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"Dr.
Freeman, there is nowhere in Egypt that has recorded the parentage
of Tuthankhamen. The reason I am so adamant about this is because
earlier this year I was trying to do my research on his parents
after I had bought a papyrus (of a mother kissing her infant on the
lips) in Qorna, and the proprietor told me it was taken from a wall
engraving of Tutankhamen and his mother. I later found out that this
wasn't so. It was then that I started trying to research
Tutankhamen's parents, and I kept hitting a blank wall. So it seems
that the only answers I had received were based on speculation.
Also, I have quite a few books here at home, as well as access to
the internet. I went through everything, but could not find the
answer that I want. However, I very much appreciate the prompt
attention that you have given to me - it's just that I need to see this
matter written in stone. It is difficult because Tutankhamen was
more or less obscure, as he did not live very long, and because he
made no great accomplishments, there is very little concerning his
history."
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-- Here
is another view from an Egyptologist from Oxford, UK:
"There
are no sources specifically stating who Tutankhamen's parents were,
but most Egyptologists now believe that his father was Akhenaton and
his mother one of Akhenaton's minor queens, probably Kiya. The
argument about Tut's parentage is quite complicated; the current
view is the most probable one can arrive at from evidence available.
There is no doubt that Tutankhamen's queen, Ankhesenamun, was one of
Akhenaten's daughters."
********************************
-- And a view
from Anthony Di Paolo, MS, JD:
"Before
the spectacular discovery of his almost intact tomb in the Valley of
the Kings (KV 62) in November 1922, Tutankhamun was a shadowy and
little known figure of the late 18th Dynasty. To a certain
extent he still is, despite the prominence he has acquired from the
contents of his tomb. Tutankhamun's name was known in the early
years of this century from a few references, but his exact
place in the sequence of the 'Amarna kings' was uncertain. Like
Akhenaten and Ay, his name had been omitted from the classic
king lists of Abydos and Karnak, which simply jump from Amenhotep
III to Horemheb. Indeed, Tutankhamun's exact identity - and his
parentage - is still a matter of some conjecture, although it is
clear that the young prince was brought up at Amarna, probably in
the North Palace. A number of items found in his tomb are relics of
his life at the Aten court, notably the Aten's disc shown protecting
him and his young wife, Ankhesenamun, on the pictorial back panel of
his gold-inlaid throne.
Towards the end of Akhenaten's reign the senior members of the
court, especially Ay and Horemheb, probably realized that things
could not go on as they were. Smenkhkare, Akhenaten's brother (or
son?) and co-regent, must have come to the same conclusion since
he had left Akhetaten and moved back to the old secular capital,
Memphis, where he may have been in contact with the proscribed
members of the priesthood of Amun before his death and burial
at Thebes. Soon after Akhenaten's death, Tutankhaten (as he then
was) was crowned at Memphis. Aged about nine when he
succeeded, the young king would have had no close female relatives
left - his probable mother Kiya, his stepmother Nefertiti and his
eider step-sisters all being dead. He was probably under the direct
care and influence of Ay, the senior civil servant, and Horemheb, the military man. Tutankhaten's wife,
Ankhesenpaaten, was
evidently older than he since she was already of child-bearing age,
seemingly having had a daughter by her father, Akhenaten.
As soon as the new king had been installed, a move was made back to
the old religion. This was signified radically in Year 2 when both
king and queen changed the -aten ending of their names to -amun.
Tutankhamun probably had little to do with this or indeed many other
decisions - his 'advisors' were the ones who held the reins and
manipulated the puppet strings of the boy-king. A great
'Restoration' stele records the reinstallation of the old religion
of Amun and the reopening and rebuilding of the temples. The stele
is known from two copies, both of which were later usurped by
Horemheb, as were many other monuments of Tutankhamun. A large
number of reliefs and statues have been identified as originally belonging to Tutankhamun (the majority showing him either
in the company of Amun or as the god himself); for although the
inscriptions have been changed, the king's boyish features are
clearly recognizable. Extensive building works were carried out at Karnak
and Luxor in Tutankhamun's name, especially the great colonnade and
the relief scenes of the Festival of Opet at Luxor, but all were
subsequently taken over by Horemheb."
****************************
-- And
still yet another view:
Although
the treasures of Tutankhamen have made this young king known world
wide, we really know very little about his life. We are not even
sure who his parents were. Indeed, his parentage is one subject
which keeps scholars busy, year after year, hence there are always
new theories. Perhaps the most convincing and currently acceptable
is that he was the son of the heretic king Akhenaton. His mother was
not Akhenaten’s famous wife Nefertiti, but probably a minor wife
of the king. Another popular theory makes Tutankhamen the half
brother of Akhenaton, as son of the Pharaoh Amenophis III and his
queen Tiye. Whoever his parents were, it is certain that he was of
the Royal House of Amarna, and that his claim to the throne was
strong enough for him to succeed as Pharaoh of all Egypt in about
1333 BC, when he was only nine years old.
****************************
King
Tut's relationship
to the "heretic king" Akhenaton almost certainly caused
the downfall and death of the young king Tutankhamen. For his short
reign of only nine years seems to have been taken up with rectifying
the chaos and errors bequeathed to him by Akhenaton.
Tutankhamen or as he was first called Tutankhamen, was born in a
time of great change and upheaval. The 18th Dynasty of Egypt had,
until the reign of Akhenaton, been a prosperous one. The Pharaohs
had been great warriors. They had added to their country’s wealth,
and added to Egypt’s territories, from which came valuable
minerals and particularly gold. Akhenaton was the complete
antithesis of these early kings. He was not a warrior, he was a
dreamer and philosopher more interested in theoretical theology and
the arts, than in
mastering the art of kingship.
He brought in great changes to a conservative land. He introduced
the worship of the sun-disc, the Aten, as the official religion,
removing the royal patronage from the god and priests of Amun. He
moved the capital from Thebes and established a new capital 240
miles to the north, which he called Akhenaton “The Horizon of the
Aten”. He neglected to secure Egypt’s borders, and chaos broke
out, vassal princes broke away and the economy fell into ruins. Thus
at his death, he had the establishment, the priesthood, and the
people against him. It was against this background that Tutankhamen
succeeded to the throne. In line with Egyptian tradition he secured
his position by marrying his half sister (or sister or other
relation, depending to which theory is correct) Ankhesenpaaten, the
third daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti.
*******************************************************
--
This was sent in by someone who has studied this subject for
years --
It
has come to my attention through many years of study that there is
no possible way the King Tut could be Amenhotep the thirds son. He
took reign at the age of nine and Amenhotep had been long since
past away. Also my theory is that General Hormeheb had the Pharaoh
Akhenaten murdered as the way of life that he declared was not the
order that the Egyptians were accustomed.
Horemheb
must have thought that the boy King would conform to the old way
of life. only to find that at the age of eighteen King Tut was a
defiant young teenager who hadn't forgotten the ways of his father
and much to his despair was going to go back to those heretic ways
of belief. Horemheb could not let this happen so he had him
murdered. He then placed Ay in the reign realizing that by that
time Ay was a very old man and would only hold the throne for a
short period of time, that of which he could wait. a small price
to pay for taking the throne as his own. That would explain the
reason that there is no mention of either of the Kings in the hall
at Abydos. Horemheb had them stricken from the honor.
Further
more if Nefertiti was still alive and it is highly doubtful after
such chaos in the royal family, she would have fled along with her
remaining daughters. I would have to say that king Tut was the son
of Akhenaten and his first daughter who died in childbirth. Since
Akhenaten had no sons it was necessary to produce an heir to the
throne and to keep the royal blood in tact as it was slowing
watering away. As for Ankhesenamun which sent to another
country for a husband. It was not Ay that she was talking of
"I will not take my servant as my husband" it was
Horemheb that was the servant she would not take and the prince
from afar paid dearly. Whom better to execute such a plan
than the general himself?
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