logo
episode-header-image
May 2021
32m 12s

143: The Boy King Tutankhamun

DOMINIC PERRY
About this episode

From baby to boy. For all his fame and glamour, the life of Tut'ankhamun was more difficult than it seems. The young king dealt with physical challenges and a social environment that treated him as an "idea," more than a person. Today, studies of his mummy give us clues at his early life...



Select Bibliography:

  •  T. Bryce, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire (London, 2009).
  • V. Cordani, ‘Aziru’s Journey to Egypt and its Chronological Value’, in J. Mynářová (ed.), Egypt and the Near East – The Crossroads (Prague, 2011), 103–16.
  • W. L. Moran, The Amarna Letters (Baltimore, 1992).
  • W. J. Murnane, The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak (Chicago, 1985).
  • W. J. Murnane, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (Atlanta, 1995).
  • J. Mynářová, Language of Amarna – Language of Diplomacy: Perspectives on the Amarna Letters (Prague, 2007).
  • J. Mynářová, ‘Egypt Among the Great Powers and Its Relations to the Neighboring Vassal Kingdoms in the Southern Levant According to the Written Evidence’:, in B. Eder and R. Pruzsinszky (eds.), Policies of Exchange Political Systems and Modes of Interaction in the Aegean and the Near East in the 2nd Millenium B.C.E: Proceedings of the International Symposium at the University of Freiburg Institute for Archaeological Studies, 30th May – 2nd June 2012, 2 (2015), 157–66.
  • N. Naʼaman, Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E: Collected Essays, Volume 2 (Winona Lake, 2005).
  • A. F. Rainey, The El-Amarna Correspondence: A New Edition of the Cuneiform Letters From the Site of El-Amarna Based On Collations of All Extant Tablets (Leiden, 2015).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Jul 4
NSFW Not Safe for Water (Did Pharaohs Masturbate into the Nile?)
Explicit content. There's a factoid floating around on the internet. It claims that, to ensure fertility and good harvest, pharaohs would annually masturbate into the River Nile. This claim is total bubkis, but where did it come from? Which deities and myths were most closely ass ... Show More
14m 30s
Jun 27
Hapi Days (or, Ramesses in DeNile)
Hapi was Egypt. The life-giving waters of the annual flood (inundation) were his work; and thanks to these waters, Egypt flourished, its people were fed, the gods received their offerings, and the social order was maintained. From the New Kingdom, papyrus and ostraca record songs ... Show More
20m 15s
Jun 20
Scent of a Mummy: Smells and Pleasure in ancient Egypt, with Dora Goldsmith
What did ancient Egyptians like to smell? Did they use any narcotics in their day to day lives? And what do mummified bodies smell like? Today, I'm pleased to welcome Dora Goldsmith to the podcast. Dora Goldsmith is a PhD-candidate at the Freie Universitat in Berlin, Germany. Spe ... Show More
40m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2022
Tutankhamun | 1. Unearthing the boy king’s lost tomb
One hundred years ago, in 1922, Egyptologist Howard Carter made one of the most spectacular discoveries in the history of archaeology, when he unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. In the first episode in our new series on the life, death and legacy of ... Show More
47m 30s
Feb 2021
Daily life in ancient Egypt: everything you wanted to know
In the latest in our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley responds to listener questions about daily life in ancient Egypt, from governance, pharaohs and the Egyptian mindset, to makeup, dental care and the popularity of cat m ... Show More
1h 5m
Aug 2023
King Tut and Ancient Egypt
Join us in this exciting episode as we journey back in time to ancient Egypt to uncover the mysteries of King Tutankhamun! From his royal lineage to his legendary tomb, we explore the life and times of this young pharaoh. Learn about the stunning treasures found within his burial ... Show More
7m 45s
Nov 2022
Tutankhamun's Trumpet and the Long, Winding Past of Ancient Egypt: Interview with Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson
What ties the long history of ancient Egypt together into a meaningful whole? Professor Toby Wilkinson, one of the most renowned Egyptologists on the planet, visits to talk about the unity of ancient Egyptian history through the lens of the fascinating array of objects found in T ... Show More
39m 35s
Feb 2021
Adventure and archaeology in the golden age of Egyptology
Toby Wilkinson, author of A World Beneath the Sands, gives a lecture on the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilisation drove them to uncover its secrets in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He reveals how their work helped to enrich and transform our underst ... Show More
52m 11s
Apr 2021
Horus the Younger
Beginning his life in exile, this Egyptian deity soon learns that he has a destiny to fulfill... and rises to challenge his uncle for rule over the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 
52m 20s
Feb 2021
Egypt Before the Pharaohs
Pyramids, mummies, and pharaohs define our understanding of ancient Egypt, a timeless and eternal land. But the Nile wasn't always ruled by god-like kings, and long before they emerged, Egypt was home to other peoples and other ways of life. As Egyptian civilization emerged, thes ... Show More
44m 39s
Dec 2023
A Guide to Ancient Egypt
Egypt was a vast kingdom of the ancient world. Its rulers were considered gods and wielded tremendous power and wealth. Egyptian scholars, astrologists and thinkers pioneered in their fields. Lasting for millennia, the kingdom's influence on culture, economics and politics was fe ... Show More
41m 32s
Feb 2024
The Origins of Ancient Egypt
All this week Dan is delving into the history, mystery and legacy of Ancient Egypt. Discover how this mighty empire grew from nomadic settlers to the Nile and how its magnificent wonders were built. Dan explores the life of the most powerful Pharaoh Rameses II, of the ideological ... Show More
29m 42s
Apr 2021
Ancient Egypt in Context: Interview with Professor David Wengrow
Professor David Wengrow is one of the world's leading experts on Egypt before the pharaohs. He's also one of the most creative and wide-ranging archaeologists working right now, and he has fascinating insights into the primordial emergence of inequality, hierarchies, states, and ... Show More
54m 50s