Curse of the Pharaohs, Tutankhamun's tomb. Secret tombs of the pharaohs of Egypt

Pharaoh Tutankhamun of Egypt belongs to the Eighteenth Dynasty. He reigned from 1347 to 1337 BC. The degree of his relationship with his predecessor Amenhotep IV still remains a mystery to scientists. It is possible that the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was the younger brother of Akhenaten and the son of the latter’s father, Amenhotep III. There are those who believe that he was the king's son-in-law. After all, he was not yet ten years old, and he had already been married to one of the daughters of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti.

Years of reign

Pharaoh Tutankhamun received the throne at the age of nine. He was brought up in the spirit of atonism. This is the cult of the sun god Aten, which was introduced into Egypt by Amenhotep IV. However, in reality, the rule in the country passed to two educators and regents of the young pharaoh - Aya and Horemheb, former comrades of Akhenaten, the teachings of their former patron immediately after his death.

The Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ascended the throne early, did not leave a significant mark on history: historians only know that during the years of his reign, the process of restoration of religious cults began in the country. Many of them were rejected for the sake of the supreme Aten. It was Tutankhamun, whose name was originally “Tutankhaten,” who abolished it, proving his desire to revive the ancient cult of Amun.

To new gods

This became known when archaeologists managed to decipher the text of a large stele that he erected in the main temple of this god in Karnak. From there it became known that Pharaoh Tutankhamun not only returned to his previous cult, but also returned to the priests who worshiped Amun all their rights and property.

True, the changes did not happen immediately. For the first four years after his accession to the throne and, according to historians, under the influence of Queen Nefertiti, Pharaoh Tutankhamun still continued to rule from Akhetaten. And only after the death of their mother, supporters of the former cult of religion were able to finally gain the upper hand.

But, having left the territory of Akhetaten, the pharaoh’s court did not return to Thebes, but moved to Memphis. Of course, Pharaoh Tutankhamun visited this southern capital from time to time. There he even participated in the main city festivities in honor of Amon. However, for reasons unknown to historians, he chose Memphis as his permanent residence.

Having restored the cult of all the old gods, including Amun, Pharaoh Tutankhamun did not persecute the previous priests. He ordered the images of the Sun and Akhenaten to be left untouched. Moreover, in some inscriptions the ruler called himself “son of Aten.”

Foreign policy

During his reign, Egypt began to gradually restore its international influence, which had been considerably shaken under the previous reformer pharaoh. Thanks to the determination of the commander Horemheb, who soon after his mysterious death became the last ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Tutankhamun managed to strengthen the position of his state in Syria and Ethiopia. Perhaps the internal “pacification” achieved under this young king through the efforts of his inner circle, led by Eye, contributed greatly to strengthening the country’s external position. In honor of the victory over Syria, Karnak even depicted the arrival of the royal ship, on which there were prisoners in a cage.

Achievements

According to historians, at the same time, Egypt fought successful military battles in Nubia. Some researchers claim that Pharaoh Tutankhamun enriched his temples with trophies from war booty. From the inscription in the tomb of Amenhotep, the governor of Nubia, who was abbreviated as Khai, it became known that some tribes paid tribute.

During his reign, Pharaoh Tutankhamun, a photo of whose funeral mask is even in school textbooks, led an intensive restoration of many sanctuaries of the former gods destroyed under his predecessor. Moreover, he carried out this not only in Egypt, but also in the Nubian city of Kush. Several temples are known for certain, including those in Kava and Faras. However, later Horemheb and Ey mercilessly erased the cartouches of Tutankhamun, usurping everything that was erected under him.

A brilliant future definitely awaited him, but he died completely unexpectedly, without even having time to leave behind an heir.

Circumstances of death

Despite the fact that this famous Egyptian ruler lived more than thirty-three centuries ago, the mystery that shrouds the history of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the mystery of his death and mummification still continues to interest scientists.

The death of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the ruler of the New Kingdom, occurred at a very early age. At the time of his death he was barely nineteen years old. Such an early death has long been considered sufficient reason to call it unnatural. Some historians believe that Pharaoh Tutankhamun was killed on the orders of his own regent Ey, who then became the new ruler.

The solution to death

Recent research, however, gives some hope that the mystery of this boy king's death may be found. The discovery of his tomb in 1922 became a real sensation. Among those few burials that have survived millennia later in a relatively pristine form, the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was striking in its wealth. It was stuffed with ivory and gold, as well as various decorations. Among them was the famous funeral mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

However, the way the king was buried seems very strange. Perhaps this suggests that not everything is “pure” in his death. Most of all, scientists are suspicious of the young man’s grave itself. Its small size and unfinished decoration indicate that this young ruler died suddenly. It is this circumstance and a number of others that lead to the idea that his death was violent.

Investigation

3,300 years after the mysterious death of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, British film producer Anthony Geffen began investigating this ancient mystery. To this end, he even hired two modern detectives - former FBI investigator Greg Cooper and the director of the forensic department from the Ogden (Utah) police Mike King.

A vast amount of material was placed at the disposal of the detectives. These were not only scientific works or photographs of Tutankhamun’s tomb, his mummy and the opinions of many experts. Based on all this, detectives tried to unravel the mystery of the pharaoh's death using modern forensic methods. And they, surprisingly, managed to prove that Pharaoh Tutankhamun was killed. Moreover, they, according to them, were even able to identify the killer. However, many famous Egyptologists consider the conclusions of these detectives to be complete nonsense. Moreover, they believe that Cooper and King's studies are cobbled together from old theories and therefore cannot be taken seriously.

Amazing tomb

The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which experts call object KV62, is located in the “Valley of the Kings”. This is practically the only tomb that was almost not looted. Therefore, it reached scientists in its original form, despite the fact that it was opened twice by tomb thieves.

It was discovered in 1922 by famous Egyptologists: the British Howard Carter and the amateur archaeologist Lord Carnarvon. The tomb they found was simply amazing: its decorations were perfectly preserved, but most importantly, it contained a sarcophagus with a mummified body.

In the eyes of historians and archaeologists, Tutankhamun remained a minor, little-known pharaoh. Moreover, doubts were even expressed about the reality of the existence of such a pharaoh. This misconception continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. Therefore, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb began to be viewed as a greatest event.

Discovery of the century

On November 4, 1922, when the entrance to his tomb was cleared, it was discovered that the seals on the doors were intact. This raised hopes of making one of the biggest of the century.

On the twenty-sixth of November of that year, Carter and Carnarvon descended into the tomb for the first time in three millennia.

After excavations that lasted several months, on February 16, 1923, Carter finally managed to descend into the “holy of holies” - the burial chamber. It was called the “Golden Palace” - the place where the sarcophagus and Tutankhamun were located. Among the numerous utensils and objects buried with the ruler, many examples of art were discovered that bore the stamp of the influence of the culture of the Amarna period.

Fame

The owner of all these treasures, then a completely unknown and unexplored young Egyptian ruler, immediately became an object that attracted increased attention throughout the world. And this phenomenal discovery itself not only turned his name into a well-known one, but also caused a surge of interest in all other traces of this ancient civilization in the modern world.

After the discovery of this tomb in the Valley of the Kings by Egyptologists Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, the history of the mummy began to be shrouded in numerous secrets and fears.

Less than two months after the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was found, on April 5, 1923, 57-year-old Lord Carnarvon died at the Continental Hotel in Cairo. As it was said in the conclusion, death overtook him as a result of a “mosquito bite.” But that was just the beginning. This was followed by the death of several more people - participants in the excavations. They all went down to Tutankhamun's tomb. They turned out to be: Wood, a radiologist who examined the mummy directly in the tomb, La Fleur, a literature professor from England, Mace, a conservation specialist, and Howard Carter's assistant, Richard Bethel. Journalists started talking about the curse that the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen brings.

Lord Carnarvon's death was indeed strange: he allegedly died from pneumonia, which began after a mosquito bite. However, by a mystical coincidence, at the moment of his death, the lights completely went out in all of Cairo, and in his homeland - in distant London - the lord's dog whined pitifully. A few minutes later she fell dead.

But the curse of Pharaoh Tutankhamun did not end there. As reported in information sources, many local Egyptians who participated in the excavations died soon after the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was opened.

There is no curse

The British took out all the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb and sent them to their museums. But when people began to talk all over the world that the curse of the pharaohs would overtake anyone who was involved in the “desecration” of their graves, films and novels began to be made on this topic.

But even if it existed, for some reason it did not affect everyone. For example, the same one lived to old age and died at sixty-four years old, having lived for seventeen years after opening the sarcophagus.

In contrast to the mystical explanation of this curse, some pseudo-scientific sources began to try to logically substantiate the causes of death of all those people who visited the tombs or came into contact with mummies. Three probable versions stand out. This is the effect of poisons present in the sarcophagus and deposited during burial, the effect of certain radioactive elements or a fungus that multiplies in the grave mold.

In addition, Egyptologists point out that in the religious and magical practices of this civilization there was no such thing as a “curse”, and many people exploring the remaining tombs did not experience any problems with mysticism. Therefore, scientists blame journalists for creating this legend, who sensationalized each of the deaths of those associated with Tutankhamun’s grave.

Howard Carter worked on the search for Tutankhamun's tomb with his companion Lord George Carnarvon. In 1923, Lord Carnarvon died suddenly in a hotel in Cairo. The official cause of death was not precisely determined, since the level of development of medicine in Egypt at that time was still weak. It was either pneumonia or blood poisoning from a razor cut.

It was after this death that the press began to actively “trumpet” about the “curse of Tutankhamun.” Talk began about some mythical fungi and microorganisms that the priests left to destroy the robbers. And then Hollywood picked up the idea.

Of course, these are nothing more than fables. Lord Carnarvon was not a 20-year-old boy; he was already 57 years old at the time of his death. Pneumonia and blood poisoning were deadly diseases in those days, since antibiotics had not yet been invented.

Howard Carter himself died in 1939 at the age of 64. Logically, if the curse exists, it should have affected him first.

Another version says that there is no mysticism in the deaths of some expedition members. They were allegedly killed by Egyptian intelligence services to hide the falsification. This version is more realistic, we will talk about it in detail.

Allegations of falsification

There is an opinion that these excavations and the entire tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun are a fake. Allegedly, Carter and the Egyptian authorities built a fake tomb. This makes some sense, since Egypt made a lot of money from the sale of treasures.

Fans of this theory give the following arguments:

Firstly, at the time of Carter’s discovery, the entire Valley of the Kings had already been dug up, and it was no longer possible to find anything new there.

This argument can be immediately rejected. How is this impossible? Archaeologist Otto Schaden found another tomb here in 2005. And they will probably find more.

Second argument. Carter carried out excavations for a very long time - about 5 years. Allegedly, he spent this time building a fake.

This argument also means nothing. They can dig for 5 years, maybe 10, what’s surprising?

Third, some items look brand new. This is also possible, some items are better preserved, some worse.

Fourth, the coffin lid was split. Allegedly, this was done on purpose, since she did not fit through the door of the tomb. This argument is very dubious - the lid of the coffin split, what's surprising?

And there are a lot of similar arguments that cast a shadow of doubt, but do not prove anything.

Let's think rationally. These people claim that Carter spent 110 kilograms of gold to make a sarcophagus from it, and another 11 kilograms of gold for the mask. Found or produced approximately 3,500 artifacts.

He carved a tomb in the rock and produced two stone sarcophagi. I found somewhere an ownerless mummy of a man about 20 years old. Then he packed it all into the tomb and announced the discovery.

Read it all! He had to do all this undetected! Do you believe this is possible? Where do gold and money come from? How could this be done in secret? This is just unreal.

The museums that purchased these exhibits conduct examinations of the items in their collections. If Carter and the Egyptian government had carried out such a scam, it would have been exposed scientifically long ago.

According to the general custom in ancient times, everything that was considered most valuable to him in life was placed in the grave of the deceased: for kings and nobles - signs of their dignity, for a warrior - his weapons, etc. But they all “took” with them almost everything collected in life gold and other items that cannot rot.

There were kings and rulers who took the entire state treasury with them to their tombs, and the people, mourning the king, also mourned the loss of all their property. So the ancient tombs were treasuries that hid untold riches. To protect them from theft, the builders built entrances inaccessible to outsiders; they arranged doors with mysterious locks that were closed and opened with the help of a magical talisman.

No matter how hard the pharaohs tried to protect their tombs from plunder, no matter how sophisticated they were in trying to resist the all-destroying time, all their efforts were in vain. The genius of their architects could not defeat the evil will of man, his greed and indifference to ancient civilizations. Countless treasures, which were supplied to the afterlife of deceased rulers, members of their families and important dignitaries, have long attracted greedy robbers. Neither terrible spells, nor careful security, nor the cunning tricks of architects (camouflaged traps, walled-up chambers, false passages, secret staircases, etc.) helped against them. Thanks to a happy coincidence, only the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun remained the only one preserved almost completely intact, although it was also plundered twice in ancient times. Its discovery is associated with the names of the English Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter.

Lord Carnarvon, heir to a huge fortune, was also one of the first motorists. He barely survived one of the car accidents, and since then he had to give up his dreams of sports. To improve his health, the bored lord visited Egypt and became interested in the great past of this country. For his own entertainment, he decided to take up excavations himself, but his independent attempts in this field were unsuccessful. Money alone was not enough for this, and Lord Carnarvon did not have enough knowledge and experience. And then he was advised to seek help from archaeologist Howard Carter.

In 1914, Lord Carnarvon saw the name of Tutankhamun on one of the earthenware cups found during excavations in the Valley of the Kings. He came across the same name on a gold plate from a small cache. These finds prompted the lord to obtain permission from the Egyptian government to search for the tomb of the pharaoh. The same material evidence also supported G. Carter when he was overcome by despondency from a long but unsuccessful search.

Archaeologists searched for the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun for 7 long years, but in the end happiness smiled on them. Sensational news spread around the world at the beginning of 1923. In those days, crowds of reporters, photographers and radio commentators flocked to the small and usually quiet town of Luxor. From the Valley of the Kings, reports, messages, notes, essays, reports, reports, articles were rushing hourly by telephone and telegraph...

For more than 80 days, archaeologists reached the golden coffin of Tutankhamun - through 4 external arks, a stone sarcophagus and 3 internal coffins, until they finally saw the one who for a long time was only a ghostly name for historians. But first, archaeologists and workers discovered steps that led deeper into the rock and ended at the walled-up entrance. When the entrance was cleared, behind it there was a descending corridor, covered with fragments of limestone, and at the end of the corridor there was another entrance, which was also walled up. This entrance led to a front chamber with a side storage room, a burial chamber and a treasury.

Having made a hole in the masonry, G. Carter stuck his hand in with a candle and clung to the hole. “At first I didn’t see anything,” he later wrote in his book. — Warm air rushed out of the chamber, and the candle flame began to flicker. But gradually, when the eyes became accustomed to the twilight, the details of the room began to slowly emerge from the darkness. There were strange figures of animals, statues and gold - gold shimmered everywhere.”

Tutankhamun's tomb was indeed one of the richest. When Lord Carnarvon and G. Carter entered the first room, they were stunned by the number and variety of objects that filled it. There were chariots covered with gold, bows, quivers with arrows and shooting gloves; beds, also upholstered in gold; armchairs covered with the smallest inserts of ivory, gold, silver and gems; magnificent stone vessels, richly decorated caskets with clothes and jewelry. There were also boxes of food and vessels of long-dried wine. The first room was followed by others, and what was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun exceeded the wildest expectations of the expedition members.

The fact that the tomb was discovered at all was in itself an incomparable success. But fate smiled at G. Carter once again, and in those days he wrote: “We saw something that no man of our time has been awarded.” From the front chamber of the tomb alone, the English expedition removed 34 containers full of priceless jewelry, gold, precious stones and magnificent works of ancient Egyptian art. And when the members of the expedition entered the funeral chambers of the pharaoh, they found here a wooden gilded ark, in it another - an oak ark, in the second - a third gilded ark, and then a fourth. The latter contained a sarcophagus made from a single piece of the rarest crystalline quartzite, and in it there were two more sarcophagi.

The northern wall of the hall of sarcophagi in the tomb of Tutankhamun is painted with three scenes. On the right is the opening of the mouth of the pharaoh's mummy by his successor Ey. Until the moment of opening his lips, the deceased pharaoh was depicted as a mummy, and after this ceremony he already appeared in his usual earthly image. The central part of the painting is occupied by the scene of the meeting of the revived pharaoh with the goddess Nut: Tutankhamun is depicted in the robe and headdress of an earthly king, in his hands he holds a mace and a staff. In the last scene, the pharaoh is embraced by Osiris, with his “ka” standing behind Tutankhamun.

As noted in previous chapters, the ancient Egyptians believed in the existence of several souls in humans. Tutankhamun had two "ka" statues, which were carried in a row of honor during the funeral procession. In the funerary chambers of the pharaoh, these statues stood on the sides of the sealed door leading to the golden sarcophagus. "Ka" Tutankhamun has a youthfully handsome face with wide-set eyes looking with the impassive stillness of death. Ancient sculptors and artists repeated it many times on chests, chests and arks. The dimensions of the statue of the spirit-double helped scientists determine the height of the pharaoh himself, since, according to the funeral tradition of the ancient Egyptians, these dimensions corresponded to the height of the deceased.

“Ba” of Tutankhamun was guarded by a wooden sculpture depicting the pharaoh on the funeral bed, and on the other side a falcon overshadowed the sacred mummy with its wing. On the figurine of Tutankhamun, archaeologists saw carved words with which the pharaoh addressed the sky goddess: “Come down, Mother Nut, bend over me and turn me into one of the immortal stars that are all in you!” This sculpture was among those sacrifices that the courtiers presented to the already dead pharaoh as a promise to serve him in the afterlife.

To get to the sacred mummy of the pharaoh, archaeologists had to open several sarcophagi. “The mummy lay in a coffin,” writes G. Carter, “to which she was tightly stuck, since, having been lowered into the coffin, she was poured with aromatic oils. The head and shoulders, right down to the chest, were covered with a beautiful golden mask, reproducing the features of the royal face, with a headband and necklace. It was impossible to remove it, since it, too, was stuck to the coffin with a layer of resin, which thickened into a mass as hard as stone.”

The coffin, which contained the mummy of Tutankhamun, depicted in the image of Osiris, was entirely made of massive gold sheet with a thickness of 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters. In its form it repeated the previous two, but its decor was more complex. The pharaoh's body was protected by the wings of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys; chest and shoulders - kite and cobra (goddesses - patroness of the North and South). These figurines were placed on top of the coffin, with each kite feather filled with pieces of gems or colored glass.

The mummy lying in the coffin was wrapped in many shrouds. On the top of them were sewn hands holding a whip and a staff; under them there was also a golden image of “ba” in the form of a bird with a human head. At the places of the belts there were longitudinal and transverse stripes with the texts of prayers. When G. Carter unwrapped the mummy, he found a lot more precious jewelry, the inventory of which is divided into 101 groups. For example, on the body of the pharaoh, scientists found two daggers - bronze and silver. The handle of one of them is decorated with gold grain and framed with interlocking ribbons of cloisonné enamel. At the bottom, the decorations end with a chain of scrolls made of gold wire and a rope design. The blade, made of hardened gold, has two longitudinal grooves in the middle, topped with a palmette, above which there is a geometric pattern in a narrow frieze.

The forged mask that covered Tutankhamun's face was made of a thick sheet of gold and richly decorated: the stripes of the scarf, eyebrows and eyelids were made of dark blue glass, the wide necklace shone with numerous inserts of gems. The pharaoh's throne was made of wood, covered with gold leaf and richly decorated with inlays of multi-colored faience, gems and glass. The legs of the throne in the shape of lion paws are topped with lion heads made of beaten gold; the handles represent winged snakes coiled in a ring, supporting the pharaoh's cartouches with their wings. Between the supports behind the back of the throne there are six uraei wearing crowns and solar disks. They are all made of gilded wood and inlaid: the heads of the uraei are of violet faience, the crowns are of gold and silver, and the sun discs are of gilded wood.

On the back of the throne there is a relief image of papyri and water birds, in front there is a one-of-a-kind inlaid image of the pharaoh and his wife. The lost gold decorations that connected the seat to the lower frame were an ornament of lotus and papyrus, united by a central image - the hieroglyph "sema", symbolizing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.

In Ancient Egypt there was also a custom of decorating the bodies of the deceased with wreaths of flowers. The wreaths found in the tomb of Tutankhamun did not reach us in very good condition, and two or three flowers completely crumbled into powder at the first touch. The leaves also turned out to be very brittle, and scientists kept them in lukewarm water for several hours before starting their research. The necklace found on the lid of the third coffin was composed of leaves, flowers, berries and fruits, various plants mixed with blue glass beads. The plants were arranged in nine rows, tied to semicircular strips cut from the core of papyrus. As a result of analyzing flowers and fruits, scientists were able to establish the approximate time of burial of Pharaoh Tutankhamun - it happened between mid-March and the end of April. It was then that cornflowers bloomed in Egypt, and the fruits of mandrake and nightshade, woven into a wreath, ripened.

In magnificent stone vessels, scientists also found fragrant ointments with which the pharaoh was supposed to anoint himself in the afterlife, as he did during life. Even after 3000 years, these perfumes emitted a strong aroma...

Now the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun are exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and occupy 10 halls there, the area of which is equal to a football field. With the permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, studies were carried out on the mummies of famous pharaohs. The most modern technology was used to carry out the work; forensic doctors and even experts from Scotland Yard were involved in the case, who took x-rays of Tutankhamun’s skull and found traces of a deep wound on the back of his head. And the English detectives came to the conclusion that the matter here was criminal, and 3000 years ago, the 18-year-old ruler of Egypt became the victim of a palace coup and died instantly from a strong blow.

Tutankhamun (Tutankhaten) - pharaoh of Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom, reign, approximately 1332-1323. BC e.

According to the general custom in ancient times, the deceased was put into the grave everything that was considered most valuable to him during his lifetime: for kings and nobles - signs of their dignity, for a warrior - his weapons, etc. But they all “took” with them almost everything collected during your life gold and other items that do not rot. There were such kings and rulers who took the entire state treasury with them to the tombs, and the people, mourning the king, also mourned the loss of all their property.

So the ancient tombs were treasuries in which untold riches were hidden. To protect them from theft, the builders built entrances inaccessible to outsiders; they arranged doors with secret locks that were closed and opened with the help of a magical talisman.

No matter how hard the pharaohs made to protect their tombs from plunder, no matter how sophisticated they were in trying to resist the all-destroying time, all their efforts were in vain. The genius of their architects was unable to defeat the evil will of man, his greed and indifference to ancient civilizations. The countless riches that were provided to deceased rulers, members of their families and important dignitaries have long attracted greedy robbers. Neither terrible spells, nor careful security, nor the cunning tricks of architects (camouflaged traps, walled-up chambers, false passages, secret staircases, etc.) helped against them.

Due to a happy coincidence, only the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun remained the only one that was preserved almost completely intact, although it was plundered twice in ancient times. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb is associated with the names of the English Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter.

Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter

Lord Carnarvon, heir to a huge fortune, was also one of the first motorists. He barely survived one of the car accidents, and after that he had to give up his dreams of sports. In order to improve his health, the bored lord visited Egypt and became interested in the great past of this country. For his own entertainment, he decided to take up excavations himself, but his independent attempts in this field were unsuccessful. Money alone was not enough for this, and Lord Carnarvon did not have enough knowledge and experience. And then he was given advice to seek help from archaeologist Howard Carter.

1914 - Lord Carnarvon saw the name of Tutankhamun on one of the earthenware cups discovered during excavations in the Valley of the Kings. He came across the same name on a gold plate from a small cache. These finds prompted the lord to obtain permission from the Egyptian government to search for Tutankhamun's tomb. The same material evidence also supported G. Carter when he was overcome by despondency from a lengthy but unsuccessful search.

Tutankhamun's tomb found

Archaeologists searched for the tomb of the pharaoh for 7 long years, but in the end happiness smiled on them. Sensational news spread around the world at the beginning of 1923. In those days, crowds of reporters, photographers and radio commentators flocked to the small and usually quiet town of Luxor. Every hour from the Valley of the Kings, reports, messages, notes, essays, reports, reports, articles were carried by telephone and telegraph...

For more than 80 days, archaeologists reached the golden coffin of Tutankhamun - through four external arks, a stone sarcophagus and three internal coffins, until they finally saw the one who for a long time was only a ghostly name for historians. But first, archaeologists and workers discovered steps that led deeper into the rock and ended at the walled-up entrance. When the entrance was cleared, behind it there was a descending corridor, covered with fragments of limestone, and at the end of the corridor there was another entrance, which was also walled up. This entrance led to a front chamber with a side storage room, a burial chamber and a treasury.

Having made a hole in the masonry, G. Carter stuck his hand in with a candle and clung to the hole. “At first I didn’t see anything,” he later wrote in his book. - Warm air rushed out of the chamber, and the candle flame began to flicker. But gradually, when the eyes became accustomed to the twilight, the details of the room began to slowly emerge from the darkness. There were strange figures of animals, statues and gold - gold shimmered everywhere.

In the tomb

Tutankhamun's tomb was actually one of the richest. When Lord Carnarvon and G. Carter entered the first room, they were stunned by the number and variety of objects filling it. There were chariots covered with gold, bows, quivers of arrows and shooting gloves; beds, also upholstered in gold; armchairs covered with the smallest inserts of ivory, gold, silver and gems; magnificent stone vessels, richly decorated caskets with clothes and jewelry. There were also boxes of food and vessels of long-dried wine. The first room was followed by others, and what was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun exceeded the wildest expectations of the expedition members.

Golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun weighing 110 kg

The fact that the tomb was found at all was in itself an incomparable success. But fate smiled at G. Carter once again; in those days he wrote: “We saw something that no person of our time was awarded.” From the front chamber of the tomb alone, the English expedition removed 34 containers full of priceless jewelry, gold, precious stones and magnificent works of ancient Egyptian art. And when the members of the expedition entered the funeral chambers of the pharaoh, they found here a wooden gilded ark, in it another - an oak ark, in the second - a third gilded ark, and then a fourth. The latter contained a sarcophagus made from a single piece of the rarest crystalline quartzite, and in it there were two more sarcophagi.

The ancient Egyptians believed in the existence of several souls in humans. Tutankhamun had two "ka" statues, which were carried in a row of honor during the funeral procession. In the funerary chambers of the pharaoh, these statues stood on the sides of the sealed door leading to the golden sarcophagus. "Ka" Tutankhamun has a youthfully handsome face with wide-set eyes looking with the impassive stillness of death.

Ancient sculptors and artists repeated it many times on chests, chests and arks. The dimensions of the statue of the spirit-double helped scientists determine the height of the pharaoh himself, since, according to the funeral traditions of the ancient Egyptians, these dimensions corresponded to the height of the deceased.

“Ba” of Tutankhamun was guarded by a wooden sculpture depicting the pharaoh on the funeral bed, and on the other side a falcon overshadowed the sacred mummy with its wing. On the figurine of the pharaoh, archaeologists saw carved words with which the pharaoh addressed the goddess of the sky: “Come down, Mother Nut, bend over me and turn me into one of the immortal stars that are all in you!” This sculpture was among those sacrifices that the courtiers presented to the now deceased pharaoh as a promise to serve him and.

Pharaoh mummy

In order to get to the sacred mummy of the pharaoh, archaeologists had to open several sarcophagi. “The mummy lay in a coffin,” writes G. Carter, “to which she was tightly stuck, since, having been lowered into the coffin, she was poured with aromatic oils. The head and shoulders, right down to the chest, were covered with a beautiful golden mask, reproducing the features of the royal face, with a headband and necklace. It could not be removed, since it was also stuck to the coffin with a layer of resin, which thickened into a mass as hard as stone.”

The mummy lying in the coffin was wrapped in many shrouds. On the top of them were sewn hands holding a whip and a staff; underneath them there was also a golden image of a “ba” in the form of a bird with a human head. At the places of the belts there were longitudinal and transverse stripes with the texts of prayers. When G. Carter unwrapped the mummy, he discovered a lot more jewelry, the inventory of which is divided into 101 groups.

Treasures from the Tomb

Throne of Tutankhamun

So, for example, on the body of the pharaoh, archaeologists discovered two daggers - bronze and silver. The handle of one of them is decorated with gold grain and framed with interlocking ribbons of cloisonné enamel. At the bottom, the decorations end with a chain of scrolls made of gold wire and a rope design. The blade, made of hardened gold, has two longitudinal grooves in the middle, topped with a palmette, above which there is a geometric pattern in a narrow frieze.

The forged mask that covered Tutankhamun's face was made of a thick sheet of gold and richly decorated: the stripes of the scarf, eyebrows and eyelids were made of dark blue glass, the wide necklace shone with numerous inserts of gems. The pharaoh's throne was made of wood, covered with gold leaf and richly decorated with inlays of multi-colored faience, gems and glass. The legs of the throne in the shape of lion paws are topped with lion heads made of beaten gold; the handles represent winged snakes coiled in a ring, supporting the pharaoh's cartouches with their wings. Between the supports behind the back of the throne there are six uraei wearing crowns and solar disks. All of them are made of gilded wood and inlaid: the heads of the uraei are of purple faience, the crowns are of gold and silver, and the sun discs are of gilded wood.

On the back of the throne there is a relief image of papyri and water birds, in front there is a one-of-a-kind inlaid image of the pharaoh and his wife. The lost gold decorations that connected the seat with the lower frame were an ornament of lotus and papyrus, united by a central image - the hieroglyph “sema”, symbolizing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.

In Ancient Egypt there was also a custom of decorating the bodies of the deceased with wreaths of flowers. The wreaths that were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun did not reach us in very good condition, and two or three flowers completely crumbled into powder at the first touch. The leaves also turned out to be very brittle, and scientists kept them in lukewarm water for several hours before starting their research.

The necklace found on the lid of the third coffin was composed of leaves, flowers, berries and fruits, various plants mixed with blue glass beads. The plants were arranged in nine rows, tied to semicircular strips cut from the core of papyrus. As a result of the analysis of flowers and fruits, scientists were able to establish the approximate time of burial of Pharaoh Tutankhamun - it happened between mid-March and the end of April. It was then that cornflowers bloomed in Egypt, and the fruits of mandrake and nightshade, woven into a wreath, ripened.

In beautiful stone vessels, scientists also discovered fragrant ointments with which the pharaoh was supposed to anoint himself in the afterlife, as he did in earthly life. Even after 3,000 years, these perfumes emitted a strong aroma...

Now the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun are exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and occupy 10 halls there, the area of which is equal to a football field. With the permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, studies were carried out on the mummies of famous pharaohs. The most modern technology was used during the work; forensic doctors and even experts from Scotland Yard were involved in the case, who took x-rays of Tutankhamun’s skull and found traces of a deep wound on the back of his head. And the English detectives came to the conclusion that the matter here was criminal, and 3,000 years ago, the 18-year-old ruler of Egypt became the victim of a palace coup and died instantly from a strong blow.

The looting of tombs has always brought fabulous profits. Hunters to engage in such an unscrupulous occupation appeared simultaneously with the construction of the first tombs.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the deceased was supposed to give to the next world everything that he used during life. Along with the mummies of the pharaohs, countless things and jewelry ended up in the tombs. The pharaoh's funeral was surrounded by secrecy, but dozens, if not hundreds of people still knew about it. It is not for nothing that legends are so widespread that all participants in the burials were then killed. Tombs began to be robbed even under the pharaohs: papyri with records of trials have been preserved, indicating incredible corruption among priests and courtiers. Gravediggers digging a new tomb could stumble upon an old burial and clean it out. Undertakers who placed a mummy in a family burial vault might be tempted to take something from a previous funeral. No matter how they locked the tomb, no matter what traps they built there, the treasure hunters still made it to the royal tombs.

With the advent of the New Kingdom, the rules for the burial of pharaohs changed - they divided the mortuary temple of the deceased pharaoh and his burial. This was done in order to preserve the burials from human greed. They began to bury kings in underground crypts in a desert valley in Thebes. Soon this sun-scorched area received the name “Valley of the Kings.”

The burials were built by builders who lived in a village on the site of present-day Deir el-Medina. Workers, well paid from the treasury, kept the secrets of the royal burials. At the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt was overwhelmed by drought, poor harvests, and famine. The village of artisans fell into decay. The workers themselves began to rob the graves. Neither patrols, nor round-the-clock security, nor severe punishments for being caught red-handed helped. There is evidence that officials not only did not oppose the looting, but they themselves were almost officially involved in organizing these crimes. The treasures of the pharaohs were recycled to fill the depleted treasury.

The tomb of the pharaoh survived only because 180 years after his funeral (about 1325 BC), the entrance to the tomb was accidentally blocked with garbage.
The Tomb Robbery Papyri, a collection of official documents, provides lists of suspects in the crime, inventories of stolen property, and confessions made under torture. During interrogation in the Great Prison of Thebes, the suspects were beaten with sticks and their arms and legs were twisted. The penalty for robbery was death.

An authentic confession of an Egyptian tomb robber dating back to the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses VI (circa 1151 BC).

As usual, under the cover of darkness, we went to rob tombs and in one of the pyramids we found the burial of Pharaoh Sobekemsaf... Using copper tools, we made our way into the pyramid... We found the entrance to the underground chambers and began to descend, holding lit torches in our hands.
In the burial chamber we found the sarcophagi of the pharaoh and queen. We opened them and tore off the covers in which they rested... On the king’s neck there were many amulets and gold jewelry, and the sacred pharaoh’s was all covered with gold and lined with precious stones. We took all the gold and all the utensils found near the coffins, among which were vessels made of gold, silver, bronze... Then we set the coffins on fire...

A few days later, the authorities found out that I had robbed a burial place and they arrested me... I immediately bribed the guards, got out and joined my accomplices... So I became addicted to tomb robbing...

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