Tutankhamun: The Not So Golden King
King Tutankhamun is often seen as something he was not. I used to see him as a young, noble ruler who did many great things for Egypt, as I assume many other people do. However, the assumption could not be farther from the truth. One thing many people may not have not known about the golden boy was that he had necrosis or death of bone tissue in his left foot.
This would have been very painful and forced him to walk with a cane. Many of which were found in his burial tomb. However, this was not life threatening. He had also caught malaria various times in his life. In a DNA study scientists found a mosquito born parasite the caused malaria in King Tuts DNA. In that study they also found more than one strain of malaria, indicating he caught it more than once in his lifetime.
The strains found were responsible for malaria tropica, the most deadly form of malaria. He also had a fractured thighbone. The malaria would have weakened his immune system and interfered with the healing of his foot and thighbone. In short, he was a pharaoh with many health issues. He didn’t even make his own decisions. He had advisers to tell hime what to do.
His advisers were officials such as vizier Ay and general Horemheb, along with others. These people were the real leaders. King Tut was really just a puppet for them. In conclusion, I think King Tut was a total poser. He is displayed as the great golden boy of Egypt, but really he was just a disabled boy forced to be pharaoh.
I think we should stop painting him as a great young man and noble ruler and see him for what he really is, a disabled puppet king.
