Egypt 5: Tutankhamun

 

Our tour guide said that if 3,000 years of pharoahs held a conference Tutankhamun would be lucky to be appointed office boy.  He only ruled for six years, dying at around age 18, and didn't accomplish much except dismantling his heretic father's religion.

So why is King Tut the one pharoah everyone knows by name?  Because in 1924 Howard Carter discovered his tomb in the Valley of Kings and it was the only royal Egyptian tomb ever found that had not been robbed.  So, while it was small (hey, no one expected it to be needed so soon) it was crammed full like a moving van.  There are over 5,000 pieces from his tomb in the Grand Egyptian Museum (a small fraction of its collection).

Ushabti, small statues intended to be servants to the pharoah in the afterlife.

Fun fact: Tut had an iron knife, very rare in his time.  They didn't have the technology to refine iron yet. This one  was made from meteoric iron.

Next: Luxor