King Tut day November 4th
We (Jason, Russ, Ruth and myself) attended King Tut's exhibit in Chicagoland many years ago. Tooday I'll be wearing my Field Musuem T-shirt in celebration of how finding King Tut's tomb has helped us understand Ancient Egyptian History better.
"Showcasing nearly 130 dazzling Egyptian treasures from the tombs of Tut and his royal relatives, many of which have never before traveled outside Egypt!"
While reading about Zenobia I’ve become a History.com junkie and love to read all the articles on Ancient history and especially Ancient Egypt. Zenobia visits Alexandria, Egypt in the last part of book one Zenobia- Birth of a Legend and all of book two, Zenobia – Challenging a Legend.
One of my favorite things is the history.com/this day in history section. That is how I found out that today in history celebrates a great historical find.
Nov 4, 1922: Entrance to King Tut's tomb discovered.
British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Thus began a monumental excavation process in which Carter carefully explored the four-room tomb over several years, uncovering an incredible collection of several thousand objects. In addition to numerous pieces of jewelry and gold, there was statuary, furniture, clothes, a chariot, weapons, and numerous other objects that shed a brilliant light on the culture and history of ancient Egypt. The most splendid find was a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, made out of solid gold, was the mummified body of the boy-king Tutankhamen, preserved for 3,200 years. Most of these treasures are now housed in the Cairo Museum.
King Tutankhamen (or Tutankhamun) ruled Egypt as pharaoh for 10 years until his death at age 19, around 1324 B.C. Tutankhamen’s legacy was largely negated by his successors. He was barely known to the modern world until 1922, when British archaeologist Howard Carter chiseled through a doorway and entered the boy pharaoh’s tomb, which had remained sealed for more than 3,200 years. The tomb’s vast hoard of artifacts and treasure, intended to accompany the king into the afterlife, revealed an incredible amount about royal life in ancient Egypt, and quickly made King Tut the world’s most famous pharaoh.
1) Why was Tutankhamun's tomb so important?
It was one of the few almost completely intact Egyptian tombs ever discovered.
Egypt is a fasincating place to research and learn about. It's thrilling to find connections with people who lived so long ago. We as a culture need to continue to learn from our past to better ourselves and our future.
Many try to capture what they imagine Egypt may have been like, for example this catchy song by Katy Perry and the Egyptian themed video. Enjoy!
