20 secrets of the pharaoh
It turns out that the favorite boy-king of Egypt was not so “golden” as they say. New research has shown that Pharaoh Tutankhamun was actually a weak teenager with cleft palate and clubfoot.
“He was a sick child,” says Egyptologist Emily Teeter.
Based on DNA and CT scans, scientists concluded that Tut had a genetic bone disease and malaria, which, combined with a compound leg fracture, could have caused his death at the age of 19 approximately 3,000 years ago. The king and his family, despite their status and wealth, were just as mere mortals prone to diseases as ordinary peasants - numerous traces of malaria were found on the bodies of members of the royal family found in the tombs.
Moreover, the tradition of blood marriages worsened the health of the pharaohs greatly. New research has proven that Tutankhamun's father was Pharaoh Akhenaten, and his mother was his father's sister, that is, his aunt. In Egypt, this was not considered incest. The pharaohs were equated with the gods, and therefore it was forbidden to "mix" someone else's blood into one's own kind. (Attention! Some of the photos presented in the selection may seem unpleasant and frightening.)
Archaeologist Howard Carter dusts off the sarcophagus containing the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. (Harry Burton)
Detailed photo of the tomb of Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt from 1358 to 1350 BC. e. (AP Photo)
Some of the treasures found in Tutankhamun's tomb in 1923. (AP Photo)
Archaeologists remove an object from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Pharaohs in Luxor, Egypt, 1923. (AP Photo)
Entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamen. (AP Photo/Ham Wright)
Golden coffin of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. (AP Photo)
One of the many finds during excavations in Cairo, in the tomb of Tutankhamun. (AP Photo)
Tomb of Tutankhamun. The picture was taken in the 1920s. (AP Photo)
Ancient artifacts are taken out of the pharaoh's tomb during excavations in Cairo. (AP Photo)
A headdress found during excavations in Cairo in the 1920s. (AP Photo)
Archaeologists carry out ancient artifacts during excavations in Cairo. (AP Photo)
Daggers found during excavations in Luxor. (AP Photo)
Sarcophagus in Tutankhamun's tomb. (AP Photo)
In this undated photograph, Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, examines his sarcophagus. The famous Egyptian pharaoh suffered from cleft palate and clubfoot, so he most likely walked with a cane. (AP Photo/File)
This is the ark of Tutankhamen, where the vessels with his insides were kept. The vault is adorned with cobras gleaming in the sun and free-standing statues of the goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selkit. (AP Photo)
Statue of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen. The picture was taken in 1927. (AP Photo)
The entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb (center) lies in front of the tourist center in Egypt's Valley of the Pharaohs. Archaeologist John Romer fears that the Nile may flood the valley. (AP Photo/Nicolas B. Tatro)
The mask of the golden coffin of King Tut-anah-Aman, who ruled Egypt around 1350 BC. e. at the Egyptian Treasure Museum in Cairo. The pure gold mask weighs over 10.5 kg. On the forehead is the personification of the goddesses of Northern and Southern Egypt. (AP Photo)
Workers at the National Gallery of Art in Washington remove protective bags from King Tut's golden mask on September 8, 1976. This mask, along with 55 other treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamen, went on a "tour" of museums around the world. Tutankhamun's mask is decorated with carnelian, lapis lazuli, colored glass and quartz. (AP Photo/Charles Bennett)
Barbara Hall of the University of Chicago and Yale Nyland retrieve King Tut's treasure in New Orleans on September 6, 1977. (AP Photo)
One of the golden sarcophagi of Pharaoh Tutankhamen in a museum in Cairo. This is the third and farthest mummy coffin, made from a single piece of gold. A second golden coffin can be seen in the background. (CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images)
Wooden figure of Tutankhamun at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. This 3,000-year-old mannequin is part of an extensive collection of over 130 items from Tutankhamun's tomb and other tombs in the Valley of the Pharaohs, which were on display at the institute from February 3 to September 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
Tutankhamun's sarcophagus is placed back in an underground tomb in the Valley of the Pharaohs on November 4, 2007. The mummy of the 19-year-old pharaoh, whose life and death have interested people for almost a century, was placed in a special climate-controlled glass box, leaving only his face and legs uncovered. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The gilded and ornate coffin of Tuya, believed to be Tutankhamen's great-grandmother, is on display at the Chicago Museum as part of the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition. The exhibition featured more than 130 treasures from the tombs of the pharaoh, known as the "boy pharaoh", and other royal tombs. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Dr. Zahi Hawass (centre) watches as King Tut's mummy is moved from its stone sarcophagus in the famous Valley of the Pharaohs in Luxor, Egypt, on November 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, Pool, File)
Tutankhamen's sarcophagus in his tomb after archaeologists removed the pharaoh's mummy from it. The mummy was protected from moisture and pollution brought by a constant stream of visitors. On November 11, 2007, Egyptian authorities limited access to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen to 400 people a day. (CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images)
Pharaoh Tutankhamen's feet in a special climate-controlled glass box. The real face of the famous Egyptian pharaoh was presented to the public for the first time since his strange death more than 3,000 years ago. The pharaoh's mummy was moved from the sarcophagus to the tomb, where his discovery in 1922 became a real sensation. (CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images)
In this Discovery Channel image, the mummies of Tutankhamun's mother, Tutankhamun's grandmother, and Tutankhamun's father can be seen, shown to reporters at a press conference by archaeologist Zahi Hawass at the Cairo Museum on February 17, 2010. Two years of DNA analysis and tomography of the mummy of Tutankhamun and 15 other pharaohs helped establish the family tree of the royal family, proving that Tutankhamun's father was Pharaoh Akhenaten, and his mother was his own sister. (AP Photo/Discovery Channel, Shawn Baldwin)
The coffin with the insides of the pharaoh. Tutankhamun had four miniature coffins made of gold and semi-precious stones and colored glass. Each of them stood separately in a niche. On the line of ancient scriptures, from top to bottom, the names of Imseti, one of the sons of Horus, and the goddess Isis, who protected the organs inside (in this case, the liver), were indicated. The ornament around the pharaoh's name was redesigned and originally bore the name of Tutankhamun's relatives. (AP Photo/Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig, Andreas F. Voegelin)
The mummy of Tutankhamun's mother in a glass box during a press conference at the Egyptian Museum on February 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Discovery Channel, Shawn Baldwin)
Tutankhamun's entrails coffin displayed at a press conference in London on November 13, 2007. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
One of two mummified embryos found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen in 1922. Egyptian scientists conducted DNA tests to find out if these fetuses were the children of the young pharaoh. (AP Photo/Supreme Council of Antiquities)
The mummy of Tutankhamun's grandmother in a glass box at the Cairo Museum on February 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Discovery Channel, Shawn Baldwin)
Two mummies of Tutankhamun's grandmother Queen Tuya (front) and his mother in glass cases in the Cairo Museum. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Tourists surround the golden mask of Tutankhamun at the Cairo Museum February 15, 2010. To maintain the desired temperature, specialized air conditioners were installed in the room before the start of the exposition. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
In this photo taken on November 4, 2007, you can see the face of Tutankhamen's mummy wrapped in a special cloth in a glass sarcophagus in the tomb of the Valley of the Pharaohs. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
This photo, posted on May 10, 2005, shows a model of Pharaoh Tutankhamun created by a French team based on facial reconstructions made using computer scans of the pharaoh's mummy. Three teams of artists and scientists from France, the US and Egypt have created models of the young pharaoh's face based on very high resolution scans. All three teams worked separately from each other. (AP Photo/Supreme Council of Antiquities and the National Geographic Society, HO)
