The Valley of the Kings, just west of the river Nile at Luxor, was considered by the ancient Egyptians as the gateway to the afterlife. This is where, for almost 5,000 years, both pharaohs and nobles were buried during the New Kingdom a time period between the 16th to the 11th Century BC.
Here you will find many tombs, 62 in fact, the most famous being the tomb of the boy king Tut-ankh-Amun, his name was originally Tut-ankh-Aten, this was a reflection of his father’s religion which caused great upheaval for the Egyptian people at this time on King Akhenaten’s insistence that only one ‘true God’ be worshipped, the sun God Aten. This was a very unpopular move at the time. Not only did the priests see a great decline in offerings and income, as the God’s they had previously devoted their lives to was no longer permitted but the whole royal palace, city and temples were relocated into the desert, meaning a new capital had to be built and great hardship for the people as many children were used to help construct this new capital and bodies have been unearthed showing severe bone damage from the great weights they were carrying during this time of construction. Upon the death of Akhenaten the city was relocated back to Luxor and in a political move to calm the population Tut-Ankh-Aten was now known as Tut-Ankh-Amen, a signal that a return to worshipping the old Gods had arrived.
Tutankhamun’s name was also written differently on hieroglyphs as Amen-tut-ankh, as the divine name (the God) was written first to show the appropriate reverence.
His original name Tutankhaten means “Living Image of Aten” the sun God. Tutankhamun means “Living image of Amun”. Amun was the king of the God’s and he is represented in the form of a ram. These rams can be seen paving the way to Karnak temple.
Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten but not the son of Queen Nefertiti, his mother was Akhenaten’s sister and today her name still remains a mystery. It was common practice at this time for royals to marry within the family, in order to keep the blood lines pure. They were, after all, considered living Gods in their time.