Overhauling the structure of an entire society is kind of a big deal, and King Tut managed to pull that off while he was just a teenager. Here's how.
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00:00Overhauling the structure of an entire society is kind of a big deal, and King Tut managed
00:05to pull that off while he was just a teenager. Here's how.
00:08Sources explaining specific details of King Tutankhamen's reign are scarce. We know that
00:13he was a kid when he took the throne, that he married his sister, and that he died somewhere
00:17between age 17 and 19. He's not even listed in records of kings like his relatives, mainly
00:22because he was insignificant compared to other pharaohs. Nor is his parentage clear. The
00:27best guess today is that his parents were cousins, not brother and sister. More on
00:31them in a sec.
00:32What we know about his reign comes largely from inference, based on what occurred in
00:36Egypt after his death, plus what we know about the roles of Egyptian pharaohs in general.
00:41That role centers on ma'at, the cosmic order of right-wrong justice and law that defines
00:46Egyptian society. You see, Egyptian pharaohs were considered intercessors between the gods
00:51and humanity, and arbiters of justice between humanity and itself. A pharaoh's primary duty
00:56was to uphold ma'at as a representative of the gods and as a supreme judge and lawgiver.
01:01In other words, Egyptian religion and law were two sides of the same coin, and the pharaoh
01:06had final say.
01:08It's hard to impress the full magnitude of ancient Egyptian architecture without seeing
01:11it in person. The size and grandeur are perfectly indicative of how crucial Egyptian heritage
01:16and beliefs were to commoners and nobility alike, pharaoh included. Egypt considered
01:21itself an eternal, unchanging kingdom that would always exist and be in harmony with
01:25the gods and the cosmic order.
01:27Then came Akhenaten, and he got rid of all that noise. He was likely the father of King
01:31Tut, and he basically wiped away all of Egyptian tradition as he replaced its pantheon with
01:37one deity, the sun god Atta. He also changed his capital to a place north of Thebes called
01:42Akhetaten, among other reforms. And because he was a pharaoh, there was nothing that anyone
01:47could do about it.
01:48I know what you're thinking. How does this tie into Moses? Well, not to sidetrack this
01:53story. No one's really sure, and it depends on which date you want to associate with Moses.
01:58The important part is that the monotheistic ways didn't last long. Tutankhamun actually
02:02reversed Akhenaten's monotheistic sun god radicalism. King Tut was actually born with
02:06the name Tutankhatun, but he changed it to reflect this shift back to the old ways. And
02:11just as with Akhenaten's changes, everyone else had to follow Tut.
02:16Give my regards to King Tut, asshole.
02:20Because Egyptian spiritual life permeated everyday life, the gods required a lot of
02:24goodwill to maintain cosmic order. To this end, priests and priestesses had plenty of
02:29ongoing rituals to perform all the time, day after day. Their soul function boiled down
02:34to caring for the gods and keeping them happy, while everyday citizens dealt with matters
02:38of family, farming, commerce, and leisure.
02:41While pharaohs like King Tut didn't invent rules for Egyptian clergy to follow, Tut's
02:45reversal of Akhenaten's laws meant that he returned the clergy to their original duties.
02:50These traditional roles included custodial staff, cooks, scribes, hoarders, physicians,
02:55dancers, astronomers, fortune-tellers, and doctors. There were also various clergy members
03:00responsible for festivals, funerals, pre-funeral organ extraction, oratory at public events,
03:05and teaching other clergy.
03:07These individuals followed highly prescriptive rules developed over thousands of years, predating
03:113000 BC. But the pharaohs didn't invent these rules. Instead, they were like high priests
03:16interpreting the gods' will, and other priests in turn carried out the pharaohs' will.
03:21While historians don't know a lot of specifics about King Tut's reign beyond his pivot away
03:25from the sun god, Aten, they are aware of a couple of key decrees he made during his
03:29time in charge. These decisions portray him as generous, even merciful. In particular,
03:35he ordered the restoration of old temples, while simultaneously ordering that followers
03:39of Aten not be persecuted. And when the pharaoh spoke, people obeyed.
03:43During Akhenaten's 17-year reign, temples and shrines to the old gods fell into disrepair.
03:49Tut ordered the restoration of these structures in accordance with his back-to-tradition approach
03:52to religion. Furthermore, he ordered the construction of new buildings, including a palace at Karnak
03:58and a colonnade at the Temple of Luxor.
04:00At the same time, Tut didn't interfere with those people who had started to worship Aten.
04:04Instead, he ordered that they be left alone so that they could practice whatever religion
04:08they preferred.
04:09We've yet to touch on one major aspect of ancient Egyptian beliefs, and it's a big one
04:14— the afterlife. In many ways, Egypt's religious traditions were merely preparation for the
04:19afterlife. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to say that Egyptians viewed life as a gateway
04:24to eternity, one where people were judged based on their earthly actions. Hence the
04:29practice of mummification, as preservation of the physical body aided the journey to
04:33the afterlife.
04:34"...the ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife was very much like everyday life."
04:40King Tut would have believed no differently. While we don't know for sure if he laid out
04:44specific plans for what to do with his body after he died, we do know that such rules
04:48were implicit and would have been followed as a matter of course. Nevertheless, it seems
04:52like Tut was buried in a location that wasn't originally intended for him. But this chamber's
04:57small size and circumspect location helped keep it intact for nearly 3,000 years, from
05:02his death in 1323 B.C. until 1922. The artifacts found in his tomb included a golden mask,
05:08golden slippers, and the special shrine for his organs. It's unknown if Tut directly requested
05:13these items, but crafting his burial chamber was definitely a rule regardless.