TAA i.3.9.8

Page number
8
Caption
Note for scientific publication on chemistry
Creator
Date of creation
1925
Material
Ink
Paper
Measurements
32.9 x 21.4 cm (h x w)
Object(s) referenced (by Carter number)
Notes

Photocopy of typewritten and annotated notes for a lecture titled 'Scientific Aspects of the Egyptian Discoveries', page 4.

Transcription

                                           –           4            –    

          Tutankhaten may have been of blood-royal, but he may have

been merely a commoner. One great authority considers that he

was actually a younger brother of Akhen – Aten, to whom he is

supposed to bear a very marked likeness both facially and in other

physical characteristics. But in any case by his marriage to one

of Akhen – Aten’s daughters he was a potential heir to the throne.

When he married Ax[?]/<n>kh-es-en<-pa>-Aten, the third daughter of Akhen – Aten

we do not know, it may have been during Akhen – Aten’s lifetime,

or it may have been rushed through shortly after Akhen-Aten’s

death, in order to legalise his claim to the throne. We do not

know exactly how old Tutankhaten or his wife were at the time

of their marriage, but we do know that Tutankhaten was but in his

’teens, and his wife could not have been more than ten – rather young

to marry, according to our western conceptions. The outstanding

event of Tutankhamen<’>s short reign, and the only one about which

we know anything was his revi/<e><r>sion to the old religion of Amon. He

moved back to Thebes, and restored the old temples. Correspondingly

he changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamen, and it is this

latter name that we find on all the objects in the tomb, although

on the celebrated golden throne<,> of which you have doubtless seen

photographs, there is a curious admixture of the two names. In

some places the name Tutankhaten has been erased and Tutankhamen

substituted, while elsewhere the name Tutank<h>aten remains.

          We cannot say whether the restoration to the old religion

was a matter of the king’s personal conviction or <one> of political

convenience, but judging by the state of affairs at the time, it

seems probable that the latter was the case. It is not yet known

how long he reigned: it is certain that it was not less than six

years, but it was probably <not> much more. Nor do we know when the