Today we have already read with you a conspiracy and mysterious version of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun, and now let's get acquainted with the traditional one.
Lord Carnarvon, a typical English aristocrat, was an addicted man. A passionate hunter, then a derby lover, then an athlete-motorist, a fan of aeronautics, having been deprived of all previous hobbies due to illness, he turned to his friend, the director of the Egyptian department at the British Museum, W. Budge, with a request to advise any interesting occupation, where no physical effort is required. Half in jest, W. Budge drew the attention of Lord Carnarvon to Egyptology. And at the same time he suggested the name of Howard Carter, a young professional archaeologist who worked with famous scientists Petrie and Davis. The same name was given to him by G. Maspero, director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo …
This story, full of mysteries and mysteries, begins with an amazing coincidence of circumstances and a brilliant coincidence of two recommendations. A story that still excites the minds of people.
The story of the opening of the tomb
Theodore Davis, who discovered many of the royal tombs, had a concession to excavate in the Valley of the Kings. In 1914, believing that the entire Valley had already been dug up and that any serious find was hardly possible, Davis refused the concession in favor of Carnarvon. And Maspero warned the lord that digging in the Valley of the Kings was hopeless and costly. But the English madman believed in H. Carter's obsession! He wanted to dig out the tomb of Tutankhamun by all means. He almost figured out her whereabouts! The fact is that at various times, working with Davis, Carter found a faience goblet from the tomb, a broken wooden casket with golden leaves on which the name of Tutankhamun is inscribed, and an earthen vessel with the remains of linen bandages - they were forgotten by the priests who embalmed the pharaoh's corpse. All three finds indicated that the tomb was nearby, that it had not been plundered,like many, many tombs of the Egyptian kings.
The sight of the Valley of the Kings left a depressing impression on Lord Carnarvon. The bottom of the pit was littered with gigantic piles of rubble and debris and gaped with black gaps of uncovered and robbed graves carved into the foot of the rocks. Where to start work? Really stir up all this rubble?..
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But Carter knew where to start. He drew three lines according to the pit plan connecting the points of the three finds, and thus marked the search triangle. It turned out to be not very large and was located between three graves - Seti II, Mernepta and Ramses VI. The archaeologist turned out to be so accurate that the first blow of the pickaxe fell just above the place where the first step of the stairs leading to the tomb of Tutankhamun was located! But Howard Carter found out about this only after six long years - or rather, six archaeological seasons, during which rubble rubble was cleared.
In the first year, Carter stumbled upon the remains of unknown walls. It turned out that these are the ruins of houses where carvers, stone cutters and artists lived, busy with work on the royal tomb. The walls were not on rocky ground, but on rubble excavated from the rock during the construction of the tomb of Ramses VI. Respecting the latter. Carter decided to push back his fame by six years: he moved the excavation of rubble, leaving the ruins of the walls intact. To this he was prompted by the desire not to interfere with numerous excursions, for excavations would have blocked the already narrow passage to the already open and explored tomb of Ramses. Finally, the triangle slated for clearing was completely cleared of rubble. However, the archaeologist did not find a trace of the desired grave. Carnarvon, who had invested a lot in this risky endeavor, was inclined to give up. It was a great effort for a desperate archaeologist to persuade the lord to continue his search - "just one season." Carter, who was able to persuade, convinced the aristocrat.
In this undated photo, Howard Carter - the archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb - examines his sarcophagus. The famous Egyptian pharaoh suffered from a cleft palate and clubfoot, so he most likely walked using a cane. (AP Photo / File)
Here are the entries from his diary:
“Our last winter in the Valley has begun. For six seasons in a row we carried out archaeological work here, and season after season passed without bringing results. We have been excavating for months, toiling with utmost effort and finding nothing. Only an archaeologist knows this feeling of hopeless depression. We had already begun to put up with our defeat and were preparing to leave the Valley …”
On November 3, 1922, workers began to demolish the walls of the barracks left by Carter in 1917. Demolishing the walls, they also removed a meter layer of rubble that was under them.
In the early morning of November 4, an intriguing silence suddenly settled over the Valley. Carter immediately rushed to where the workers were crowded near the fresh pit. And he could not believe his eyes: from under the rubble appeared the first step, carved into the rock.
Their enthusiasm returned and the work accelerated. Step by step the group advanced to the base of the stairs. Finally, the entire staircase was free, and a door appeared, blocked by stones, walled up and double-sealed. Looking at the imprints of the seal, Carter with great joy discovered its royal belonging: a necropolis with the image of a jackal and nine prisoners. This alone gave hope that the robbers did not reach the tomb. Its very location and the circumstances of the excavations indicated that, apparently, everyone had forgotten about it long ago: the stonemasons were too lazy to carry away the rubble that was knocked out of the rock from a strange tomb, and dumped it first at the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb, and later on top of it. For the priests, who vigilantly guarded the entrances, it turned out to be in the hands, since there was less chance that the robbers would remember the rich tomb. And even if they do, you won't wish the enemy to shovel so much rubble to get into the grave. Then the priests themselves forgot about the tomb … And later over this tomb they built houses for the workers who worked in the Valley, thereby finally burying and “secreting” the place of the tomb of the young pharaoh.
At the top of the masonry, Carter made a small hole and, shining a light into it, looked inside. He saw nothing but stones and rubble. The piles rose to the ceiling. The disbelieved Lord Carnarvon was not only in the Valley of the Kings, but also in Egypt. Carter sent him a telegram to England. “Finally,” it said, “you have made a wonderful discovery in the Valley: the magnificent tomb with intact seals is closed again before your arrival. Congratulations.
“It was an exciting moment for an archaeologist,” Carter wrote. “All alone, apart from the local workers, after years of careful effort I stood on the cusp of what could have been a magnificent discovery. Anything, literally anything, could be behind this entrance, and it took all my composure not to break into the masonry and not begin immediate research."
In order not to tempt himself and for greater safety, Howard Carter again filled up the stairs, put up a guard and waited for Carnarvon. Lord Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert arrived in Luxor on 23 November. Dr. Alan Gardiner, whom Carnarvon had invited on the trip, promised to arrive early in the new year. Dr. Gardiner is an expert on papyri, and his knowledge could be useful when opening the tomb, for the discoverers hoped to find many inscriptions in it, and possibly scrolls. When the stairs were cleared again, the archaeologists finally looked at the seals. Undoubtedly, one of them was royal, and the other priestly: an imprint of the seal of the guards of the necropolis. This means that the thieves still visited the tomb. However, if the tomb had been completely robbed, it would not make sense to seal it again. But this circumstance greatly spoiled Carter's mood as they cleared a 27-foot-long corridor running east-west. On November 26, archaeologists discovered a second walled-up doorway.
Carter wrote:
“Finally we saw the door completely cleared. The decisive moment has come. With trembling hands, I cut a narrow gap in the upper left corner of the masonry. Behind it there was a void, as far as I could determine with an iron probe … they tested the air on the candle flame, for the accumulation of dangerous gases, and then I slightly expanded the hole, stuck the candle into it and looked inside. Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn Herbert, and the Egyptologist Callender stood by, anxiously awaiting my verdict. At first I couldn't see anything, because the hot air from the tomb was blowing out the candle. But gradually my eyes became accustomed to the flickering light, and strange animals, statues and … gold - gold sparkled everywhere from the semi-darkness! For a moment - to those who stood next to me, it seemed like an eternity! - I was numb with amazement. Finally Lord Carnarvon asked excitedly:
- Do you see anything?
“Yes,” I replied. - Wonderful things … “
The seal on the door of the tomb.
Tomb treasures
Hundreds of objects were in the room, later called the Front Room, in complete disarray, “like unnecessary furniture in a closet,” as Sir Alan Gardiner aptly put it. And only two full-length figures, symmetrically mutually directed, stood on both sides of the walled and sealed doorway that was on the right wall. The figures were made of wood, impregnated with something like asphalt, painted with black and gold paints, on their foreheads were the royal urei, and in their hands - golden wands. Each of the figures leaned on a long staff. After examining the contents of the Front Room, Carter and Carnarvon understood the meaning of the walled entrance:
"Behind the sealed door were other chambers, maybe a whole suite, no doubt … we should have seen the remains of the pharaoh."
One of Carter's colleagues wrote equally excitedly:
“We saw something incredible, a scene from a fairy tale, a magnificent treasury of opera sets, the embodiment of the dreams of a creative composer. Opposite us stood three royal boxes, and around them were chests, chests, alabaster vases, armchairs and chairs upholstered in gold - a heap of treasures of the pharaoh, who died … even before Crete reached its prime, long before the birth of Greece and the conception of Rome - since more than half of the history of civilization has passed …"
Gradually, other details came to light: most likely, the robbers were found at the scene of the crime, and they, leaving everything that they had picked up, fled in a hurry and randomly, without having had time to do much harm. But the priests acted no less randomly: having hastily shoved back into the chests the royal clothes and objects, of which the small ones were poured there, although they were obviously stored in other caskets, the guards of the necropolis just as hastily left the tomb and walled up the entrance to it. For the first time in the history of excavation, Howard Carter faced the possibility of finding an intact royal coffin. There was a great temptation to immediately open the sealed second door, but the archaeologist acted according to his scientific duty: he announced that he would begin to extract objects from the tomb only after all measures were taken to preserve them! The preparatory work lasted two months.
Meanwhile, in Cairo, a special separate wing was added to the Egyptian Museum for the work and storage of the new exhibition. From the Antiquities Service, Carter received special permission to use the tomb of Pharaoh Seti II as a laboratory and workshop. Items from the tomb were transferred into it one by one, pre-processed and sent to Cairo. Other archaeologists were recruited - Litgow, curator of the Egyptian Department of the Metropolitan Museum; Burton is a photographer; Winlock and Mace, also from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; draftsmen Hall and Hauser, Lucas - Director of the Egyptian Department of Chemistry. Alan Gardiner arrived to decipher the inscriptions, botanist Professor Percy Newberry - to identify flowers, wreaths and other plants found in the tomb.
More than six hundred items were discovered in the Front Room, all of which were painstakingly described and sketched by Carter himself.
Much that G. Carter encountered was for the first time. The first untouched royal coffin, the first collection in terms of the number of items, the first … the excitement around excavations, truly worldwide! Archaeologists have never encountered this problem: hundreds of reporters, crowds of visitors interfering with their work. The world press published its conclusions on one topic or another - to the point that "Tutankhamun is the very Pharaoh under whom the exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place." V. Vikentiev also allowed himself far-reaching conclusions, writing from the scene to Moscow. Having interpreted the tightness of the tomb in his own way, he decided that Tutankhamun was reburied more than once - following the example of the restless Ramses III, whom the priests carried from place to place three times! He even found like-minded people allegedly in the person of Borchardt, Ranke and Benedit. And at the same time, Ankhesenpaamon was confused in the names of the pharaohs and the wife of Tutankhamun …
Finally, Carter cleared the Front Room and was ready to unfold the entrance to the Golden Hall. Of all those who wished to attend the event, only the Times correspondent was admitted inside.
A detailed photo of the tomb of Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt from 1358 to 1350 BC. (AP Photo)
Sir Alan Gardiner told about the opening of the "Golden Hall":
“When Carter removed the top row of masonry, we saw a wall of solid greenery behind it, or so it seemed to us at first glance. But when all the masonry had been removed, we realized that we were seeing one side of the huge outer Ark. We knew about such arks from the descriptions in the ancient papyri, but here he was in front of us. In all its blue and gold splendor, it filled the entire space of the second room. It almost reached the ceiling in height, with no more than two feet between the walls and the walls of the room. Carter and Carnarvon walked in first, squeezing through the narrow space, and we waited for them to return. When they left, both threw up their hands in amazement, unable to describe what they saw. Others followed, pair by pair. I remember how Professor Lako said to me with a grin: “You better not try:you are too … respectable. " Nevertheless, when my turn came, I entered the inner room with Professor Brasted. We squeezed between the walls and the ark, turned left and found ourselves in front of the entrance to the ark with a large double door. Carter pushed the bolt open and opened these doors, so that we could see inside the large outer ark, which was 12 feet long and 11 wide, another inner ark with the same double doors, with the seals still intact. Only later did we learn that there were four gilded arks, inserted into one another, like in a set of Chinese carved boxes, and only in the last, fourth, was the sarcophagus resting. But we were able to see him only a year later. "turned left and found ourselves in front of the entrance to the ark with a large double door. Carter pushed the bolt open and opened these doors, so that we could see inside the large outer ark, which was 12 feet long and 11 wide, another inner ark with the same double doors, with the seals still intact. Only later did we learn that there were four gilded arks, inserted into one another, like in a set of Chinese carved boxes, and only in the last, fourth, was the sarcophagus resting. But we were able to see him only a year later. "turned left and found ourselves in front of the entrance to the ark with a large double door. Carter pushed the bolt open and opened these doors, so that we could see inside the large outer ark, which was 12 feet long and 11 wide, another inner ark with the same double doors, with the seals still intact. Only later did we learn that there were four gilded arks, inserted into one another, like in a set of Chinese carved boxes, and only in the last, fourth, was the sarcophagus resting. But we were able to see him only a year later. "with the seals not yet touched. Only later did we learn that there were four gilded arks, inserted into one another, like in a set of Chinese carved boxes, and only in the last, fourth, was the sarcophagus resting. But we were able to see him only a year later. "with the seals not yet touched. Only later did we learn that there were four gilded arks, inserted into one another, like in a set of Chinese carved boxes, and only in the last, fourth, was the sarcophagus resting. But we were able to see him only a year later."
And here is how Howard Carter himself told about it:
“At that moment we lost all desire to open these seals, for we suddenly felt that we were invading the forbidden domain; this oppressive feeling was further strengthened by the linen sheets falling from the inner ark. It seemed to us that the ghost of the deceased pharaoh appeared before us, and we should bow before him."
When all the preparatory work was completed, Carter began to open the ark itself. As already mentioned, another one was inserted inside, which was in no way inferior in decoration to the outside, and, having torn off the royal seals, the archaeologist found two more arks, one in the other, and they were no less beautiful than the first two. Opening them, Carter touched the royal sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was made of yellow quartzite and stood on an alabaster pedestal. The lid of the sarcophagus was made of pink granite. The stone cutters did their best: the high reliefs on the four sides depicted the goddesses guarding the sarcophagus, hugging it with their arms and wings.
For three months the four arks were dismantled. Craftsmen connected their parts using hooks and ears. In order to carry the arks, Carter had to destroy the entire wall that separated the "Golden Chamber" from the Front Room. The coffin rested under a linen shroud that had turned brown from time to time. The block system lifted the heavy lid of the sarcophagus and the shroud was also removed. Those present became eyewitnesses of a dazzling spectacle: a gilded coffin carved out of wood repeated the shape of a mummy and sparkled as if it had just been made. Tutankhamun's head and arms were made from a thick sheet of gold. Eyes made of volcanic glass, eyebrows and eyelids of turquoise glass mass - everything looked "like living". The eagle and the viper were marked on the forehead of the mask - symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. The most important detail, which we will leave to the archaeologist himself:
“What, however, among this dazzling wealth made the greatest impression, was a wreath of wildflowers grabbing at the heart, which a young widow put on the lid of the coffin. All the regal splendor, all the royal splendor paled in front of the modest, enthralled flowers, which still retained traces of their old fresh colors. They eloquently reminded us of how fleeting the millennia are."
To the surprise of scientists, inside, under the lid of the coffin, there was another coffin depicting the pharaoh as the god Osiris. Its artistic value, decorated with jasper, lapis lazuli and turquoise glass, as well as gilded, is invaluable. And lifting the second lid. Carter discovered a third coffin made of thick gold leaf, completely copying the figure of the mummy. The coffin was strewn with semi-precious stones, necklaces and beads of different colors sparkled around the figure's neck.
The mummy was covered with aromatic resin, and the head and shoulders were covered with a golden mask, the face of the pharaoh was sad and somewhat pensive. His arms, made of gold leaf, were crossed over his chest.
Removing the mask, the archaeologists looked at the mummy's face. It turned out to be surprisingly similar to all the found masks and images of Tutankhamun. The masters who portrayed the deceased were the most "inveterate" realists.
Dr. Derry, while unwinding the mummy's bandages, discovered 143 items: bracelets, necklaces, rings, amulets and daggers made of meteorite iron. The fingers and toes were in gold cases. At the same time, the carvers did not forget to mark the nails.
Behind the tomb, the searchers found an entrance to another room. And it was full of wonders … Archaeologists called it the Treasure. There was an ark for the Pharaoh's canopics, guarded by four goddesses of gold, golden chariots, a statue of the god Anubis with a jackal's head, a huge number of caskets with jewels. In one of them, opened by Carter, on top lay a fan of ostrich feathers, which looked as if it had been put there yesterday … A few days later, the feathers suddenly began to dry out quickly, they barely had time to be preserved.
“However,” recalled Alan Gardiner, “when I saw them for the first time, they were fresh and perfect and made such a deep impression on me that I have never experienced and probably will never again.”
In addition to the ark-chapel, where the brains, heart and entrails of the deceased were kept, taken from him during embalming, and the jackal god Anubis lying on a gilded stretcher, there were many caskets made of ivory, alabaster and wood, inlaid with gold and blue faience. The caskets contained household items and several golden statues of Tutankhamun himself. There were still others. one chariot and models of sailing boats. The main thing that Howard Carter discovered in the treasury was that it was not touched by the robber's hand. Everything was in the places where the priests of Amun had placed.
For archeology, the value of this discovery lies not only in the treasures found, but in the high art and thoroughness with which all these wonderful things were described and preserved.
Barbara Hall of the University of Chicago and Yale Neeland retrieve Tut's treasure in New Orleans on September 6, 1977. (AP Photo)
The mystery of the curse
Sir Alan Gardiner mentioned one very important thing: the construction of the later tomb of Ramses VI. The stonecutters, as if without hesitation, threw the rubble not just to the foot of the rock in which the tomb was carved. It seems as if the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun was blocked on purpose. For what? What made the workers and job managers do this? Why, despite the strong protection of the necropolis, almost all the tombs were looted, and the tomb of Tutankhamun, which stood for several decades untouched, was subjected to only one robbery attempt that ended in failure?..
Oh, how he was right!.. Unfortunately, when opening the burial, archaeologists took samples only for the flame of a candle, that is, for dangerous gases … How often rock pursues seekers of antiquities, especially in Egypt! The mummy, which has lain in its cell, in its coffin for more than three millennia, as if alive, guards its wealth.
This was followed by events that were not so directly related to archaeologists. There was a problem with the monopoly on newspaper information, which Lord Carnarvon gave to the famous "Times". The flow of visitors has increased tremendously. Finally, the alarmingly ridiculous and fundamentally filthy quarrel between Lord and Carter over the "division" of the loot from the tomb. The aristocrat became like an ancient robber, demanding "his share". It was as if a demon had possessed Lord Carnarvon, who was well aware that Davis had publicly given up his "share" in favor of the Egyptian Museum. And to dismember a unique find, which to this day is the only one of its kind. it would be unforgivable and even criminal. At least in relation to us, descendants, and those who will come for us.
Archaeologists retrieve an item from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Pharaohs in Luxor, Egypt, 1923. (AP Photo)
We say "like a demon." Or maybe someone possessed the lord in those moments that he spent in the ark?.. Here, of course, a certain secret is hidden. Much has ceased to be the same after twenty people have visited the "Golden Hall" in pairs.
“They exchanged the most caustic words,” wrote Brasted about Carter and Lord Carnarvon, “and Carter furiously asked his old friend to leave and never return. Soon after, Lord Carnarvon fell ill with a fever from an inflamed wound. He struggled for a while. But pneumonia began, and on April 5, 1924, he died at the age of 57. Newspapers attributed his death to the ancient curse of the pharaohs and fanned this superstitious invention until it became legend.
However, let us recall the following. Count Emon, a famous mystic of his time, was not too lazy to write to the lord:
“Let Lord Carnarvon not enter the tomb. He is in danger if he does not listen. Will get sick and not get well."
The deadly fever overtook the lord literally a few days after the event that had been warned about. The statements of relatives and doctors are also contradictory. Brasted writes about the "inflamed wound", while others - about the "bite of an infectious mosquito", which the lord allegedly always feared. A man who did not fear anything in life! Death found him in a room at the Continental Hotel in Cairo. The American Arthur Mays soon died in the same hotel. He complained of fatigue, then fell into a coma and died, not having time to convey his feelings to the doctors. They could not make a diagnosis! The radiologist Archibald Reed, who examined the body of Tutankhamun using X-rays, was sent home, where he soon died "from fever."
Of course, not all Egyptologists were overtaken by death immediately after the opening of the ark. Lady Evelyn, Sir Alan Gardiner, Dr. Derry, Engelbach, Burton and Winlock had a long life. Professor Percy Newberry died at the age of 80 in August 1949, like Derry and Gardiner. Carter himself lived until 1939 and died at the age of 66.
We will probably find the cause of the deaths if we accept the unexpected deaths in the Carter group, including the death of Lord Carnarvon, for the events of one chain. Obviously, a group of thieves caught by the priests at the crime scene suffered the same fate. No one can guarantee that the priests of the necropolis themselves did not soon go to the forefathers, who sealed the entrance to the tomb for the second time, where they hurriedly threw the objects taken from the robbers. Apparently, the "curse" hanging over the tomb of the young Tutankhamun is not delirium of journalists, but reality. Thieves no longer touched Pharaoh's gold, no matter how much they wanted to. The priests, too, did not dare to rob!.. It is known for certain that the priests participated in many thefts from the royal graves … No one dared to encroach on the tomb of Tutankhamun:in the minds of the robbers for many centuries there was a clear prohibition to touch the things of the deceased ruler. And the blockage of rubble, undertaken by the stonemasons of the late tomb of Ramses VI, does not look like hiding from anyone the traces of Tutankhamun's burial - what about the stonemasons' treasures! - but the elimination of reasons for the temptation to climb into the tomb. It can be seen that the legend of the "curse", of the mysterious deaths and diseases for many centuries passed from mouth to mouth. The robber always takes risks, but hopes to outwit fate, security, circumstances, etc. Here any madman was doomed, that is, he would have gone to certain death in advance. As a result, Carter opened only two seals on the walled front door. The third (not to mention the fourth, etc.) seal never appeared on it, since there were no more robbery attempts. And V. Vikentiev is completely wrong,who put forward in his "Letters" to the magazine "Novy Vostok" in 1923-1924 the assumption that the reburial of Tutankhamun was allegedly carried out under the tomb of Ramses VI: the walled entrance to the tomb of the young man of the king was sealed with the original seal of the pharaoh, which no longer existed in the time of the late king … Another circumstance indicating the authenticity of the burial is the very bunch of wildflowers identified by Professor Newberry: only a loving woman could have left it. Or … Here we come to a complex scheme of mystery, many links of which are still unknown and are unlikely to ever become known. What was the "curse", who and why was it imposed on the grave of an insignificant young pharaoh, who did not really have time to live? Hymns were sung to every king and "feats" were performed, which he did not perform,and here there is a clear absence of any lifetime merit, except, of course, the return of the cult of Amun, to which, for some reasons, Tutankhamun is still little involved.
Tutankhamun's tomb. The picture was taken in the 1920s. (AP Photo)
The abundance of chariots and images of a boy-pharaoh racing in a chariot speaks not so much of his divine origin, which has been established for the pharaohs since the times of the Old Kingdom (2880-2110 BC) and the construction of pyramids: this is also a circumstance, very realistically displayed by artists for 1350 BC e., says … about the boyhood of the king, who adored fast driving. The image inlaid with precious and semiprecious stones on the back of the throne, where Tutankhamun and his wife Ankhesenpaamon are courting each other, and she probably anoints him with incense, is also very realistic, even more so: Tutankhamun is swinging on the throne! What is this if not a manifestation of boyhood, youth, restlessness? Moreover, it has been proven: the portrait likeness of the pharaoh is amazing! The right hand casually thrown on the back of the throne with an elbow,while the left one rests on its knees, the hind legs of the throne, torn off the floor … The masters seem to have completely forgotten the canons in which they should have portrayed the personification of Amun-Ra. Unless only a half-turn of the body hints at the canon. However, here the artist brilliantly got out of the situation, making the pose natural, resting the boy's figure with his elbow on the back. What does he, a boy, care about the kingdom?.. Continuous love idyll. And the fact that there was love between Akhenaten's daughter and Tutankhamun is at least those two stillborn babies that Sir Alan Gardiner spoke about. Even if initially there was no love, parental grief should have brought Tutankhamun and Ankhesenpaamon closer together. Unless only a half-turn of the body hints at the canon. However, here the artist brilliantly got out of the situation, making the pose natural, resting the boy's figure with his elbow on the back. What does he, a boy, care about the kingdom?.. Continuous love idyll. And the fact that there was love between Akhenaten's daughter and Tutankhamun is at least those two stillborn babies that Sir Alan Gardiner spoke about. Even if initially there was no love, parental grief should have brought Tutankhamun and Ankhesenpaamon closer together. Unless only a half-turn of the body hints at the canon. However, here the artist brilliantly got out of the situation, making the pose natural, resting the boy's figure with his elbow on the back. What does he, a boy, care about the kingdom?.. Continuous love idyll. And the fact that there was love between Akhenaten's daughter and Tutankhamun is at least those two stillborn babies that Sir Alan Gardiner spoke about. Even if initially there was no love, parental grief should have brought Tutankhamun and Ankhesenpaamon closer together.of which Sir Alan Gardiner spoke. Even if initially there was no love, parental grief should have brought Tutankhamun and Ankhesenpaamon closer together.of which Sir Alan Gardiner spoke. Even if initially there was no love, parental grief should have brought Tutankhamun and Ankhesenpaamon closer together.
Archaeologists bring out ancient artifacts during excavations in Cairo. (AP Photo)
Continued: Part Two (207 photos)