The Golden King: The World of Tutankhamun
by Zahi Hawass
On This Page
Description
Tutankhamun has mesmerized the world ever since Howard Carter's dramatic discovery of his treasure-filled tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, a fascination fanned anew by the current world tour of the spectacular artifacts buried with him, a priceless trove that casts a spell on everyone who sees them. In this richly illustrated book, Egypt's leading archaeologist chronicles the Boy King and the royal dynasty that bred him. And what a dynasty! Tut's grandfather, the Sun King Amenhotep show more III, married queen Tiye before they reached their teens, then ruled for 40 years. Their heretical son, Akhenaten, abandoned Egypt's pantheon to worship a single god; his wife Nefertiti is still remembered as one of history's legendary beauties. Tutankhamun ascended the throne as a child and died before the age of twenty, but the splendor of his brief reign and the sensational unearthing of his tomb have made him the most famous of all the pharaohs. Zahi Hawass brings these fabled figures and their tumultuous, astonishing age to life, with an authoritative text highlighted by scores of stunning photographs, including archival images from the first great era of Egyptian archaeology, when Carter and other Westerners reawakened the world to the golden glory of the ancient civilization explored in this dazzling book. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
themulhern One is a novel, one is a serious work of popular archaeology. They have the same overall structure, although Holland puts her ancient Egyptian part last and Hawas puts his first.
Member Reviews
Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (Egypt), writes, under the auspices of the National Geographic society, a beautifully illustrated book of Tutankhamun. There are exceptional photographs on every page, generally modern ones of the artifacts or reproductions of original photographs taken during the excavation in the 1920s.
The book has a simple structure: the first part is about the time in which Tutankhamun was buried and the prior and subsequent history, the second part is about the time in which Tutankhamun was found and the prior and subsequent history of that event.
A lot of people like to point out that Tutankhamun was an unimportant pharaoh, but he was the last, more or less, of the 18th dynasty, show more the most imperial dynasty Ancient Egypt ever had and he lived and died in a time of disintegration and collapse of that imperial rule, which was already well begun in the reign of his predecessor. His would always have been an important and interesting tomb, even if any other tomb had remained that had not been thoroughly robbed. But his unique situation meant that he was scrubbed from the collective memory, so that during the organized tomb robbing of the subsequent century his tomb was missed, unlike all the others as far as is known, and stayed that way, for a few thousand years thereafter.
This book considers seriously the possibility that Howard Carter tried to filch a few special pieces from the cache before it was officially opened and inspected, but is quite respectful of him at the same time. The illustration for the Howard Carter chapter is of the young, handsome, four-square, and only moderately mustached young artist and enthusiast, not the middle aged archaeologist with the much bushier mustache who found the tomb after years of disappointment and quarrelsomeness.
Zahi Hawass likes to imagine a happy life for the young pharaoh and his consort in his beautiful palace. This pretty word picture doesn't suit me; I prefer a bit of grim palace intrigue and a murder or two, as in Cecilia Holland's excellent, albeit dated, novel, "Valley of the Kings". show less
The book has a simple structure: the first part is about the time in which Tutankhamun was buried and the prior and subsequent history, the second part is about the time in which Tutankhamun was found and the prior and subsequent history of that event.
A lot of people like to point out that Tutankhamun was an unimportant pharaoh, but he was the last, more or less, of the 18th dynasty, show more the most imperial dynasty Ancient Egypt ever had and he lived and died in a time of disintegration and collapse of that imperial rule, which was already well begun in the reign of his predecessor. His would always have been an important and interesting tomb, even if any other tomb had remained that had not been thoroughly robbed. But his unique situation meant that he was scrubbed from the collective memory, so that during the organized tomb robbing of the subsequent century his tomb was missed, unlike all the others as far as is known, and stayed that way, for a few thousand years thereafter.
This book considers seriously the possibility that Howard Carter tried to filch a few special pieces from the cache before it was officially opened and inspected, but is quite respectful of him at the same time. The illustration for the Howard Carter chapter is of the young, handsome, four-square, and only moderately mustached young artist and enthusiast, not the middle aged archaeologist with the much bushier mustache who found the tomb after years of disappointment and quarrelsomeness.
Zahi Hawass likes to imagine a happy life for the young pharaoh and his consort in his beautiful palace. This pretty word picture doesn't suit me; I prefer a bit of grim palace intrigue and a murder or two, as in Cecilia Holland's excellent, albeit dated, novel, "Valley of the Kings". show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Author Information
92+ Works 2,521 Members
Zahi Hawass is a world-famous Egyptian archaeologist and the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Tutankhamun
- Important places
- Egypt
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 53
- Popularity
- 575,433
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
