A Brief History
On February 16, 1923, King Tut’s burial chamber was entered for the first time in over 3,000 years!
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find King Tutankhamun becoming “The Boy King” at age nine in 1332 B.C. and reigning over Egypt until his death in 1323 B.C. at age nineteen rediscovered in 1922 A.D. by Howard Carter.
A tremendous amount is known about Tutankhamun, who is usually referred to as “King Tut,” largely due to the wealth of information gathered from his tomb which is the least disturbed of any tomb yet found. Techniques for discovering information about Tut include analyzing the hieroglyphics in the tomb. Other techniques applied to researching Tut involve x-rays and CT scans of his mummy and objects from the tomb, as well as DNA tests of his mummy and possibly related mummies.
From this intensive and extensive research, it is believed that Tut came from a line of incestuous royal predecessors and that he had married his half sister, perhaps fathering the two fetal mummies also located within his burial chamber. Incest can result in a high incidence of unsuccessful pregnancies.
King Tut was also determined to have suffered from several malarial parasites and may well have been sickly because of that. He had broken a leg not long before he died which had become infected and which was originally believed to be his cause of death, although modern researchers now believe he may have died from any number of other causes.
His DNA shows that Tut was fathered by Amenhotep IV (a.k.a. Akenaten), and Nefertiti appears to be the mother of his wife. Since Amenhotep IV was married to his own sister and since incest had been practiced for generations before the birth of Tut, it is not surprising that Tut should suffer from a variety of congenital defects, of which one may have been a partially cleft palate, another common sign of incest, and he bore the family trait of an elongated skull, sometimes exaggerated in depictions of him.
Unfortunately, there is also much that is not known, especially the exact cause of Tut’s death. Assassination, broken leg, hunting accident, malaria, epilepsy and congenital diseases are some of the possibilities that have been put forth by researchers. No one knows as no records about Tut’s death or final days have yet been found.
Most archaeologists today discount the popular idea that Tut’s tomb is cursed and that those who enter it die as a result. Howard Carter, among others, lived many years after entering the burial chamber.
King Tut is a popular figure today, his relics in Cairo are a great attraction, and traveling displays have been seen by millions. Much has been written about Tut, both academic and popular works including a National Geographic Magazine (September 2010) article and numerous other literature and books. Portrayed in numerous movies and television productions, Tut has also appeared in comedies, such as in short films featuring The Three Stooges. A truly memorable reference to King Tut is the 1978 song and video by Steve Martin appropriately called “King Tut,” which reached #17 on U.S.charts! Not cracked enough? Try a hot dog at King Tut’s Wiener Hut in North Carolina. Perhaps most cracked of all King Tut references were the television commercials that appeared in 1988 for King Kuts Dog Food which featured an Egyptian motif! (See it on Youtube.)
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever been to Egypt? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Information
The discovery of Tut’s tomb ranks seventh on a list of the Top 10 Most Important Historical Finds. For more information on this incredibly important find, please read the below listed books.
Carter, Howard and A. C. Mace. The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. Dover Publications, 1977.
James, T. G. H. Howard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamun. Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2001.
Meyerson, Daniel. In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb. Brécourt Academic, 2009.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1247 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1247">137 Comments
Kind of an article for a historian, don’t you think? As for incest, it’s alive and well. The Royals have been inbreeding for their entire history here. They are trying to preserve a blood line which contains star seed DNA. Akhenaten was a starseed, as well as king tut. That’s why the elongated skulls. Those that built the Pyramids using the Power of One, were from Venus, and acted much as Jesus did, which was to give a message of love to humanity. As in Jesus case, it was not well accepted. They left without incident.
Is this Gregory Stevens?
Elongated skulls were from a tradition that would be performed on children by tying their head to a piece of wood to let it go longer and obtusely. Terribly cruel.
Royality interbred because they would give their sons and daughters to each to broker peace and other diplomatic ties to each other. It got out of hand, obviously.
Jesus’ message was more than love but holiness towards God, that He is God Incarnate Himself, and an organization of a Church to continue His message that would never be overcome to help the world.
A star seed? People from Venus?
Bull shit
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06jF1EG8o-Q
It amazing to see the amount of information they can gather from the tests they ran. I was also unaware that incest was so prevalent.
i think it’s crazy that they can test DNA from so long ago!
You would think the royal Egyptians would learn from their mistake when peasants were having babies left and right while these incest baby bearing sisters were having miscarriages. Not to also forget about lots of mental/physical complications in the royal lineage like Tut’s deformities.
It’s crazy that the Egyptians practiced incest, not to mention downright disgusting. I suppose they the royals did it to “keep their lineage pure”, since they wouldn’t marry anyone who didn’t have “blue blood” (that being royal blood). The thing I find fascinating about Tut is that he became a king at the age of nine. That’s the age kids start learning their times tables. It’s hard to imagine someone this young ruling over thousands if not millions of people.
Incest was very common back then especially among royalty so that doesnt surprise me. What does surprise me is that he had so many problems that could have been the cause of death, not just one or two triggers.
I think it is odd that Egyptians performed incest but maybe it is because they wanted to keep the wealth and royalty in the family. I am surprised after probably generations of incest that King Tut did not have more health problems visible! It makes me wonder what the royal family would have thought of their incest if they knew what science proves today. Also, it is scary King Tut ruled at 9 years old! I could not imagine being a citizen ruled by a kid.
It seems like there is always a lot of mystery that occurs when finding something this old. It is usually hard to find out as well.
I read the article & thought it was interesting that he started his reign at age 9. That is a very young age to be responsible for so much.
Amazing how we can just keep learning more and more about past discoveries as we find new technologies with which to examine them.
It’s interesting how there are so many different ways he could’ve died.
I am interested in knowing more about his definite cause of death. Many possible causes are given, including assassination, malaria, and the initial thought that he died of a broken leg. Not knowing how someone who ruled a nation for years could have died can be frustrating.
It was really cool to read about the different tests (CT, x-ray) that they ran on the body to discover more things. Its not often that you hear about the different procedural things done to receive that sort of information. Some crazy findings came out in the process though. Regardless of some of the information being odd or disturbing to our culture/time, it is interesting to hear about and understand more about the cultures of different nations in the past.
I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of pressure a nine year old boy had when it came to ruling a large group of people at such a young age. I am now interested in knowing more about the short life and death of King Tut through more reading.
I find the claim of incest interesting, I have heard about king tut however i did not know that there were claims of incest, but looking at the line of royals incest type relationships have been happening in royal families for many years, so I guess it is no surprise.
After viewing a documentary in which King Tut and his discovery by Howard Carter were featured in it, I found this article to be very interesting. I do not know much about Ancient Eqyptian history but I would not have guessed that many of the royal Eqyptian families were involved in incest. It is interesting to learn that through DNA testing that they were able to determine and even prove that such things as incencest had occurred so long ago. All in all, I want to just reiderate that I found this article to be a great incite into some of the history of King Tut.
It does not completely shock me that King Tut was a product of incest because that seemed to be a common thing during that time to keep the royalty in the family.
Incest being the cause is not surprising because it was such a common thing in history. Without the knowledge of the problems it could cause it was normal practice. The idea of a pure blood line was very appealing for ancient rulers.
It is very interesting that the royals would practice incest, but did they have knowledge of the consequences? King Tut was a very sickly person and it sounds like he didn’t have much time to actually make changes and rules when he was in his reign. I am mostly surprised he lived to be 19 years old with all the conditions he may have had.
AB
It does not surprise me that he was possibly involved in incest, or had it in his family tree, with him being royalty. What does surprise me is how we have no records of how he died. What do you think?
It was cool how much we were able to discover about Tut’s health using the technology available to us. I wonder what we will be able to learn in the future…
I find it very intriguing that incest played such a large role back in those times, but especially the fact that someone as prestiges as he was, yet there are so many unanswered questions that historians are still trying to figure out.
From what I understand the royal families of Egypt used to marry siblings off to preserve the “holy” or “godly” line. It was interesting to see what diseases could potentially occur from those types of marriages. King Tut’s tomb was certainly a great find.
I found the thought that tomb and mummies being buried and untouched for 3,000 to be riveting. I would have thought the tombs and caves within would be starting to fall apart because the foundation was so old. The theory of incest running in the family does not surprise me at all. I would believe incest would run in almost every family for the time. What I really wonder is how King Tut died. The mystery is so intriguing and captivates me. I do not believe in curses at all and would not support the thought that a curse would be the cause of his death.
Like many others have said, I am not surprised that Tut was a child of incest. Keeping the bloodline pure was important back then and they had no way of knowing the biological consequences of incest.
It kinda reminds me of Harry Potter. Most of the “pure blood” families committed incest to keep the blood line “as pure as possible.” Maybe it was their way of keeping the royal blood line pure? I also wonder what his cause of death was.
It is truly amazing that so much information can be learned by DNA testing and CT scans when the body has been dead and decaying for over 3,000 years. Hopefully future technological advancements will soon shed light on all of our unanswered questions about history.
I find it very interesting how the acceptance of certain sexual norms is so drastically different in today’s society as compared to ancient societies such as Ancient Egypt. The fact that King Tut had various birth defects and no one questioned the idea of mating with family members is fascinating to me. The differences in standards between today’s accepted sexuality versus accepted sexuality in Ancient Egypt shows how far that the human race has come in understanding our origins, genetic makeup, and how the world around us really functions.
It is shocking to me to read about how much archaeologists are able to figure out about events, people, etc that date back so far. The idea of incest being the cause of death is interesting and definitely feasible.
I never realized that King Tut had two children. It definitely surprises me because he was so young, and died at only 18 years of age. The cause of his death is definitely extremely perplexing, but he had so many different health issues, some due to his genes, that it does not surprise me he died extremely young.
It intrigues me on the grounds of his tomb actually being cursed. I thought that was something that Hollywood exaggerated. The incest from his father to his sister did not really come as much of a surprise considering the customs back in those days.
It’s amazing how much we can find out about the past just from studying these ancient tombs. It blows my mind.
That’s very interesting. Although with all the science and forensics we have in these days we should be able to find out the cause of King Tut’s death… Shouldn’t we?
The
mystery of the past is what draws me to it! — DAVID WARDLE
I was never aware that incest was common in ancient Egypt, though it makes sense for those customs back then with royal families. What really interests me is that there is no known cause of death; assumptions always got the better of me. It’s intriguing how the incest could have played a part in his death, involving his deformities. However, assassination would also be a viable reason, seeing as he was extremely young to be named Pharaoh. I am very interested to see what information is discovered next.
the thing that surprises me is no record of him dieing…… so depressing i would love to know how he died
Scientists have tossed around quite a few ideas to the cause of Tut’s death ranging from a broken leg to a possible assassination.
wow that commercial! I’ve heard of incest in the Egyptian royalty. I don’t care how powerful someone is, it’s still gross.
I thought that incest was a common thing then so they could keep their blood line “pure”. Maybe he got at bad infection from the broken leg that contributed to his death?
I find the entire idea of Egyptian culture fascinating. They were such arrogant, selfish people. They truly belived that they were so much higher up than the rest of civilization that they married and procreated with their family.
I’m curious as to how tall Tut may have been. Sometimes with inbreeding or a very small gene pool seem to cause shortness or stunted growth. -Slightly off topic: Did anyone hear recently about King Tut’s golden outer casket had the “beard” section fall off while it was being cleaned? That’s so sad!
History is a mystery… that is what keeps me intrigued! — DAVID WARDLE
incest is the biggest surprise for me. i was unaware how popular it was then
the incest was interesting.. weird it’s unknown how he died.
Many monarchs and emperors married inside the family to keep the royal blood “pure”.
Royal inbreeding? Surely you jest!
As E.S. said, it’s surprising they can’t tell what killed him. One might think a preserved body in a box would make that task a bit easier.
I guess it was common back then but I just can’t see how someone could partake in incestuous relationships
I thought this article was interesting. I have heard of theories stating that King Tut was part of an alien human hybrid. The side effects of incest are a more realistic explanation, just not as interesting.
Doesn’t shock me that they married within the family, to keep the royal blood pure.. but still weird. Amazing that we can learn so much from one person
Its no wonder he died young seeing that his whole family was incest. He must have just had bad genes from it. The dog food commercial was hilarious.
It’s really surprising that nobody seems to know how he died.
I had heard that he died from an infection after breaking his leg but I had not heard about the other theories about his cause of death
Royal incest is nothing new, look at even as modern as the Tudor Monarchy of the late middle ages and early renaissance. Pedigree was far more important than modern social norms.
I’m not shocked by him being involved in incest since back then they wanted to keep the blood and the family tree all together instead of having it branch off to other blood lines.
It’s cool to know that they haven’t really figured out his cause of death. It’s especially interesting that even with all the advances in technology, the past still remains a mystery.
It’s amazing what has been discovered by testing the artifacts in tut’s tomb. So much is yet to found out though.
The topic of incest makes me wonder if any other species practices it. Furthermore, why do humans not have some sort of instinctive thought against doing it. It is no surprise that Tut had so many health problems after generations of incest before his birth.
Read it! 🙂
I didn’t realize that he was so young when he died.
After reading this article and the previous, I would like to know more about the area where King Tut was found. Why was the tomb found before the burial chamber? Hopefully the mystery about his death will be solved. I also did not know about the broken leg; perhaps they used casts back then, since everything was mummified.
I am surprised by the fact that there are no records of king tuts death or his final days, but what does not surprise me is that he was involved with incest, because it was very popular back then.
I think it is so cool that scientists have been able to find all of this out about his life and incest and what not even though he hadnt been touched in over thousands of years.
It’s very interesting to see all of the potential causes of death King Tut dealt with. It would be neat if they were able to determine which of them was the actual cause of his death.
Incest is common among families in power so that did not surprise me but I found it interesting that his cause of death is still not known and that there is no record of it!
Today incest is a crazy thing to think about…but in ancient times it was not uncommon for families to do it in order to keep the royal blood “pure”. Incest can lead to a multitude of complications which may have lead to King Tut’s death but also could have been the reason why many people back then did not live long past their thirties (advancements not yet made in medicine is obviously another big reason).
The incest part does not surprise me since that was popular during those times. But something that stumps me is that they do not know the main cause of King Tuts death. They already have done a lot of research and DNA testing, and I’m surprised that they haven’t figured out the cause of his death.
Would like to know the exact cause of his death.
Wow.That’s crazy how his death could have resulted from a number of different things. It will be interesting to see if they can pin point one single cause. If the ancient Egyptians were so advanced in many other areas, then how could they not realize through the years, that breeding with family members could cause abnormalities or death at a young age?
Most families and dynasties at this time practiced incest as a means of keeping the royal bloodline pure. It’s not that big of a surprise at all.
I hope they find some sort of record of his cause of death. Definitely curious.
King Tut is like The Beatles of his generation. He had a very short rule, yet he was one of the most influential leaders of his time.
I wonder if the incest could have affected the mental state and decision making of the royal line?
It doesn’t really surprise me that incest was involved as most royal family’s wanted to stay pure. what is interesting is how there is no record on how he died. leaves a lot to speculate on!
I know that incest was common because it was a way to keep bloodlines pure and to keep power in the family. I have also heard (in an anthropology class) that when siblings would marry, the wife would sometimes be impregnated by a helping hand in the palace instead of her brother in order to avoid the effects of incest. I wonder if there is any truth to this or if this could have been common practice?
I guess that is one way to keep the throne in the family.
While reading this article I found it crazy to believe that because of incest in his family and blood, tut could have gained some types of diseases. I wonder how we know that is possible and how it actually comes about. King Tut seemed to have many medical issues that could have lead to his death, I just wonder how long it will take till we know what his actual cause of death was.
I am not surprised incest might have been involved for that was very common in that time period. After all, it is believed we are all related in some way anyway. I find it odd that they cannot find any records on how he died. Hopefully one day that mystery will be solved.
Poor King Tut, it is sad to hear that his possible death wasn’t in his control.
I think its pretty cool the amount of attention King Tut gets especially because there is not much known about him and yet he appears to be the most popular. I think a lot of this popularity is because of the unknown and people find this intriguing
The information in the article solidifies the various possibilities that King Tut was created through incest which brought on multiple diseases and complications. Although with all the test that were run with is DNA you would think we would know more.
I think that it is interesting on how they would make chambers. I also find it weird how they would marry their own sisters and family and have kids. It is weird to think because that is not what happens in today’s life. I find it interesting they found two other bodies in the chamber with Tut.
Its kind of cool how even after all those years they can still find the reason for why he may have died
I definetely think that it is just a matter of time before we know the real reasons behind King Tut’s death. I can’t imagine that something like that was not recorded in some way, shape, or form.
The incest within the royal bloodline is not unique to Egyptian royalty. It is seen repeatedly throughout history leading to diseases being more prevalent in royal bloodlines such as hemophilia in European royalty. King Tut being extremely sickly because of his lineage makes sense. Hopefully as technological analysis of mummies and artifacts continues it will lead to the result of how he did die. As for Steve Martin’s King Tut very catchy and entertaining.
Incest in a royal family is not surprising. What surprised me is the sheer number of possible causes for his death.
I am not at all surprised to hear that King Tut was involved in incest. This was a very common practice used to keep the bloodline to the throne pure.
Although incest was a very common royal practice, it still does surprise and disgust me. I found it extremely unfortunately that two of the fetal mummies could have been children that died because he married within his family. I do however, find it very interesting that his death could be from a different cause than the one that was always assumed.
Incest seemed to be commonly practiced in order to keep the royal bloodline going, but pretty gross at the same.
I wonder how long it took, or if they even did, for the Egyptians to find out that incestuous relations were causing diseases and miscarriages…
It is great to see that we are using our modern technology, such as DNA analysis, to investigate and contribute to history in a greater way. The conspiracy between whether King Tut died of a malarial disease acquired by his broken leg or whether he was assassinated is very fascinating to me. Incest was the result of many miscarriages which is a good reason for why he was buried with two mummified fetuses.
Ironic that today is World Malaria Day and that King Tut suffered from several Malarial infections. Unfortunately Malaria is still a problem for youth in society today.
Im not surprised about the incest due to them wanting to keep it in the family . as for his death i still wish we knew !
It’s unfortunate that we don’t know much about his death. As for his familial relations, it’s not surprising considering the lack of understanding of genetics and the idea of royalty in their blood.
I guess if you’re old enough to be a king, you can get married so young. Hopefully not to a family member, but back then they did not know what we know today.
Incest is not too surprising, because ancient civilizations could have wanted to keep a “royal” bloodline. So it stands to reason that some incest could have occurred for the sake of keeping the throne in the family
The technology used benefited the research aspect in the long run. Had they found him earlier, it would have been more difficult to identify him as King Tut and explore how he died at such a young age.
It’s astounding that DNA can still be tested thousands of years later and we can actually learn various aspects about these people we would never know as a result.
Not hard to think they didn’t have incest around back then, there’s not really much to do except haul stones and the ol’ bump n’ grind
Oh, man. The cleft palate would have probably been a large issue for a developing young man.
Even though he died before he was even in twenty years old, he is mostly known for his incredible burial site instead of what he did as pharaoh. I wonder… if he would have lived longer, would he have also had an enticing reputation as Alexander the Great?
I was surprised to learn that it is believed that King Tut suffered from Malaria, but it makes sense based on the African continent having many cases of Malaria. It is also interesting that King Tut supposedly married his half-sister and possibly had two kids with her!
It’s crazy how Tut had so many birth defects yet was still treated as royalty. Obviously it was in his bloodlines. but most ancient civilizations aren’t known to have treated people with disabilities very well.
In my genetics class this semester, we learned all about the dangers of incest and how it hurts the genetic variance of a population. When I learn of ancient societies such as Egypt, it is surprising that they did not put two and two together. I feel as if it should have been quite evident that incest was leading to many problems such as these.
I find it intriguing that so many monarchal countries throughout history, ancient Egypt included, practiced rampant incest. That royal incest was being practiced thousands of years ago raises the question in my mind of what makes it so universally appealing.
Tragic that the ancients thought that that in order to preserve their royal-ness they had to practice incest and intermarrying and more incest and more intermarrying…
It is shocking that with all of the technology advancements of our time that we still do not know for sure how King Tut died. Also during those times it was not uncommon for incest to take place and I believe that King Tut was involved in incest.
I agree with the point E.S. makes, not a single records exists relating to the death of a Pharaoh? I think his infection killed him.
While yes incest was rampant in royalty in all of history, you can also look at the religions to shed some light on the situation too. Many polytheist religions we know about (Greek, Egyptian, Norse) had weird and messed up family trees. For example Isis and Osiris were siblings as well as husband and wife. So it is possible that the Pharaohs wanted to be more like the gods, and practiced some disturbing things.
Incest among royalty wasn’t that odd in a lot of cultures, since it was a pretty convenient way for making sure power stayed within certain family lines, but could lead to many unhappy side effects down the family line. It wouldn’t be terribly unlikely for Tut’s ancestry to have negatively impacted his health.
A shame King Tut died at such a young age. Crazy that we cannot determine exactly what killed him despite all we know about him.
It does not surprise me incest is a possibility for King Tut considering how prevalent it was in that day. It is strange how much we know about him for how long ago he lived, but seem to know nothing about his death.
The embedded video was really cool
Since the medicine was very poor back in these times, I can only imagine the pain that King Tut had to deal with when his broken leg became infected. Knowing that there is no way to survive an infection must be such a terrible way to go.
Its amazing what people back then to get/keep power.
Its so interesting to me that incest changes the physical features of a human being, such as their family line having elongated skulls. It makes sense that there would be deformities and problems that would occur.
Would it not be great to get on Ancestery DNA and find out that you are related to King Tut! I mean if you got his DNA then it should be on their. As for incest… Who really knows the truth to that.
it is not suprising that he died of a disease because they probably didn’t have the proper medical care
Sad to think about incest. In today’s society, thankfully, that is a crime. To my knowledge, I’ve never known anyone that was attracted to, or in love with any family member. That suggests to me that they must have been forced to marry.
Oh it still happens, I’m not sure if it is technically illegal or not. I don’t know if you can get married, but I don’t think you’ll get arrested for it either, never been an issue I’ve had to deal with lol
Incest was practiced very often in those days because they wanted to keep the blood line the same! However after so many still births and defects i wonder why they didn’t notice that maybe incest was contributing to their ill and sickly leaders.
Probably because the infant mortality rate was so high anyway, they just never put 2 and 2 together.
Good point
You’re point about keeping the blood lines the same, is the reason they did it. Mostly contributed to their class system. I would think. Only so much royalty to go around, and if that’s all you can be with, makes he choices limited. Lol
It’s interesting to see how body modification, started so early, and in different parts of the world. While still being continued on today, with tattoos and piercings.
Although incest is awful and is definitely something we do not practice today, I understand why the royal families saw it as normal and beneficial. They wanted to keep the bloodline “clean” so that the future rulers were of the purest bloodline possible. Obviously today with the help of modern medicine and better morals we understand that, if anything, marrying and reproducing within the family actually did more harm than good.
I guess I really didn’t think about that incest was a common thing back then, but I still find it very odd that someone made of incest was considered a common thing.
What is it with royalty keeping it in the family? Gross.
I find it interesting that they mummified the fetuses from the unsuccessful pregnancies and placed them in the burial tomb with king Tut in this time period.
It’s hardly worth a raised eyebrow that there is incest in his family tree. It might be a scandal nowadays but incest wasn’t taboo until just recently, especially in royal lineage.
It isn’t surprising that he had incest in his family tree, it may be frowned upon now but it wasn’t uncommon back then.
Not the least bit surprised about incest being prominent in the family tree of Egyptian royalty.
No surprise about the incest in his family tree. There was alot of that in royal families.
I thought most royal families were involved in incest to keep their families in the throne. Also might be a reason he died so young, it could have been a result of his parents being related ??