In June of 2005, pharaoh fever struck California. In just one month, half a million people streamed into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. They wanted to see the dazzling jewelry and household items that once belonged to a king of Egypt.
For hours they waited in line to see beautiful furniture and lamps, musical instruments, and board games. So many people came, the museum had to stay open until eleven o’clock at night.
There was a small chair the king used as a child. There was a chariot that he used to ride. There was a couch in the shape of two spotted cows. The nesting coffins that once held his body were also on display—one was all gold. There were about one hundred and twenty-five objects, including fans and vases and folding chairs and clothes.
Although many things looked brand-new, they weren’t. They were more than three thousand years old. For all that time, everything lay hidden under the sands of Egypt in a secret tomb.
Early in the twentieth century, a man named Howard Carter spent years searching for the tomb. He knew the king’s name: Tutankhamun. And he thought he knew where the king was buried. Finally, in 1922, just when he was about to give up, he found it.
The discovery made headlines all over the world. Before this, nobody had ever heard of King Tutankhamun. Suddenly, everyone knew his name. People began calling him King Tut for short.
Today, King Tut is probably the most famous of all the pharaohs. Yet he was not an important or powerful ruler. He was pharaoh for only about nine years. We know he got married. However, we do not even know whether he had children.
Tut died very young—when he was eighteen or nineteen years old. And the reason he died remains a mystery. Some historians think he may have been murdered.
It is strange to think that he became famous because of what was buried with him. But all the beautiful things in his tomb are important. They tell us about what life was like in ancient Egypt. And together they form a picture of who King Tut was.
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