Pharaoh · 1341 BC – 1323 BC
Tutankhamun
Key Takeaways
- Tutankhamun became pharaoh as a child and died around age eighteen.
- He reversed his father Akhenaten's religious revolution, restoring Egypt's traditional gods.
- His tomb, found nearly intact by Howard Carter in 1922, is the most famous archaeological discovery ever made.
- His golden funerary mask is one of the most recognizable objects in the world.
Tutankhamun ruled Egypt for only about a decade and died young, yet he is the most famous pharaoh of all. The reason lies not in his reign but in his tomb, which survived the millennia almost untouched.
A boy king who restored the gods
Tutankhamun came to the throne as a child, in the turbulent aftermath of his father Akhenaten’s religious revolution. Under his name, Egypt abandoned Akhenaten’s single god, the Aten, and restored the worship of Amun and the traditional pantheon, returning the country to its ancient ways.
The discovery that stunned the world
In 1922 the archaeologist Howard Carter opened KV62 in the Valley of the Kings and found a pharaoh’s burial of unimaginable richness — golden shrines, jewellery, chariots and the famous solid-gold funerary mask. The find made Tutankhamun, a once-obscure ruler of the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom, into a global symbol of the age of the pharaohs.
Influence
Though a minor king in his own time, Tutankhamun became, through the survival of his tomb, the single most recognizable figure of ancient Egypt and the public face of Egyptology.
Legacy
The 1922 discovery of his treasures sparked a worldwide fascination with ancient Egypt that has never faded.
Controversies
- The cause of his early death — illness, injury or infection — remains debated by scholars.
Connections
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Tutankhamun?
Tutankhamun (c. 1341–1323 BC) was a young pharaoh of Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty, famous today for his nearly intact tomb discovered in 1922.
Why is Tutankhamun so famous?
He is famous because his tomb survived almost intact, yielding thousands of treasures — including his golden mask — that revealed the splendour of ancient Egyptian royalty.
Citations & Sources
People Like Tutankhamun
Akhenaten
78Akhenaten was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty who launched a religious revolution, replacing Egypt's many gods with the worship of a single deity, the sun-disc Aten — one of the earliest experiments with monotheism.
Why Akhenaten was Tutankhamun's father, whose religious revolution Tutankhamun reversed.
Nefertiti
79Nefertiti was an Egyptian queen, principal wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten, who wielded unusual power during his religious revolution and whose painted limestone bust is one of the most admired images of the ancient world.
Why Nefertiti was a queen of the Amarna royal family into which Tutankhamun was born.
Hatshepsut
83Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule ancient Egypt as pharaoh in her own right, a peaceful and prosperous reign marked by ambitious building projects and far-reaching trade.
Why An earlier ruler of the same Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
Ramesses II
84Ramesses II was the most powerful pharaoh of Egypt's New Kingdom, whose 66-year reign brought military campaigns, colossal building projects and a prosperity that earned him the title Ramesses the Great.
Why Also a pharaoh & ruler · Active in the same era
Cleopatra VII
90Cleopatra VII was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, a shrewd and learned monarch whose alliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony placed her at the center of Roman politics.
Why Also a ruler & pharaoh · Active in the same era
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar
88Akbar was the third Mughal emperor, who expanded the empire across much of the Indian subcontinent and is remembered for his administrative reforms, religious tolerance and patronage of the arts during a long and powerful reign.
Why Also a ruler · Comparable historical impact