Imagine being leader of a land so rich that gold is as common as dust, an army of servants tends to your every wish and people think you’re a god. All that and you’re only 9 years old!
It really happened to King Tutankhamun (TOOT angk AH mun), the boy king who ruled Egypt from 1347 to 1339 B.C.
Although Tutankhamun did little of historical importance during his short reign, he is probably the best known of the Egyptian pharaohs, or kings.
What made “Tut” so special? And how was his life the same as or different from yours?
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the discovery of Tut’s tomb. Like other Egyptian kings of the time, Tut–who died of unknown causes at age 18–was buried in the desert in the Valley of the Kings. (Like all the pharaohs, Tut was buried with personal belongings and food for the afterlife.)
What made Tut’s tomb unique was that it was found basically intact. All of the other pharaohs’ tombs had been completely looted of their treasures hundreds of years earlier.
“That’s why Tut’s tomb was one of the greatest archeological discoveries in history,” says Emily Teeter, a curator at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum. The more than 5,000 pieces of furniture, jewelry, clothing, weapons and pottery found in Tut’s tomb–many were inscribed with his name–provided hard evidence of how the boy king lived and died.
A gold pen case, for example, represented the importance of education to the young king, Teeter says. Probably as soon as he could walk and talk, Tut began to learn the Egyptian alphabet, a series of picture signs called hieroglyphics.
Although Tut was brought up to behave in a manner befitting a king, he was occasionally allowed to play with friends (though even they were chosen for him from the best families–like, for example, the son of the master of chariots, Teeter says).
Board games were very popular with Egyptian kids, especially early versions of the modern-day games Chutes and Ladders and Parcheesi. Teeter says Tut owned a board game called Senet, which was divided into 3- by-20-inch squares. Players used pottery markers, some shaped like animals, to move from space to space and threw sheep’s knuckles or sticks marked on one side to determine moves. The first player to the finish was the winner.
As king of Egypt, Tut was considered part human, part god. So he always had to look out of this world. Tut might have been seen strolling through his palace wearing a wig of cornrow braids (wig boxes were found in his tomb), heavy black eyeliner around both eyes, a pleated linen skirt, a gold headband decorated with a vulture and cobra, gold cuff bracelets and several heavy, clunky necklaces. And like most Egyptian males, Tut probably shaved his body hair.
Because Egyptian men didn’t wear shirts, they covered their chests with gaudy gold necklaces. Some were so heavy that they had ornaments that hung down the back of the neck to balance the weight in front.
Since Tut’s responsibilities included continuing the family line, Tut was married by age 9 “probably to his half-sister, who was just a few years older than he was,” Teeter says.
It appears that Tut and his wife had no children, at least none who survived birth: Found in his tomb were two small mummies, one a stillborn infant, the other a fetus. “These were probably his children,” Teeter says.
Also in the tomb was a small ceremonial coffin containing a lock of hair that belonged to his mother. Tut probably lost both his parents when he was a baby.
It sure sounds like being king of Egypt wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. At least not for Tut, who was thrust into a position of great responsibility at an age when most kids merely play at being king or queen.
GET MUMMIFIED
The University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum, 1155 E. 58th St., will host several workshops:
– Tut’s Treasures–Make a Royal Headdress. It runs from 1 to 2:15 p.m. and again at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at the museum. Create a version of the headdress Tut’s mummy wore in his tomb and have your photo taken in fashions fit for a pharaoh or queen. Fee: $5 for Oriental Institute members: $7 for non-members. Pre-registration required. Call 773-702-9507.
– The Mummy Dearest workshop. It runs from 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 11 at Lill Street Studio, 1021 W. Lill St., Chicago. Make a clay body, wrap it with plastered gauze and voila! You have a mummy. Also build a coffin for your mummy. Fee: $20 for adults; $15 for kids. Pre-registration required. Call Lill Street Studio, 773-477-6185.
