2. TUTANKHAMEN WAS BORN AROUND 1341 B.C.E. HIS
NAME MEANS “LIVING IMAGE OF ATEN.”TUTANKHAMUN
RULED AFTER THE AMARNA AGE, PHARAOH
AKHENATEN, TUTANKHAMUN’S PROBABLE FATHER
TURNED THE RELIGIOUS ATTENTION OF THE KINGDOM
TO WORSHIP GOD ATEN, THE SUN DISC. AKHNETAN
MOVED HIS CAPITAL CITY TO THE SITE OF AKHETATEN,
KNOWN AS AMARNA,IN MIDDLE EGYPT FAR FROM THE
PREVIOUS PHARAOH’S CAPITAL.
3. WHEN AKHENATEN DIED, TUTANKHAMEN TOOK HIS PLACE. HE WAS
JUST NINE YEARS OLD.UNDER HIS RULE,EGYPT RETURNED TO
POLYTHEISM. THIS “BOY KING” RULED FOR LESS THAN A DECADE; HE
DIED AT AGE NINETEEN.
FOR MANY YEARS, PEOPLE PUZZLED OVER KING TUT’S DEATH. MANY
SUSPECTED FOUL PLAY. OTHERS SPECULATED HIS DEATH WAS AN
ACCIDENT . HE IS MORE COMMONLY KNOWN TODAY— HE WAS
RELATIVELY UNKNOWN TO THE WORLD UNTIL 1922, WHEN HIS TOMB
WAS DISCOVERED BY HOWARD CARTER.
HOWARDCARTERWITHTUTANKHAMUN
4. IN AN EFFORT TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY DEATH OF THE MOST FAMOUS
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN KING, SCIENTISTS HAVE BOTH X-RAYED AND CT-
SCANNED THE 3,000-YEAR-OLD MUMMY OF “KING TUT”. OVER THE
YEARS, A NUMBER OF HYPOTHESES HAVE BEEN PUT FORTH REGARDING
TUT’S CAUSE OF DEATH. ORIGINALLY, MANY EXPERTS BELIEVED HE HAD
BEEN BRUTALLY MURDERED OR HAD FALLEN FROM HIS CHARIOT WHILE
HUNTING. THIS LEAD MANY SCHOLARS TO SPECULATE ON THE MANNER OF
HIS DEATH- CHARIOT ACCIDENT, MURDER BY BLOW TO THE HEAD, AND
EVEN A HIPPOPOTAMUS ATTACK! THE ANSWER IS STILL UNCLEAR.
TUTANKHAMUN’SCT SCAN
5. KING TUT IS ONE OF THE FIRST MUMMIES TO BE SCANNED – IN
DEATH, AS IN LIFE, MOVING REGALLY AHEAD OF HIS
COUNTRYMEN. A CT SCANNED THE MUMMY HEAD TO TOE,
CREATING 1700 DIGITAL X-RAYS IMAGES IN CROSS-SECTION.
AS SOON AS THE SCANNING WAS COMPLETED, THE RESULTING
IMAGES IMMEDIATELY REVEALED AN IMPORTANT FIND: HIS
SKULL WAS INTACT, PUTTING TO REST FOR SOME THAT A
BLOW TO THE BACK OF HIS HEAD WAS WHAT KILLED HIM.
ACCORDING TO EGYPTIAN RADIOLOGISTS NOW, MANY BELIEVE
KING TUTANKHAMUN'S DEATH WAS CAUSED BY A BADLY
BROKEN AND INFECTED LEG .CT IMAGES OF THE LEFT KNEE
SHOWING A PECULIAR FRACTURE OF THE LOWER PART OF THE
THIGH BONE WITH THE DENSE EMBALMING MATERIAL COVERING
ITS EDGES SUGGESTING ITS OCCURRENCE SHORTLY BEFORE
DEATH.
6. TUTANKHAMUN WAS BURIED IN A TOMB THAT
WAS UNUSUALLY SMALL. HIS DEATH MAY
HAVE OCCURRED UNEXPECTEDLY, CAUSING
HIS MUMMY TO BE BURIED IN A TOMB
INTENDED FOR SOMEONE ELSE. HIS TOMB
WAS ROBBED AT LEAST TWICE IN
ANTIQUITY, BUT BASED ON THE ITEMS
TAKEN AND THE EVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
OF THE TOMB AFTER INTRUSIONS, THESE
ROBBERIES LIKELY TOOK PLACE WITHIN
SEVERAL MONTHS AT MOST OF THE INITIAL
BURIAL. THE LOCATION OF THE TOMB WAS
LOST BECAUSE IT HAD COME TO BE BURIED
BY DEBRIS FROM SUBSEQUENT TOMBS, AND
WORKERS’ HOUSES WERE BUILT OVER THE
TOMB ENTRANCE.
7. VOCABULARY;
SAGA:a long story of heroic achievement, especially a medieval prose
PHARAOH : a ruler
POLYTHEISM :the belief in or worship of more than one god
HYPOTHESES : a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation
CHARIOT : a two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle used in ancient warfare and racing
INTACT: not damaged or impaired in any way; complete
ANTIQUITY: the ancient past, especially the period before the Middle Age
DEBRIS: scattered pieces of waste or remains
CT SCAN: Computed tomography , CT scans are special X-ray tests that produce cross-sectional images of the body using X ray and a compute
