Akhenaten Tomb (KV55)

Of all the royal mummies always discovered none has ever stimulated more controversy then the one found in Akhenaten Tomb (KV55) in the Valley of the Kings.

At the starting of the 20th Century, Theodore Davis, a wealthy American digging in Egypt, discovered a tomb in which a burial from the Amarna time period had been reinterred. This tomb was distinctly incomplete, and the burial a quick one. Gilded wooden inlay panels on the floor and against the wall. They endured the damaged image of Akhenaten idolizing the sun disc and the name of Queen Tiy.

In a niche were four pretty alabaster jars that taken the internal organs of the mummies. Dwelling on the floor was a badly weakened but beautiful coffin made with thousands of spread in-lays and semi-precious rocks in the shape of particular wings. The cartouches containing the residents name had been chopped out.

When they opened the coffin they discovered a mummy covered in gold-leaf. But as they referred the mummy it collapsed to dust leaving the shovels with a pile of disjointed bones at the bottom of the coffin. But below the skeleton, the last plane of gold, appeared to have the riddled named of Akhenaten written on it. The hip was wide alike a female's. The head was extended.

What actually became of Akhenaten's mummy still stays a mystery. Fragments of sculpture and cutting from the royal tomb at Akhetaten presents that his body was primitively put there, but no mark of the mummy remains. It is potential that followers of the Aten dreaded for it's destruction, which would refuse him extended life, and moved the body to a place of refuge.

Akhenaten is maybe unfairly not accredited with being a particularly prosperous Pharaoh. Records seem to show that he allowed Egyptian determine wane but this may not be right. These ideas are placed on the famous Amarna Tabletsfound in Akhetaten in some of which Egyptian liege cities plead for assistance, but no replies|responses are preserved.

As there is no living record of Egyptian territory being lost at this period it is possible that Akhenaten was merely skilfully playing one city against the other to accomplish through diplomacy what would otherwise demand military force.
 
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Akhenaten Family

Queen Nefertiti is frequently mentioned to in history as "The Most Pretty Woman in the World." The Berlin bust seen from two dissimilar angles, is indeed, the most identified depiction of Queen Nefertiti. Assured in the workshop of the notable sculptor Thutmose, the bust is thought to be a sculptor's model. The technique which starts with a carved part of limestone, claims the stone core to be first plastered and then richly substitute. Flesh steps on the front give the bust life.

Her full lips are raised by a bold red. Although the crystal inlay is wasted from her left eye, both eyelids and brows are sharp in black. Her graceful extended neck balances the tall, flat-top crown which clothes her sleek head. The bright colors of the her necklace and crown demarcation the yellow-brown of her easy skin. While everything is etched to perfection, the one fault of the part is a broken left ear. Because this important sculpture is still in creation, it is no wonder why Nefertiti stays "The Most Pretty Woman in the World."

Nefertiti's roots are confusing. It has been proposed to me that Tiy was as well her mother. Another proposition is that Nefertiti was Akhenaten's cousin. Her strong nurse was the wife of the vizier Ay, who could have been Tiy's brother. Ay sometimes called himself "the God's father," suggesting that he might have been Akhenaten's father-in-law. Yet Ay never specifically mentions to himself as the father of Nefertiti, although there are mentions that Nefertiti's sister, Mutnojme, is marked prominently in the ornamentations of the tomb of Ay. We will never acknowledge the truth of this bloodline. Maybe they didn't know either.

This enshrine stela also from the early section of the Amarna period depicts Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Princesses Meretaten, Mekeaten, and Ankhesenpaaten revering the Aten as a family. Dorothea Arnold in her article "Prospects of the Royal Female Image during the Amarna Time Period" discusses the superfluity of reliefs showing intimate family moments. While Akhenaten tips forward to give Meretaten a kiss, Mekeaten works on her mother's lap and regards up lovingly.

At the very time Ankhesenpaaten, the lowest, sits on Nefertiti's shoulder and plays with her earring. Arnold takes that the shrine stela "concerns to the Aten religion's concept of conception" in which the King and Queen are seen as "a earlier 'first pair." At the top of the piece, the sun-god, Aten, described by a advanced circle, extends his life-giving rays to the Royal Family. The relief uses the concept of the "window of appearances" or a shot of life. The forms are framed by a base structure which proposes the form of a square window. Aldred in his book Egyptian Art names this "a brief moment in the lives of five beings as they are caught in an act of mutual affection". In actuality, the crowned palace at Akhetaten had a window from which the royal pair could determine the city and address their matters.

It is recognized that Akhenaten and Nefertiti had 6 daughters. No son was ever presented in rests.

The names of the daughters were:

- Meritaten (about 1349 BC)
- Neferneferure and Setepenre (about1338).
- Neferneferuaten (about 1339 BC)
- Meketaten and Ankhenspaaten (about 1346 BC)

In 1337 BC the recognized family, with all Nefertiti's daughters was presented for the close time.

In 1336 BC Meketaten died in accouchement.

In 1335 Nefertiti appeared to vanish, taken dead.

This limestone rest found in the Royal Tomb at Amarna pictures Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and 2 of their daughters making an proposing to the sun-disk Aten. Akhenaten and Nefertiti hold flowers to be laid on the table below the "life-giving" beams of the Aten. The figures are etched in the other style, a feature of the early half of the Amarna period. Nefertiti, sporting the double hook headdress mentioned in the stela loyalty, is the small figure placed behind her larger plate husband. The compostion mirrors early cosmetic agencies of the royal couple. To emphasize the posture and power of the pharaoh, Egyptian iconographical custom required the female realize to be smaller in plate than the male.
 
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Akhenaten Capital

To make a full break, the king and his queen, departed Thebes behind and went to a new capital in Middle Egypt, about 180 miles northern of Thebes half way between Thebes and Memphis.
It was a new site, not previously gave to any other god or goddess, and he called it Akhetaten (The Horizon of the Aten). Nowadays the site is known as (Amarna). In Principle he was an cult leader taking his pursuing into the mountains and desert to construct a new paradise. Akhenaten constituted his new religion by constructing an entire city given to Aten full with a necropolis and royal tomb. Around 1346 BC work started on this new city constructed in middle Egypt, on a site believed to have been selected as it was not tainted by the worship of the other deities. About 1344 BC the central division of Akhetaten was accomplished. Nefertiti's marked role in Egyptian royal rule and religious worship ponders her influence in the public area. During the early years of her royal rule, Nefertiti as part of her religious changeover changed her name. Nefertiti which intends (The beautiful one is come) became Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti or (The Aten is radiant of radiance because the beautiful one is come". A dissimilar interpretation of the name exchange, translated Neferneferuaten to mean--"Perfect One of the Aten's Idol". Pursuing his wife's lead, Amenhotep IV converted his name in the fifth year of his reign to Akhenaten. During 1342 BC the seat of government was transmitted to Akhetaten. The Armana:
Around El-Amarna
In its completed state Armana provided a theatrical setting for keeping Akhenaten's kingship. The city straggled for miles over the plain. There were smooth palaces, statues of the King, good housing throughout the city, a royal route that ran through the middle of town, likely the biggest street in the ancient world. It was designed for chariot advances, with Akhenaten taking the way. Crossing the road, a bridge joined the palace with the temple field. Akhnaton and Nefertiti seemed before the people on the balcony notable as the "window of appearing", tossing downgold graces and other gifts.  
 
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Why Akhenaten Moved The Capital

At the storm of the Egyptians, Akhenaten collapsed the Egyptian god Amun in favor of another god, the Aten or (sun disk). Akhenaten and his religious reforms thought the sun deserved its own complete blown cult. His conclusion shocked the influential army of Amun revering priests. They anticipated their pharaoh to worship Amun, god of fertility and creation higher up all other gods.

Five years into his rule, pharaoh Akhenaten loosed another shockwave. Thebes, he declared, was too closely connected to Amun and unsuitable for the Aten. The sun disk required its own holy city. After scrubbing the length of the Nile, he came upon a place in the middle of Egypt. This location was precisely half way between Thebes and Memphis, around 170 miles from each of the two cities.

The shores where Akhenaten downed were in a part now called Amarna. It was waste and further, but it was still where King Akhenaten determined to establish his new capital. The king gave his reasons in writing, and they can still be read today on top of the cliffs overlooking the city. A symbol of the Aten has been etched into the rock as a limit maker.

In Egyptian notion, the horizon where the sun raised was called the Aket and was symbolized by two mountain tips with the sun disk rising between them. The hills that border the Amarna plane are suddenly disturbed by a break in the cliffs, a sight to behold particularly at dawn. The king must have believed hed found the sacred birth position of the sun god. He called his city Aketaten, horizon of the sun disk. Akhenaten challenging Thutmosis his greatest artist and favorite carver, with the job of turning his dream into realism.

Notes:
 
Akhenaten traveled the capital away from Thebes, and a new city was constructed as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, consecrated to his new religion of worship to the Aten. Aten or Aton was the disk of the sun in ancient Egypt mythology, and primitively an aspect of god Ra. This religious reformation seems to have started with his decision to observe a Sed festival in his third regnal year a highly different step, since a Sed-festival, a kind of royal jubilee involved to reinforce the Pharaoh's divine powers of kingship, was traditionally contained the thirtieth year of Akhenaten's reign.

Year eight determined the beginning of building on his new capital, Akhetaten ("Horizon of Aten"), at the situation known today as Amarna. In the very year, Amenhotep IV officially converted his name to Akhenaten (Capable Spirit of Aten) as prove of his shifting religious view. Very shortly afterward he centralized Egyptian religious patterns in Akhetaten, though construction of the city appears to have continued for some more years.

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Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)
Queen Nefertiti
Tutankhamun Facts
Turin Kings List
Tutankhamun (1334-1325 B.C.)

Tutankhamun Facts

Tutankhamun (King Tut) is likely the most famous of all the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, even so he was a short lived and fairly light ruler during a transitional period in history. Little was known of Tutankhamun anterior to Howard Carters methodical detective work, but the discovery of his tomb and the amazing contents it held finally ensured this boy king of the Immortality he desired. It is thought that Akhenaten and a lesser wife called Kiya were the parents of Tutankhaten, as Tutankhamun was famous at first. Shortly after the deaths of Akhenaten and Smenkhkare, Tutankhaten got a Boy King at the age of about 9. He married a slimly older Ankhesenpaaten, one of the daughters of King Akhenaten and Nefertiti. After the expelling of the Aten power base they changed their titles to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun to meditate the return to favour of the Amun hierarchy. Payable to his young age, Tutankhamun would not have been true for the real decision making. 
 
This would have been covered by two high officials, Ay perhaps the father of Nefertiti) and Horemheb, commander-in-chief of the regular army. Sometime about the ninth year of the reign of Tutankhamun, maybe 1325 B.C., he died. There is evidence of an wound to the skull that had time to partly cure. He may have suffered an accident, such as dropping from his horse-drawn chariot, or possibly he was murdered. No one acknowledges. Ay supervised Tutankhamun's burial arrangements which endured 70 days. Expected to Tutankhamun having no successors, Ay became Pharaoh and took Ankhesenamun as his queen to legalized his rule. What occurred to her after that is not known. Ay reigned for only four years and after his death Horemheb caught power. He soon obliterated prove of the reigns of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ay and exchanged his own name on many monuments. 
 
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The Golden Throne of Tutankhamun

The golden throne of Tutankhamun that Howard Carter discovered in the Antechamber beneath the hippopotamus couch is alike to the chair belonging to Sitamun. The style was common for royal chairs of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Rather of female torsos starting from the seat, however, the more established lions are in their place. Carved of wood, the armchair is extended in gold, and there is some silver overlay also. Calcite, Colored glass, faience and semi-precious stones are used for the inlays.


The etched plant motif between the feline-form legs has been taken by the robbers, but the good openwork design of the arms stays intact. On either side, a quick cobra wears the double crown and remains on a basket. Her outstretched wings put in the hieroglyphs for the "king of Upper and Lower Egypt" came by the sign for infinity (shen). A cartouche of the king is at the end of her wings on either face of the chair.

The Golden Throne of Tutankhamun
The Golden Throne of Tutankhamun

The back of the chair is endured by three vertical struts; the outer two are sliced with the king's Aton name, the middle one with that of the queen. Four hooded cobra with solar discs rise up in pairs between all of the supports. A carved and gilded scene with birds in a thicket appears on the outer rise of the back of the seat. In the triangular opening processed between the diagonal of the back and the vertical sustain on each side is a hooded cobra. The one on the left tires the red crown of Lower Egypt, meanwhile the one on the right has the white crown of Upper Egypt.

The iconography concerns to Atonist doctrines, but the calls of the king and queen looking on the chair use both the earlier (Aton) and afterward (Amun) forms. Such a combination indicate that the chair was likely produced rather early in Tutankhamun's reign, during the time period of transition to the orthodox religion.

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Tutankhamun Jewelry

Egyptians wore ornamental jewelry parts as accessories and as magical talismans.

Such jewels were generally made of gold, silver, and electrum, a natural metal of gold and silver, and mounted with multicolored precious stones and glass. The jewelry held symbols and amulets that would supply the wearer, revived or dead, with security, prosperity, survival, and extended life.

Within the swathes of the mummy of King Tutankhamun, 143 pieces of jewelry were seen. They dwell of necklaces, pendants,amulets, chains, collars earrings and ear ornaments, bangles and anklets, and finger rings, sheaths for fingers and toenails, and pectorals, a huge piece of jewelry endured on the chest.


The benefits of this jewels is not only in the color of the metal or beads, but as well in the originality of the design and fabrication techniques.

The cloisonne technique was applied in pectorals and pendants. The cloisonne technique made outlines of forms and symbols with gold wires that were then soldered to sheets of stuck gold and later raised with colored stones or glass.

Filigree, a accomplished, lacelike cosmetic work of gold or silver wire, was generally used in buckles and clasps of gold. Granulation was the proficiency of creating different designs by bonding very small gold balls to the rise of gold sheets. The rocks used in the inlays were thought to have magical dimensions based on their color.

Turquoise was well-mined in Sinai and its blue color symbolized richness, good luck, and shelter against the evil eye.

Lapis lazuli might have been got to Egypt across the trade with Western Asiatic regions. Its dark blue color symbolized fertility and good luck.
Tutankhamun tomb
Tutankhamun Tomb

Carnelian got from the Egyptian deserts. It changes from dark brown to light brown in colour and symbolise the warm blood of life. Another sort of carnelian is chalcedony. It is transparent and has a light green colour.

Amethyst was mined in the eastward desert near Aswan and in the westward desert near Abu Simbel. The shades of honey symbolized happiness and joy.

Feldspar was well-mined in the eastern desert. Its bright blue color symbolized great luck and fertility.

The scarab Khepri was thought the avatar of the morning sun. A relationship was made between the beetle, which winds its ball of eggs all day, and the development of the sun disk crosswise the sky.

The scarab beetle got a sign of good predict and a symbol of fertility and rejuvenation. Scarabs were generally made from blue rock or faience.

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Ptolemy XIV (47-44)
Ptolemy XIII (51-47)
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysius (80-58, 55-51)
Ptolemy XI Alexander II (105-80 BCE)
Ptolemy X (107-88 BCE)
Ptolemy IX Soter II (116-107, 88-81)
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes (170-163, 145-116)
Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (d. 144 bc)
Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-164, 163-145)
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-180)
Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-205)
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Tutankhamun Mummy

Betwen all we acknowledge about the Ancient Egyptian way of life and death, maybe the best interest has been in mummification. Fortunately, Tutankhamun mummy was intact, although not in as good a condition as was trusted. There are few royal mummies that last today, which have not at some time or other been stripped by robbers, who have torn the swathes and left the remains damaged and stripped to the atmosphere.

It was not until November 11th 1925 that the Tutankhamun mummy could be proved. How old was he actually? How did the King die? What did the King look like? The autopsy created a instead macabre view in the tomb. As Dr. Derry, Professor of Anatomy of the Egyptian University, who was dealing the examination, got his first moves. The first tears soon became manifest as the magnificent gold death mask which extended Tutankhamun head, shoulders and piece of his chest was securely stuck to the last of the coffin in which they had stayed for so long. This was due to unguents which had been streamed over the mummy after it had been settled in the coffin, which with the passing of time had preserved to a stony severity. The linen patches were in an exceedingly fragile shape and collapsed at the slightest touch. It proved unacceptable to unwrap the mummy layer by layer as they had desired. They had to track the bandages.
Tutankhamun Mummy in the Main Tomb
Tutankhamun Mummy in the main Tomb

Enclosed in many another layers of wrappings were a huge number of personal and mystical graces. The King set with his arms across his body. Every arm, from the human elbow to the wrist, was covered with bangles of gold, silver and semi-precious rocks. It was not until the larger part of the bandages had been taken, that Tutankhamun stays could be raised from the coffin. The bandages that extended the head of the King appeared to be in a better state of conservation. The removal of the last bandage from the Kings face was an exceedingly delicate process, as the risk of damaging the kings features was crowning in their heads.

The face of the sovereign, who had ended his rule over three thousand years previous, was then revealed before them. A serene, complicated and cultured face, his holds were well formed and lips distinctly marked. His eyes were partially open and had in no path been interfered with, omit to be covered with fabric saturated with resin. His skin was very delicate and cracked, yet it was hard to realize that this was the face of a person, who lived 3324 years ago. The most amazing thing about the features was how surprisingly true the current artists had been. The amazing gold death mask is a highly right portrait. Dr. Derry complete that Tutankhamun would have been 18 or over, but under 20 when he died. The Pharaoh had died young, but there was no available clue as to whether or not he had fit his death by nature. This would only become realize at a later date when the pharaoh was X- rayed.

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Leopard Head in Tutankhamun Tomb

King Tutankhamun, the "boy king" ruled for 10 years and died at the age of nineteen. He left beyond a tomb full of incredible treasures that - surprisingly enough - was comparatively unplundered.

The tomb of Tutankhamun dominated many leopard heads like this gilded special one. This head dissents from others in having the king's cartouche radiate between the eyes. The leopard head raised a garment that simulated the animal's skin. This was the recognizable garment of the Sem priest.

This head of a leopard was discovered in the antechamber in setting with robes. Its thought that priests, performing the opening of the mouth observance, attached it to their clothes while doing so. Its made of gilded wood, stone crystal, and coloured glass. A painting on the north wall of Tuts tomb indicates a priest wearing this ornament over the upper piece of his body, with the ornament leading down over his skirt.

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Tutankhamun Mask

Tutankhamun mask is made of gold decorated with colored glass and rich stone. The mask comes from the private mummy case in the pharaoh's tomb, and stands 54 cm high and weighs about 11kg. 
 
The pharaoh is described in a classical manner, with a ceremonial beard, a broad collar processed of twelve concentric rows comprising of inlays of turquoise, lapis lazuli, carnelian and amazonite. The traditional nemes head-dress has yellow streaks of solid gold totaled by bands of glass paste, coloured dark blue. On the forehead of the mask are a crowned uraeus and a vulture's head, symbols of the two tutelary gods of Lower and Upper Egypt: Wadjet and Nekhbet. Higher Up his perfect golden cheeks, Tutankhamen has blue flower petals of lapis lazuli in imitation of the kohl makeup he would have endured in life.
Tutankhamun is likely the most famous of each other Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, however he was a short lived and fairly insignificant ruler during a transitional time in history. Little was identified of Tutankhamun prior to Howard Carters organized detective work, but the discovery of his tomb and the proud contents it held ultimately ensured this boy king of the Immortality he desired. It is thought that Akhenaten and a lesser wife called Kiya were the parents of Tutankhaten, as Tutankhamun was recognized at first. Shortly after the deaths of Akhenaten and Smenkhkare, Tutankhaten turned a Boy King at the age of about nine. He married a slimly older Ankhesenpaaten, daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. After the ousting of the Aten power base they transferred their names to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun to ponder the return to favor of the Amun hierarchy. Credited to his young age, Tutankhamun would not have been trusted for the real decision making. This would have been treated by two high officials, Ay (perhaps the father of Nefertiti) and Horemheb, commander-in-chief of the regular army. Sometime around the ninth year of Tutankhamun's rule, maybe 1325 B.C., he died. There is prove of an wound to the skull that had time to partially heal. He may have endured an accident, such as dropping from his horse-drawn chariot, or maybe he was murdered. No one knows. Ay oversaw Tutankhamun's burial arranging which lasted seventy days. Credited to Tutankhamun having no heirs, Ay became Pharaoh and got Ankhesenamun as his queen to legalized his rule. What occurred to her after that is not known. Ay reigned for only four years and afterward his death Horemheb caught power. He soon obliterated evidence of the rules of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ay and exchanged his own name on many monuments.  
 
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