , may have ultimately been what killed the young king, the authors write. Until now the best guesses as to how King Tut died have included a hunting accident , a blood infection, a blow to the head, and poisoning.

UCLA's Wendrich said the new finding "lays to rest the completely baseless theories about the murder of Tutankhamun." (Related: "King Tut Not Murdered Violently, CT Scans Show" [2005].) King Tut's Father Not "Egyptian Quasimodo" Another speculation apparently laid to rest by the new study is that Akhenaten had a genetic disorder that caused him to develop the feminine features seen in his statutes, including wide hips, a potbelly, and the female-like breasts associated with the condition gynecomastia. (See "Men With Breasts: Benign Condition Creates Emotional Scars." ) When the team analyzed Akhenaten's body using medical scanners, no evidence of such abnormalities were found. Hawass and his team concluded that the feminized features found in the statues of Akenhaten created during his reign were done for religious and political reasons. In ancient Egypt, Akhenaten was a god, Hawass explained.

"The poems said of him, 'you are the man, and you are the woman,' so artists put the picture of a man and a woman in his body." Egyptologist John Darnell of Yale University called the revelation that Akhenaten's appearance was not due to genetic disorders "the most important result" of the new study. In his book Tutankhamun's Armies , Darnell proposes that Akhenaten's androgynous appearance in art was an attempt to associate himself with Aten, the original creator god in Egyptian theology, who was neither male nor female. "Akenhaten is odd in his appearance because he belongs to the time of creation, not because he was physically different," said Darnell, who also did not participate in the DNA research.

"People will now need to consider Akenhaten as a thinker, and not just as an Egyptian Quasimodo." King Tut's Parents Were Cousins, Not Siblings: Researcher King Tut's Parents Were Cousins, Not Siblings: Researcher By Megan Gannon, News Editor | February 13, 2013 03:20pm ET MORE The discovery of jars of wine in King Tuts tomb prompted a team of Spanish scientists to try and determine if the boy king preferred red or white wine. An analysis of residues in 2005 revealed that the jars contained syringic acid, which implied that the wine was made with red grapes. Credit: Egyptian Museum Updated Friday, Feb. 15, at 6:25 p.m. ET For all the popularity Tutankhamun enjoys today, key details about the ancient Egyptian pharaoh's life, such as his parentage, have remained somewhat mysterious. While Akhenaten was known to be Tut's dad, the identity of the boy king's mother has remained elusive. But at least one archaeologist believes she was Nefertiti. Recent DNA analyses from the mummies of Tut and his kin revealed that the boy king's parents were siblings .

Those results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in February 2010, pointed to the "heretic" king Akhenaten and one of his sisters as the mom and dad of Tut. But researcher Marc Gabolde said in a talk at Harvard University last week that he believes King Tut's mom was Akhenaten's cousin Nefertiti, who was Akhenaten's chief wife and the mother of six of his daughters. Gabolde said the genetic closeness of Tut's parents does not necessarily point to a brother-sister pairing. Rather, it could be due to three successive generations of marriage between first cousins, he said. "The consequence of that is that the DNA of the third generation between cousins looks like the DNA between a brother and sister," Gabolde said, according to the Harvard Gazette . "I believe that Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, but that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were cousins." Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, disputed Gabolde's claim.

Hawass, who led the 2010 JAMA study, told LiveScience in an email Friday (Feb. 15) that his team's research showed that Tut's mother was, like Akhenaten, the daughter of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. Hawass added that there is "no evidence" in archaeology or philology to indicate that Nefertiti was the daughter of Amenhotep III. Gabolde is the director of the archaeological expedition of Université Paul Valery-Montpellier III in the Royal Necropolis at el-Amarna, a city built on the banks of the Nile by Akhenaten, the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye who ushered in a brief period of monotheism in Egypt through worship of the sun disk, Aten. King Tut was part of the 18th dynasty of the Egyptian New Kingdom, which lasted from about 1550 B.C. to 1295 B.C. He died in the ninth year of his reign, circa 1324 B.C., at the age of 19, leaving no heirs.

Several ideas have popped up about possible diseases that may have wreaked havoc on his family as well as the cause of Tut's early demise , with some evidence suggesting he died in part from malaria and bone abnormalities. Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience . We're also on Facebook & Google+ . King Tutankhamun's incestuous family revealed | Daily Mail Online King Tutankhamun was a hobbled, weak teenager with a cleft palate and club foot. And he probably has his parents to blame. For the mother and father of the legendary boy pharaoh were actually brother and sister. The startling discovery was revealed today by a team led by Egyptian antiquities expert Dr Zahi Hawass. They identified the mummies of both his parents and both of his grandparents by studying DNA samples over two years. For a long time there were strong suspicions that he was murdered because he had a hole in the back of his head. But this is now believed to be due to the mummification process and scientists think the new research points to him dying from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria.

Scroll down for video report Meet the family: Scientists have for the first time - with the help of DNA - been able to identify these skulls as belonging to King Tut's father Akhenaten (left) and mother (right). They were also brother and sister INCEST AND ROYALTY King Tut (pictured below) belonged to the 18th dynasty of Egyptian kings during the period of the New Kingdom. His genealogy is complex as there was considerable inter-marriage within his family. The pharaohs believed they were descended from the gods and incest was seen as acceptable so as to retain the sacred bloodline. King Tut was born c.1341 BC. His father was Akhenaten, first known as Amenhotep. Tutankhamun's mother has been confirmed as Mummy KV35YL, a sister of Akhenaten. Tut's stepmother was Nefertiti, the chief wife of Akhenaten. In c.1348 BC Ankhesenamun was born to Akhenaten and Nerfertiti, making her Tut's half-sister. At the age of ten Tut married her. He died at the age of 19.

The revelations are in stark contrast to the popular image of a graceful boy-king as portrayed by the dazzling funerary artifacts in his tomb that later introduced much of the world to the glory of ancient Egypt. King Tut has fascinated the world ever since his ancient tomb was unearthed by the British archaeologist Dr Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. The treasure in his tomb included an 24.2lb solid gold death mask encrusted with lapis lazuli and semi-precious stones. Rumours of a curse arose after Dr Carter's benefactor Lord Carnarvon died suddenly a few months after the tomb was opened, even though Dr Carter went on to live another 16 years. King Tut was known to be the son of the 'heretic' pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to reform the Egyptian religion during his rule. But the identity of his mother had been shrouded in mystery - until now. The fact that his mother and father were brother and sister may seem bizarre today but incest was rife among the boy king's family because pharaohs were believed to be descended from the gods. Therefore it was an acceptable way of retaining the sacred bloodline.

King Tut's own wife Ankhesenpaaten, was his half-sister as they shared the same father. They were married when he was just ten. But Dr Hawass' team found generations of inbreeding took their toll on King Tut - the last of his great dynasty. The bone disease he suffered runs in families and is more likely to be passed down if two first-degree relatives marry and have children, the study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows. They described him as: 'A young but frail king who needed canes to walk.' This explains the presence of more than 100 canes in his tomb, which he would have needed in the afterlife. 'A sudden leg fracture possibly introduced by a fall might have resulted in a life threatening condition when a malaria infection occurred,' the JAMA article said. Tut, who became pharaoh at the age of ten in 1333 BC, ruled for just nine years until his death. He was the last of the royal line from the eighteenth dynasty of the New Kingdom. The cause of King Tut's death has long been disputed among historians, with many speculating that he was murdered.

Theories that he was assassinated stemmed from the fact that he was the last ruler of his dynasty and had a hole in the back of his head. King Tut's grandmother Queen Tiye, the mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten. The hairpiece behind her is believed to have been made up of her own hair. It has not disintegrated because of the mummification process and the dry conditions within the tomb Enlarge The two faces of the boy king Tutankhamun. Left, his mummified head and, right, a reconstruction of what he would have looked like However, in 2005 Dr Hawass announced his team had found no evidence for a blow to the back of the head, and the hole was from the mummification process. King Tut was succeeded by the high priest Ay for four years - who also married his widow Ankhesenpamon. Ay was followed by the military leader Horemheb who ruled for 26 years until he ceded power to Ramses, founder of the 19th dynasty. The researchers studied 16 mummies from the Valley of the Kings.

They revealed that beneath the golden splendour in which they lived, ancient Egypt's royals were as vulnerable as the lowliest peasant to disease. Three other mummies besides Tut's showed repeated malaria infections and incestuous marriages only worsened their maladies. However, analysis of King Tut's family disproved speculation his family suffered from rare disorders that gave them feminine attributes and misshapen bones, including Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that can result in elongated limbs. The theories arose from the artistic style and statues of the period, which showed the royal men with prominent breasts, elongated heads and flared hips. 'It is unlikely that either Tutankhamun or Akhenaten actually displayed a significantly bizarre or feminine physique,' the team said. One of the most impressive-looking mummies who was studied was King Tut's grandmother, Queen Tiye. She was the chief wife of Amenhotep III and mother of King Tut's father Akhenaten. She was the first queen to figure so prominently beside her husband in statues and temple reliefs.

After 3,000 years and DNA analysis, scientists have proved that, from foreground to background, these mummies are of King Tut's mother, grandmother, and his father, Akkenaten Enlarge Antiquities expert Dr Zahi Hawass (right) announces today in Cairo's Egypt Museum that the mummies in front of him have been identified as Tutankhamun's father, mother and grandmother by using DNA Technicians take DNA samples from the mummy of Boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. Tests revealed his parents were siblings SO WHO WAS KING TUT? King Tut became pharaoh at the age of ten in 1333BC and ruled for just nine years until his death. In the same year he became pharaoh he married Ankhesenpaaten, his half-sister. Tutankhamun's significance stems from his rejection of the radical religious innovations introduced by his predecessor and father, Akhenaten. He had attempted to supplant the traditional priesthood and deities with the minor god Aten. When King Tut was aged 12 the backlash against the new religion was so intense that the young pharaoh changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun.

A year later, the royal court moved back to the old capital at Thebes (now called Luxor), which was the centre of worship of the god Amun and the power base of the Amun priests. King Tut is considered a minor phaorah. However, his fame arose when his tomb was found in 1922 by Howard Carter (pictured above). It was almost intact and remains the most complete ancient Egyptian royal tomb ever found. Queen Tiye held much political influence at court and acted as an adviser to her son after the death of her husband. There has been speculation that her eldest son Prince Tuthmose was in fact Moses who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. A lock of her hair was found in a miniature coffin in King Tut's tomb. Her tomb was identified by matching the labelled hair in Tut's tomb with the well-preserved hair on her mummy. The ancient Egyptians were very concerned with maintaining their hair to promote their social status. They devised remedies for baldness and greying and regularly washed and scented their hair. Adults sometimes wore hairpieces, and had elaborate styles. The hairpiece found by Queen Tiye is believed to have been made up of her own hair.

It has not disintegrated because of the mummification process and the dry conditions within the tomb. Hair does not continue to grow after death, instead the skin retracts around the follicles as it dries, making the hair jut out more prominently. King Tutankhamun has long been big business. A 1970s Tut exhibit drew millions of visitors to U.S. museums, and a popular revival including artefacts from his tomb and others' has been traveling around the United States for the past several years and is currently at San Francisco's DeYoung Museum. Egypt's economy depends a great deal on tourism, which brings in around $10billion a year in revenue. The King Tut exhibit at Cairo's Egyptian Museum is one of the crown jewels of the country's ancient past and features a stunning array of treasures including Tut's most iconic relic - the golden funeral mask. Another tourist destination is Tut's tomb tucked in the Valley of the Kings amid Luxor's desert hills. In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered it and the trove of fabulous gold and precious stones inside, propelling the once-forgotten pharaoh into global stardom.

Hundreds of tourists come daily to the tomb to see Tut's mummy, which has been on display there since 2007. Though historically Tut was a minor king, the grander image 'is embedded in our psyche' and the new revelations won't change that, said James Phillips, a curator at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. 'Reality is reality, but it's not going to change his place in the folk heroism of popular culture,' Phillips said. 'The way he was found, what was found in his grave - even though he was a minor king, it has excited the imagination of people since 1922.' Dr Zahi Hawass removed King Tut from his stone sarcophagus in 2007 to study his DNA. Tests revealed the king was a sickly young adult Was Tutankhamun the son or nephew of Akhenaten? Who was his mother? - Quora Quora We don't really know the answer to either of these questions.

tl'dr (the long version can be a bit dry) It's believed that Tutankhamun, formerly Tutankhaten, was the son of either Akhenaten and a minor wife named Kiya, or the son of Akhenaten's son in law and co-regent Smenkhare and one of his wives. Since the records had been purged by Horemheb, and the entire line of succession deleted back to Amenhotep III, it's difficult to say with any certainty who was Tutankhamun's father and mother. The Long Version (with lots of dusty history) The problem is that, for the ancient Egyptians, their world needed to remain static. Radical changes were anathema, since they were believed to bring chaos, and affect the annual flood cycle of the Nile, thus affecting the the yearly crops. Starting with Amenhotep III, the worship of the Aten, or the god represented by the Sun disk, became much more prominent. His son, Amenhotep IV inherited the throne, changed his name to Akhenaten, and created a new capital city, called Amarna.

It's likely that, at this time, Akhenaten either ordered the abandonment of Amun, the traditional state god, for that of the Aten, or simply ignored it, the temples and the priests. Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten This period is called the Amarna Period, and also referred to as the Akhenaten Heresy. The last Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, Horemheb, who was Tutankhamun's general, did everything he could to erase all royal history from Akhenaten's reign to his own, claiming to be Pharaoh for the entire period. The Abyddos List of Kings also omits everyone from Akhenaten to Tutankhamun. This erasure of history has resulted in a lot of blanks about who was who, leaving our understanding a bit sketchy. Late in Akhenaten's reign, it's believed that one of his sons in law became co-regent. The son in law, Smenkhare, was thought to become Akhenaten's heir. A desecrated coffin from the Amarna period, thought to belong to Smenkhare.

Not much is known about Smenkhare, since there is little written of him outside of Akhenaten's time, but there is some mention of him and a possible connection to Tutankhamun. A modern reconstruction of Tutankhamun's face beside his gold funerary mask. It's believed that a child named Tutankhaten was the son of either Akhenaten, by a minor wife, name Kiya, or of Smenkhare by one of his wives, possibly his primary, named Meritaten, who was also the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Tutankhaten may or may not be Tutankhamun, but it's believed to be likely that they are one and the same. Canopic jar possibly depicting Kiya Meritaten Tutankhamun's tomb has a vase that has cartouches for both Akhenaten and Smenkhare, further confusing the issue. After Smenkhare died, his heir, Tutankhamun took the throne, moved the capital back to Thebes, and restored the cult of Amun to official state religion.

His successor, Ay, had worked in the court of Akhenaten, and was Tut's Grand Vizier. Ay was likely a supporter of Akhenaten's religious revolution, but may have advised Tutankhamun to restore the Amun cult. Ay performing the Opening Of The Mouth ceremony for Tutankhamun's mummy. Ay took the throne after Tutankhamun, but only ruled for 4 years. It's been recently suggested that Ay, an old man during Tut's reign, had Tut buried in the tomb Ay had built for himself, and took Tut's tomb as his own. The size and state of the tombs bears this claim out. It's also been suggested that Ay, and possibly Horemheb, had Tutankhamun murdered, but physical evidence shows it was more likely that Tut died as a result of extensive injuries sustained in a chariot accident. There was at least some dramatic intrigue, though.

Tutankhamun's widow, Ankhesenamun/Ankhesenpaaten (who may also have been Ay's granddaughter and Tutankhamun's sister or half sister), wrote to the Hittite king, Suppiluliuma I, requesting provide a son to be her husband. This act is considered highly unusual since Egyptians considered foreigners as inferior, and the letters suggest she was being forced to marry a man she considered below her status. She was probably referring to Ay. Suppiluliuma mentions to his court that nothing like this has ever happened before. When the Hittite king sent one of his sons, Zananza, he died, possibly murdered. Tutankhamun and his wife, Ankhesenamun The letters are noted by the Hittites as coming from someone that could be translated as the "king's wife", but doesn't actually mention who that is. Some have suggested that it may have been Akhenaten's wife Nefertiti, or Smenkhare's wife Meritaten, but the general consensus is that they were referring to Ankhesenamun.

Ankhesenamun disappears from the record after that, and some historians believe she may have been forced into marriage with Ay to solidify his claim to the throne, then dispatched with all haste. Damn, this would make for a great movie. Horemheb, Tut's general, took the throne after Ay died, and spent a considerable amount of effort to purge the histories and monuments of his predecessors back to Amenhotep III. Pharaoh Horemheb Statues of Tutankhamnu and Ankhesenamun, hacked at during the purge of the Amarna period. Horemheb was the last Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The succeeding dynasty, the 19th, was considered the golden age of Egypt, including the reign of Ramasses II (the Great), who had as many as 100 children, and was the most prolific monument builder in Egypt. Written May 17, 2015 There appears to be a lot of mystery surrounding King Tut mother’s life, and there are several reasons for this obscurity.

It could partly be to King Tut’s father, Akhenaten, bringing radical changes to politics and religion during his reign; therefore, causing much turmoil amongst the population. It seems that most of the royal records that held the key to Tutankhamen’s family lineage were destroyed soon after Akhenaten’s death. Akhenaten upset the balance of the culture and region so much so, that many pharaohs after him went to great lengths to erase him from history. It looks as if his son also partook in this practice. More things seem to point to Kiya being King Tut’s true mother. New evidence has even come to light that now proves the young pharaoh was most likely a product of incest. This new DNA evidence from samples taken in 2008, suggests that Kiya and Akhenaten were siblings. This would not have been out of the ordinary as many Ancient Egyptian monarchs wanted to ensure that their bloodlines remained royal; therefore, common practice was to marry within families. It should be noted that King Tut was also married to his half-sister Ankhesenamun, which further substantiates this incestuous practice.

However, A DNA analysis by French archaeologist Marc Gabolde suggests a new link between Nefertiti and King Tut. CT scans and genetic analyses revealed as far back as 2005 that Tutankhamun was likely to be the offspring of Akhenaten and his unnamed sister. King Tut's congenital malformations such as a clubbed foot and curved spine further added weight to his incestuous origins. Archaeologist Marc Gabolde however has a different idea - he believes that Tutankhamun's mother might have actually been his father's first cousin, Queen Nefertiti. "The DNA of the third generation between cousins looks like the DNA between a brother and sister," he said. "I believe that Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, but that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were cousins." In conclusion, the identity of Tutankamun (Tutankhaten) father has been determined to beAkhenaten, the question as to his maternal biological mother still is being determined and still under obscurity and scutiny.

Sources: Akhenaten: Egyptian Pharaoh, Nefertiti's Husband, Tut's Father Akhenaten: Egyptian Pharaoh, Nefertiti's Husband, Tut's Father By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | August 30, 2013 04:56pm ET MORE Credit: Sphinx Wang / Shutterstock.com Akhenaten was a pharaoh of Egypt who reigned over the country for about 17 years between roughly 1353 B.C. and 1335 B.C. A religious reformer he made the Aten, the sun disc, the center of Egypt’s religious life and carried out an iconoclasm that saw the names of Amun, a pre-eminent Egyptian god, and his consort Mut, be erased from monuments and documents throughout Egypt’s empire.

When he ascended the throne his name was Amenhotep IV, but in his sixth year of rule he changed it to “Akhenaten” a name that the late Egyptologist Dominic Montserrat translated roughly as the “Benevolent one of (or for) the Aten.” In honor of the Aten, he constructed an entirely new capital at an uninhabited place, which we now call Amarna, out in the desert. Its location was chosen so that its sunrise conveyed a symbolic meaning. “East of Amarna the sun rises in a break in the surrounding cliffs. In this landscape the sunrise could be literally ‘read’ as if it were the hieroglyph spelling Akhet-aten or ‘Horizon of the Aten’ — the name of the new city,” wrote Montserrat in his book "Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt" (Routledge, 2000). He notes that this capital would quickly grow to become about 4.6 square miles (roughly 12 square kilometers) in size. After his death, the pharaoh’s religious reforms quickly collapsed, his new capital became abandoned and his successors denounced him.

Akhenaten, either before or shortly after he became pharaoh, would marry Nefertiti, who in some works of art is shown standing equal next to her husband. Some have even speculated that she may have become a co-, or even sole, ruler of Egypt. Heir to an empire Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye. During their rule, Egypt ruled an empire that stretched from Syria, in west Asia, to the fourth cataract of the Nile River in modern-day Sudan. At the site of Akhenaten’s new capital about 350 tablets known as the “Amarna letters” were uncovered in 1887, showing the diplomatic correspondence between Akhenaten, his fellow kings in west Asia, as well as those of vassals who owed the Egyptian king allegiance. The letters indicate that an empire called the Hittites, based in modern-day Turkey, became increasingly assertive during Akhenaten’s rule, going to war against the Mitanni, a people who had been an Egyptian ally.

“In addition to their conflicts with the Mitanni, the Hittites were also stirring up instability in the vassal states of Syria, and a nomadic group, the Apiru, was creating unrest in Syro-Palestine,” writes Egyptologists David Silverman, Josef Wegner and Jennifer House Wegner write in their book "Akhenaten and Tutankhamun: Revolution and Restoration" (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006). They note that while previous Egyptian kings would likely have launched a military expedition into west Asia as a result of these acts, Akhenaten appears to have done nothing. “Some modern scholars criticize Akhenaten, noting that he focused all of his efforts on his religious ideas and thereby allowed Egypt’s international prestige to deteriorate.” Turning to the Aten While the Aten, the sun-disc, was nothing new in Egyptian religion, Akhenaten’s decision to make it the focus of religious life, to the point where he desecrated the names of Amun and Mut, was something entirely new.

Montserrat notes that at Karnak , a temple complex near Luxor that was devoted to Amun-Ra, the king would have a series of Aten temples built, their construction beginning perhaps in his very first year of rule. Even at this early stage, he appeared to have a dim view of the god Amun, whom Karnak was dedicated to. Montserrat notes that the axis of the new Aten complex was built facing to the east, toward the rising sun, whereas the rest of Karnak is oriented towards the west, where ancient Egyptians believed the underworld to be. “So Akhenaten’s first major building project turns its back on the temple of Amun, perhaps anticipating the events later in his reign,” Montserrat wrote.

Egyptologist James Allen notes in his book "Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphics" (Cambridge University Press, 2010) that sometime between the ninth and 11th years of Akhenaten’s reign, he changed the long form of the god’s name so that, in essence, the Aten became “not just the supreme god but the only god.” This coincided with the start of a campaign aimed at desecrating the names of the gods Amun and Mut, among other deities. “Akhenaten’s minions began to erase the names of Amun and his consort, Mut, and to change the plural… ‘gods’ to the singular ‘god.’ To judge from later inscriptions, the temples of the older gods may have been closed as well, and their priesthoods disbanded,” Allen writes. This extraordinary event occurred throughout Egypt’s empire.

“Care was taken to erase the name of Amun even from the letters in the diplomatic archive, commemorative scarabs, and the tips of obelisks and pyramids; the distant regions of Nubia were also affected, as far as Gebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile,” writes Egyptologist Erik Hornung in his book "Akhenaten and the Religion of Light" (Cornell University Press, 1999). “In some instances Akhenaten even had his own original personal name [Amenhotep, the name when he first assumed power] mutilated in his effort to do harm to the hated Amun.” Still Akhenaten appears not to have been able to convince all Egyptians to put their sole spiritual hopes in the Aten. Archaeologist Barry Kemp, who leads modern-day excavations at the site of Amarna, notes in his book "The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti" (Thames and Hudson, 2012) that researchers have found figures depicting other deities, such as Bes and Thoth, at Amarna. He also notes that few Egyptians appear to have added the word “Aten” to their name in honor of the god.

In fact the sculptor Thutmose, who created an iconic bust of Nefertiti that’s now in a museum in Berlin, left his name in such a form that it honored the god Thoth. Grotesque art In addition to his radical religious changes, Akhenaten also unleashed a revolution in the way art was drawn. Before his time Egyptian art, especially those portraying royalty, tended to show a stiff, structured, formal style. This changed radically in Akhenaten’s time, with people being drawn with cone shaped heads and thin spindly limbs. The royal family was even drawn in a way that conveyed intimate moments. One depiction, reproduced in Hornung’s book, shows Akhenaten and Nefertiti riding a horse-drawn chariot, the two appear to be kissing each other with the rays of the Aten shining down on them. This radical departure in art, particularly the distorted body shapes, has long left Egyptologists mystified. Hornung writes that in 1931 the German Egyptologist Heinrich Schäfer commented, “anyone who steps in front of certain of these representations for the first time recoils from this epitome of physical repulsiveness.

His [Akhenaten’s] head seems to float atop his long, thin neck. His chest is sunken, yet there is something feminine about its form. Below his bloated paunch and his fat thighs, his skinny calves are a match for his spindly arms …” observed Schäfer. Why Akhenaten chose to depict himself and others this way is a mystery. It’s been hypothesized that he suffered from a severe physical deformity that made him change the Egyptian style of art. However recent study of a mummy found in KV 55, in the Valley of the Kings, which some believe is Akhenaten, show no signs of serious physical deformities. Kemp writes in his book that if it is true Akhenaten was not deformed then we have to look into the psyche of the man to find the answers to this mystery. “The images are a wake-up call that here is someone not in the mainstream of humanity. He is one of a kind, on the edge.

He wants you to feel uncomfortable and yet – as conveyed through the relaxed poses and overt affection for his family (as found in some of the art) to love him at the same time.” Akhenaten built a new capital at Amarna Credit: Sphinx Wang / Shutterstock.com The dark side of Amarna Regardless of whether or not Akhenaten wanted people to love him, recent research shows that the people who built his new city, out in the desert, paid a steep price. Recent research published in the journal Antiquity shows that the common people at Amarna suffered from nutritional deficiencies and a high juvenile mortality rate, even by the standards of the time. The children had stunted growth, and many of the bones were porous due to nutritional deficiency, probably because the commoners lived on a diet of mostly bread and beer, archaeologist Anna Stevens told LiveScience in an interview at the time the research was published. Researchers also found that more than three-quarters of the adults had degenerative joint disease, likely from hauling heavy loads, and about two-thirds of these adults had at least one broken bone as reported in the LiveScience story . Akhenaten’s death Akhenaten’s final years are shrouded in mystery.

Until recently, Egyptologists had noted that Nefertiti’s name appears to disappear around year 12 of his reign, the time the last of his major monuments were built. It has been speculated that she may have fallen out of favor with Akhenaten, or that her name was changed so that she became a co-ruler of Egypt. However, a recent discovery challenges all of this. In December of last year, Egyptologists with the Dayr-al-Barsha project announced that they had found an inscription, dated to year 16 of Akhenaten’s reign (shortly before his death), that mentions Nefertiti and shows that she was still Akhenaten’s “chief wife” (in the researchers words). Whatever happened in Akhenaten’s final years his religious changes, and new capital, would not survive his death. Within a few years of his death (which occurred around 1335 B.C.) a new king named Tutankhamun , whom many researchers now believe to have been Akhenaten’s son, ascended the throne.

A boy king, he had originally been named Tutankhaten, in honor of the Aten, but his name was changed to honor Amun, the god whom his father had tried to have wiped out. During Tut’s reign, Egypt would return to its original religious beliefs, Amun and Mut assuming their places on top of the Egyptian pantheon of gods. The capital that Akhenaten built would become abandoned within a few decades of his death, and the “heretic king” would fall into disgrace, not even being included on some king lists of Egypt. Furthermore, Tutankhamun would condemn Akhenaten’s actions in a stela found at Karnak. Part of it reads “the temples and the cities of the gods and the goddesses, starting from Elephantine [as far] as the Delta marshes… were fallen into decay and their shrines were fallen into ruin, having become mere mounds overgrown with grass… The gods were ignoring this land…” [From "The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti," by Barry Kemp] The message was clear, Akhenaten, through his radical religious changes, had turned his back on the gods and so offended them.

Tutankhamun and his successors would restore things to how they had been before. King Tut is the Son of Akhenaten - Dr. Zahi Hawass - The Plateau - Official Website of Dr. Zahi Hawass King Tut is the Son of Akhenaton Zahi Hawass I had an exceptional adventure recently in Middle Egypt at a site known as El Ashmunein. In Greek the site was known as Hermopolis after the Greek god Hermes ï¿½ the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, the god of wisdom. The site contained a temple dedicated to Thoth and a large statue of Thoth in the form of a baboon still can be seen today. I hold El Ashmunein close to my heart because forty years ago I started my career as an inspector of antiquities, only a few kilometers away, at Tuna El Gebel. I spent two incredible years in Tuna El Gebel. I stayed in a beautiful rest house in the desert. In the evenings, I was completely alone with my thoughts and dreams, in this mysterious large house surrounded by desert. Everyday, I would sit in the garden and look up at the sky.

I was not a patient man, but living in this spectacular isolation taught me the virtue of patience and I started to write. I kept a diary and recorded my memories and I wrote letters everyday to my girlfriend that I left behind in Alexandria. Near my rest house was another rest house that was built for our great man Taha Hussein when he was the minister of education. He used to come in the winter and everyday he would visit the tomb of Isadora, a lady who lived during the Roman Period. Isadora drowned in the Nile and her lover built a beautiful tomb for her. Her lover used to travel about 50 kilometers from Sheikh Abada, on the east of the Nile, to Tuna El Gebel, on the west of the Nile, to light a pottery lamp in her memory. When Taha Hussein was in residence, he would light this lamp everyday. In El Ashmunein, during the last century, a limestone block that was broken into two pieces was found. The first piece of the block has an inscription that reads: the kingï¿½s son of his body Tutankhaton.

On the other piece of the block the inscription reads: the daughter of the king, of his body, his great desire of the king of Two Lands, Ankhesenpaaton. Scholars suggest that this inscription is not only one of the few pieces of evidence showing Tut is from Tell El Amarna but also showing Akhenaton is the father of Tut because Tut is mentioned as the son along with the well-known daughter of Akhenaton, Ankhesenpaaton. Ankhesenpaaton was the third daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti and she was the wife of Tut. When I began to study the family of king Tut and investigate the identity of his biological father and mother, I knew that it was important to find this block. The block is not registered in the registry book for the magazine in El Ashmunein. Therefore, I started to ask scholars who had discussed this block in their work about the location of the block ï¿½ and no one knew where it was! I called Adel Hassan, the director of Minya, and asked him to search for the block. After a few days, he informed me that they had found it.

I went to El Ashmunein and entered the storeroom and learned that they only had the side of the block that mentioned Tutï¿½s name but not his wife, Ankhesenpaaton. We immediately started to search, among the numerous stones from the Aton Temple that were reused by Ramesses II in a temple at El Ashmunein in hopes of finding the other half of the block. And we were happily surprised when we located it. Brando Quilici, who is shooting a documentary about the family of Tut and accompanied me to the storeroom, was surprised and thrilled that we rediscovered this important piece of evidence. Some people believe that Tut is the son of Amenhotep III because he is mentioned in the monuments found at Thebes. Also, the hieroglyph ï¿½kingï¿½s sonï¿½ can be translated as son-in-law or grandfather. But it is important to understand that when Tut became king and moved to Thebes, he could not mention the name Akhenaton. The priests of Amun hated Akhenaton for changing the religion to only worship the one god, Aton and for moving the capital from Thebes to Tell El Amarna.

After the death of Akhenaton, the religion returned to the old ways and the priests of Amun regained their power. Therefore it is most probable that Tut, on his monuments wanted to identify himself with his powerful grandfather Amenhotep III. Hence, the hieroglyphs on the monuments found in Thebes that read: ï¿½son of kingï¿½ can be translated as ï¿½grandson of kingï¿½. The block from Tell El Amarna is an accurate piece of evidence that proves Tut lived in Tell El Amarna with Akhenaton and he married his wife, Ankhesenpaaton while living in Tell El Amarna. On the block and while he lived in Tell El Amarna, his name was Tutankhaton, honoring Aton, but when he became king and moved to Thebes he changed his name to Tutankamun, honoring Amun. This block can also be seen as evidence that Tut is in fact the son of Akhenaton. I am sure this archaeological evidence will instigate much discussion and debate among Egyptologists. Who Was King Tut’s Mother? - KingTutOne.com Home › Ancient Egypt Online › Who Was King Tut’s Mother?

Who Was King Tut’s Mother? There appears to be a lot of mystery surrounding King Tut mother’s life, and there are several reasons for this obscurity. It could partly be to King Tut’s father, Akhenaten, bringing radical changes to politics and religion during his reign; therefore, causing much turmoil amongst the population. It seems that most of the royal records that held the key to Tutankhamen’s family lineage were destroyed soon after Akhenaten’s death. Akhenaten upset the balance of the culture and region so much so, that many pharaohs after him went to great lengths to erase him from history. It looks as if his son also partook in this practice. So who was King Tut’s mother? Many Egyptologists concur that it is most likely Nefertiti or Kiya. Nefertiti was the famous queen often depicted with Akhenaten and logically could be Tutankhamen’s mother. She is often seen in many portraits with Akhenaten portrayed as “near” status to the pharaoh. The other woman is known as Kiya. Little is known about her origins or her life. It was believed that she was a foreign princess that became and remained Akhenaten’s second wife.

She appears to be an important figure in Ancient Egypt and for the Pharaoh Akhenaten and was often referred to as, “The greatly beloved wife of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt.” The jury is still out as to which one of these great women was truly King Tut’s mother. Many say it is Nefertiti; however, others believe it is Kiya. As more evidence comes to light, the facts seem to point to Kiya. A great belief is that Nefertiti was nothing more than a step-mother to King Tut. This is due to the fact that many of the tomb paintings and reliefs of Nefertiti do not show her with King Tut as a child; although, she is often depicted with Akhenaten and their six daughters. Because Nefertiti’s mummy has not been discovered as yet, scientists cannot compare Tutankhamen’s DNA to determine if this queen was the true mother. For this reason alone, many will continue to refer to Nefertiti as King Tut’s step mother until more evidence can disprove this theory. Kiya: King Tut’s Mother More things seem to point to Kiya being King Tut’s true mother.

New evidence has even come to light that now proves the young pharaoh was most likely a product of incest. This new DNA evidence from samples taken in 2008, suggests that Kiya and Akhenaten were siblings. This would not have been out of the ordinary as many Ancient Egyptian monarchs wanted to ensure that their bloodlines remained royal; therefore, common practice was to marry within families. It should be noted that King Tut was also married to his half-sister Ankhesenamun, which further substantiates this incestuous practice. If the two siblings were the product of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, this would then exclude Queen Kiya from being a foreign princess. It should also be noted that many other experts believe “inappropriate analysis techniques” were used to determine these facts; therefore, dispelling these family-tree theories. KV63: King Tut’s Mother’s Tomb King Tut mother’s tomb is believed to have been discovered in the Valley of the Kings; however, no mummy was actually located. The tomb is next to King Tut’s burial site but remains shrouded with mystery due to the absence of an actual body.

The tomb is known as KV63 and was found as a cache filled with coffins and storage jars. Many of the coffins yielded nothing except the sixth one which contained six pillows. These pillows remain a mystery as well, but it is thought these pillows could have been important items belonging to the queen during her lifetime and could have been used as bedding while her body went through the mummification process. Of course this is all still speculation; however, if this embalming storage was in fact King Tut’s mother’s tomb, it would have been in conjunction with King Tut’s final wishes; that he be buried next to his mother. A different take on Tut | Harvard Gazette © 2017 The President and Fellows of Harvard College A different take on Tut A different take on Tut Egyptian archaeologist shares theory on pharaoh’s lineage February 11, 2013 Email Twitter Facebook Photos by Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer Genetic investigation continues to uncover more about King Tut, Egypt’s most famous pharaoh.

Marc Gabolde, the director of the archaeological expedition of Université Paul Valery-Montpellier III, told his Harvard audience that he is convinced that Tut’s mother was his father’s first cousin, Nefertiti. In recent years, DNA analysis has shed light on the parents of Egypt’s most famous pharaoh, the boy king Tutankhamun, known to the world as King Tut. Genetic investigation identified his father as Akhenaten and his mother as Akhenaten’s sister, whose name was unknown. French Egyptologist Marc Gabolde offered a different interpretation of the DNA evidence on Thursday. Speaking at Harvard’s Science Center, Gabolde said he’s convinced that Tut’s mother was not his father’s sister, but rather his father’s first cousin, Nefertiti. Nefertiti was already known to be Akhenaten’s wife and in fact the two had six daughters. Gabolde believes they also had a son, Tutankhamun, and that the apparent genetic closeness revealed in the DNA tests was not a result of a single brother-to-sister mating, but rather due to three successive generations of marriage between first cousins.

“The consequence of that is that the DNA of the third generation between cousins looks like the DNA between a brother and sister,” said Gabolde, the director of the archaeological expedition of Université Paul Valery-Montpellier III in the Royal Necropolis at el-Amarna. “I believe that Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, but that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were cousins.” Gabolde’s talk, “Unknown Aspects of Tutankhamun’s Reign, Parentage, and Tomb Treasure,” was sponsored by Harvard’s Semitic Museum and the Harvard Department of Anthropology . It was hosted by Peter Der Manuelian , the Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology. Tutankhamun was a pharaoh some 3,300 years ago. He was made pharaoh at age 8 or 9 and ruled for about 10 years. In his talk, Gabolde covered some of the scarce known details of his life and his burial. Tut’s tomb, Gabolde said, was not intended as such.

The real — and undiscovered — tomb, he said, was probably under construction when he died at 19, and is likely somewhere in the Valley of Kings, on the Nile. The place where he was actually buried was probably not intended for a royal burial but hurriedly prepared when Tut died unexpectedly, most likely of an infection that took hold when he broke his leg. The burial mask of Tutankhamun, known to the world as King Tut. “Nobody could imagine he would die so young,” Gabolde said. Other details of Tut’s life, which Gabolde has pieced together from carved images and inscriptions, include a military campaign in Syria, in which he likely didn’t personally take part. Tut also was interested in Nubia, a region in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Inscriptions on a fan that belonged to Tut showed him hunting ostriches, whose feathers were used to make the fan. In addition, Gabolde said, a staff found in Tut’s tomb had inscriptions that showed it was made of a tall reed, cut by Tut himself in a city on the Nile delta.

Gabolde also traced an ornament that was found with Tut when he was discovered in 1922, but had since disappeared. Gabolde said he believes the golden hawk-head clasp, part of a broad collar worn by Tut, is in a private collection, sold by Tut discoverer Howard Carter to pay for surgery later in his life. The rest of the broad collar was stolen during World War II, Gabolde said.

Question: Who was the wife of Akenhaten and mother of Tutankhamen?
Answer: NEFERTITI