Essay Example on King Tut: A Short Reign of Great Significance

Introduction

King Tut lived in the eighteenth century in Egypt where he served as a pharaoh in the new empire period in the country. His name at the time was king Tutankhamun until the discovery of his tomb in 1922 when it changed to King Tut. King Tut was lived between 1341 BC and 1323 BC when he died at the age of nineteen. King Tut was the twelfth pharaoh in Egypt in the eighteenth Egyptian dystany where he served from 1332 BC to 1323 BC.

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King Tut achieved very little during his reign but had elder and experienced advisors who were serving before him. They helped him revive the Egyptian traditional religion that his father had ignored. After his death, no one talked about king Tut history as little was known until the discovery of his tomb which makes him the most talked about and the well-known king of Egypt of the ancient. Studies have been done by scientists on the remains of King Tut to bring history about his life and the cause of his death.

King Tut was not known for very many centuries because there were no records of him. Most of the historical information about King Tut is derived from the tomb that was discovered through research by Howard Carter after World War 1. Most of the structures were found intact making it easier to derive information though some have not been fully understood so they remain to be speculations. In the tomb, there were paintings, objects, and collections that helped in explaining the life of King Tut, the death and the after death proceedings. They found three coffins where each was inside the other where the inside was fully made in gold and it contained the body of King Tut. The gold coffin had the king's mummy with bracelets, rings, and collect. The mummy had been conserved for three thousand years.

There are many theories that explain how King Tut died according to the information found in the tomb and the tests that were done on his mummy. Several scientists have different theories about what they think is the likely possibilities cause of death according to what they found in their researches.

The king's mummy was found with a broken leg, missing ribs, and a damaged skull. The body also seemed to be burnt although there were intact gold rings and bracelets that he wore and he also had a garland that seemed to have dry leaves due to the long time they had stayed but not affected by the fire. Everything that covered the mummy didn't look burnt apart from the dead body which was proven to have been burnt at two hundred degrees Celsius which is termed to be low when compared to seven hundred and fifty to nine hundred degrees Celsius that are used today to cremate a body. There are several theories;

King Tut died from malaria infection

Research reveals that King Tut had a club foot which is a condition that children are born with where the foot is turned around at the ankle; the bottom faces up so he steps down with the upper side and that he also had weak bones. The research insisted that the king used to limp and he used a walking stick to help in easier walking and balance. It is said that the family of the king had history of malaria infections that affected most people of his bloodline and also by the help of some other sixteen mummies that were found which were royalties four of them were proven to have contracted the malaria symptoms by the time they died which was the most possibility of their death that was the case in King Tut's death. These royalties were related to King Tut making it look like their family was prone to this infection. Four of them have died from this condition it leads to a conclusion that it is the most perfect speculation about his cause of death according to Chicago Reuters.

Also according to the supreme court of antiquities in Egypt, Zahi Hawass assembled radiologically and genetically tests from all the mummies in the year 2007 and 2008 showed that all mummies were related and suffered from the same kind of illness to their death. This research also argues that King Tut sustained the foot injury from a fall and not from other circumstances. This injury just weakened him but was not the cause of his death. This theory also confirms that the king had light club foot and a cleft palate and other bone disorders which affects the flow of blood and can lead to the disintegration of the bones but this is not lethal. According to Hawass the King suffered from several disorders which might have led to the weakening of his immunity that led to the acquiring of the malaria infection that he later succumbed to. "The king needed sticks to walk which elaborates that he was weak though he was very young," Hawass words to the American medical association.

In the king's tomb, there were other objects found apart from the gold bracelets, there were tools and materials that were to prepare or help the king in the afterlife according to their ancient culture. There were over one hundred and thirty canes and shivers which some looked like they had been used before and also an authentic pharmacy which elaborates the king's life when he was alive. The things that were put in a person's grave enabled him to maneuver comfortably in the afterlife because there were tools that the dead used for work or to survive.

This theory so proves that the king was sick and that's why there was an authentic pharmacy and the walking stick was to help in his movement and some of them looked to have worn out meaning he had used them before. This theory also confirmed this by proving that they had identified the king's father and his grandmother's mummy but sampling their DNA which matched the same blood group. The tests done of King Tut's father and grandmother showed that they also had similar disabilities to him which makes the disability to be the cause of his death a weak point according to this theory. The family had serious body abnormalities that seemed to be passed from generation to generation which means it could not be the cause of his death because other family members who had the same condition lived normally too old ages. According to this theory, the most accurate cause of King Tut's death was by the cause of malaria infection.

The Chariot crash theory

This theory insists that King Tut died three thousand, three hundred and thirty-six years ago from a chariot crash. Many examinations were done to the king's body after the tomb was found and many scientists try to prove their thinking about the cause through what they found. According to this theory, the body of the king seemed to have been in a fatal chariot accident that led to his death. According to British researchers, the king's body was crushed and damaged on one side. The research explains that the king might have been squashed while on his knees by a chariot or was ran over which led to the wearing out of his ribs and pelvis. This accident or the crush was so intense that it led to squashing of his heart that became beyond repair for sphacelus or mummification which was an ancient Egyptian way or ritual to preserve a body that the death occurred naturally and was in the right shape and state.

This theory further explains that because of the body being in a bad state for mummification it was burned as soon as it was taken to the tomb for burial which led to its combustion due to the reactions between the preserving oils, the body and the linen cloth that was used to cover the mummy. Scientist at the Cranfield Forensic Institute trust that they have proven the theory by partnering with car accident investigators. Forensic scientists led by Dr. Chris of the Egypt exploration society performed the study of the king's body through the help of x-rays and CT and comparing them to how a car accident bodies look like after accidents and they found several similarities. The body had similar patterns that are found in car accident bodies as they tried to put a chariot accident in a car situation to get a better argument. The researchers in this theory argue that they solved two unanswered questions with this research, one being how King Tut died and secondly why he looked like he had been burnt. The mummification process of the king was mishandled and that's why the body looked burnt.

King Tut died from a broken leg

Scientist found a new explanation which they believe disapproves other study's that insinuates otherwise. This research study claims to be the truth. King Tut had a thigh injury that made him use sticks to walk which later got infected and led to his death. This research was done by international scientists and believe to have found a solution to the long unanswered cases about King Tut's death. This resulted were presented and shown at the Radiological Society of North America during a yearly meeting that they usually hold at the University of Cairo in Egypt where Ashraf Self who is the head said that the case about King Tut's death should be closed because they discovered the true cause of his death. This research also gave confirmation about the gossip about the curse of Tut. There is a curse of pharaohs that affect those who disturb their tombs whether for good or bad intention even if it's for research purposes. As these scientists were carrying out their research they saw strange incidents, there was an abnormal sandstorm an also a bizarre blackout.

This theory also suggests that when Carter and other archeologists found the body of King Tut, they created some new damages to the mummy that cannot be differentiated from the old ones. An x-ray had shown that the king's skull had been broken. According to their scan, they saw no breaking of the skull but some missing bone pieces near the cranial cavity that matched those missing in the skull. Scientists backing up this theory say that the skull damages were got after he had already died maybe during the burial preparations. There proof that there was bad handling of the body during the burial processes where the skull damage must have occurred.

King Tut was killed by meteorites

The death of the most popular pharaoh of the ancient time has brought up very many debates and discussions with several conclusions through research and examinations. There was a blade that was found together with other items in the tomb together with the mummy. This blade was made by some material that is known to have originated from meteorites. The research states that this kind of materials or metal work was not easily found in Egypt during that period. The role of a pharaoh was to bring order in the earth and also the heavens that would reduce the meteorites from attacking the earth. There were symbols and designs on the knife that show there was a disaster as animals are seen attacking each other as it was made from meteorite iron. This study also shows that the iron blade would be kept there as a representation of the lord king.

These research further explains that the body of King Tut might have been assassinated and exchanged with the lord king that why there was a shoddy burial that was done for him. In this case, there might be the king was placed in the wrong tomb hence disagreeing with all the other researches and conclusions. Their theory states that the blade was made professionally but when they went to retrieve what was in the tomb everything was placed wrongly, e.g. the doors faced on the east side instead of the west and the head to face the east instead of west.

King Tut was murdered by a general

More research shows that an elderly chief advisor and general who went by the name "Ay" might have killed the young king. When King Tut ascended into power, he was just nine years of age. According to the rules of ancient Egypt when one became a pharaoh at a tender age chief advisors would help in governing and ruling. King Tut's father had stopped following some religious beliefs that the chief advisors made the new young kind bring back into a...