Tutenkhamens Tomb

How the Contents of Tutankhamun’s Tomb Depict the Life of a New Kingdom Pharaoh.

By Dylan O’Toole

In 1333 BC a nine-year-old Tutankhamun came to power of the Egyptian Throne. The young king accidentally died at the age of nineteen. He left his kingdom with little evidence of his existence; no large temples, no monuments, he was forgotten. However his mark was made on the modern world when Howard Carter stumbled upon the small rocky step leading to his tomb. Tutankhamen was buried with a countless number of his treasures; these items ranged from pots to staffs, lamps to chariots. Over 3000 items were recovered; each one of these items helps historians understand about the life of a pharaoh in the New Kingdom Egypt. It was easy to deduce that new kingdom pharaohs while living a pampered life were expected to fight for Egypt and devote his life to the gods.

Tutankhamun’s tomb was full of weapons, chariots and other object associated with war. Obviously it was expected of a pharaoh to know how to fight and to be willing to fight. Whether or not Tutankhamun actually fought for Egypt he did make the people believe he was going to commit himself to battle. Six chariots were found in his tomb and some of them were war chariots, he was also buried with weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, and throwsticks. Tutankhamun was also painted as being a warrior pharaoh. There are many paintings in his tomb whether on chest, pots or urns they all show the young king vanquishing or smiting his enemies in battle. The best example is the painted wooden box recovered from his tomb, “the painted wood box from Tut's tomb shows him vanquishing Nubians and Syrians.” (Araldo De Luca) Due to the amount of representation of Tutankhamun as a warrior through paintings, and the amount of belligerent items found in his tomb it can be conceived that a New Kingdom Pharaoh must be strong and be fearless when it comes to war.

Another important role of a pharaoh was to be chief of the...