Was King Tut murdered or did he die from an illness? This age old question has continued to puzzle historians, Egyptologists, and scientists for many years. There are many different theories as to how he died and all of them continue to be controversial topics. Some will argue King Tut was likely murdered due to greed and power, while others believe he fell from his chariot or died from an illness. So many theories surround his death that it’s impossible to rule out an exact cause of King Tut’s death. With that information at hand, and centuries of forgotten facts, one thing is certain—there will continue to be many theories as to how King Tut died.
If King Tut was murdered, some research and evidence point to a few
limited servants that could have been responsible for his death.
Their motives were likely centered on greed or the changing
environment Akhenaten (King Tut’s father) had created upon his
death.
It was a known fact that Akhenaten brought about a major change in
Egypt. He had pushed the idea of one god and this concept went
against everything the Ancient Egyptians believed in. Though it is
not known how Akhenaten transitioned Egypt into this new thinking,
many believed the transition could have been hostile. Priests, who
had temples, spent their whole life’s worshiping and honoring their
beloved gods. When Akhenaten acquired the throne he changed their
thinking and he might have forced them to shut down their temples
and revert to his religion—which was unheard of at the time. As
result of this radical movement, many historians believed this
created an unstable environment that might have upset Akhenaten’s
royal court and its citizens—the change was drastic and must have
required a firm stance to change hundreds of years of thinking.
Akhenaten died when King Tut was a child and he was given the throne
at a young age. If Akhenaten did create a hostile environment, his
son would’ve had to deal with the new state of Egypt. To make
matters worse, King Tut was a child and probably did not have the
intellect to run Egypt. This would’ve meant that more experienced
subjects of King Tut would have helped him—mainly Ay and Horemheb.
Because these two officials had such a strong presence in King Tut’s
life and had direct access to him, many stories surround them.
Just being the son of Akhenaten must have been difficult for a young
boy who probably wanted to go about his business uninterrupted. This
situation alone breeds hate from those who oppressed Akhenaten and
his new teachings. They probably perceived King Tut’s death as a way
out to restore Egypt to its old ways.
One popular story stands out the most and this one is based on the
relationship between King Tut and Ay. So much so, that this
particular scandal continues to be a popular theory. It was said
that Ay killed King Tut out of greed. Ay knew that by killing King
Tut he would inherit the throne and become pharaoh. Coincidently,
King Tut does die at around 18 and Ay is given the throne. What also
makes this story interesting is that a crack was found on the base
King Tut’s skull possibly indicating that King Tut was indeed
murdered.
A strong advocate of this theory is Bob Brier, an Egyptologist, from
Long Island University. Mr. Brier revealed his findings January 17,
1997 in a conference held in California. Brier believes the motive
is obvious and is more logical then the other stories surrounding
King Tut’s death. Also, Brier points out that a ring that was
discovered in Cairo in 1931. This ring showed that Ay and
Ankhesenamun were married soon after King Tut’s death. Brier
believes Ay forced Ankhesenamun to marry him because if she did not,
Ay would not have been able to inherit the throne.
To continue this story, some Egyptologists believe that Ankhesenamun
could have made a desperate attempt to save the throne. Some
tablets, which are dated towards the end of the Amarna period, were
discovered. These tables appeared to be from Ankhesenamum to the
Hittites asking for help. The Hittites were enemies of Egypt at the
time.
These tablets, dating back to the end of the 18th dynasty, revealed
a possible last plea for intervention to the Hittites revealing a
potential scandal. Some Egyptologist’s strongly associate this
letter with Ankhesenamun as a last resort in the hopes of saving her
throne and her status. She informed the Hittite king, Suppiluliumas,
to send a son to wed her. She clearly stated her humiliation and her
feelings of being worried. The queen pointed out the loss of her
husband and stated, “Never shall I pick out a servant of mine and
make him my husband. I am afraid!” Was this servant Ay she was
talking about? Many believe so.
The Hittite son who was sent to be married never made it to Egypt.
He was assassinated on his journey to Egypt and the marriage never
occurred. Ay could be the person to blame.
The king's deputy, also known as Horemheb, may have also been
responsible for the death of King Tut as well. The possibility that
King Tut was getting older and probably ready to take powers into
his own hands may have contributed to his early demise. For many
years it was believed that Hormheb guided King Tut in his royal
decisions as a child. As King Tut grew older and became more
independent he started making his own decisions without the aid of
Horemheb. This new thinking might have upset him and he quickly saw
his power fading away. This independence that King Tut was attaining
might have upset him and could been the reason as to why he killed
King Tut.
Though Horemheb did not get the throne after King Tut’s death he did
get it after Ay. Upon becoming the pharaoh he restored Egypt to its
traditional tradition which was the worshiping of the many ancient
gods. He moved his capital to Memphis and returned all the temples
to their rightful priests. During his reign as pharaoh he removed
any signs of Akhenaten’s religion.
By his actions, many Egyptologists and historians strongly assume
that Horemheb wanted to restore Egypt to its traditional ways.
Although, in hindsight, it appears that King Tut was also leaning in
the direction of restoring Egypt to the more habitual ways before
his death—it might not have been fast enough for Horemheb though.
Mohamed El-Saghir, head of Upper Egyptian Antiquities, believes that
Horemheb could not have committed the murder of the pharaoh. Mohamed
believes that because King Tut was restoring Egypt to its
traditional ways, Horemheb would not have had any reason to kill
him. He does find it interesting that Horemheb removed King Tut’s
name from several items and replaced it with his. Even so, it’s
still not enough evidence and most pharaohs always tried to outdo
the pharaohs before them.
Not only is Horemheb not the murder in his eyes, but Mohamid also
believes that Ay should not be on the list as well. Mohamid sees Ay
as someone who participated in personal and scared rituals with King
Tut. He goes on to say, "There is insufficient evidence that he is
guilty. He was the high priest and was, moreover, the one who wrote
Tutankhamen's negative confession and performed his ‘opening of the
mouth’ ceremony.” If Ay and Horemheb are ruled out, then how else
might have King Tut died?
Other theories as well have come to light though scientific
examination. Forensic experts from Egypt did an examination on King
Tut and came up with a different explanation as to why King Tut
died. It was found that he may have died due to an infection. They
are quick to point out that King Tut was not murdered and believe
the crack in the skull was probably caused during the mummification
process. Anything could have happened during this process such as
his body being dropped or an instrument hitting his skull.
Just recently, new CT scans of King Tut have been performed and the
results shed new light into King Tut’s death. The scans revealed a
broken leg that may have been responsible for the death of King Tut.
Doctor Zahi Hawass says, "We found that he had a fracture on the
left leg. And that fracture proved to have happened a few days
before he died. It was before mummification, and therefore it could
happen, we are not sure, it could (have) happened that he died
because of this accident." So King Tut might have not been murdered
after all.
Some have extended this theory a step further and have suggested he
fell from his chariot while hunting. Though his leg could have
broken from a variety of daily activities we’ll never know how
exactly he broke his leg.
If King Tut was murdered it would almost be impossible to solve due to the many years of tarnish. King Tut was the son of the “Heretic” Pharaoh and this alone creates so many dynamics that could have lead to his death. However King Tut died, people find his tragedy interesting and for this reason alone many more stories will forever surface.
