Tutankhamun Continuity

The pharaoh was undoubtedly the most important terrestrial figure in ancient Egypt and played a significant role in the functioning of Egyptian society. Entrusted with governing the realm of Egypt and providing a link between the Egyptian people and the gods, pharaohs were “an essential element in the maintenance of the position of society in the order of creation”. This idea has been substantiated through the various artefacts located in tombs in the Valley of the Kings, particularly that of Tutankhamun. These finds have shed light on the role and lifestyle of the pharaoh in ancient Egypt. Through the discovery and analysis of these items, historians and archaeologists alike have been able to glean considerable amounts of information in

Tutankhamun was an Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh whose legacy extends to the present, and currently one of the best-known ancient Egyptians of all-time. The “Boy King” inherited the throne at the age of nine, his reign lasting only ten years before his sudden unexpected death. The traditional burial customs and funeral processions were carried out upon him, but the tomb he was laid to rest in was unique from the typical Eighteenth Dynasty tombs characterised by their lavish style and large scale. This uniqueness has been evidenced in a variety of archaeological and written sources, which express the tomb’s historical significance.

On November 4, 1922 Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt. Howard Carter spent almost his whole life looking for King Tut’s tomb and when he found it he was over the moon. King Tut’s tomb was very important, it helped us learn more about earlier civilizations, and showed us what king tut's reign was like while he was king.

As a result, Amenhotep III soon shifted attention and investment of resources to various solar deities/cults including Nekhbet, Thoth, Hathor, Ptah, and largely developed interest in the Aten “the dazzling sun disk”. His self-deification as Amun and later Aten as discussed by Jan Assman, aside from reinforcing control of territory, was a direct political challenge to the power of the Amun priesthood, as evident through his depiction at the Soleb temple with the horns of Amun. In his identification and claims to be an incarnation ofAmun, a main deity, who he no longer fell subject to the Amun priesthood’s religious will, but rather was in a more dominant position over them, further reasserting his authority as Pharaoh-god. Influences of Aten were starting to feature prominently as religious symbolism, such as the replacing of the neb glyph/ traditional depiction of the solar boat with new iconography and epithets on royal regalia; and adding Aten to names of buildings, royal barges and even his daughter, Bakenaten. This rebellion endured and most possibly shaped his son,

Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV wanted to user in Aten the sun God. When he ruled it accompanied the revolutionary period called Amarna. He ruled around 1350-1334 B.C. This was in the 18th dynasty. When Akhenaten wanted to usher in Aten he tried to usher in a monotheistic cult. This made the power of priest limited and they was used to directing to a innumerable cult of gods

Amenhotep even changed his name to Arkhenaten which means, servant of Aten. Before the consideration of monotheism, Atenism was a henotheistic religion, the honoring and respect to one god but knowing there are others also. When praying or practicing this religion, it was done in the sunlight rather than in dark temple which was the common doing. Aten became the supreme god, with Akhentaten being the only other consideration. Although Atenism is considers to be a Monotheistic religion, it falls on the border line because Akhentaten was believed to be both man and a type god. Akhentaten closed all other temples making Aten the only god that can be worshipped. Unlike the other two religions mentioned, most of the population did not accept their kings religion simply for the fact that, it was not that simple to erase the other gods and pretend they never existed. This is a fact because as soon as Akhenaten died, his religion went with him. The Egyptians simply went back to their own religions and Akhenaten became known as a heretic king. Atenism is one of the shortest religion ever, which only lasted about twenty

It all began, On Feb. 171923. A crowd of invited archeologists and Egyptian dignitaries, were gathered in the Valley of the Kings. They were there to view the uncovering of King Tutankhamen’s burial chamber. The outer rooms were filled with treasures, Egyptian art, and furnishings. But everyone was more anticipated to view the actual mummy. While the more leading kings and queens treasures had been looted long ago whereas, King Tut’s tomb had practically been untouched. It had only been robbed twice and luckily the robbers only got past the first chamber. Two months after the

Religion was a significant issue throughout the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Amarna period, and shortly after it. Within the infantry stage of the new pharaoh Akhenaten’s reign, he had turned the customary polytheistic religion worshiped by citizens for many years into a monotheistic worship of the Aten, a god represented by the sun disk. Furthermore, Akhenaten possessed such strong beliefs for the god Aten that he created a new city, Amarna, where all could worship Aten, singularly. Akhenaten's obsession caused the devotion of the Aten to become more of a cult than a religion. Within the Great Hymn to the Aten Akhenaten states that only he “knows” Aten, meaning when citizens pray to Aten, they are not allowed to pray directly

Akhenaten came to the throne as Amenhotep IV.Early in his reign, the new pharaoh began to revise Egypt's religious system. The kingdom's broad pantheon of deities was now reduced to the sun god Aten. The worship of other

He worshiped the sun god, but did not recognize him as an aspect of Amon[viii] He replaced the falcon symbol of Ra with a hieroglyph depicting the rays of the sun, known as Aten, thus his name change from “Amon is Pleased” to “He Who is Profitable to the Aten.”[ix] While the priesthood of Amon recognized all the gods of Egypt, Akhenaten’s new religion exalted only Aten and more closely resembled monotheism, but was not truly monotheistic as other gods were still mentioned in inscriptions, though they mostly appear to be solar gods or abstract concepts.[x] Akhenaten’s efforts at a new religion ultimately failed due to a number of reasons. One such contributor, was his self-portrayal as a ‘family-man’ rather than that of a divine spirit, which threatened the foundation previous pharaohs laid for the legitimacy of their reign.[xi] This lead to the priesthood of Amon to resist Akhenaten’s new theology, and due to his lack of regard for Egyptian’s interests abroad he lost the support of nobles.[xii] Both factors contributed to the downfall of Akhenaten’s theology. During the seventeenth year of Akhenaten’s reign he died and was eventually succeeded by his nine-year old son Tutankhamun, previously known as Tutankhaten, whose regent’s rejected Akhenaten’s new theology of Aten and restored the god Amon and the priesthood of Amon along with the other tradition deities of Egypt.

The excavation and discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb was as a result of the efforts of the Archaeologist Howard Carter and his team. Carter’s discovery of the tomb came by finding steps to the burial near the entrance to the tomb Ramses VI. The subsequent excavated of the site by Carter and his team revealed the greatest ever treasure found from an Egyptian tomb and showed the existence of Tutankhamun. Carter’s methodology for the excavation was that of maintaining records for each artefact and that every artefact that was brought out of the tomb was preserved appropriately. The discovery and excavation of the tomb was a long and complex process but with it revealed much about Tutankhamun.

The shrine of Tutankhamun uncovers the burial customs of the New Kingdom Egyptians. The Canopic Shrine positioned on the east wall of the Treasury holds Tutankhamun's embalmed internal organs. A gold chest held four Canopic jars containing the dead pharaoh's internal organs in each jar. Undoubtedly, through the process of mummification, the embalmers must have removed the internal organs and preserved them in the Canopic jars, perhaps to be taken with the pharaoh to the next world. The third and innermost of three coffins of Tutankhamun is made of solid gold and is inset with semiprecious stones and coloured glass. It is covered with carved decorations and inscriptions inside and outside. It bears the names and epitaph of the deceased king and also protective texts. From this we discover the significance of the importance of the decoration of the mummy was, and the power the coffin was believed to hold. Originally, mummification was so expensive that it was a privilege enjoyed only by the Pharaoh and few nobles. Everybody else was given a simple grave burial in one of the vast cemeteries or "necropolises" of the time. But the promise of eternal life was so appealing that it wasn't long before other classes of Egyptians began signing up for mummification, too.

Amun-Re is often referred to as the most important and powerful god of Ancient Egypt. Amun-Re was the god of the sun. “Amun-Re is the main name of the sun god, but also has three different names in which describe the phases of life that Amun-Re goes through each day.”(Budge, Pg. 92) When examining the ancient Egyptian god Amun-Re, four main points must be understood, including: the origin of Amun-Re, the characteristics of Amun-Re, how Amun-Re was worshiped, and how Amun-Re impacted Egyptian life.

Amenhotep IV was the first pharaoh to challenge the Egyptian culture and religious beliefs. His decision to make Aten, “The God of the Sun Disk”, the only god, took power away from the temple priests. Before Amenhotep IV made the changes, Egypt practiced polytheism not only worshiping the Sun Disk God, but around 12 other gods with roles such as fertility, the sky, the Nile River, childbirth, etc. With Egypt practicing monotheisms the temple priest have lost control of any political or religious gain they once held. This will be the first time Egypt practices monotheism. In making this change Amenhotep IV became known as Akhenaten, “Shining Spirit of Aten”. Becoming Akhenaten was not the only changes reflected from his reign as pharaoh.

King Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh that had an early death. He was born circa 1341 B.C.E. and was the 12th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (King Tut Biography). His main impact on Egypt was restoring the main polytheistic religion of Ancient Egypt (King Tut Biography). His father, Akhenaten, whose name translates to he who works for Aten, wanted Egypt to become monotheistic (King Tut Biography). He wanted all of Egypt to only worship Aten, instead of the pantheon of gods they had previously worshipped (King Tut Biography). Egyptian society went into chaos and Akhenaton was probably forced to abdicate the throne. (King Tut Biography). When Tutankhamun was born, he was originally called Tutankhaten, meaning living image of Aten, but he eventually changed his name to Tutankhamun, meaning the living image of Amun (Meaning of Akhenaten and King Tut Biography). Converting Egypt to polytheism was the main impact of King Tutankhamen in Egypt.