Posted on 12/02/2006 9:01:58 AM PST by aculeus
Dead men don't tell tales, but dead pharaohs might.
CT scans of King Tutankhamun's mummy may put the world's oldest "cold case" to rest, refuting the notion that the ruler's enemies bludgeoned him to death.
Instead, a festering leg wound may have led to the boy-king's early demise at 19, more than 3,300 years ago, researchers say.
The scans, the first ever performed on an identified royal Egyptian mummy, "finally lay to rest this rather loosely based conjecture about a murder plot. I don't think that anyone who reads the findings as they are written can believe that any longer," said Dr. David Mininberg, a New York City physician who also holds a degree in Middle Eastern Art and is an expert in the medicine of ancient Egypt.
Mininberg was not directly involved in the study but reviewed the paper prior to its presentation Monday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, in Chicago.
Because of the spectacular trove of objects found in 1922 in his intact tomb, Tutankhamun remains the most famous of the hundreds of royal mummies buried throughout Egypt. However, the reasons for his early death remain mysterious.
One of the more sensational theories stems from the fact that his skull appeared to contain loose bone fragments. This led to the notion that the young man was bludgeoned to death by his enemies, then quickly entombed to hide the evidence.
It's a theory few serious Egyptologists ever entertained seriously, according to Mininberg.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
something for your pinglist?
I think he died of polonum poisoning- a KGB hit.
No, but the Discovery Channel was all over it.
As ancient Egyptian rulers go, just what made Tut uncommon?
What a surprise! Due to the nature of mankind, a king becomes quite paranoid about plots to do him in. And many times those plots succeed. How many want to be a king?
Because he was the first king to support and restore the old priestly establishment to power after the interruption of Akhenaten's, to their eyes, heretical rule left them out of power. It was pure symbolism over substance. The restored establishment lavished Tut with praise, regardless of any real worthiness, just like our restored establishment praises Pelosi. Tut's only real accomplishments were probably getting out of the way while the restored priests tried to wipe Akhenaten off the face of history (like John Conyers going after W.) Thanks mainly to one amazing overlooked bust of Akhenaten's wife, that induced modern archaeologists to pull Akhenaten's story literally from the shards of history, he eventually failed.
I was listening to the The Teaching Company's lecture on the history of Egypt by Professor Bob Brier. He was of the first people to put forth the idea that Tutankhamun was murdered by a blow to the head. There was a floating piece of bone in the skull, which was not stuck to the skull wall by resin. It was a very interesting thought.
Good, I guess that means they don't have to press charges and locate the murder weapon.
LOL!
Actually, that isn't Tut's wife. That's the head from a department store mannequin, ca 1003 BC.
***Dead men don't tell tales, but dead pharaohs might. ****
Tut tut-Tuttut.
Old King Tut is dead!
From an old Edison Record.
"As ancient Egyptian rulers go, just what made Tut uncommon?"
***Because he was the first king to support and restore the old priestly establishment***
Do you really think anyone would have give a hoot if they had not found all that GOLD with him?
Yes. The non-gold treasure was also fabulous and the information we learned from it is a fascinating window into the past. But the gold made it mind boggling. Thirty years after I saw it his solid gold death mask remains the single most impressive piece of art I've ever seen. My folks have also seen his solid gold coffin (!!!!!) and say its artistry is comparable. Although their art was quite stylized it is still beautiful to any modern reasonable eyes.
Contrast that to what Pelosi's (or worse, Hillary's) fans would produce if their idol died suddenly. I guarantee their first thought would be to top the Reagan funeral in opulence, but the result would be enough to make you envy Bin Laden's isolation.
How would you rate The Teaching Company's History of Egypt course? I'm thinking of getting it as a diversion during the long cold winter.
Thanks for the info. I've watched and listened to a couple of their other courses and have been very satisfied with them.
I recommend "The Arab-American Relations from 1914-2001" "Calculus Explained" "The Divine Comedy" The Middle Ages and "The History of World War Two" highly as well.
OH MAN Freepers you get slow there took 7 posts before somebody post Steve Martin doing KING TUT
COME ON Freepers be faster LOL!
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