In the spring of 1923, news of an outstanding find of the 20th century spread around the world. Thanks to this discovery, a wave subsequently swept increased interest to ancient Egyptian culture. The name of young Tutankhamun, the ruler of Egypt, the little-known son of Pharaoh Akhenaten, became famous throughout the world. He could not have expected such fame during his lifetime! The discovery of the sarcophagus with its remains is considered the greatest discovery of the past century among Egyptologists.
Along with the fame of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, world fame came to the archaeologist-Egyptologist Howard Carter.
The eighth child in the family of Samuel Carter was fond of drawing and history since childhood. At the age of 17, he joined the organization of Egyptologists in Great Britain. For eight years, the aspiring Egyptologist worked on excavations in Egypt. Carter first gained fame after excavating a funeral temple Egyptian queen Hatshepsut.
After serving as Inspector General of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, Carter inspected the work of American archaeologist Theodore Davis. Together with him, Carter excavated several tombs of Egyptian pharaohs: Horemheb, Thutmose IV, Ramesses Saptah and the heretic Akhenaten.
For the next 8 years, from 1906 to 1914, Carter worked with Lord Carnarvon, who financed joint research. After 1914, they began excavations together in the Valley of the Kings. They excavated the tomb of Amenhotep I and the tombs of queens from the 18th dynasty in Thebes.
After a forced break during the First World War, excavations in the Valley of the Kings continued. A tandem of enthusiasts was inspired by the idea of searching for the burial place of the ephemeral Tutankhamun, who was considered to belong to the 18th dynasty. The search was lengthy, and when both archaeologists began to give up, luck knocked on their door. In early November 1922, Carter found the buried entrance to the tomb. But skepticism did not leave Carter until the last minute.
More than three months of excavations were crowned with success. On February 16, 1923, Carter saw the tomb of Tutankhamun. For more than 3 thousand years, no one approached the sarcophagus of the young pharaoh. More than 3,500 items were found intact in the tomb. And the most valuable of them turned out to be death mask Tutankhamun. 11,260 grams of pure gold were used to make it, and a lot of precious stones.
Howard Carter's companion, Lord Carnarvon, died in a Cairo hotel less than 2 months after the sensational discovery. The newspapers made a fuss. Hoaxes arose to stir up public interest. Then the concept of “The Curse of Tutankhamun” arose.
The mysticism surrounding the Carter expedition cannot be treated without skepticism. Logically, Howard Carter should have been the first to fall victim to the curse. However, he was the last of the 22 expedition members to die at the age of 64. It happened on March 2, 1939 in London, death was due to natural causes.
Opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun (1922)
Tutankhamun (Tutankhaten) - pharaoh Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom, reign, approximately 1332-1323. BC e.
According to the general custom in ancient times, the deceased was put into the grave everything that was considered most valuable to him during his lifetime: for kings and nobles - signs of their dignity, for a warrior - his weapons, etc. But they all “took” with them almost everything collected during your life gold and other items that do not rot. There were such kings and rulers who took the entire state treasury with them to the tombs, and the people, mourning the king, also mourned the loss of all their property.
So the ancient tombs were treasuries in which untold riches were hidden. To protect them from theft, the builders built entrances inaccessible to outsiders; they arranged doors with secret locks that were closed and opened with the help of a magical talisman.
No matter how hard the pharaohs made to protect their tombs from plunder, no matter how sophisticated they were in trying to resist the all-destroying time, all their efforts were in vain. The genius of their architects was unable to defeat the evil will of man, his greed and indifference to ancient civilizations. The countless riches that were provided to deceased rulers, members of their families and important dignitaries have long attracted greedy robbers. Neither terrible spells, nor careful security, nor the cunning tricks of architects (camouflaged traps, walled-up chambers, false passages, secret staircases, etc.) helped against them.
Due to a happy coincidence, only the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun remained the only one that was preserved almost completely intact, although it was plundered twice in ancient times. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb is associated with the names of the English Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter.
Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter
Lord Carnarvon, heir to a huge fortune, was also one of the first motorists. He barely survived one of the car accidents, and after that he had to give up his dreams of sports. In order to improve his health, the bored lord visited Egypt and became interested in the great past of this country. For his own entertainment, he decided to take up excavations himself, but his independent attempts in this field were unsuccessful. Money alone was not enough for this, and Lord Carnarvon did not have enough knowledge and experience. And then he was given advice to seek help from archaeologist Howard Carter.
1914 - Lord Carnarvon saw the name of Tutankhamun on one of the earthenware cups discovered during excavations in the Valley of the Kings. He came across the same name on a gold plate from a small cache. These finds prompted the lord to obtain permission from the Egyptian government to search for Tutankhamun's tomb. These same physical evidence They also supported G. Carter when he was overcome by despondency from a long but unsuccessful search.
Tutankhamun's tomb found
Archaeologists searched for the tomb of the pharaoh for 7 long years, but in the end happiness smiled on them. Sensational news spread around the world at the beginning of 1923. In those days, crowds of reporters, photographers and radio commentators flocked to the small and usually quiet town of Luxor. Every hour from the Valley of the Kings, reports, messages, notes, essays, reports, reports, articles were carried by telephone and telegraph...
For more than 80 days, archaeologists reached the golden coffin of Tutankhamun - through four external arks, a stone sarcophagus and three internal coffins, until they finally saw the one who for a long time was only a ghostly name for historians. But first, archaeologists and workers discovered steps that led deeper into the rock and ended at the walled-up entrance. When the entrance was cleared, behind it there was a descending corridor, covered with fragments of limestone, and at the end of the corridor there was another entrance, which was also walled up. This entrance led to a front chamber with a side storage room, a burial chamber and a treasury.
Having made a hole in the masonry, G. Carter stuck his hand in with a candle and clung to the hole. “At first I didn’t see anything,” he later wrote in his book. - Warm air rushed out of the chamber, and the candle flame began to flicker. But gradually, when the eyes became accustomed to the twilight, the details of the room began to slowly emerge from the darkness. There were strange figures of animals, statues and gold - gold shimmered everywhere."
In the tomb
Tutankhamun's tomb was actually one of the richest. When Lord Carnarvon and G. Carter entered the first room, they were stunned by the number and variety of objects filling it. There were chariots covered with gold, bows, quivers of arrows and shooting gloves; beds, also upholstered in gold; armchairs covered with tiny inserts of ivory, gold, silver and gems; magnificent stone vessels, richly decorated caskets with clothes and jewelry. There were also boxes of food and vessels of long-dried wine. The first room was followed by others, and what was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun exceeded the wildest expectations of the expedition members.
Golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun weighing 110 kg
The fact that the tomb was found at all was in itself an incomparable success. But fate smiled at G. Carter once again; in those days he wrote: “We saw something that no person of our time was awarded.” From the front chamber of the tomb alone, the English expedition removed 34 containers full of priceless jewelry, gold, precious stones and magnificent works of ancient Egyptian art. And when the members of the expedition entered the funeral chambers of the pharaoh, they found here a wooden gilded ark, in it another - an oak ark, in the second - a third gilded ark, and then a fourth. The latter contained a sarcophagus made from a single piece of the rarest crystalline quartzite, and in it there were two more sarcophagi.
The northern wall of the hall of sarcophagi in the tomb of Tutankhamun is painted with three scenes. On the right is the opening of the mouth of the pharaoh's mummy by his successor Ey. Until the moment of opening his lips, the deceased pharaoh was depicted as a mummy, and after this ceremony he already appeared in his usual earthly image. Central part The painting is occupied by the scene of the meeting of the revived pharaoh with the goddess Nut: Tutankhamun is depicted in the robe and headdress of an earthly king, in his hands he holds a mace and a staff. IN last scene the pharaoh is embraced by Osiris, behind Tutankhamun stands his “ka”.
The ancient Egyptians believed in the existence of several souls in humans. Tutankhamun had two statues of "ka", which during funeral procession carried in a row of honor. In the funeral chambers of the pharaoh, these statues stood on the sides of the sealed door leading to the golden sarcophagus. The "ka" of Tutankhamun has a youthful beautiful face with wide-set eyes looking with the impassive stillness of death.
Ancient sculptors and artists repeated it many times on chests, chests and arks. The dimensions of the statue of the spirit-double helped scientists determine the height of the pharaoh himself, since, according to the funeral traditions of the ancient Egyptians, these dimensions corresponded to the height of the deceased.
“Ba” of Tutankhamun was guarded by a wooden sculpture depicting the pharaoh on the funeral bed, and on the other side a falcon shaded the sacred mummy with its wing. On the figurine of the pharaoh, archaeologists saw carved words with which the pharaoh addressed the goddess of the sky: “Come down, Mother Nut, bend over me and turn me into one of the immortal stars that are all in you!” This sculpture was among those sacrifices that the courtiers presented to the now deceased pharaoh as a promise to serve him and.
Pharaoh mummy
In order to get to the sacred mummy of the pharaoh, archaeologists had to open several sarcophagi. “The mummy lay in a coffin,” writes G. Carter, “to which she was tightly stuck, since, having been lowered into the coffin, she was poured with aromatic oils. Head and shoulders, right down to chest, covered with a beautiful golden mask, reproducing the features royal face, with headband and necklace. It could not be removed, since it was also stuck to the coffin with a layer of resin, which condensed into a rock-hard mass.”
The coffin, which contained the mummy of Tutankhamun, depicted in the image of Osiris, was entirely made of massive gold sheet with a thickness of 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters. In its form it repeated the previous two, but its decor was more complex. The pharaoh's body was protected by the wings of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys; chest and shoulders - kite and cobra (goddesses - patroness of the North and South). These figurines were placed on top of the coffin, with each kite feather filled with pieces of gems or colored glass.
The mummy lying in the coffin was wrapped in many shrouds. On the top of them were sewn hands holding a whip and a staff; underneath them there was also a golden image of a “ba” in the form of a bird with a human head. At the places of the belts there were longitudinal and transverse stripes with the texts of prayers. When G. Carter unwrapped the mummy, he discovered a lot more jewelry, the inventory of which is divided into 101 groups.
Treasures from the Tomb
Throne of Tutankhamun
So, for example, on the body of the pharaoh, archaeologists discovered two daggers - bronze and silver. The handle of one of them is decorated with gold grain and framed with interlocking ribbons of cloisonné enamel. At the bottom, the decorations end with a chain of gold wire scrolls and a rope design. The blade, made of hardened gold, has two longitudinal grooves in the middle, topped with a palmette, above which there is a geometric pattern in a narrow frieze.
The forged mask that covered Tutankhamun's face was made of a thick sheet of gold and richly decorated: the stripes of the scarf, eyebrows and eyelids were made of dark blue glass, the wide necklace shone with numerous inserts of gems. The pharaoh's throne was made of wood, covered with gold leaf and richly decorated with inlays of multi-colored faience, gems and glass. The legs of the throne in the shape of lion paws are topped with lion heads made of beaten gold; the handles represent winged snakes coiled in a ring, supporting the pharaoh's cartouches with their wings. Between the supports behind the back of the throne there are six uraei in crowns and with solar disks. All of them are made of gilded wood and inlaid: the heads of the uraei are of purple faience, the crowns are of gold and silver, and the sun discs are of gilded wood.
On the back of the throne there is a relief image of papyri and water birds, in front there is a one-of-a-kind inlaid image of the pharaoh and his wife. The lost gold decorations that connected the seat with the lower frame were an ornament of lotus and papyrus, united by a central image - the hieroglyph “sema”, symbolizing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.
In Ancient Egypt there was also a custom of decorating the bodies of the deceased with wreaths of flowers. The wreaths that were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun did not reach us very well. good condition, and two or three flowers completely crumbled into powder at the first touch. The leaves also turned out to be very brittle, and scientists kept them in lukewarm water for several hours before starting their research.
The necklace found on the lid of the third coffin was composed of leaves, flowers, berries and fruits, different plants, mixed with blue glass beads. The plants were arranged in nine rows, tied to semicircular strips cut from the core of papyrus. As a result of analyzing flowers and fruits, scientists were able to establish approximate time burial of Pharaoh Tutankhamun - this happened between mid-March and the end of April. It was then that cornflowers bloomed in Egypt, and the fruits of mandrake and nightshade, woven into a wreath, ripened.
In beautiful stone vessels, scientists also discovered fragrant ointments with which the pharaoh was supposed to anoint himself in the afterlife, as he did in earthly life. Even after 3,000 years, these perfumes emitted a strong aroma...
Now the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb are on display in Egyptian Museum in Cairo and occupy 10 halls there, the area of which is equal to a football field. With the permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, studies were carried out on the mummies of famous pharaohs. During the work, the most modern technology, forensic doctors and even experts from Scotland Yard were involved in the case x-rays Tutankhamun's skull and found traces of a deep wound on the back of his head. And the English detectives came to the conclusion that this was a criminal matter, and 3,000 years ago, the 18-year-old ruler of Egypt became a victim palace coup and died instantly from a strong blow.
Howard Carter, an English archaeologist and Egyptologist, began taking part in archaeological expeditions in Egypt back in late XIX century. In 1906, Carter met the amateur archaeologist and collector of antiquities Lord Carnarvon, who generously allocated funds for archaeological research. In subsequent years they carried out excavations in different parts Theban necropolis, but only in June 1914 they received a concession for excavations in the Valley of the Kings.
Although many researchers were convinced that everything in the Valley had already been dug up and it was impossible to find anything new there, Howard Carter was confident that Tutankhamun’s tomb had not yet been discovered and that it should be located near the center of the Valley of the Kings. The start of excavations was scheduled for the winter season of 1914/15, but the First World War broke out. world war and confused my plans for a while.
Real work in the Valley began in the fall of 1917. Mountains of rubble thrown out during previous excavations cluttered the entire surface of the Valley of the Kings. Carter began clearing the triangle formed by the tombs of Ramesses II, Merneptah and Ramesses VI. In one season, archaeologists removed a significant part upper layers in this area and reached the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI, where they came across workers' huts standing on a foundation made of a mass of flint fragments, which in the Valley usually indicates the proximity of the tomb. They wanted to continue excavations in the same direction, but then access to the tomb of Ramesses - one of the most popular tombs among visitors in the Valley - would be closed. Therefore, it was decided to wait for a more favorable opportunity.
Work on this site was resumed in the fall of 1919. That season it was planned to completely clear the entire triangle of rubble. A significant number of workers were hired for this. When Lady and Lord Carnarvon arrived in the Valley in March 1920, all the rubble of the upper layers had already been removed and it was possible to go deeper into the soil, untouched by excavations. Soon a small cache was found with thirteen alabaster vessels, on which were the names of the pharaohs Ramesses II and Merneptah.
With the exception of a small area under the workers' huts, archaeologists explored the entire cleared triangle, but the tomb was never discovered. This place has been temporarily abandoned. Over the next two seasons, Carter was busy excavating in the small adjacent valley where the tomb is located Thutmose III.
2 Discovering the entrance to the tomb
Finally, Howard Carter decided to proceed to the site cluttered with granite rubble and workers' huts at the foot of the tomb of Ramesses VI. It was decided to start the excavations early, so that if access to the tomb of Ramesses VI needed to be closed, it would be done at a time when there were not yet many visitors to the Valley.
Carter arrived in Luxor on October 28, 1922. By November 1, all the workers had been assembled and work could begin. Previous excavations were suspended at the northeast corner of the tomb of Ramesses VI. From here the workers began to dig a trench in south direction. It took several days to remove the ancient workers' huts from the site. By the evening of November 3, the work on cleaning them was completed.
On the morning of November 4, arriving at the excavation site, Howard Carter was struck by the extraordinary silence. Work was suspended. “I realized that something extraordinary had happened, and soon I heard with joy: under the first hut removed, a step carved into the rock was discovered. This news was too good for me to believe. However, additional clearing quickly carried out convinced me that we had indeed discovered the beginning of a slope carved into the rock, which was located some four meters below the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI and at the same depth from the present surface of the Valley,” Carter wrote in in your diary.
The excavations continued throughout the day and into the next morning. However, it was not until the afternoon of November 5 that the pile of rubble blocking the entrance was removed. Step after step was exposed, and when the twelfth in a row was cleared, it appeared upper part a doorway blocked with stones, walled up and sealed. “Sealed door! So it's true! We were finally rewarded for all our years of patient work. As far as I remember, my first instinct was to thank fate that my work in the Valley had not remained fruitless. With feverishly growing excitement, I began to examine the seal impressions on the walled door in order to establish who was buried in this tomb. But I didn't find the name of its owner. The only legible prints were the well-known seal prints of the royal necropolis: a jackal and nine prisoners,” Carter recalled.
The archaeologist made a small hole under the lintel so that an electric flashlight could be inserted into it. Behind the door, the entire gallery was littered with stones and rubble right up to the ceiling. It was already late. Carter ordered the door to be covered, chose the most honest workers and instructed them to guard the tomb throughout the night.
Lord Carnarvon was in England at that time, further work was postponed until his arrival. On November 23, Carnarvon arrived in Luxor with his daughter Lady Evelina Herbert, his faithful assistant in all his work in Egypt. On the afternoon of November 24, the staircase was completely cleared - all sixteen steps. Now it was possible to carefully examine the entire door. On its lower part, the seal impressions turned out to be much clearer, among them the name Tutankhamun was repeated many times. Now that the entire door could be carefully examined, it became obvious that part of the walled up passage had been opened twice in succession and then sealed again. Previously discovered seals of a jackal and nine captives stood on the newly walled part of the wall, while the untouched lower part was covered with impressions of the seal of Tutankhamun, which originally sealed the tomb. Therefore, the robbers were still here. But judging by the huts built over the tomb, these were robbers who lived no later than the reign of Ramesses VI.
On the morning of November twenty-fifth, all the seal impressions on the wall were carefully sketched and photographed. Then they began to dismantle the door. It consisted of rough stones that covered the entire passage from floor to ceiling. Then a gallery with a height of about 2.5 m began going down, but without steps. It began to be cleared of stones and rubble.
On November 26, clearing of the gallery continued in the morning. Work went slowly. In the afternoon, a second walled and sealed entrance was discovered at a distance of 10 meters from the external entrance. “With trembling hands I made a small hole in the left top corner walled up wall. The darkness and emptiness into which the probe freely extended its entire length indicated that behind this wall there was no longer a blockage, as in the gallery we had just cleared. Fearing gas accumulation, we first lit a candle. Then, widening the hole a little, I stuck a candle into it and looked inside. Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelina and Callender, standing behind me, anxiously awaited the verdict. At first I didn't see anything. Warm air rushed out of the room and the candle flame flickered. But gradually, when the eyes became accustomed to the twilight, the details of the room began to slowly emerge from the darkness. There were strange figures of animals, statues and gold - gold shimmered everywhere! For a moment—that moment probably seemed like an eternity to those standing behind me—I was literally speechless with amazement. Unable to contain himself any longer, Lord Carnarvon asked me excitedly: “Do you see anything?” The only thing I could answer him was: “Yes, wonderful things!” Then, widening the hole enough so that two people could look into it, we stuck an electric torch inside,” Carter described it this way. most important event in his life.
On November 27, 1922, the tomb was connected to the Valley's lighting network. Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelina, Callender and Carter entered the discovered room and began a detailed inspection of it. Later this hall was called the front room.
There were three large gilded boxes in the hall. The sides of each bed were sculpted figures of monstrous animals. Their bodies were therefore unnaturally elongated to the full length of the bed, and their heads were carved with stunning realism. On the right, near the wall, stood two statues - black sculptures of the pharaoh in full height. Wearing golden aprons and golden sandals, with maces and staves in their hands, with sacred guardian uraei on their foreheads, they stood opposite each other. A walled passage was discovered between them.
Also in the room were piled many other things: chests with the finest paintings and inlays, alabaster vessels, black arks, beautiful carved chairs, a throne inlaid with gold, canes and staves of various shapes and designs, chariots sparkling with gold and inlays, a portrait statue of the pharaoh, etc. d.
In mid-December, work was in full swing in the front room. It was necessary to conduct detailed photography of the premises. Then there was painstaking work to sort out the artifacts, which lay very crowded in the room. Some of them were in excellent condition, but many valuables required immediate restoration. Some things simply could not be picked up without pre-treatment - they immediately fell apart. Dismantling the items in the front room took total seven weeks. By mid-February, all things had been moved to the laboratory, with the exception of two guard statues left on purpose, every centimeter of the floor was swept and the dust was sifted so that not a single bead or piece of inlay remained in it.
An operation to open the sealed door was scheduled for February 17, 1923. By two o'clock in the afternoon, the invitees - about twenty people in total - gathered at the tomb. In the front room everything was prepared in advance. To protect the statues from possible damage, they were covered with boards, and a small platform was erected between the statues so that the upper edge of the doorway could be easily reached from it. They decided to start opening the door from the top, since this procedure was the safest. Dismantling the walled passage took two hours. Even during the disassembly, it became clear that this was nothing more than the entrance to the tomb of the pharaoh.
In the funeral chamber stood a huge gilded ark, built to protect and preserve the sarcophagus, inside which the pharaoh himself rested. The dimensions of this ark were so large (5x3.3 meters with a height of 2.73 meters) that it filled almost the entire cubic capacity of the tomb. On all four sides it was separated from the walls by a narrow space - about 0.65 meters, and its roof with a ridge and molded cornice almost touched the ceiling. The entire ark was covered with gold from top to bottom, with plates of sparkling blue faience embedded on the sides, and on them were endlessly repeated images of the same magical symbols, which were supposed to preserve and strengthen the last abode of the pharaoh. Around the ark, right on the floor, lay many funerary emblems, and at the northern end of the tomb were seven magical oars; the pharaoh had to need them in his crossing through the waters of the afterlife.
The walls of the tomb, unlike the front room, were decorated with colorful images and inscriptions. Their execution was somewhat hasty. There was a low door in the eastern wall of the tomb, and behind it another small room. The entrance to this room was neither walled up nor sealed, but at the same time the most valuable treasures of the tomb were kept in it.
In the 1923/24 season, work began on opening the sarcophagi. The tomb contained four external sarcophagi and another internal one (quartzite). The researchers opened the sarcophagi one by one; this work was difficult and slow. Finally, the quartzite sarcophagus was opened. The golden image of the young king, made with exceptional skill, filled the entire interior of the sarcophagus. It was the lid of a wonderful anthropoid coffin, about 2.25 meters long, resting on a low bier decorated with images lion heads. It was an outer coffin containing several more. The winged goddesses Isis and Neith embraced the coffin in their arms. They were made using the low-relief technique, while the head and hands of the king were extremely fine and elegant pieces of circular sculpture made of solid gold.
In subsequent seasons, work was carried out to open the coffins. There were three of them. The third coffin, 1.85 meters long, was made of solid gold. The mask of this golden coffin was given a portrait resemblance to the king, but its features, although conventional, since they symbolized Osiris, were more youthful than on other coffins. The coffin was decorated with a “rishi” ornament and the figures of Isis and Nephthys - subjects of the first coffin. They were complemented by the winged figures of Nekhebt and Buto. These figures of guardian goddesses - the emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt - stood out sharply on the engraved ornament that generously decorated the coffin, as they were lush massive overlays made of cloisonné enamel. Images of goddesses were inlaid with semi-precious stones. Under the lid of this coffin lay the mummy of the pharaoh.
At one time and still today, the tomb of Tutankhamun is outstanding archaeological find, a worldwide sensation. Archaeologist Howard Carter forever inscribed his name - he is the first and only archaeologist who managed to find and open an unlooted tomb.
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (Tutankhaten) - pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who reigned approximately 1333-1323 BC. e., from the XVIII dynasty, the husband of one of the daughters of Akhenaten, the famous reformer pharaoh.
It is not known exactly who his parents were, but most likely he was the grandson of Amenhotep III. His right to the throne was determined by his marriage to Ankhesenpaaton (later called Ankhesenamun), daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. At the time of Akhenaten's death, Tutankhamun was only nine years old, so he was under strong influence the elderly “Father of God” - Aye, who became his co-ruler, survived him and became his successor on the throne. Little known as a pharaoh, Tutankhamun became famous thanks to the sensational discovery in 1922 of his largely intact tomb. Thousands of various items, including a gilded chariot, seats, a box, lamps, precious jewelry, clothing, writing instruments and even a topknot of his grandmother's hair. This discovery gave the world the most complete picture yet of the splendor of the ancient Egyptian court.
During the reign of Tutankhamun, Egypt gradually restored its international influence, which had been shaken during the reign of the reformer pharaoh. Thanks to the commander Horemheb, who later became the last pharaoh XVIII dynasty, Tutankhamun strengthened Egypt's position in Ethiopia and Syria. A brilliant future could have awaited him, but he died unexpectedly, leaving behind no heir-son.
Because of sudden death the pharaoh did not have time to prepare a worthy tomb, and therefore Tutankhamun was buried in a modest crypt, the entrance to which was eventually hidden under the huts of Egyptian workers who were building a nearby tomb for the 20th dynasty pharaoh Ramesses VI (d. 1137 BC). It was thanks to this circumstance that the tomb of Tutankhamun was forgotten and stood untouched for more than three thousand years, until in 1922 it was discovered by a British archaeological expedition led by Howard Carter and Lord Cornarvon, the richest English aristocrat, who financed the excavations.
The tomb of Tutankhamun became one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The eighteen-year-old pharaoh was buried with fantastic luxury: his swaddled mummy alone contained 143 gold objects, and the mummy itself was kept in three sarcophagi inserted into each other, the last of which, 1.85 m long, was made of pure gold. In addition, a royal throne decorated with relief images, figurines of the king and his wife, many ritual vessels, jewelry, weapons, clothing and, finally, a magnificent golden funeral mask Tutankhamun, accurately conveying the facial features of the young pharaoh.
Despite the scale of this discovery, the value of such a discovery, of course, far exceeds the value of the gold found in the tomb: thanks to Carter’s excavations, we were able to verify the splendor and complexity of the ancient Egyptian funeral rite, and our understanding of the Egyptian funeral ritual and the scale of the state cult of the pharaoh was significantly expanded. Thanks to the findings, one can judge the fantastic level of artistic craft achieved in Egypt.
Tomb
The tomb of Tutankhamun is located in the Valley of the Kings, and this is the only almost unplundered tomb that has reached scientists in its original form, although it was opened twice by tomb thieves. It was discovered in 1922 by two Englishmen - Egyptologist Howard Carter and amateur archaeologist Lord Carnarvon. Numerous decorations were preserved in the tomb, as well as a turquoise-decorated sarcophagus weighing 110.4 kg made of pure gold with the mummified body of the pharaoh.
In the eyes of historians, Tutankhamun remained a little-known minor pharaoh until the beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, doubts were even expressed about the reality of its existence. Therefore, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb is considered as greatest event throughout the history of archaeology. However, Tutankhamun's reign was not really distinguished by anything significant other than the rejection of atonism. Howard Carter has the following words about the young pharaoh: “When current state From our knowledge we can say with certainty only one thing: the only remarkable event in his life was that he died and was buried.”
On November 4, 1922, the entrance to the tomb was cleared, and the seals on the doors were intact, which gave serious hope for the possibility of making the largest archaeological discovery of the century. At the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI (the builders of the tomb of this Ramesside apparently covered the path to the tomb of Tutankhamun, which explains its relative safety) November 26, 1922 Carter and Carnarvon became the first people in three millennia to descend into the tomb (robbers who could have visited the tomb , obviously, they descended into it during the 20th dynasty). After lengthy excavations, on February 16, 1923, Carter finally descended into the burial chamber of the tomb (“Golden Chamber”), where the pharaoh’s sarcophagus itself was located. Among the utensils and other objects buried with the pharaoh, many examples of art were discovered bearing the stamp of influence from the art of the Amarna period. The owner of the discovered treasure, then a practically unknown young ruler of Egypt, immediately turned into an object increased attention, and the phenomenal discovery not only made his name well known, but also caused another surge of renewed interest in all traces of Egyptian civilization in the modern world.
The legend of the "curse of the pharaoh"
Lord George Carnarvon, who financed the excavations, died on April 5, 1923 at the Continental Hotel in Cairo from pneumonia, but almost immediately hoaxes arose around his death (there was even talk of “blood poisoning due to a razor wound” or a “mysterious mosquito bite”). In subsequent years, the press fueled rumors of a “curse of the pharaohs” that allegedly led to the death of the discoverers of the tomb, counting up to 22 “victims of the curse,” 13 of whom were directly present at the opening of the tomb. Among them were such prominent specialists as the leading American Egyptologist Professor James Henry Brasted, the author of the grammar of the Egyptian language Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, Professor Norman De Harris Davis.
However, the facts indicate that the evidence of the “curse” was adjusted to achieve a newspaper sensation: the vast majority of the participants in the Carter expedition reached old age, and average duration their life is 74.4 years. So, J. G. Brasted was already 70 years old, N. G. Davis was 71, and A. Gardiner was 84 years old. Howard Carter, who directly supervised all the work in the tomb, seemed to be the first victim of the “curse of the pharaoh,” but he died last - in 1939 at the age of 66. One of popular theories, trying to analyze the death of the expedition members, connects it with a fungus or other microorganism that was in the tomb, which explains, in particular, the fact that the asthmatic Lord Carnarvon died first.
94 years ago, on November 4, 1922, the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered in Egypt. The tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings, and this is the only almost unlooted tomb that has reached scientists in its original form, although it was opened twice by tomb thieves. It was discovered in 1922 by two Englishmen - Egyptologist Howard Carter and amateur archaeologist Lord Carnarvon. Numerous decorations were preserved in the tomb, as well as a sarcophagus made of pure gold with the mummified body of the pharaoh.
In 1907, Egyptologist and archaeologist Howard Carter was hired by George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, to oversee excavations in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. The scientist managed to create a good reputation for himself by scrupulously describing and preserving his discoveries.
Searches in the valley, which lasted for many years, yielded very modest results, which over time brought the wrath of Carter's employer upon him. In 1922 Lord Carnarvon told him that next year will stop financing the work.
1. 1923 Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavations, reads on the veranda of Carter's house near the Valley of the Kings.
Carter, desperate for a breakthrough, decided to return to the previously abandoned excavation site. On November 4, 1922, his team discovered a step carved into the rock. Towards the end next day the whole staircase was cleared. Carter immediately sent a message to Carnarvon, begging him to come as quickly as possible.
On November 26, Carter, along with Carnarvon, opened a small hole in the corner of the door at the end of the stairs. Holding the candle, he looked inside.
“At first I saw nothing, hot air rushed out of the room, causing the candle flame to flicker, but soon, as my eyes adjusted to the light, details of the room slowly appeared out of the fog, strange animals, statues and gold - the glitter of gold everywhere” ( Howard Carter).
A team of archaeologists has discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the youth king who ruled Egypt from 1332 to about 1323 BC.
Despite signs that ancient robbers had visited the tomb twice, the contents of the room remained virtually untouched. The tomb was stuffed with thousands of priceless artifacts, including a sarcophagus containing the mummified remains of Tutankhamun.
3. January 4, 1924. Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker open the doors to get their first look at Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.
Each object in the tomb was carefully described and cataloged before removal. This process took almost eight years.
4. December 1922. A ceremonial bed in the shape of a Celestial Cow surrounded by supplies and other objects in the front room of the tomb.
These photographs documenting the discovery of the legendary tomb of Tutankhamun were colorized by Dynamicchrome for the exhibition The Discovery of King Tut, which opens in New York on November 21, 2015.
5. December 1922. Gilded lion bed and other objects in the hallway. The wall of the burial chamber is guarded by black Ka statues.
6. 1923 A set of shuttles in the tomb treasury.
7. December 1922. A gilded lion bed and an inlaid breastplate are among other objects in the front room.
8. December 1922. Under the lion bed in the front room are several boxes and chests, as well as an ebony and ivory chair that Tutankhamun used as a child.
9. 1923 A gilded bust of the Heavenly Cow Mehurt and chests were in the tomb's treasury.
10. 1923. Chests inside the treasury.
12. January 1924. In the "laboratory" created in the tomb of Seti II, restorers Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas clean one of the Ka statues from the front room.
13. November 29, 1923. Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker wrap one of the Ka statues for transport.
14. December 1923. Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas work with the golden chariot from Tutankhamun's tomb outside the "laboratory" in the tomb of Seti II.
15. 1923. Anubis statue on a funeral bier.
