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	Tutankhamun: Egypt's Most Famous Pharoah By: Price, Bill Published By: Pocket Essentials PDF for Digital Editions Price: $14.99 Mobipocket Reader Price: $14.99 Microsoft Reader Price: $14.99 PDF for Digital EditionsMobipocket ReaderMicrosoft Reader	EBOOK OPTIONS ADD TO CART ADD TO WISHLIST TELL A FRIEND RECEIVE ALERTS
	In 1922 Howard Carter uncovered what is still regarded as the most spectacular archaeological discovery ever made. Tutankhamun's tomb had remained hidden in the Valley of the Kings for more than 3000 years and its discovery caused a media sensation, elevating the previously little-known Egyptian Pharaoh into the position of an international celebrity. The contents of the tomb were found almost entirely intact, including the Pharaoh's mummified body, still wearing its solid gold funeral mask. Tutankhamun lived in an era when the Egyptian Empire, centred on the royal city of Thebes, was at its pinnacle and when the wealth and power of its Pharaoh was at its greatest. This was also a period of enormous religious upheaval. Akenaten, the heretical Pharaoh and, more than likely, Tutanhkamun's father, had introduced a new religion, exclusively worshipping the sun god Aten. Under Tutanhkamun, the old religion, with its many gods and goddesses, was restored, putting an end to the heresy. In recent years research has shed new light on Tutankhamun's life and, in particular, on his death. A new exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, has toured America and is coming to London in November 2007. Public interest in the boy king is as strong as ever and our knowledge of the sophisticated and complex society over which he reigned continues to grow.

Excerpt

Until the discovery of his tomb in 1922, Tutankhamun, the 12th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, was one of the least known of all the pharaohs in the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. His immediate successors to the throne intentionally attempted to remove his name from history and, for more than 3,000 years, they were almost entirely successful. Ironically their actions would be one of the main reasons why the tomb was eventually found almost completely intact, while the tombs of those later pharaohs were robbed in antiquity. Shortly after his death Tutankhamun appears to have been forgotten and his tomb hidden under debris from the construction of another tomb, preserving it and its contents until it was uncovered by Howard Carter. News of the discovery created a media sensation around the world, unprecedented in its scale for an archaeological find, and Tutankhamun was propelled out of obscurity and onto the front pages of the newspapers. The nature of the wonderful artefacts found in the tomb, many made of gold and inlaid with semi-precious stones, was a clear demonstration of the extraordinary wealth of the pharaohs of this period. One object in particular, the solid gold funeral mask, soon became the most recognised artefact from the ancient world and it is still considered by many to be the most beautiful. Successive generations have been able to see some of these artefacts in touring exhibitions, including the latest one, ‘Tutankhamun and the Pharaohs of the Golden Age’. The focus of this exhibition has been broadened from that of the previous ones to include objects associated with other pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty as well as Tutankhamun. This may have been done through necessity, as many of the bestknown objects from the tomb, including the funeral mask, are no longer allowed to leave Egypt but it has resulted in Tutankhamun being placed in a greater historical context than in previous exhibitions. Trends in archaeology in general have been towards gaining a wider knowledge of the ancient world, rather than simply appreciating the objects, so the new exhibition can be seen as following these developments. This approach is also the one followed in this book, which is primarily about Tutankhamun, but also attempts to place him in the context of the world in which he lived. The details of the life of a young man who lived more than 3,000 years ago can never be known with absolute certainty, but archaeology is all about interpreting the available data to give as complete a picture as possible and, again, this is the approach followed here. Recent research and discoveries have also been incorporated, some of which tend to confirm interpretations made in the past while other findings conflict with some of the wilder speculation. The line between interpretation and speculation can be a blurry one, particularly when dealing with a subject where concrete facts are hard to come by. In the following pages I have tried to stay on the right side of the line. Where more than one theory exists to explain a particular piece of evidence, I have presented the argument rather than chosen sides and, where conjecture has been employed, I have tried to make it plain that it is speculation and not fact. Approaching Tutankhamun in this way, it becomes apparent that his reign coincided with one of the most fascinating and extraordinary periods in Egyptian history, the Amarna Period and its aftermath. It was also a time when Egypt was facing challenges from outside its borders, from the Hittites in the north and Nubia in the south, and from the vassal states within its own empire. By considering these events as well as the contents of the tomb, I hope that what emerges is a balanced account of the current state of our knowledge about Tutankhamun, together with an appreciation of those aspects of his life that are not yet fully understood.

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