Gaby
Legends and recent coverage suggest that Tutankhamun—the 18th Dynasty pharaoh who ruled around 1332–1323 B.C.—wasn’t the frail boy king he’s often made out to be, but a “battle-hardened warrior,” the Daily Mail reports.
The idea that Tutankhamun was weak and had a clubfoot has become part of popular history and seemed backed by evidence: archaeologists found more than 130 intact canes of different shapes and styles in his tomb, which were thought to help the young ruler walk. But several independent experts are now questioning that view.
Biomedical Egyptologist Sophia Aziz, for example, says the ornate canes were symbols of royal status and power. She suggests that the clubfoot seen by scientists examining the mummy might be an artifact of mummification—tight wrapping and resin can distort a foot’s shape. Aziz also says the middle bone of the left toe could have been lost during the mummy’s transport or taken later as a souvenir.
Aziz, who has studied more than 50 mummies, says, “There are no signs of stress on the long, straight bones of Tutankhamun’s legs—signs that would usually appear on the bones of someone who had limped all their life.”
Tutankhamun striking fear into his enemies on a chariot (circa 1327 B.C.) Wood painting, Cairo Museum
Campbell Price, curator of the Egypt section at Manchester Museum, backs the idea that the frail-boy-king image is probably a myth. “Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, and since then the idea of the pharaoh as a poor, limping creature has stuck,” Price says. “But we feel sympathy for this boy king because he wasn’t what people expect when they look at the golden mask.” Evidence that Tutankhamun may have been a warrior includes leather armor and a range of weapons found in his tomb.
Tutankhamun, the son of Akhenaten, became pharaoh at about nine or ten. He ruled roughly ten years and died at 18 under mysterious circumstances. In November 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter found stairs leading to his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Cataloging the items in the antechamber alone took months; after that, Carter entered the burial chamber and found the sarcophagus with Tutankhamun’s mummy and a trove of treasures.
