Memphis Tours Blogs

11 Facts About King Tut You Didn’t Know

King Tuts Tomb


Ancient Egypt was a monumental and almost perfectly organized kingdom. It was ruled from generation to generation by different kings, each of whom had unique characteristics that distinguished them from one another. These kings played active roles in the development and success of the ancient Egyptian kingdom, and they were in turn adored by ancient Egyptians. King Tut (otherwise known as King Tut or simply Tutankhamun) is one of the greatest Egyptian kings that has ever lived, and in this article, we shall focus on some King Tut Facts about the life of this great king and also provide you with some interesting and amazing King Tut facts you probably didn’t know about him.

 

Meaning of Tutankhamun

 

Since he is popularly referred to as King Tut, you probably do not know what Tutankhamun means. Well, here’s your answer here. The first King Tut Fact: Tutankhamun means "living image of Amun", but this is not even his original name. The original name of King Tut is Tutankhaten and this name means "Living Image of Aten". You may be wondering why his name is so strange. The answer is quite simple. Ancient Egyptians believed that the name of any child had great spiritual meanings so, a name was chosen to represent either their individual’s personality, their devotion to a particular god or to reflect the times they lived in and since his parent was devoted worshipers of Amun, they decided to give him the name in honor of the god. 
 

 

 

Witness the beauty of Tutankhamun's Golden Treasures with our Egypt Tour Packages starting at 835$.

The Golden Mask of Tutankhamun Replica (Online Antiques Store)

 

King Tut’s birth 


Although this is not surely known, The second King Tut Fact is rumored that he was born around 1341 BC in the ancient capital of Egypt, which at the time was Akhetaten. His wet nurse (a woman employed to breastfeed and take care of him) was a woman known as Maia, as that was the name on her tomb in Saqqara.

 

 

 

King Tut’s Immediate Family 

The third King Tut Fact is that his father was Pharaoh Akhenaten; he ruled Egypt for seventeen years. He was the pharaoh of Egypt in the 18th century, and he is rumored to have died between 1334 and 1336 BC. Since ancient times, Egyptian kings were permitted to marry multiple women; he married his sister, who bore King Tut, as well as queen Nefertiti (although it is debated whether queen Nefertiti was King Tut's mother). King Tutankhamun married his half-sister Ankthesenpaaten, one of his stepmother Queen Nefertiti's six daughters. King Tut and his wife gave birth to two female children, neither of whom survived infancy.

 

 

 

What King Tut looked like

 

The fourth King Tut Fact is that although there is no accurate description of what King Tut looked like when he was alive, artists, archeologists, and scientists, with the aid of bleeding-edge 3D computer technology, have been able to come up with a proposed description of what King Tutankhamun looked like using his mummified corpse that was discovered in 1922. Using this corpse, King Tut was described as having clubbed feet, a feminine body shape, and a large overbite. It is suggested that he was not able to walk without the aid of a stick. The mystery of how the Great King looked in life remains one of the less-detailed facts about Tutankhamun that you will discover today.

 


King Tut’s Religion

King Tut’s father Akhenaten, is noted for abandoning the ancient Egyptian religion, which was polytheism. He introduced the worship of the god Aten and built worship centers, temples, and structures as a tribute and in devotion to the deity; these reforms were not generally accepted. One of the little-known King Tut Facts is that when he came into power, he abandoned his father’s religious ways and restored the ancient way of worship. He destroyed his father’s monuments, lifted the ban his father had placed on the cults of the god Amun, and constructed temples and structures in honor of Amun.


 

Walk the path of the young King Tut from his birthplace to his final resting place with our Egypt Tour Packages & Nile Cruises 2023. 

 

How Did King Tut Die

Presently, there is a lot of dispute over the cause of the death of young King Tut, as various organizations and scientists have proposed various scenarios for the death of the young King Tut. The sixth King Tut Fact is that there are various causes of death that have been suggested for this young king ranging from a blow to the head, a chariot accident due to his missing ribs, a weakened state as a result of generic impairment inherited from his parents, who were siblings, and malaria due to the traces of malaria Tropica that were found in his mummified body. Although some of these claims have been proved wrong by in-depth studies, there is a general agreement that he died from chronic malaria and a badly damaged knee.

 

When and Where Did King Tut Die

The seventh King Tut Fact that King Tut was a young king who died in the year 1327 BC. He lived from 1336 to 1327 and ruled ancient Egypt since he was nine years old. He died in his palace in the ancient capital city of Egypt, Akhetaten.

 

King Tut’s Age

The eighth King Tut Fact that he was born in the year 1336 BC, it can be determined that King Tut was around 18 years old when he died. Although there are still some disputes as to whether this was the exact year he was born.

 

 

King Tut’s Treasure

 
The ninth King Tut Fact that his tomb was discovered in November 1922 by Howard Carter. Before the tomb was discovered, it is estimated to have been robbed twice, but these robberies did not cause any major damage to the tomb or take anything significant. When Carter discovered King Tut's tomb, about 5398 interesting and valuable treasures and materials were found in the tomb. These treasures include a solid gold coffin, face masks, thrones, food, wine, lotus chalice, archery bows, body armor, and many more. The discovered items were so many that it took Carter 10 years to catalog them. These treasures were put there by the ancient Egyptians to help their king throughout his journey in the afterlife.

 

Why is King Tut so Famous?


One of the most interesting King Tut Facts is that he is famous for so many ancient and modern reasons. The major reason why Tutankhamun is so famous is that he was the last king of the royal family. Because he had no male heir after his death, the throne was taken by military rulers who were not members of the royal family. King Tut is also famous for restoring the Egyptian ancient religion after his father had abandoned it.

Another major reason for King Tut's fame is his tomb. King Tut's tomb is one of the most complete tombs that has been discovered in Egypt's history, and since he was a king, there were a lot of artifacts in his tomb. These materials have helped archaeologists understand a lot of things about his life and death.

 

Tailor-Make you're once in lifetime journey to Egypt, the birthplace of the great King Tut here.

 

Tomb discovery


Even though there have been a lot of archeological searches and excavations for ancient Egyptian tombs, King Tut’s tomb is one of the most significant ever discovered. Discovered by Howard Carter in November 1922, its discovery was one of the most recognized and significant archeological findings in the world and this was the last King Tut Fact in our article.

Related Tours
Social Media