King Tutankhamen: The Mysterious Pharaoh of Egypt King Tutankhamen was not an important pharaoh, or a successful one. However, he is the most famous pharaoh, thanks to the incredible and exciting discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 1. The young pharaoh’s tomb may not have been the biggest, most elaborate tomb, but he and his family had at their command the wealth of the greatest period of Egyptian history 2. King Tutankhamen’s fame today is due to his tomb and what was found in it. It was the only Egyptian tomb of a pharaoh with most of its contents intact, found in history 3. King Tutankhamen was born over 3,000 years ago. No exact date is known 4. Tutankhamen was believed to be born in Malkata, a place in Southern, Egypt 5. To this day the true parentage of Tutankhamen is unknown 6. Most historians believe that Tutankhamen is the son of the old pharaoh, Amenhotep III and his chief wife Queen Tiye7. Because his parentage remains a mystery, it is very possible that he could even be the blood of a common town’s person 8. King Tutankhamen, only nine years old, was crowned as pharaoh in 1336 BC in Memphis 9. He was still a child when he was pharaoh and thus King Tut still carried out normal childhood events while he was pharaoh. King Tutankhamen began school at four years of age as did other well-born Egyptian children. He learned to read and write. King Tutankhamen was a very good writer and a great quantity of scribal equipment was found placed in his tomb 10. He was a good pupil and graduated with honors 11. As a pharaoh, King Tutankhamen had a great diet. The contents of his tomb reflected a diet of breads and cakes made of barley and wheat, seasoned with spices and sweetened with honey. Dates, figs, grapes, almonds, and fruit of palm were considered desserts. He possibly could have snacked on watermelon seeds; eleven baskets were found when his tomb was excavated. he drank wine at most...
