What can the treasures found inside the Boy King’s tomb tell us about the women in his life? Professor Joyce Tyldesley reviews the evidence – and shares some intriguing discoveries
Tutankhamun may have died more than 3,300 years ago, but it is still possible to ‘attend’ the pharaoh’s funeral via the painted scenes discovered inside his burial chamber. On the east wall we see the mummified king lying in a coffin on top of a bier on board a boat, which is itself standing on a wooden sled. Twelve of Egypt’s highest-ranking dignitaries, all dressed in white linen, have assembled to drag the funerary sled across the desert to the Valley of the Kings. Meanwhile, on the north wall of the chamber, the funeral procession has reached the tomb, with Tutankhamun’s mummy propped upright and his successor, King Ay, dressed in a priestly leopard skin to conduct the rituals that will allow the dead king to live again. There is one key omission from these scenes, however.
Nowhere in these paintings do we see Tutankhamun’s widow, Ankhesenamun (formerly also Ankhesenpaaten). If we want to learn more about the woman who supported her husband in life and death, we instead need to take a closer look at some of Tutankhamun’s 5,000 grave goods.
A FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP
The ‘Little Golden Shrine’, a doored box covered in thick gold foil, is one of Tutankhamun’s most enigmatic grave goods. A series of engraved panels on the golden exterior shows the king and queen together. Ankhesenamun fastens a collar round her husband’s neck, receives water that he pours into her cupped hand, and supplies him with arrows as he shoots ducks in the marshes. Howard Carter, who led the discovery of the tomb in November 1922, believed that these scenes reflected the daily life of the king and queen, with Ankhesenamun playing a minor role: “The dominant note is that of friendly relationship between the husband and the wife.”
A century later, with a far better understanding of the complexities of Egyptian royal art, we interpret these scenes as a reflection of Ankhesenamun’s religious power as she assumes the role of a priest to prepare her husband for his coronation and the New Year ceremonies that will follow.
Ankhesenamun is equally prominent on the decorated back panel of Tutankhamun’s golden throne. Here we see the royal couple inside a floral pavilion. Ankhesenamun stands
