A Little Story About Tut

So to those of you that have had me as a teacher, you know that I get excited and like to describe the lives of some of these ancient Egyptian leaders. You will also know that I say, "KING TUT WAS NOT FOUND IN A PYRAMID....HE WAS FOUND ________________ (fill in the blank).  I have often said that he did not do anything worth noting as a pharaoh.  When it comes to being king, this is true...however, there are two things that I have learned that have changed my tone.

#1 - Poor kid tried....but his reign was doomed before he was born.  His father was a piece of work.
#2 - He was in love with his wife...during a time when men had many wives and a harem for..well... pleasure. He had one wife, and for the most part, was loyal.

This is a real long story.....I will try to make it short.

     There was a king named Amenhotep II.  He had a son that was Amenhotep III.  Amenhotep the III was also known as "Amenhotep the Great" because of his strong leadership and ability to conquer other places. He was a soldier and listened to the advice of his advisory Aye and his general Horemheb (remember these guys because they come back later).  He put fear into the hearts of surrounding civilizations and created a large and powerful Egypt.
     Unfortunately, he liked to eat bread, a lot. Back in those days, it was impossible to get the sand out of food and it is known to have been excessive in bread. You also have to keep in mind that they did not have dental care like we do today. Also, their medicine was nothing like today's. So something as simple as a tooth ache could develop into a full blown infection that could kill. Amenhotep the Great had severe dental problems from years of chewing on sand.  His pain killer of choice was Opium and well folks...that is used to make Heroine today. As he was increasingly "doped up," his wives knew that his time was short. He was approached by a wife and told that he needed to select his successor to the thrown.
      Now Amenhotep the Great had a son that had passed away at a young age. So this left his second son...Amenhotep the IV (also the son of the wife that was pressing the issue for him to select a successor.) The Great flat out, did not like his son the IV. He laughed at the idea of his awkward, lanky, uncoordinated son riding a chariot or going to battle. He was more of a thinker than a Pharaoh. He lacked the skills his father felt necessary to lead his great nation. Unfortunately, he had no choice and Amenhotep IV became Pharaoh.
     Amenhotep IV (and awkwardly weird) had a beautiful and now very famous wife named Nefertiti. She actually loved and cared for him and must have stood by his side for a very long time. She was considered to be one of the most gorgeous and smart women of all of Ancient Egyptian history. Remember the advisor Ay, well he was also Amenhotep the IV's adviser.  He was slightly bitter that this joke of a leader Amenhotep the IV had become Pharaoh AND had a beautiful wife! He was in love with Nefertiti and she knew it. She did NOT care for Ay and made that obvious. (I later learned that there is a chance that Ay was also Nefertiti's father.)

                                                                  Nefertiti's Famous Bust

     Amenhotep IV was very arrogant. After refusing to follow his general Horemheb's advice to attack another region, Amenhotep IV decided to relocate the capital city of Egypt and call himself Akenhaten which basically means he wanted to be called a God.  The God that he worshiped the most was Aten - one of the sun Gods (the Sun dial to be exact).  THIS IS WHERE HE DID SOMETHING DRASTIC FOR HIS TIME....he demanded that everyone in Egypt STOP following their hundreds of Gods and worship only one God - Aten.  He tried to take a polytheistic nation and make them monotheistic. The people really had no choice. The now Akenhaten even devoted his new capital city to the god Aten. He moved the royal family to the new city of Armana. 

Akenhaten

     Nefertiti stayed by his side. She is thought to have had three daughters but never had a son. Akenhaten knew that he needed a son. So he took a new wife named Kiya who was a Mitannion Princess.  She was also very beautiful. Nefertiti did not like this but knew that her husband needed a son to carry on as Pharaoh after him. Kiya had a son. Kiya also died while giving birth to her son. Her son's name was Tutankhamen.
     Since Kiya had died, Nefertiti was the one to raise Tut. She loved him as her own son.  He was absolutely perfect. Tut and Nefertiti's three daughters (his half sisters) all were educated and raised by Nefertiti and her hand maidens. Ay and Horemhab were also responsible for training Tut to become a man and one day...a Pharaoh.
   Akenhaten had become even weirder and now Nefertiti was not too found of him. Not only had he taken and favored his new wife Kiya (Tut's birth mother who passed away) but he had become fat and lazy. Ay and Horemhab were digusted at how Akenhaten had let the strong Egyptian empire his father had built fall to pieces.
    About five years after Tut was born, Akenhaten died of what was probably a heart attack. If you want to know what he was doing when he died, ask me in a message.  Nefertiti now knew that he stepson Tut, was going to become Pharaoh.
    Tut was five or 6 (not the youngest Pharaoh), and he was still in training. So Queen Nefertiti actaully became pharaoh. She lead and ruled Egypt for several years while Tut was learning to write, fight, and become leader of a nation. Who was training him? Ay and Horemhab - who have now outlasted three previous Pharaohs  if you count Nefertiti.
     Tut and has sisters went to school together and Tut found himself falling in love with his beautiful and smart (hey, what else would be expected from the daughter of Nefertiti) half sister Ankhesenpaaten. One day, Nefertiti called Tut to her side and told him that she was very ill. In order for the royal bloodline to continue, he would need to marry his half sister Ankhesenpaaten. They were in love, and they were married - probably around the age of 12ish. Nefertiti passed away and Tut was now officially Pharaoh with his Queen Ankhesenpaaten by his side.

                                                                    Ankhesenpaaten

     Tut and Ankhesenpaaten had two children. One was a miscarriage and the other was premature and stillborn. Tut continued to stay loyal to his wife and although tempted by other women, he chose not to act. He went to battle one time and succeeded in battle. He was growing and maturing as a man and a leader. This made Ay furious. Ay did not like Tut and reminded him that his worthless wife could not have children.  He convinced Tut that he needed to take another woman to produce a child. Hopefully a son.  Ankhesenpaaten also knew that this was coming. She loved her husband so much and he loved her, but a royal family had to be created. So Ankhesenpaaten moved out of her husbands room to allow for another woman. Ay (not liking Ankhesenpaaten to begin with and wanting to make her even more mad) found a beautiful and young woman to "mate" with Tut. Her name was Tuya.

    People now mocked and laughed at Ankhesenpaaten because she was not able to have Tut's child.  Funny think is though that Tuya never became pregnant either. Ay used this to his advantage and one day, as Ay and Tut were about to go riding on chariots into the desert,Ay told Tut that is must have been him that couldn't produce a child. This meant that Tut was NOT a God or worthy of being Pharaoh. Tut was furious. He took off on his chariot and rode into the desert. He also condemned Ay to fifty lashings, a harsh punishment for his time.
   
     Tut did not return.
     This lead to the largest man hunt in Egyptian history.
     Tut was found in the desert. His chariot had crashed, his body was naked, and he had been robbed.

 King Tutankhamun

     This is where history is unclear. Tut had apparently broken his leg and had some other damage. He was brought (uncounscience) back tot he palace where Tuya and Ankhesenpaaten looked after him. One evening when the women had retired to their rooms, Ay and Horemheb may have plotted to kill the young Pharaoh. Ay knew that since Tut had no children, he would become Pharaoh. There is a whole story behind this and how he raped and murdered Ankhesenpaaten's hand maiden Yuye after she spied on her master and reported back to him.
     Whether he died of his own injuries or if he was murdered is still a mystery. When Tut died, Ay demanded that a new tomb be created for Tut in Valley of the Kings. Tut had started his own tomb in the Valley but it was not finished. It was large and beautiful. Ay planned to use this tomb as his own. Tut was placed in a smaller tomb. Ay also had himself drawn all over Tut's tomb walls. Real nice huh.
     Ay knew that he would have to marry the Queen Ankhesenpaaten in order to become the true Pharaoh. He already had a wife but, men then usually had many. Ankhesenpaaten was refusing to marry a snake like Ay. She even sent a message to the long Egyptian enemy the Hittites to send a young prince for her to marry. He would become the king of Egypt and the two nations would unite. Ay had this man beheaded when he reached the Egytpitan border. He presented the Hittite princes head to Ankhesenpaaten.  She was out of options and sucombed to Ay's demands. She knew that she would probably be killed anyways. On their wedding day, Ay presented Ankhesenpaaten with a glass ring. It had their names written in it in blue. During the after wedding party, Ankhesenpaaten was poisoned and she died. Ay had her body thrown into the Nile River instead of buried in the tomb of her loving husband Tut. The ring was found. Her body was assumed to have been devoured by crocodiles.
     Ay ruled Egypt for a brief four or five years before he was murdered by Horemheb.  Ay was buried in the tomb that was originally made for Tut. Horemheb became Pharaoh and ruled Egypt for a while too. Horemheb's first duty was to destroy what Akhenaten had created. He had the entire city of Armana destroyed. Horemheb wanted to rule Egypt like Akhenaten's father Amenhotep the Great. He also had the names of Tut and Ay scratched off of walls. He did not want the world to know of them. And it worked.

Horemheb