Egyptian splendor

Wrote this on Myspace earlier this year. Because I don't use that page much anymore instead of just sending the link, I copied it here:
20 Feb 2007
King Tut
Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. Only King for about 9 years his reign was not well-known, however, it was believed he ruled from about 1333 BCE until he died about 1325 BCE. His death is still met with debate, some feeling he was murdered, others concluding he may have developed an infection following a broken bone possibly only weeks before he died.
The history of that time is a bit sketchy and after Horemheb took power much of the evidence of the reigns of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ay (Tut's successor) were mysteriously erased, however, modern day fascination remains strong and the current tour of artifacts are welcomed wherever they travel.
In the late '70's a smaller collection called "Treasures of Tutankamun" toured 7 cities in the United States. It was wildly popular then and has recently been brought around again to an ever-increasing audience. Currently, treasures from King Tut's tomb as well as other Egyptian artifacts are on display again in the US for the first time in over 26 years. This most recent tour is called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs." It started in June of 2005 in Los Angeles, then traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, and is currently in Philadelphia. The latter, is the last U.S. stop before going to London in November.

I had the pleasure to see this fabulous collection this past weekend as a Valentine's gift from my husband! Forget flowers, that evening started with a granite statue found as part of a pair at The Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. We viewed so many wonderful items. A wood statue of Amenhotep III who may have been the great-great grandfather of Tut, a canopic jar of Queen Kiya (one of 4 that held her mummified organs), the brown Quartzite head of Queen Nefertiti, a gray granite statue of Tuthmosis IV (possible the great-grandfather of Tut), & his mother Tiaa, a model boat from the tomb of Amenhotep II, a perfume bottle in blues and yellow, a leather and gilded copper dog collar, Shabti's (funerary figurines), a resin-covered wooden statue of a Leonine Goddess, the funerary mask of Tjuya made of wood, gesso, gold, glass and obsidian, the head of a colossal statue of Amenhotep (Akhenaten) made of sandstone, quartzite figurines, a limestone relief from a ramp of a palace, wooden sculpture of the head of a Cow Goddess, a chair of Princess Sitamun, a canopic chest of Tjuya made of wood, gesso, & gold, one of the 4 calcite canopic jars used for holding the mummified organs, and the beautiful life-sized coffin of Tjuya made of wood, gesso, gold, calcite, glass & obsidian.

One of my favorite display items was a bust of Tutankhamun made simply of wood, gesso & paint (below picture), looking at it for me was almost hypnotic. I really felt as if I were looking into the face of this young boy King. This postcard picture doesn't really show how you see it there. The lighting is obviously better in person.

Other items we viewed included a decorative chest for storing headrests & clothing, a cartouche shaped box that may have contained coronation regalia, a small game board in ivory & gold, a jewelry chest, 1 of 7 ritual headrests found in the tomb made of royal blue colored glass & gold, his chair and footrest from when he was a small child, calcite vessels for holding oils & resins, cosmetic jar, oil vessel with an inlaid lotus decoration, a shrine for a statue with scenes depicting Tut & his wife, a sistrum (rattle), a trumpet of silver with a wooden mold insert, a ceremonial shield, an Ankh-shaped mirror, a staff, crook & flail, and a scarab decoration. The serpent Goddess made of wood and painted decoratively was really interesting, supposedly provided to aid the deceased King in his heavenly ascent. Four coffinette's (to hold his liver, lungs, intestines & stomach) were found, the one of which would have held his liver was in this display. It was small but beautiful, made of gold, carnelian, rock crystal, obsidian & glass.


The tomb contained more than 30 golden statuettes and 431 funerary figurines. A couple on display here were impressive including a figure of Tut in wood with gilded gold holding the royal crook & flail.


The last items included the diadem found on Tutankhamun's head. No, his mummified head was not there, just the small crown made of gold, glass, obsidian, carnelian, malachite, calcedony & lapis lazuli, the gold falcon collar from around his neck, the cobra symbol from the royal headdress and a ceremonial dagger & sheath made of gold and glass. That was found by his hip in a golden girdle.

The final part to the display were a few CT scans from 2005. The scans suggest he was about 19 when he died, of slight build but healthy, and about 5'6".
From facial reconstructions based on those scans, artists were able to build models of what the boy pharaoh's face may have looked like. Three teams were involved - American, French, & Egyptian. The Americans & French worked from a plastic skull, the French knew they were reconstructing Tut, but the Americans did not. The Egyptians worked from the CT scans and also knew whose images they were working with. The end results of the reconstruction produced either identical or really similar shapes of the face, size and shape of the eyes, and the skull proportion. Where they differed were in the shapes of the end of the nose and the ears.


If you are in the Philadelphia area, 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" will be on tour until the end of September at the Franklin Institute. Go to King Tut for information.
If you go, keep in mind the crowds can be a little frustrating. You can wander thru the gallery and view each display at your own pace but groups of people do gather at certain items and tend to get a bit pushy. I figured that since we'd paid as much as everyone else we had the right to stay longer at pieces of interest too and just waited until a few people moved on rather than feeling rushed. The only other thing that might be annoying was how the end of the tour brought you into a gift shop filled with a couple interesting items but mostly just tacky over-priced souveniers. They got me too tho, I bought postcards because photography wasn't allowed anywhere in the exhibit.