Unravelling one of the ancient world's most infamous deaths... In this illuminating non-fiction account of the life and death of Tutankhamun, Paul Doherty tells the story of the bloody intrigue behind the iconic mask. Colour photographs are also included. Perfect for fans of Nicholas Reeves and the ITV series Tutankhamun. Egypt's most famous king died at the age of eighteen, and in the three thousand years since his death, the fabulous treasure buried with the young ruler has become as famous as his name. It has long been assumed that Tutankhamun died of natural causes, yet his hurried burial, first in a virtually unmarked grave, suggests there may have been an attempt, or plot, to conceal the evidence of fatal head wounds. Behind King Tut's calm death mask, Doherty uncovers a turbulent tale of bloody intrigues at the Egyptian court, most of them pointing to the possibility of murder. The powerful cabal that ran the court and governed the country might have had young Tutankhamun assassinated; or he might have been killed at the instruction of the imperious first minister, Ay, who sought to seize the pharaonic crown for himself. And what role did the beautiful Ankhesenamun, Ay's granddaughter and Tutankhamun's queen, play in the labyrinthine courtly scheming? Coupling modern research with the original testimony of Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, Doherty reconstructs a scenario of the king's short reign as illuminating as the revelations regarding his sudden, mysterious death are fascinating. What readers are saying about Paul Doherty: ' An interesting, thoughtful view on what might have happened to the boy-king' ' Doherty proves that he is a scholar as well as a writer of novels' 'This book offers new clues and highlights the intrigue [of the] Egyptian court'
Release date:
June 6, 2013
Publisher:
Headline
Print pages:
260
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Mysteries of Alexander the Great (as Anna Apostolou)
A MURDER IN MACEDON
A MURDER IN THEBES
Alexander the Great
THE HOUSE OF DEATH
THE GODLESS MAN
THE GATES OF HELL
Matthew Jankyn (as P C Doherty)
THE WHYTE HARTE
THE SERPENT AMONGST THE LILIES
Non-fiction
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF TUTANKHAMUN
ISABELLA AND THE STRANGE DEATH OF EDWARD II
ALEXANDER THE GREAT: THE DEATH OF A GOD
THE GREAT CROWN JEWELS ROBBERY OF 1303
THE SECRET LIFE OF ELIZABETH I
THE DEATH OF THE RED KING
PHARAOH WAS DEAD! Tutankhamun, Strong Bull, Fitting-of Created Forms, Dynamic of Laws, He Who Calms the Two Lands, Who Propitiates All the Gods, He Who Displays the Regalia, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, The Lordly Manifestation of Re, The Living Image of Amun, had died in his palace of Malkata in the late spring of 1323 BC. Tutankhamun’s journey into the Eternal West, towards the Far Horizon, the Kingdom of the Great Green-Skinned God Osiris had begun. He had died unexpectedly, this Pharaoh of little more than eighteen summers, a pretty youth with his elongated head, sloe eyes and sensitive, smooth face. The crowds who’d gathered outside the great double-barred gates of the House of Rejoicing, the heart of the king’s palace at Malkata, had heard all the rumours and knew the gossip. Tutankhamun was of the Tuthmosid dynasty, the strange son of an even stranger father, Akhenaten. His original name had been Tutankhaten, The Living Image of the Aten, but all that foolishness was now forgotten. Akhenaten’s heretical religious cult, based on his city Akhetaten, Horizon of the Aten, in the north, was now, like that city, a dusty memory, for Pharaoh had returned to Thebes and the temples of Karnak were thriving once again.
The people had hoped for a long life for their Pharaoh, a period of calm which would bring peace and prosperity to the nomes or provinces of Egypt, uniting once again, more firmly than ever, the Upper and Lower Kingdoms. Pharaoh’s troops, his squadrons of war chariots, would thunder out along the Horus Road across Sinai, or beyond the Third Cataract, to smite terror into the hearts of Egypt’s enemies and restore the flow of tribute. So much promise had disappeared so quickly, yet Tutankhamun, despite his girlish looks and slender appearance, had been vigorous enough. The crowds had seen his hunting parties go out into the Red Lands led by his Chiefs of Whips, Captain of the Chase, and the Keeper of his Berber Greyhounds. They had seen the long line of hunters return, their slung poles heavy with ibex, antelope, lion and any other beast rash enough to cross Pharaoh’s path. Tutankhamun had loved the hunt: his splendid chariots, their bronze-electrum gleaming in the desert sun, pulled by swift horses, magnificent in their gorgeous housings and harness.
Nevertheless, despite such vigour, Pharaoh had died quickly, some seventy days earlier, in the Malkata palace, the House of the Brilliant Aten, built by the great Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile. A favourite imperial residence, the Malkata stood below the western hills so the rays of the setting sun could flood the House of Rejoicing. The light would illuminate its gorgeous Halls of Audience with their splendid coloured pillars covered in a variety of eye-catching hues; these, in turn, shimmered in the Pools of Purity and dazzled like rainbows in the marble, glass-like floors of that beautiful palace, decorated with the cobalt blue, so beloved of Amenhotep, which was everywhere to be seen, in paintings, pottery, dishes, jars and exquisitely carved glassware. The young Pharaoh had breathed his last in the master bedroom which lay at the heart of Malkata. Despite the yellow and ochre carvings of Nekhbet, the Guardian Vulture Goddess, as well as the protective symbols of Ankh (life) and Sa (Protection), Pharaoh had grown worse. The doctors had been summoned, an army of physicians who tried their best, or so rumour had it: the ordinary physicians, the Saumus, as well as the exorcists, the uabus, the Doctors of the Right Eye and the Doctors of the Left. These would have brushed away the King’s personal chamberlains, the Men of Pure Hands and all the other flunkeys of the court: the Keeper of the King’s Diadem, the Keeper of the King’s Perfume, the Holder of the Imperial Sandals. Officials such as these were no longer necessary for the breath-catching battle between life and death.
The physicians would have invoked the Delicious Breath of the north, the life-giving breeze of the god Amun to enter Tutankhamun’s right ear and, by way of the nose, rejuvenate the weak, fluttering heart of their Pharaoh. They had struggled in vain. The breath had not come. Instead the Breaths of Death had entered by the left ear and the battle between life and death, at least in this earthly existence, was lost; despite their best ministrations, countless invocations and incantations, Pharaoh had died. Perhaps, as he slipped into unconsciousness, Tutankhamun recalled the vital spell, the prayer from the Book of the Dead he would need in the next stage of his existence:
Oh my heart which I had through my mother!
Oh my heart of my different ages,
Do not stand up as a witness against me!
Do not be opposed to me in the tribunal!
Do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance!
For you are my Ka which is in my body.
The protector who made my members hale.
Go forth to the happy place, where to speed,
Do not make my name stink with the Entourage who make men.
This spell, or prayer, represented the spiritual life of all Egyptians, be they slave or Pharaoh. Death was not an end but the beginning of a journey. For the well prepared this was a journey of triumph into Divine Light, for those who had failed, or were not prepared, a voyage into an eternal night. Eventually the exorcists and physicians from the House of Life had withdrawn so the priests could take over. If Pharaoh was to make his journey into eternity, his body had to be embalmed according to the strict Osirian ritual before being laid to rest in the Temple of Eternity where his Ka, his spiritual essence, would return in a bird-like form. Tutankhamun would then live in eternal glory surrounded by the symbols, artefacts and goods he would need in the after life.
The body and Ka of the young Pharaoh had separated for a while; to recover the Ka was to recover eternal youth and join Osiris in the Fields of the Blessed. The Ka had grown within him, the eternal soul, which did not grow old. In time it would return with the breath of life when the priests performed the ceremony of the Opening of the Mouth. If Osiris decided, Tutankhamun would be reborn to a blissful eternity, soaring through the sky with the sun god by day and returning nightly to a well ordered tomb. This ideal could only be realized after the body had been suitably prepared and the correct liturgical rites administered.
Tutankhamun had first to be ‘justified’ for this spiritual journey. According to the Book of the Dead, he must proceed to the Kingdom of Osiris. He must strike at the door of the Kingdom of Justice, seek entrance, and make his way through the Tuat, or Underworld, before he entered the Halls of Judgement in the company of Horus. Here, he would face the tribunal of Osiris which would judge the purity of his heart. Surrounding this heavenly court would be the other forty-two gods of Egypt ready to decide his destiny. In their presence Tutankhamun would make his great confession:
Oh Far Strider – I have done no falsehood.
Oh Fire Embracer – I have not robbed.
Oh Swallower of Shades – I have not stolen.
Oh Dangerous One – I have not killed men.
This long negative confession would be heard in silence. Afterwards, Thoth, the Ibis-headed Scribe of the Divine Court, with the aid of the jackal god Anubis, Lord of the Mortuary, would place Tutankhamun’s heart, which was not removed from the body, in the scales of Ma’at, goddess of Honour and Truth, the Feather of Truth in the other. If the two scales hung evenly, Thoth, the Scribe god, would deliver his verdict: the deceased had been weighed in the balance, there was no sin in him, his heart had recorded the truth. Osiris, the Far Strider would then pronounce judgement: ‘Let the deceased go out victorious.’ Tutankhamun would not be turned back by the Keepers of the Gates to the West. He would not be seized by Amemet the Crocodile-Headed Destroyer. He would not know the burning lakes of fire where flaming water was the only drink for the wicked. He would not be delivered to the cruel demons, tormentors of the damned, who dwelt in halls with floors of water, roofs of fire and walls of living snakes. The doctrine of eternal justification, as Spell No. 83 of the Book of the Dead proclaims, means going out:
Into the day after death and transformed at will, being in the suite of Wenenefer, being content with the food of Osiris . . . of being vindicated with Osiris. Nothing evil shall have power over thee. A matter a million times true.
To ensure this was carried out, the King’s body had to be ritually embalmed under the supervision of priests wearing the terracotta masks of the Jackal-Headed Anubis. In the Wabet or Clean Place Pharaoh’s naked body was laid out on a stone of alabaster. The embalmers began their rite, handed down by tradition in the sacred texts. This ceremony had first been carried out by Osiris’s devoted son Horus after Osiris had been slain by Seth. The mummification process was an integral part of Tutankhamun’s struggle for blessed immortality: for the soul to be eternal, the body had to be incorruptible and the process of embalming ensured this. It had its own dramatic liturgy and rite: throughout the long seventy-day period of preparation, each step was accompanied by prayers, hymns, invocations, blessings and the recitation of spells. Amulets, charms and papyri inscribed with prayers and quotations from the Book of the Dead were liberally used. The priests were not dealing with a corpse but a sacred naos, or tabernacle, which had to be scrupulously prepared to receive back its eternal Ka. Incense would be burnt, lamps lit, flower wreaths laid, whilst priests of the mortuary chapels were commissioned to chant the litanies of intercession. The court would mourn but it would also watch and participate in this sacred ceremony.
The brain and other internal organs of the dead man were extremely moist and had to be removed immediately after death to avoid rapid corruption in the heat of an Egyptian spring. Around the alabaster slab would stand pots to receive the body fluids as they gushed out. The brain was first removed by inserting a long wire up into the nostrils, snapping the ethmoid bone, and so into the brain. This special wire was expertly twisted, reducing the brain tissue to an almost liquid state which would later drain out of the nostrils when the body was turned.
The embalmers then began the ritual cuts: the first, following a neat line drawn by a mortuary scribe, was four inches long on the left side of the belly. The priest made the incision chanting a prayer and using a special knife of Ethiopian stone. He then removed the intestines, stomach, lungs and liver. These were placed in bowls to be dried and sealed in four canopic jars. Each jar was protected by a son of Horus, in whose likeness the stopper to each jar was carved. The jackal Duamutef protected the stomach: the baboon Hapi the lungs, the falcon Quebehsennuf the intestines, Imsety, of human form, the liver. The body cavities were vigorously washed with palm wine and the orifices filled with spices and perfumed pads. Only Tutankhamun’s heart was left intact, so he would be able to remember and recite those magical spells to animate life.
The corpse itself still had to be dried out. In order to remove all moisture the embalmers covered the body in natron, a drying salt, for at least thirty-five days, after which most of the moisture would be drained. Once the natron had been removed, the body would be carried to the House of Beautification where the cavities in the chest, belly and part of the face were stuffed and filled out with fine linen and sawdust of scented wood. Tutankhamun’s legs were placed together, his arms crossed in the manner of Pharaoh giving judgement. The craftsmen took careful casts for the coffins whilst the process of mummification continued. Each toe and finger was sheathed in gold, a small cap of white linen, bearing symbols of the Aten, placed on the shaven head. Over the face the embalmers laid a mask of pitch and a light piece of lawn. Other soft materials were carefully padded along the body which they now swaddled in linen wrappings whilst prayers were recited. Quotations from the Book of the Dead, spells and precious amulets were included as the wrapping continued, crossing and re-crossing, magic jewels being inserted in the folds. The wrapped body was then fully shrouded in its cloths. Over the face, head and shoulders was placed an exquisite mask of gold, beaten and burnished. The stripes of the nemes headdress were fashioned out of blue glass. The striking Cobra of Lower Egypt and the Vulture of Upper Egypt on the brow were of solid gold. Lapis-lazuli, quartz, obsidian, with coloured glass cloisonné work, were used to give the ceremonial mask an almost divine majesty. Artificial hands of burnished gold holding the Osirian symbols of the crook and flail were placed outside the bandages above the chest, under these a hieroglyph inscription, an invocation to Osiris, on a strip of gold: ‘Thy soul liveth and thy veins are healthy.’ A further lengthy inscription on the shoulders and back of the mask identified each part of Tutankhamun’s body with one of the gods.
Once the mummified corpse was ready, it was shrouded and placed in its casing of precious wood with gold plating. Pharaoh’s head rested on a pillow under which lay a copy of the Book of the Dead. A soft, liquid, wax-smelling ointment was then poured in to keep the body stable and fixed in its resting place.
Seventy days after his death, according to the ritual, Tutankhamun’s mummy was ready to leave for the Valley of the Kings. The doors of the great House, Pharaoh’s Palace, were opened to reveal the mummy placed on a sledge under an ornately carved wooden shrine draped with flowers. Across the top of this shrine stood rows of elegantly carved wooden cobras symbolizing the uraeus, the Spitting Cobra, which decorated the Pharaoh’s crown: these reared up, lifelike, to protect their Prince on his final journey. Tutankhamun had died in the spring, so the flowers of that season had been cut and collected for garlands to drape the sledge, and to be carried by the mourners. The principal flowers were the mandrake, the blue water-lily, the nightshade, the olive and the willow which were woven together to form the Wreath of Justification, as well as neck and pectoral garlands.
The funeral cortege left the palace compound. Around the sledge of the corpse clustered the priests, heads shaven, the principal ones wearing panther or leopard skins over their naked shoulders hanging down to linen quilted kilts fastened about their waists. Some of the priests carried bowls of burning incense, others the waters of purification, white and red, which would be later used for the ceremonies at the entrance to the tomb. Priests from the mortuary chapels carried their hand-clappers, or sistra, which they shook in mournful lamentation over their dead prince. Musicians of the harp, lute and the double and single flute also accompanied the cortege, as did carts and sledges stacked high with the treasures, goods and foods Tutankhamun would need in the after life: swords and daggers with hardened gold blades, elaborately carved ivory boomerangs, Pharaoh’s leather scaled armour, self bows with arrows in elaborately inscribed wooden cases covered with linen, leather and gold-leaf decorations. The best of these was the Bow of Honour, sheathed in gold. The king’s state chariots, lined with gold and highlighted with coloured inlays and heraldic devices showing Tutankhamun smiting the enemies of Egypt, were also included.
Heirlooms, had been assembled. the most precious being a small casket holding a lock of Queen Tiye’s hair, Tutankhamun’s grandmother. There were palettes and paints for writing, military trumpets of beaten silver, their bell rims and mouthpieces of gold, copper or bronze, ivory clappers, ebony boxes and game boards to play senet or the game of twenty squares, ivory jars of cosmetics, precious boxes, ointment containers of gold inlaid with coloured glass and semiprecious stones, mirrors and mirror cases, sandals, gloves and garments. There were beautiful collars shaped in the form of the Vulture Goddess, corselets, jewellery, earrings and ear-studs, couches and beds, guardian statues to protect the King’s last resting-place. Ritual servant figures, the shabtis, some 413 in number, ranked prominently: these would form the dead King’s retinue in the after life to do all necessary work for him. There were carvings of different gods. One in particular would protect the entrance to the tomb: a life-sized image of the black dog Anubis resting on a large ornate casket. This beautiful statue, carved from wood, was covered in black resin, its ears and collar picked out in gold leaf, its inlaid eyes of calcite and obsidian set into gold surrounds, whilst its nails were of solid silver. This statue would guard the treasury and the precious canopic jars.
The funeral procession would move along the principal highway towards the Valley of the Kings, that great rocky outcrop intersected by its maze-like lanes and dominated by its soaring peak or horn, the dwelling place of the goddess Meretseger, She who Loves Silence. Priests and acolytes from the House of Life and the temples would go ahead sprinkling the dust with water and milk. The entire procession of brilliant colours moved amidst billowing clouds of incense. The paeans and hymns of intercessions mingled with the noisy lamentations and keening wails of the mourners, as they processed towards the shingle-strewn entrance to the valley whose rocks could change colour so startlingly at dusk and dawn. To their right the Nile curled like a green snake; across the river, the gold-capped obelisks and temple cornices of Thebes glinted in the sunlight.
The entire procession would be guarded by hand-picked household troops: the Nakhtu-aa and Maryannou, the Braves of the King, foot soldiers in their white linen, padded armour and distinctive striped headdresses, armed with the bronze khepesh swords, spears and decorated, oval-shap. . .
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