Q:   Hello, I have been studying Egyptology avidly for about twenty years. Two years ago, I noticed something among the artifacts in Tut's tomb that led me to a similar conclusion you came up with in tonight's show, and I was wondering if this has been mentioned by anyone else.

Although Tutankhamen restored the worship of the old gods, and particularly the power of the priests of Amon, the famous golden throne in Tut's tomb still depicts the Aten sun disk bestowing long life to the young king and his wife. Why this has never rung any bells for me before I don't know, but suddenly I began to wonder why this would have been allowed.

Could it be that, as the boy became a man, he began to assert himself and show hints of once again returning to Amarna, and almost "avenging" his father? After all, this is the religion he was raised with, both he and his wife. Has this been considered before?

Thank you,
Tara
A:   Tara, I am wishing at this moment that I was sitting among the artifacts so that I could closely examine the throne. I think your assessment is great, and yes, in fact, we did discuss the possibility of whether Tut might have attempted to return the kingdom to the worship of the Aten.

As we considered Ay's role in Akhenaten's reign — where Ay served as Prime Minister (while still maintaining his role as Chief High Priest of the Amun Priesthood), it seemed intriguing that he was in a position to protect Akhenaten from the Amun Priests, yet offer the Amun Priests hope by reminding them of his position of power in the kingdom and possibly formulating a plan to overthrow the Aten system.

If in fact this were the case, the assassination attempts on Akhenaten's life become much more important because they give us a glimpse into the mindset for assassination that existed — and perhaps the justification — religion! We often state, "past behavior predicts future behavior!"

But another possibility might be that the throne actually belonged to Tut's father, or perhaps Nefertiti, or another royal family member and that the throne and other artifacts that were placed within Tut's tomb — as were approximately eighty percent of the other artifacts — never really belonged to Tut.

Greg and I did carefully consider that as Tut matured and developed, that he may have suggested to Ay (or others) that he wondered or even believed that his father Akhenaten was right and that the country must return to worshiping one God.

The Amun Priests, upon hearing this and remembering the difficult years when Akhenaten took away their power and control may have masterminded his murder.

I hope this answers to some degree your question. Thank you for taking the time to watch the show and consider our opinions and findings. Best wishes!

Mike King

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