Right after Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb, scary stories started to be told. Stories about curses. Over the entrances of many ancient Egyptian tombs were warnings in hieroglyphs. People better stay away, the warnings said. Because anybody who dared to enter would pay for it.
Lord Carnarvon died only a few months after Tut’s tomb was opened. A bad insect bite was the likely cause of his death. But many people were sure it was because of a curse. Tut was getting revenge. But if that were so, wouldn’t Tut be angrier at Howard Carter? Yet Howard Carter lived until 1939 and died from natural causes.
For some people, stories of a curse add to the mystery of ancient Egypt. They like being scared. That’s why horror movies about mummies are so popular.
Ancient Egypt was very different from our world. But it was a peaceful world. It was a world of great beauty. The people of ancient Egypt loved life so much, they hoped it would go on forever.
If people are lucky enough to see King Tut’s precious belongings, that is what they should remember.
ANCIENT EGYPT’S LONG HISTORY
HISTORIANS DIVIDE ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE RULE OF THE PHARAOHS INTO TIME PERIODS CALLED KINGDOMS. THE OLD KINGDOM, WHICH STARTED IN 2575 B.C.-THAT’S MORE THAN 4,500 YEARS AGO-LASTED ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. THE MIDDLE KINGDOM BEGAN IN 1975 B.C. AND CONTINUED FOR MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED YEARS. THE NEW KINGDOM DATED FROM 1539 B.C. TO 1075 B.C. KING TUT RULED DURING THE NEW KINGDOM.
BETWEEN THESE MAJOR PERIODS THERE WERE TIMES WHEN EGYPT WAS NOT AN ORGANIZED EMPIRE RULED BY ONE PHARAOH. HISTORIANS CALL THESE INTERMEDIATE PERIODS.
WITHIN THE KINGDOMS AND INTERMEDIATE PERIODS ARE DYNASTIES. DYNASTIES IDENTIFY WHEN A CERTAIN FAMILY WAS IN POWER. THERE WERE USUALLY MANY KINGS IN ONE DYNASTY. DURING THE NEW KINGDOM, KING TUT WAS THE TWELFTH KING OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY.
DURING THE LATE PERIOD (715-332 B.C.), EGYPT CAME UNDER THE RULE OF MANY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND LOST MUCH OF ITS POWER. THE LATE PERIOD WAS FOLLOWED BY THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD (332 B.C.-A.D. 395) AND FINALLY, IN 30 B.C., EGYPT BECAME A PROVINCE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. AN EGYPTIAN WOULD NOT BE KING AGAIN UNTIL MORE THAN 1,500 YEARS LATER, IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. |