Anubis Speaks!: A Guide to the Afterlife by the Egyptian God of the Dead (30 page)

However, most of my people were not in favor of this. They worried that all the old gods would be furious with them. And, um . . . hello? We
were
. I mean, who would dare get rid of
me
?

After Tut took the throne, he changed his name to Tutankh
amun
, in honor of Amun-Ra and all of us old gods that his father had insulted. It was a way to win the people’s favor, and reassure them after Akhenaten’s death.

People used to think that Tut died from getting bashed in the head, but he actually died after breaking his leg, some think, in a chariot accident. The break itself didn’t kill him, although it was a nasty one. The theory is that the bone broke through his skin, which let bacteria into the wound. The infection ultimately did him in.

By the way, my people used certain types of bread mold and soil mold to fight infections. The powerful antibiotic penicillin comes from bread mold. So, thousands of years before you moderns discovered bacteria and germ theory, my people were already using antibiotics. Sadly, they didn’t understand how or why the bread mold worked, and couldn’t make their remedies stronger.

Royal physician-healer priests likely used bread mold poultices to help Tut. But it wasn’t enough. He was toast.

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How King Tut’s Tomb

Was Discovered

The famous dirt-digger, Howard Carter, claimed he discovered Tut’s tomb. Not quite. It was

actually a kid about your age who first found the steps leading to the tomb. Carter just took the credit.

Here’s what happened: It was the year 1922,

according to your calendar. Carter hired many Egyptian boys and men from nearby villages to work as part of his crew. A young village boy was told to move a clay water jar. The jar had a pointed tip, which was ground into the sand for stability.

The boy did what he was told and picked up the clay vessel and moved it. But when he tried to shove the pointed tip into the sand, he heard
clink
. He figured he’d hit a rock. So he moved it. Again, he heard
clink
. And another
clink
.

That’s when Carter rushed over. He brushed away the sand. The boy hadn’t hit a random rock, but had discovered the top stone step leading straight into King Tut’s tomb!

I, Anubis, remember because I happened to be visiting Tut’s tomb on my rounds of the dead that day.

I heard the clinking, followed by the excited calls and the running footsteps. And finally I heard the hushed reverent voices as light flooded my dark domain.

It had been more than three thousand years since 85

a human had taken a breath inside that tomb.

I thought about scaring the crew—maybe growling or howling—but in the end, I just inhabited my statue and observed. Eventually, Carter took everything out of the tomb, and it was exhibited at the Museum of Cairo. I was torn about this for two reasons: On one hand, I did not like it because he disturbed the final resting place of one of our pharaohs. How dare he? But on the other hand, I liked it because people the world over began speaking Tut’s name. Don’t forget, to us, having your name remembered was one of the ways a blessed soul could live forever. So thanks to Howard Carter, every time anyone talks about Tut, the young pharaoh’s soul is strengthened, which is why, as you’ll soon see, I
did not
curse Carter or anyone associated with the discovery of Tut’s tomb (more on that soon).

What They Found

in King Tut’s Tomb

Like most royal tombs, Tut’s had many highly decorated, painted rooms that led to the innermost chamber where his body lay undisturbed. It was also overflowing with an impressive collection of fine goods—intricately carved wooden beds and chairs; exquisite gold jewelry; several ornate versions of board games, including “Senet” (which may have been a forerunner to your modern game of backgammon); 86

delicate glass and alabaster jars filled with creams, lotions, and perfumes; and expertly-crafted clothing, including a pair of pure-gold sandals placed on his mummy feet. He even had chariots, in case he wanted to race his fellow dead pharaohs in the afterworld.

Tut had plenty of food and drink in there with him as well, including sides of mummified beef and gazelle meat, as well as bread, figs, cheese, wine, and more. All to make sure he would have enough for eternity.

Tut is probably most famous, though, for the golden death mask laid over his mummified body.

Made of solid gold and weighing twenty-four pounds, the mask glittered with carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise, obsidian quartz, and colored glass. Talk about staying pretty for eternity!

Like many royal mummies, Tut’s body rested

inside three nested golden coffins, all decorated with scenes and spells that protected the mummy inside.

Two of the outer coffins were made of wood covered in gold leaf; the third inner coffin was made of almost three-hundred pounds of gold!

The three coffins were placed inside a mummy-shaped stone casket, called a “sarcophagus,” which means flesh-eater in Greek. Four shrines were erected around the sarcophagus for a total of nine structures of protection. For my people, the number nine was a symbol of infinity.

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Why so much gold? My people believed the skin of us gods was made of pure gold. Since pharaohs turned into gods after death, Tut’s famous mask gave him a head start.

News Flash: There Is No

Mummy Curse

The curse of King Tutankhamun is a myth. It

began when the guy who paid for the discovery of the tomb died. He had been old and sick for some time. The rumor of Tut’s curse got started because Howard Carter and his team kept everyone away from the tomb. The only journalists they allowed in were from one British newspaper.

In frustration, a novelist claimed she had proof of a curse. She’d made up the story in hopes it would get her in to see the tomb. As rumors and excitement grew, so did the stories about the curse of King Tut.

But there was no curse.

Truth is, there are no curses at all in royal tombs.

Why? Temple priests, police, and secret tunnels and chambers physically protected royal tombs. They didn’t need curses. The average noblemen had no such protection, though. So they started carving warnings in their tombs to ward off thieves. Here’s a real one. It is very scary so read it slowly.