Noise About King Tut

[jasonxx]

Just recently throughout the world there has been an upseurge and public interest in Tutan kamun and the relics found decades ago. The Gold statues mummies etc.

Now maybe im an odd ball or really out of tough History reader. But for the hell of me i really dont understand the furor and interest an basically a pretty insignificant boy king of Ancient Egypt. I mean were not taliing Ramesese or even .Cleopatra maybe imcalling the guy short but in the realms of Ancient history King Tutt in my opinion is insignificant. He really didnt do anything other than die young.

With all the interest or maybe its because of the treasures. People talk about the mummy etc and what can be learned from the carcass with the science we have today.

I just dont understand why there is so little interest in the location of Alexander. Ok Alexanders body will not be in some fantastic tomb surrounded by jewels gold or statues. Lets face it his Sussesors basically stripped Alexander bare and left him with a glass coffin.

But the history and knowledge that could indeed be clarified with the location of his corpse. Its quite clear with DNA hair testing etc. Science could built Alexander. Tell us of his injuries even what he ate through strands of hair.

id say as an ancient Artifact Alexanders actual body has to be up there with the holy grail and has to be a concerted and more interest to find it. Even long shots as Andrew Chuggs theory have to be explored. If his body is out theresurely there has to be more effort to find it.

regards

kenny

[marcus]

Just recently throughout the world there has been an upseurge and public interest in Tutan kamun and the relics found decades ago. The Gold statues mummies etc.

Now maybe im an odd ball or really out of tough History reader. But for the hell of me i really dont understand the furor and interest an basically a pretty insignificant boy king of Ancient Egypt. I mean were not taliing Ramesese or even .Cleopatra maybe imcalling the guy short but in the realms of Ancient history King Tutt in my opinion is insignificant. He really didnt do anything other than die young.

With all the interest or maybe its because of the treasures. People talk about the mummy etc and what can be learned from the carcass with the science we have today.

I just dont understand why there is so little interest in the location of Alexander. Ok Alexanders body will not be in some fantastic tomb surrounded by jewels gold or statues. Lets face it his Sussesors basically stripped Alexander bare and left him with a glass coffin.

But the history and knowledge that could indeed be clarified with the location of his corpse. Its quite clear with DNA hair testing etc. Science could built Alexander. Tell us of his injuries even what he ate through strands of hair.

id say as an ancient Artifact Alexanders actual body has to be up there with the holy grail and has to be a concerted and more interest to find it. Even long shots as Andrew Chuggs theory have to be explored. If his body is out theresurely there has to be more effort to find it.

regards

kenny

The interest in Tutankhamun started, basically, because it was an un-robbed tomb - none of the other tombs in the Valley of the Kings were intact, as grave-robbers had stripped them. So, even though Tutankhamun was an insignificant Pharaoh, as Pharaohs go, he was the only one whose burial treasures remained.

It's easy to understand, therefore, why there was and is such a furore.

The cost of mounting such an excavation (particularly as it took years for Carter to find the tomb) was massive, and remember that it was paid for privately, by Lord Canaervon. I doubt that anyone would be prepared to foot the bill for such a speculative search nowadays - and because of the lack of specific information about the whereabouts of Alexander's tomb, it would be speculative, and therefore I doubt if there's anyone who would be prepared to foot the bill.

That, I'm afraid to say, is life.

ATB

[rjones2818]

(or however you spell it) who was the heretic king that worshiped only the Sun God (some suggest that he, once he fell from grace, may have been the basis for the stories about Moses being involved with the Royal House or may have been Moses, period). So not important strictly from the fact that he died young, but from a very interesting time in Egyptian history.

[derek]

As Marcus says, Tutankhamen is the most famous pharaoh only because his is the only tomb found intact. And that's how celebrity status works. It doesn't mean he's the biggest or the best, just he's the one who got the break. For every pop star, there are hundreds who are just as good but will never be heard outside their garage - and don't get me started on successful authors!

Imagine if Alexander's deeds hadn't been written down. From the scraps of archaeological evidence, he'd be not much more than one of a list of tribal leaders from the Greek borderlands, notable to academics only because of a couple of mysterious mentions in the Babylonian chronicles. Everything else would be lost. For all we know, the King of the Cheyenne conquered and united half of North America in 300BC, but with nothing written down, he doesn't exist.

The thing with Tutankhamen's tomb was the gold. Mummy's are a bit icky, and what else would finding Alexander have to offer? No gold, not even the glass case. National Geographic would want more of a return for their money than to uncover a shrivelled prune.

I saw a programme the other night in the "Digging for the Truth" series, where they were hunting for the sacred relics from the temple in Jerusalem. Shiny gold artifacts, Ceasarea, the Coliseum, the Vatican, then Carthage, then Istanbul, then back to Jerusalem, finally a sealed monastery in the West Bank. It was real Dan Brown. That's what people want.

Derek

[marcus]

(or however you spell it) who was the heretic king that worshiped only the Sun God (some suggest that he, once he fell from grace, may have been the basis for the stories about Moses being involved with the Royal House or may have been Moses, period). So not important strictly from the fact that he died young, but from a very interesting time in Egyptian history.

I'm not sure that his link with Akhenaten is, in fact, of any interest (to the general public, anyway, because you can bet your bottom dollar that most people have never heard of Akhenaten, let alone what he was about, or Tell El Amarna, or what have you!).

I doubt if T's being the son of Akhenaten is of much interest to academics either, to be honest - he wasn't on the throne for long enough, didn't do anything, and as soon as Akhenaten breathed his last the whole monotheistic shebang went up in smoke. All that interesting, avant-garde sculpture was laughingly consigned to the artistic bin, and the Egyptians went right back to doing things the old way, wondering what strange things their old Pharaoh had been smoking ...

ATB

[marcus]

... And that's how celebrity status works. It doesn't mean he's the biggest or the best, just he's the one who got the break. For every pop star, there are hundreds who are just as good but will never be heard outside their garage - and don't get me started on successful authors!

Goodness me, Derek - I thought I was the one who tended to get choleric about this sort of thing. Don't tell me I'm not the only one!

ATB

[amyntoros]

This is a timely thread because only this afternoon I was half watching one of those shows on BBC America where they search through houses for items to go to auction. In today's episode they discovered a sketch book dating back to the twenties/thirties and one of the pages was full of illustrations of Egyptian influenced clothing, furniture, artifacts, etc. They mentioned how everyone went wild for anything Egyptian after the first discoveries of the tombs and I couldn't help but think how the finding of the tombs in Macedonia had such little comparative effect on mass culture.

It's a sign of the times, I think. Our knowledge of the ancient world has expanded and media and communications have become more advanced and people just don't find ancient discoveries that exciting any more; the tomb of Tut being one of the exceptions because it both retains and magnifies the mystique of the original excavations. And the myths and legends about the "curse" on the earlier discovered tombs definitely helps.

Best regards,

[marcus]

And the myths and legends about the "curse" on the earlier discovered tombs definitely helps.

Which was entirely invented by the newspapers, apparently. Who said that tabloid journalism is a recent phenomenon?

ATB

[derek]

If anyone in England's going to the Tutankhamen exhibition at the Millenium dome, I saw it in Chicago last year. It's very good and well worth seeing, but the name's a bit misleading. It should be King Tut & Family, because there are only a couple of items that were his. The rest belonged to his parents, aunts and uncles and so on. They had a picture tour on the BBC website yesterday, and it started with the golden death mask. Nah, you don't see that!

Derek

[jasonxx]

All tnis stuff about tuts treasure.statues etc and the fact it was in tact ok big beal/ Olives and trinkets.

I fell although we may only be left with a ugly bedraggled mummy of Alexander.

But one strand of Alexanders hair or a tiny piece of skin is more beneficial and would bear more historical answers than a golden mask. I guess it depends on the, historians persepective. The choice between gold and splendour or knowledge and learning.

I sould say 1 Alexabder hair or a piece of Alexanders damaged rib cage is worth all the gold in |Egypt.
kenny

[marcus]

All tnis stuff about tuts treasure.statues etc and the fact it was in tact ok big beal/ Olives and trinkets.

I fell although we may only be left with a ugly bedraggled mummy of Alexander.

But one strand of Alexanders hair or a tiny piece of skin is more beneficial and would bear more historical answers than a golden mask. I guess it depends on the, historians persepective. The choice between gold and splendour or knowledge and learning.

I sould say 1 Alexabder hair or a piece of Alexanders damaged rib cage is worth all the gold in |Egypt.
kenny

Well, you say that, and I'm sure others will agree with you. But for the general public? Gold has more of an allure than the bedraggled mummy of anyone, I'd reckon.

Ultimately, what would we learn from Alexander's body? Possibly we might discover if he was poisoned - but if that shows up negative, it probably wouldn't tell us what did kill him. And people who are convinced he was poisoned might still believe he was; and most wouldn't care anyway. For us it's a sad state of affairs, but that's life!

ATB

[jasonxx]

Marcus Are you serious

From Alexanders Corpse we would learn how tall he was if he had Blonde hair and with even the scientific construction we would maybe even sewe what he looked like.

we would learn about some of the stated injuries. If his body was physically battered maybe even if he was actually abusing Alcohol.

Science today can nearly tell you what some one had for breakfast thousands of years ago. Indeed for me it would define if he was poisoned with hair examinattion it can be analysed the chemical compounds in Alexander at the time of his death.

From the corpse many answers will be found. Did Alexander have an injury that caused his head to tilt. maybe ive more faith in the info storred in Alexanders body than you have marcus.

ATb

kenny

[marcus]

Marcus Are you serious

Er ... yes. Not sure why you would think I wasn't.

From Alexanders Corpse we would learn how tall he was if he had Blonde hair and with even the scientific construction we would maybe even sewe what he looked like.

I didn't say we wouldn't. I'm thinking more what would be valuable to know - sure, it would be nice to know how tall he was ... but ultimately, does it matter in the slightest?

we would learn about some of the stated injuries. If his body was physically battered maybe even if he was actually abusing Alcohol.

What exactly would we "learn about some of the stated injuries"? Whether the sources are telling the truth about them? If they didn't actually damage the bone, then it's unlikely we'd be able to establish if they actually existed - forensic archaeology can only do so much. And even if we did, what actual benefit would we derive from knowing?

Indeed for me it would define if he was poisoned with hair examinattion it can be analysed the chemical compounds in Alexander at the time of his death.

That's exactly what I said.

From the corpse many answers will be found. Did Alexander have an injury that caused his head to tilt. maybe ive more faith in the info storred in Alexanders body than you have marcus.

Well, forgive me for not writing out a long list of everything that we might possibly find out from the corpse, were it found. Believe it or not, I actually had other things to do with my time, so decided to mention the only thing that, to my mind, would actually be of particular academic interest were his body to be found. Everything else might be interesting, and indeed desirable to some people; but I don't think that anything else would actually further our knowledge or study of Alexander.

In future I'll spend just a little bit more time writing my posts, just in case, by omission, I give you the impression that I need prompting. That would never do ...

Anyway, that's beside the point. (1) We don't have Alexander's body; (2) I doubt anyone will be prepared to pour out the money to pay for a search for it when we don't know where it is; and (3) 99% of the world's population probably wouldn't care about it in the slightest.

ATB

[Theseus]

Just recently throughout the world there has been an upseurge and public interest in Tutan kamun and the relics found decades ago. The Gold statues mummies etc.

Now maybe im an odd ball or really out of tough History reader. But for the hell of me i really dont understand the furor and interest an basically a pretty insignificant boy king of Ancient Egypt. I mean were not taliing Ramesese or even .Cleopatra maybe imcalling the guy short but in the realms of Ancient history King Tutt in my opinion is insignificant. He really didnt do anything other than die young.

With all the interest or maybe its because of the treasures. People talk about the mummy etc and what can be learned from the carcass with the science we have today.

I just dont understand why there is so little interest in the location of Alexander. Ok Alexanders body will not be in some fantastic tomb surrounded by jewels gold or statues. Lets face it his Sussesors basically stripped Alexander bare and left him with a glass coffin.

But the history and knowledge that could indeed be clarified with the location of his corpse. Its quite clear with DNA hair testing etc. Science could built Alexander. Tell us of his injuries even what he ate through strands of hair.

id say as an ancient Artifact Alexanders actual body has to be up there with the holy grail and has to be a concerted and more interest to find it. Even long shots as Andrew Chuggs theory have to be explored. If his body is out theresurely there has to be more effort to find it.

regards

kenny

Actually King Tutankhamun wasn't as insignificant as you may think. His father Akhenaten was Tut's father and was the first to ever practice monotheism- the worship of one God. This upset the preists from the other "Gods" because they lost power and hence money. After Akhenaten died and King Tut was made Pharaoh the old ways and worshiping was restored to what it was prior to Akhenaten. Yes King Tut was a mere boy when he was put on the throne but it was an important part of Egypt's history to have things restored to ...well... normal. It seemed to be a peaceful time during his reign so not much is said about any wars that happened at that time.

I do agree that it would be wonderful to find the remains of Alexander because yes he did accomplish so much, more than anyone other King/conqueror. If Alexander's body was found they could do dna testing to find out what actually killed him. I worry that his body is under water with other parts of ancient Alexandria. There is some hope that maybe he's under current day Alexandria being they have found other tombs and streets/buildings from ancient times. I have read Andrew's theory and it could be correct and I wish they would exume the body in that tomb so we could all know, but it's doubtful it will ever happen. With all the new findings going on we may find more clues and maybe not. It would be an amazing discovery to find Alexander's remains.

[Theseus]

If anyone in England's going to the Tutankhamen exhibition at the Millenium dome, I saw it in Chicago last year. It's very good and well worth seeing, but the name's a bit misleading. It should be King Tut & Family, because there are only a couple of items that were his. The rest belonged to his parents, aunts and uncles and so on. They had a picture tour on the BBC website yesterday, and it started with the golden death mask. Nah, you don't see that!

Derek

I believe this is the same one I just saw in Philadelphia in September at the Franklin Institute. They did have a lot of items from his family. I have researched King Tut and other Egyptian Pharaohs for years and found all of it so interesting. I was so excited to see these magnificent items from 3000+years ago still in great condition.
I know that it was like getting blood from a stone to get Egypt to allow another exhibit of their treasured items because the last tour in the 70's ended up having broken artifacts returning to Egypt. It took a lot of convincing to get them to do allow another tour because of that reason. I too would have loved to see the death mask, but understand how Egypt is protective of their wonderful historic relics.