Mummies! No, I'm not talking about moms from England...
Yesterday I went to the King Tut exhibit at the LACMA. It was amazing. As I wandered from room to crowded room with screaming children stepping on my toes and pushy adults, I was filled with this wonderful sense of awe. 3000+ years ago the Egyptian civilization created amazing treasures with tools that we wouldn't even touch today. Fabulous works in gold and wood stood everywhere in their perfectly climate controlled cases.
This pharoah died when he was younger than I and accomplished so many things. Restoring traditional religion to his country, commissioning statues and temples, and returning the capital to where it had stood for thousands of years and stood for a millenium more are only a few.
I grew up with the history of King Tut in my family because my great grandfather was one of the first public photographers to go into his tomb in the 20s. My family has amazing glass negatives of heirogylphs and treasures unknown.. I never got to meet him since he died long before I was born but seeing the same things he once saw (albeit in a much safer, curse-free enviroment) was like seeing a part of him.
Even after all our technology and advances in the 21st century, they still don't know how the boy king died. Some say it was a vicious blow to the head, thus a murder. Others say an infection from a badly broken leg, perhaps and accident or a battle would. We may never know in my lifetime how he really died. But merely saying his name, TUTANKHAMEN, will keep him alive forever...
