60 Fun Facts About Tutankhamun

To which dynasty of ancient Egypt did Tutankhamun belong?

He was its third-to-last pharaoh, ruling roughly 1332 to 1323 BC.

About how old was Tutankhamun when he died?

He had come to the throne aged eight or nine and reigned about nine years.

What was Tutankhamun's name at birth?

It meant 'living image of Aten', the sun-disc god of his father Akhenaten's religion.

Which god's cult at Thebes did Tutankhamun restore to prominence, undoing Atenism?

He and his queen swapped the -aten in their names for -amun and recorded the change on the Restoration Stela.

From which capital, built by Akhenaten, did Tutankhamun move the royal court on becoming king?

The court went to Memphis for administration; Thebes regained its role as the great religious centre.

According to DNA testing, what was the relationship between Tutankhamun's parents?

Both appear to be children of Amenhotep III and Tiye; his father is the KV55 mummy, thought to be Akhenaten, and his mother 'The Younger Lady'.

Which of Akhenaten's daughters did Tutankhamun marry?

She became Ankhesenamun; the couple's two daughters died at or soon after birth and were buried in his tomb.

How old was Tutankhamun when he became pharaoh?

He followed the short reigns of two of Akhenaten's successors.

What throne name did Tutankhamun take on his accession?

Priests of his cult held titles such as 'First Prophet of Nebkheperure'.

When in his reign did Tutankhamun set up the Restoration Stela marking his return to the old gods?

A later pharaoh usurped the stela and claimed the restoration for himself.

Which official, 'overseer of the treasuries', carried out Tutankhamun's restoration programme?

He wrote that he 'did not neglect what he had commanded to make splendid the temples'.

At Karnak, Tutankhamun laid out an avenue of sphinxes leading to the temple of which goddess?

The sphinxes had been made for Akhenaten and Nefertiti and were given new ram heads.

With which northern kingdom did Tutankhamun re-establish diplomatic relations?

Gifts from various countries in his tomb suggest his diplomacy worked; battles with Nubians and Asiatics were also recorded.

Roughly how many arrows were found in Tutankhamun's tomb?

With more than 40 bows, they suggest serious archery training; one bow's tips were carved as bound enemies strangled when the string was drawn.

Tutankhamun was one of the few pharaohs to be what during his own lifetime?

Temples to his deified form stood at Kawa and Faras in Nubia, and the Stela of Huy at Karnak hymns him as a local Amun.

Which two medical conditions have been confirmed in Tutankhamun's mummy?

DNA showed repeated infection with the most severe malaria strain; the compound fracture showed no healing.

How could scientists tell Tutankhamun's leg broke before death, not during modern handling?

The ragged edges also differed from the sharp breaks of modern mummy damage.

How many canes and sticks were found in Tutankhamun's tomb?

A recent study found almost no wear on their tips, suggesting they were regalia rather than walking aids.

How tall was Tutankhamun's mummy?

That was on the tall side for the period; his teeth were in excellent condition with the family overbite.

What did the 1968 X-ray find inside Tutankhamun's skull that briefly fuelled a murder theory?

CT scans showed they came from the modern unwrapping, not a blow to the head.

Which successor is shown performing the opening-of-the-mouth ritual on Tutankhamun's burial chamber wall?

The rite was performed by the next pharaoh, so Ay's succession was settled by the funeral; he was probably an old man.

Which commander-in-chief of Tutankhamun's army eventually became pharaoh after Ay?

He defaced Ay's tomb but left Tutankhamun's untouched, and later chose Ramesses I as his heir.

The search for Tutankhamun's missing mortuary temple led in 2021 to the discovery of what?

His actual mortuary temple was probably destroyed by a successor and has never been found.

Why was Tutankhamun buried in a sepulchre unusually small for a king?

Burial had to happen within the customary 70 days, so a tomb meant for someone else was adapted.

What is the number of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings?

KV55 held the mummy thought to be his father; debris from cutting KV9 buried the entrance and saved it.

Which American excavator gave up the Valley of the Kings concession in 1914, declaring the valley 'exhausted'?

He had found the king's embalming cache and thought it was the lost tomb itself.

Who led the excavation that found Tutankhamun's tomb?

He had begun a systematic search of the valley in 1915 and took ten years to catalogue the finds.

Which aristocrat financed Carter's excavations?

George Herbert took up Egyptology after a doctor sent him to Egypt's warm climate following a 1901 car accident.

On what date was the first step of the tomb's staircase uncovered?

Some accounts credit a water boy, Hussein Abdul Rasoul, digging outside the work area.

On what date was the seal to the burial chamber broken before some twenty witnesses?

Letters published in 2022 suggest Carter had already stolen objects from the tomb before the official opening.

How many items were found in Tutankhamun's tomb?

They included a solid gold coffin, trumpets, a lotus chalice, food, wine, sandals and fresh linen underwear.

How long did the excavator take to catalogue the contents of the tomb?

It is the only royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings found in near-intact condition.

The blade of a dagger found in the tomb was made of iron from what source?

An Eye of Horus amulet, chisel blades and a miniature headrest were made of similar iron.

Whose cartouches were found beneath Tutankhamun's on the golden Nut pectoral and canopic coffins?

It proved Neferneferuaten was a female king who was also Akhenaten's wife; many burial goods were recycled from earlier owners.

On 4 November 2007, exactly 85 years after the discovery, what happened to Tutankhamun's mummy?

The case protects it from the humidity and warmth of tourists.

How long after the discovery of the first step did Lord Carnarvon die, fuelling talk of a curse?

The cause was pneumonia following an infected mosquito bite; a car crash in 1901 had left him frail.

Of the 58 people present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, how many died within a dozen years?

Carter lived to 64; Lady Evelyn Herbert, among the first inside, lived another 57 years.

How old was the tomb's discoverer when he died in 1939?

He died of lymphoma, seventeen years after his great discovery.

Which US president had a pet dog named King Tut?

1920s Tut-mania also produced the Tin Pan Alley hit 'Old King Tut' by Harry Von Tilzer.

Which comedian's 1978 novelty song 'King Tut' sold over a million copies?

It coincided with the Treasures of Tutankhamun tour of the United States.

An extinct whale from Egypt's Eocene deposits was named after Tutankhamun in 2023. What is it called?

The name honours the small size and youth of the type specimen.

Which Paris museum staged the first touring exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasures, in the early 1960s?

French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches Noblecourt arranged it after Algeria's independence; it drew 1.2 million visitors.

How many people saw the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition on its 1976-79 US tour?

Henry Kissinger backed the tour as diplomacy to sell Americans on Egypt as an ally.

Which Cairo museum, opened in 2025, became the permanent home of Tutankhamun's treasures?

The collection moved there in 2025 from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

When did the Egyptian government first allow tourists into Tutankhamun's tomb?

The tomb was closed for restoration from 2009 and reopened in February 2019.

Which Egyptian priest-historian's king list names 'Rathotis', identified with Tutankhamun?

His Orus and Acencheres are usually matched with two other kings of the period.

Which woman, known from her tomb at Saqqara, was Tutankhamun's wet nurse?

His mother's identity is still debated; candidates include Nefertiti and several of Akhenaten's daughters.

According to Renate Germer's study of the funerary flowers, in which season was Tutankhamun buried?

Rolf Krauss proposed a slightly later date of March to April.

How many times was Tutankhamun's tomb robbed in antiquity?

The thieves took perishable oils and perfumes, so the break-ins came within months of the burial.

Which 2014 BBC documentary was condemned as a 'morbid freak show' for its reconstruction of the king?

Zahi Hawass called the reconstruction scientifically unfounded.

How is Tutankhamun's tomb door said to describe him?

His reign is counted among the great restoration periods of Egyptian history.

How many daughters of Tutankhamun were buried with him in his tomb?

CT studies in 2011 showed one was born prematurely at five to six months and the other at full term; both died at or soon after birth.

Who was Tutankhamun's principal vizier for Upper Egypt?

The vizierate was split between Upper and Lower Egypt during his reign; Pentju was also a vizier, though of which lands is unclear.

Tutankhamun built a temple called 'Pacifying the gods' in which Nubian town?

The name matched his Golden Horus name, and the temple doubled as headquarters of Egypt's Nubian administration.

Which official was First Prophet of Nebkheperura, running Tutankhamun's posthumous cult?

Mermose served as Second Prophet; the structure of the cult is known from TT40, the tomb of the viceroy Huy.

Pharaoh Ay named which son as his successor, only for him to die before taking the throne?

Another designated heir named Nay also died first, and the throne passed instead to the general Horemheb.

Whose tomb did Horemheb deface while leaving Tutankhamun's untouched, presumably out of respect?

Horemheb's campaign of erasure was one of the most elaborate and successful in Egyptian history.

Roughly how many visitors saw the 1962 Louvre exhibition that began the modern Tutankhamun revival?

Egyptologist Christiane Desroches Noblecourt arranged it, and also had the collection re-photographed in colour by George Rainbird.

The Treasures of Tutankhamun tour opened in 1972 in which city?

More than 1.6 million people saw it in London between March and September 1972 before it moved on to the US, Soviet Union and Japan.

The 2005 'Golden Age of the Pharaohs' tour opened in which US city?

Almost four million people attended just the first four stops, well above the three million expected.