Random Facts We Just Learned About King Tut That Made Us Say 'Whoa' (13 items)

• (#8) He Was Mummified While Aroused

  From Redditor u/wkvdz:

  TIL King Tutankhamun was mummified with an erection. It broke off soon after his discovery.

  Context: King Tut was indeed found mummified with an erection. This is thought to represent the young king's defiance of his father's religious beliefs. However, the participle was broken off shortly after discovery, and he is likely the only mummy ever found with this affliction.
• (#4) 50% Of Men In Egypt Have DNA Similar To King Tut's

  From Redditor u/AggiePetroleum:

  TIL Half of European men share King Tut's DNA

  Context: New genetic testing has been done on the famous mummy, illustrating that he is part of the haplogroup R1b1a2 profile group. This particular pool of people includes more than 50% of the men in Western Europe. This means that all of those people technically share an ancestor - even older than King Tut himself.
• (#5) His Tomb Is One Of Few That Were Unopened And Intact

  From Redditor u/TheSilverBug:

  TIL that Tut Ankh Amun's tomb is the only tomb to date to be discovered intact and complete. All others were looted sometime during the years. This is the unbroken seal to the tomb's door since it was closed 3,341 years ago

  Context: Tut's tomb was in fact found nearly entirely intact, which was uncommon as most tombs were found after they had already been raided by thieves. It's likely his tomb was left untouched for over 3,000 years because the entrance was difficult to see. 
• (#12) Tut's Name Changed With The Gods

  From Redditor u/hypersite:

  TIL that Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not always called that. At the beginning of his reign, he was called Tutankhaton. Indeed, his parents during their reign worshiped the god Aton, hence the suffix but Tutankhamun during his reign restored the worship of the god Amun.

  Context: King Tut's official name at birth was actually Tutankhaten, named after the Sun god, Aten, as his father had previously transitioned away from the worshipping of many gods to only a single god. Tut changed his name after reversing his father's religious ruling to reflect the creator god, Amun. 
• (#2) He Had A Dagger Made From A Meteor

  From Redditor u/densernut:

  TIL that King Tutankhamun (14th Century BC Pharaoh) was entombed with a dagger of "extraterrestrial origin." Advanced spectrometry tests strongly suggest the iron, nickel, and cobalt contained in the blade are from a meteorite that crashed near the Kharga Oasis about 200 km west of the Nile.

  Context: Inside the young pharaoh's tomb was an iron dagger. This was perplexing because iron was rare during the Bronze Age. More recent studies show the properties of the "extraterrestrial blade" were in fact consistent with the composition of a meteor.
• (#6) His Death Mask Has A Spell On It To Help Him Through The Afterlife

  From Redditor u/-AMARYANA-:

  TIL King Tut's Mask has a spell from chapter 151 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead carved into the back. This spell provides a road map to the afterlife and protects the pharaoh's limbs as he moved through the underworld.

  Context: This particular death mask is a prized possession in Egyptian artifacts. Intricately crafted out of solid gold, it depicts the young pharaoh as similar to a god with a long beard and nemes headdress. The back of the mask is indeed covered with Spell 151b from the Book of the Dead, which lays out a map for the afterlife and protects his limbs in this journey.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking