He reigned nine years and died at nineteen. He is famous because nobody robbed his tomb.
Tutankhamun was not an important pharaoh. He came to the throne at about nine, reigned for nine years, died at nineteen, and his main political act was reversing his father's religious revolution. Later kings left him off the official lists entirely.
That obscurity is exactly why he matters. Every other royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings was emptied by robbers in antiquity. His was small, hastily finished, and quickly buried under the debris of a later tomb's construction, so it was forgotten and left almost intact.
Howard Carter found the first step on 4 November 1922 after six seasons of failure and with his patron about to withdraw funding. Asked what he could see through the hole he had made, he said: "Yes, wonderful things." Inside were over five thousand objects, including the gold mask that is now the most recognisable object from the ancient world.
The tomb itself, KV62, remains in the Valley of the Kings with the mummy still in it, and needs a separate ticket — go for the significance, not the decoration.
The complete collection is now displayed together at the Grand Egyptian Museum, most of it for the first time. The tomb itself, KV62, remains in the Valley of the Kings with the mummy still in it, and needs a separate ticket — go for the significance, not the decoration.
