Flower Child of Akhetaten
Ankhesenamun is portrayed in myriad ways; as a terrified and hapless youngster; a power-hungry murderess; or a loathsome vixen who will stop at nothing to achieve her devious ends. Very few characterizations concentrate on the real person, sans the hype. But then, with irrefutable facts hard to come by, any exotic soap opera can be built around an ancient individual! This once-powerful queen surely deserves a far better study of her personage; for she seems to have managed to prevent a dynasty from imploding and that is her lasting legacy.
The hand of Ankhesenamun rests protectively upon the back of her husband and half-brother Pharaoh Tutankhamun, in this statue at Karnak Temple. The penultimate ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, King Aye, probably married the young queen to legitimize his claim to the throne.
Was the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun Murdered?
FROM THE LECTURE SERIES: History of Ancient Egypt
Tutankhamun was one of the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt, even though he ruled only for ten years and died at a very young age of 18. He is often referred to as the ‘boy-king’. His mummy was discovered in its intact form in his tomb in 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. Tutankhamun’s tomb enabled archaeologists to learn a lot about the young pharaoh and his life. The mystery behind his death ,however, remains unsolved. Did King Tut die a natural death or was it murder?
and good morning, thanks so much for being with us today. it is thursday. it s february 3rd. i m kiran chetry. hello to you all. i m t.j. hopes. things changed in egypt yesterday. and it was a night of bloodshed and violence and a fiery uprising in egypt in tahrir square. let me tell you the new developments that we re getting this morning. we re seeing the military step in and do something that many hoped they would step in and do yesterday. that is, separate the pro and anti-military demonstrators. so the military is getting in and stepping in. throughout the night, there was gun fire, all night long, after a day of violence. reports are more than 800 people have been injured in the fighting in the clashes yesterday. egyptian television saying that five people were killed. you can see in the video we re showing you now, the fire in tahrir square. protesters throwing homemade gas bombs on each other. with the museum, a lot of people are nerved at the antiquities in there.