The Golden Mask of king Tutankhamun
who was The golden king Tutankhamun?
The reason that Tutankhamun is so famous today is that his tomb, containing fabulous gold treasures, was found early this century in November 4,1922
The golden pharaoh Tutankhamun ruled Egypt as a king for ten years until his death at age nineteen, around 1324 B.C
He is the son of King Akhnatin the one who created the new religion of god “Atin” in ancient Egypt.
The original name of our golden king was “Tut ankh atin “, then after his father’s death he changed his name to be “Tut Ankh Amun ” as he returned to worship the old god Amun.
Coffins of gold and a mask to protect his mummy
The mummy of the golden king Tutankhamun was laid in the smallest and innermost of three coffins; it was manufactured of solid gold and weighs 110 kg
The two larger coffins are made of gilded wood with inlays.
The middle coffin is also exhibited in the museum, but the largest outer coffin has been left in the king’s tomb at Thebes (Luxor).
The Golden Mask of king Tutankhamun and its amazing details
The mask was placed over the mummy of the king and directly of the bandages of linen that had wrapped in the mummy inside the smallest anthropoid coffin as the mummy was housed in three anthropoid coffins, one side the other, inside a sarcophagus and even more inside four other shrines.
The head and shoulders of the mummy were covered with this magnificent pure and solid gold funerary mask, weighing 11 kilograms and inlaid with semi-precious stones and coloured glass(Lapis lazuli, cornelian, obsidian, turquoise, coloured glass).
As the features of the deceased king were wrapped in linen shrouds, the mask, which resembles a true portrait of the king, enabled his ba (soul) to recognise its body in the afterlife.
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The brow of the king is protected by the vulture and the Uraeus, divine symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt respectively.
The king’s headdress’s decorated with strips of blue glass while the eyebrows and the accentuated outlines of the eyes are inlaid with lapis-lazuli
The eyeballs are made of obsidian and quartz. The royal beard is braided in divine form and composed of coloured glass set
in a fine web of gold.
The broad inlaid collar ends in falcon heads, associating the king with Horus
The slightly turned up beard as a sign of funerary purpose is made out of Lapis Lazuli. The board collar he is wearing consisting of rows, inlaid with cornelian (red), lapis lazuli (blue) and blue glass. At each end of the collar is a terminal in the form of a falcon’s head of gold inlaid with obsidian and coloured glass.
On the shoulders and the back of the mask is inscribed a magical formula from chapter 151 B of the Book of the Dead, intended for the protection. It identifies every member of the body with various gods
The eyebrows and lids are made out of blue glass, while part of calcite, black part of obsedian. The ears are pierced for earrings, when the mask was discovered, the holes used to be blocked with disks of gold for.
A spell and prayers for the god
A spell from the Book of the Dead is engraved on the back of the shoulders. It identifies parts of his head and fingers with those of different deities, thus invoking greater protection: “Thy right eye is the night boat, thy left eye is the day boat, thy forehead is that of the god Anubis, the back of thy head is that of Horus, thy fingers are those of god Thoth, thy hair is that of Ptah-Sokar.”
Finally, this mask considered to be a master piece of art, not only in Tutankhamun‘s collection, but in whole Ancient civilisations.
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