Tutankhamun’s Treasure – Nekhbet pendant

This is a fabulous pendant in the figure of Nekhbet, an early predynastic goddess depicted as a griffon vulture, who was the patron deity of the city of Nekheb (El Kab) before she eventually rose as the guardian of the entire Upper Egypt.

Just like Horus, she grasped the Shen Rings (or rather the Shen Orbs), standing for eternal protection, while she would often appear together with her counterpart Wadjet of Lower Egypt as the Two Ladies, the two guardians of Egypt when unified.

The displayed jewel was found in the tomb of the famous Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun (ruled between around 1332 and 1323 BC), suspended from his very neck, discovered in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter in 1922.

Made of solid gold, it is encrusted on the obverse with blue glass where the coverts of the wings and the tips of the tail feathers, which are furnished with red glass.

Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun (c. 1341 – 1323 BC), or alternatively Tutankhamen, was the antepenultimate Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty (Dynasty XVIII), or first Dynasty of the New Kingdom, that ascended the throne at a mere nine years old to reign until his very death at the young age of eighteen in ancient Egypt.

Lineage

He was most likely son of his predecessor Pharaoh Akhenaten (reigning c. 1353 – 1336 or c. 1351 – 1334 BC) and grandson of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (or the Magnificent, ruling between 1386 and 1349 or 1388 and late 1351/early 1350 BC) whilst his Great Royal Wife was his half sister Ankhesenamun, who was apparently (maybe even as many as seven years) older than him.

That said, his likely eldest brother Smenkhkare squeezed in a relatively short stint (1335 – 1334 BC) and female co-regent Neferneferuaten a further two years (1334 -1332 BC) at the helm in between Akhenaten and Tutankhamun himself shaping a second and third Pharaoh respectively at the end of the apostate so-called Amarna Period.

All the same, Tutankhamun’s mother wasn’t his apparent father’s Great Royal Wife famed Nefertiti but rather a female of unknown identity dubbed as ‘the Younger Lady,’ quite likely a daughter of Amenhotep III and his own first lady Tiye.

Tutankhamun’s name etymology

Tutankhamun’s name breaks down as Tut-ankh-Amun which very likely means ‘Tut is the breath of life/life/soul of Amun’ apparently on account of his actions and steps to restore Amun and the other traditional deities/cults in force during his reign following the radical reforms of his predecessor and apparent father Akhenaten, who suppressed them to establish a sole god in Aten (hence the second component of his name), in ancient Egypt.

The alternative form Tutankhamen, where Amen is a variation of Amun, also breaks down and spells likewise. For that matter, his original name was Tutankhaten, related to Aten, but after he assumed kingship at a young age he switched it to Tutankhamun (probably in the third year of his reign) so as to distance himself from Akhenaten’s ways as well as further endorsing his own religious policies.

Likewise, his half sister and royal wife Ankhesenpaaten, a daughter of Akhenaten with Nefertiti, changed her name to Ankhesenamun towards the same purposes along the way of their marriage. Actually, Tutankhamun was among few Pharaohs that were venerated as deities during their lifetime, with temples of his cult built as far as Kawa and Faras down in Nubia, as most would enjoy this privilege posthumously.

Policies, reforms and foreign affairs

Amongst his policies and reforms, the royal court moved away from Amarna, a new city built by predecessor Akhenaten as his capital, to settle back in Memphis around the fourth year of Tutankhamun’s reign while Thebes soon recaptured the prestige of principal religious hub now that Amun was reinstated as supreme god of Egypt.

Tutankhamun further saw a restoration process underway over monuments damaged during the Amarna Period and braced up the orders of priests of the major cults of Amun and Ptah as well as inaugurating building projects that involved laying out of the sphinx avenue leading to the temple of Mut at Karnak and applying the finishing touches to the decorations on the entrance colonnade of Amenhotep III at the Luxor Temple.

On top of the above, he also successfully sought to restore diplomatic relations with foreign kingdoms, neglected by Amarna, and in particular the Hurrian-speaking Mitanni in the Levant although he didn’t quite succeed to evade warfare against the likes of the Nubians and Asiatics in the end despite his pains.

Due to the young of his age, Tutankhamun most likely ruled assisted by a retinue of advisers that featured Ay and General Horemheb, who eventually succeeded him in that order as the last two pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty but also usurped many of his projects, especially the latter.

Tutankhamun’s death

The young pharaoh probably died through a combination of health issues and a broken leg compounded by malaria, though there has been much debate over that, and was buried in an unusually small burial place for his stature – maybe down to his premature death.

Tutankhamun’s tomb, burial treasures and discovery

However, combined with the fact that it came covered in debris during the construction of the nearby tombs of Ramesses V amd Ramesses VI later, that turned fortunate for Tutankhamun’s burial as it lay low and screened from the eyes of potential robbers and plunderers for thousands of years to retain its treasures, comprising over 5000 artefacts, almost intact until discovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter in early November 1922.

Which, in turn, came to render Tutankhamun from a largely overlooked ruler in ancient times into probably the most famous pharaoh of them all in the modern world as fate would have it.

Golden Throne of Tutankhamun

This is the magnificent golden throne of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (c.1341 – c.1323 BC), or King Tut otherwise, who was the last of his royal family to rule over ancient Egypt towards the end of the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom.

The throne is made of wood covered with gold and silver, studded with semi-precious stones and coloured glass, while it features two lion heads either side that protect the seat and arms in the shape of winged uraei or rearing cobras wearing the double crown of Egypt, guarding the cartouche of the Pharaoh.

The masterpiece was fashioned around 1325 BC and remarkably retains its colours as robust well over 3000 years on, which attests to the exquisite skill and craftmanship of the Egyptian craftsmen of the time.

For that matter, the throne appears to be called ‘Ist’ in Egyptian hieroglyphs after goddess Isis, often depicted wearing a throne on her head as her trademark.

It was unearthed along with the rest of Tutankhamun’s burial by Howard Carter and his team in 1922, found beneath a hippopotamus funerary bed in the antechamber, and is housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo nowadays.

The Lotus Chalice

This is the magnificent Lotus Chalice or Alabaster Chalice, carved out of a single piece of alabaster in the shape of white lotus in full bloom, that was found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (14^th century BC) in the Valley of the Kings in November 1922.

The lotus was of special significance in Egyptian mythology and religion as it was the very first thing that arose shining out of the primeval waters of Nu, the deity that personified the primordial watery abyss of the Ogdoad cosmogony.

The flower came to symbolize the sun, since the sun god Nefertum (perfect Atum) himself rose out of it, as well as creation and rebirth as it retracts into the water at night and re-emerges fresh in the morning just like the sun disappears in the night only to return in the sky the next day.