Tutankamon A brief history of the boy-king   The most famous Egyptian pharaoh is almost certainly Tutankhamon. The boy king died in his late teens or early twenties and remained hidden in Egypt's Valley of the Kings for over 3 300 years. That is, until, in November 1922, Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered by Howard Carter who was excavating on behalf of his patron Lord Carnarvon. Carter had been searching for the tomb for many years but Carnarvon had decided to call the search of after expending a vast sum of money without results. Carter, however, managed to persaude his Lord Carnarvon to fund one more season and within a few days of resuming, the tomb was found. Today, the tomb still contains the Pharaoh's remains, hidden from view inside the outermost of three coffins. As far as we know, he is the only Pharaoh still resting in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb itself is very small and unassuming, probably built for someone of lesser importance. Tutankhamon's unexpectedly early death saw the tomb's rushed modification to accommodate a king. Tutankhamon lived over 3 300 years ago during the period known as the New Kingdom. For two centuries, Egypt had ruled as a world superpower, while its Royal family lived the opulent lifestyle. The powerful priesthood of the god Amon had controlled vast temples and estates. All that changed during the reign of Amenhotep IV when he renounced the multitude of gods worshipped by the Egyptians and abolished the priesthood of Amun. Amenhotep established a new order to worship the sun god Aten and changed his own name to Akhenaton, meaning "servant of the Aton" and becoming the first person in known history to believe in a single god. His wife bore him no sons though and so it is believed that Akhenaton and a lesser wife named Kiya were the parents of Tutankhaten, as Tutankhamon was originally known. There followed a shadowy part of Egyptian history that saw Smenkhkare rise to power. Little is known of this Pharoah other than he may have been responsible for the murders of Nefertiti (Akhenaton's wife) and Kiya - both disappeared completely from records around this time. Soon after the deaths of Akhenaton and Smenkhkare, Tutankhaton became a Boy King around the age of about nine. He married a slightly older Ankhesenpaaten, one of the daughters of Akhenaton and Nefertiti. Such family unions were commonplace at this time. Soon their names were changed to Tutankhamon and Ankhesenamun to reflect the changing power base that saw the priests reinstall Amon as the head of a multitude of seperate gods. As a boy it is likely that these type of decisions were handled by officials, specifically by Ay, who may have been the modern equivalent of a prime minister, and Horemheb, commander of the army. Sometime around the ninth year of Tutankhamun's reign, possibly 1325 B.C., he died. There is a well-publicised injury to his skull that had partly healed - he may have suffered an accident or was murdered. Ay oversaw Tutankhamon's burial arrangements which lasted 70 days. Following the burial, Ay became Pharaoh and took Ankhesenamun as his queen to legitimise his rule. Almost immediately, she too disappeared from history. Ay ruled for only four years and after his death Horemheb grabbed power. He soon obliterated evidence of the reigns of Akhenaten, Tutankhamon and Ay and substituted his own name on many of their monuments.     Author Info: Lee Munson is webmaster of www.info-sales.co.uk and is currently developing a set of sites dedicated to ancient cultures and history. south24