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King Tut is
the Son of Akhenaton
Zahi Hawass
I had an exceptional adventure recently in Middle Egypt at a site known as
El Ashmunein. In Greek the site was known as Hermopolis after the Greek
god Hermes – the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, the god of wisdom. The site
contained a temple dedicated to Thoth and a large statue of Thoth in the
form of a baboon still can be seen today. I hold El Ashmunein close to my
heart because forty years ago I started my career as an inspector of
antiquities, only a few kilometers away, at Tuna El Gebel.
I spent two incredible years in Tuna El Gebel. I stayed in a beautiful
rest house in the desert. In the evenings, I was completely alone with my
thoughts and dreams, in this mysterious large house surrounded by desert.
Everyday, I would sit in the garden and look up at the sky. I was not a
patient man, but living in this spectacular isolation taught me the virtue
of patience and I started to write. I kept a diary and recorded my
memories and I wrote letters everyday to my girlfriend that I left behind
in Alexandria.
Near my rest house was another rest house that was built for our great man
Taha Hussein when he was the minister of education. He used to come in the
winter and everyday he would visit the tomb of Isadora, a lady who lived
during the Roman Period. Isadora drowned in the Nile and her lover built a
beautiful tomb for her. Her lover used to travel about 50 kilometers from
Sheikh Abada, on the east of the Nile, to Tuna El Gebel, on the west of
the Nile, to light a pottery lamp in her memory. When Taha Hussein was in
residence, he would light this lamp everyday.
In El Ashmunein, during the last century, a limestone block that was
broken into two pieces was found. The first piece of the block has an
inscription that reads: the king’s son of his body Tutankhaton. On the
other piece of the block the inscription reads: the daughter of the king,
of his body, his great desire of the king of Two Lands, Ankhesenpaaton.
Scholars suggest that this inscription is not only one of the few pieces
of evidence showing Tut is from Tell El Amarna but also showing Akhenaton
is the father of Tut because Tut is mentioned as the son along with the
well-known daughter of Akhenaton, Ankhesenpaaton. Ankhesenpaaton was the
third daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti and she was the wife of Tut.
When I began to study the family of king Tut and investigate the identity
of his biological father and mother, I knew that it was important to find
this block. The block is not registered in the registry book for the
magazine in El Ashmunein. Therefore, I started to ask scholars who had
discussed this block in their work about the location of the block – and
no one knew where it was! I called Adel Hassan, the director of Minya, and
asked him to search for the block. After a few days, he informed me that
they had found it. I went to El Ashmunein and entered the storeroom and
learned that they only had the side of the block that mentioned Tut’s name
but not his wife, Ankhesenpaaton. We immediately started to search, among
the numerous stones from the Aton Temple that were reused by Ramesses II
in a temple at El Ashmunein in hopes of finding the other half of the
block. And we were happily surprised when we located it. Brando Quilici,
who is shooting a documentary about the family of Tut and accompanied me
to the storeroom, was surprised and thrilled that we rediscovered this
important piece of evidence.
Some people believe that Tut is the son of Amenhotep III because he is
mentioned in the monuments found at Thebes. Also, the hieroglyph “king’s
son” can be translated as son-in-law or grandfather. But it is important
to understand that when Tut became king and moved to Thebes, he could not
mention the name Akhenaton. The priests of Amun hated Akhenaton for
changing the religion to only worship the one god, Aton and for moving the
capital from Thebes to Tell El Amarna. After the death of Akhenaton, the
religion returned to the old ways and the priests of Amun regained their
power. Therefore it is most probable that Tut, on his monuments wanted to
identify himself with his powerful grandfather Amenhotep III. Hence, the
hieroglyphs on the monuments found in Thebes that read: “son of king” can
be translated as “grandson of king”.
The block from Tell El Amarna is an accurate piece of evidence that proves
Tut lived in Tell El Amarna with Akhenaton and he married his wife,
Ankhesenpaaton while living in Tell El Amarna. On the block and while he
lived in Tell El Amarna, his name was Tutankhaton, honoring Aton, but when
he became king and moved to Thebes he changed his name to Tutankamun,
honoring Amun. This block can also be seen as evidence that Tut is in fact
the son of Akhenaton. I am sure this archaeological evidence will
instigate much discussion and debate among Egyptologists.
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