Tutankhamun
A short reign, a remarkable burial and an extraordinary legacy for the study of ancient Egypt.
- Reign
- c.1336–1327 BCE
- Dynasty
- 18th Dynasty
- Period
- New Kingdom
- Also written
- Tutankhaten · Nebkheperure · Tutankhamen · King Tut · توت عنخ آتون · نب خبرو رع
Who they were
Tutankhamun came to the throne as a child after the Amarna period. During his reign, traditional cults (the worship and rituals devoted to a deity or royal figure) were restored and the royal name changed from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Details of his early life and parentage remain subjects of research.
Why they matter
In November 1922, Howard Carter’s excavation team, including Egyptian workers, uncovered the entrance to KV62. Although the tomb had been entered by robbers in antiquity, it preserved an exceptional part of a royal burial assemblage. Recording and conserving it became a long collaborative undertaking.
What happened
During Tutankhamun’s short reign, the court restored support for traditional gods after Akhenaten’s religious changes. At Luxor Temple, the Opet reliefs connect that restoration with a public festival of Amun. Horemheb later replaced Tutankhamun’s royal names on those scenes with his own.
Tutankhamun died young and was buried in KV62. Its small size and limited wall decoration contrast with the quantity of burial equipment it contained. The ancient brown spots on its painted walls are a separate conservation question; they cannot by themselves explain the circumstances of his death or burial.
What they built in Luxor
The decoration of the Great Colonnade at Luxor Temple — the Opet procession on both side walls, carved in his reign and later re-inscribed with Horemheb’s cartouches (an oval frame containing a royal name). The Restoration Stela was set up at Karnak. His tomb is KV62. Very little else in Luxor is his, and a good deal of what was became somebody else’s.
Where to meet them
The burial chamber preserves the stone sarcophagus. The outer gilded wooden coffin was moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in July 2019; it should not be described as still inside the tomb. Confirm current displays separately.
What is disputed
Each claim below carries its evidence class. A claim marked interpretation or uncertain is not a weaker version of a fact — it is a different kind of statement, and the note says why.
- Uncertain
Who his parents were.
A genetic study published in 2010 identified the body in KV55 as his father and a body known as the Younger Lady as his mother. Both identifications depend on further identifications that are themselves argued about — KV55 is most often called Akhenaten but has also been called Smenkhkare — and the methods and the sample have been questioned in print. Akhenaten as his father is the common reading; it is not settled.
- Uncertain
How he died.
The murder story rests on a fragment of bone inside the skull, which is now generally explained as damage done during embalming or during the unwrapping in the 1920s rather than a blow. Imaging has since shown a fracture of the left leg and evidence of malaria has been reported. A cause of death is not established, and this site does not pick one.
- Uncertain
That further chambers lie hidden behind the walls of KV62.
Proposals for hidden chambers have attracted attention, but a proposal is not a discovery. Do not treat an unconfirmed chamber or an identification with Nefertiti as established archaeology.
Before and after
Sources & further reading6
Source review is incomplete. Consultation dates are shown only for checked references.
Published works and institutional references for further reading.