who are tutankhamun's parents? (1 Viewer)

[Kawaii Mz Re]

i've looked through lots of books and there are lots of different queens and kings that are said to be his parents. is it Akhenaten and Kiya or Amenhotep III and Tiye?

 

[xeuyrawp]

i've looked through lots of books and there are lots of different queens and kings that are said to be his parents. is it Akhenaten and Kiya or Amenhotep III and Tiye?

Usually if people say different things, it's because they disagree. I'll break it down for you:

1. Older view: Son of Amenhotep III and Tiye,
1.a. Modified older view: Son of Amenhotep III and Kiya; Tiye would have been too old,
2. Accepted view: Son of Akhenaten and Kiya. The problem is why he's never depicted with Akhenaten, though...
3. New view gaining some acceptance: James Allen claims that he was the son of Smenkhare and some random. I personally like this view as it explains the problems of number 2.

There are lots of other views, but none are really popular anymore except for 2 and, increasingly, 3.

Allen's paper is actually online and is quite interesting, so check it out if you have time.

Hope that helps.

 

[Kawaii Mz Re]

yup it does ^.^ thank yooh very much ^^

 

[katie tully]

How true is the theory that Tut's successor tried to obliterate any memory of Tut and Tut's predecessors?

 

[xeuyrawp]

How true is the theory that Tut's successor tried to obliterate any memory of Tut and Tut's predecessors?

Very. Part of the Egyptian royal identity is that the kings are theologically perfect and have got a legitimate claim to the throne.

Tutankhamun's father Akhenaten messed around with the religion, so both (and a few brief successors) were completely removed from official king lists. The king lists literally jump from Tutankhamun's grandfather to a king further down the line as if nothing happened. All of these kings had their names removed from monuments and replaced with the current king of the time. It's quite amazing, really.

That's one of the reasons finding of his tomb was so late - noone really knew he existed.