Books and magazines, treatises and extropolations galore abound about the young king's life and times. His relative (Egyptologists still argue on the relationship) Akhenaten indelibly made his mark on history, despite the later attempts by Egyptians to erase him entirely. Following Akhenaten's spectacularly explosive reign, Tutankhamun, it would be thought, would have some historic importance to us other than the riches of his tombs and the lavishment in which he was buried. Yet in both respects, this is not the case. To us, Tutankhamun's tomb is an extravagant array of riches, wealth and beautiful works of art. To his contemporaries, this was far from the truth. His burial was hurried, so hurried in fact, they used another man's sarcophagus and yet another man's tomb! Instead of the stately ceremonies that would place his belongings for the afterlife interrment with him, these belongings that fill us with awe and wonder were crammed in haphazardly and without any orderly fashion. And after this rather ignominous burial, he was shut up, forgotten, and erased from the country's shrines, temples, and steles as best as could be done. The job was thorough but no one is perfect and thankfully, those who were given the job of wiping clean the slate of Akhenaten and his brethren missed a few spots, giving archaeologists and historians a chance to peice together bits of this rather unusual time period in an unusual empire.

Many visitors to this site are no doubt curious why I have bothered to put yet another Tutankhamun website out on the Internet, when it's already strewn with them. Anyone can go to the local bookstore, used and new, and finds books by the hundreds about the boy king, his treasure, his fairytale discovery, the curses associated with him and tons of other information. The truth is, I had very little interest in Tutankhamun specifically. I loved Egypt, the mystery and the "romance" of this fabulous and artistic empire. For many years I was most entranced with the empire's female rulers and power houses: Hatshepsut, Cleopatra II, Tiye and Nefertiti. Strong women being represented in ancient times is unusual to say the least and information regarding women in those times is either depressingly disheartening or too scant to draw many well-informed conclusions.

I happened by the booksellers one Saturday afternoon, bored out of my mind and in desperate need of entertainment. I'd just started reading mystery novels and, being a history major, gravitated toward the historical mysteries. Most of them were Elizabethan, medieval, or just downright bizarre. I remember thinking that it was a shame no one thought to write mysteries in ancient times when a hardback book caught my eye: Slayer of Gods by Lynda S. Robinson. It had a decidedly Egyptian motif on the cover so I flipped it open and skimmed the summary. It was the latest in a series but sounded interesting, so I delved into the mystery section and came up with the first book of The Lord Meren Mysteries. I was hooked from then on, so blame Ms. Robinson. The stories take place usually during early five years of Tutankhamun's reign and Lord Meren, the Eyes and Ears of Pharoah and a Prince of the Realm, goes about the empire solving murders and keeping up with intrigues against a boy king doing his best to keep things together following the difficult times of his brother, Akhenaten. Her range of characters, both original and historical are fascinating, as well as her attention to everyday details of life make these books entrancing. I've sent her several emails badgering her for more, which she always politely responds to, and have pushed the books onto as many people as I can find to spread the joy of this author's fabulous talent. As much as I adore the character of Lord Meren and his son, Lord Kysen, it was young King Tutankhamun, the Living Horus, no longer a boy, but not quite a man, determined to do what is right and just for his people at the expense of his own peace of mind that caught my imagination. Pretty soon, I was cruising the ancient Egypt area of the bookstores, grabbing anything with the word Tutankhamun on it. This should lead you to the obvious conclusion that this is why there's a website here and that, yes, I'm little off my cork, but that's neither here nor there. Read the Books. Lynda S. Robinson is the name. Do you want me to list the books? I have them memorized in order:

Murder in the Place of Anubis
Murder at the God's Gate
Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing
Eater of Souls
Drinker of Blood
Slayer of Gods

In other interesting Tutankhamun news....Whilst digging for all of his official titles, I wandered across this breakdown of his entire name (and I thought those people with two middle names had too much to remember):

TUTANKHAMUN'S COMPLETE NAME

Ka-nakht tut-mesut Nefer-hepu segereh-tawy sehetep-netjeru nebu Wetjes-khau sehetep-netjeru Sa-re Tutankhamun (heqa-uina shema)

"Strong bull, fitting from created forms, dynamic of laws, who calms the Two Lands, who propitiates all the gods, Who displays the regalia, who propitiates all the the gods, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the manifestations of Re, Son of Re, living image of Amun (ruler of Upper Egyptian Heliopolis)" (Whew! No wonder we just call him King Tut)

Horus name
Ka-nakht tut-mesut
"strong bull, fitting from created forms"

Nebti name
Nefer-hepu segereh-tawy sehetep-netjeru nebu
"Dynamic of laws, who calms the Two Lands, who propitiates all the gods"

Golden Horus name
Wetjes-khau sehetep-netjeru
"Who displays the regalia, who propitiates all the the gods"

Throne name
nesu-bity Nebkheperu-re
"King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the manifestations of Re"

Birthname
Sa-re Tutankhamun (heqa-uina shema) [originally it was just Tutankhaten but when he became pharaoh and changed the state religion back to the old gods instead of the Aten, he changed his name officially to reflect the change.]
"Son of Re, living image of Amun (ruler of Upper Egyptian Heliopolis)"