Chapter II: Preface

During the period when the newspapers were publishing daily reports of the progress of the work in Tutankhamen’s tomb and Mr Harry Burton’s photographs, which gave us so vivid an impression of the objects that were being found, I wrote for the _Daily Telegraph_ a series of articles discussing the wider significance of the startling discoveries. They did not describe the tomb itself or the wonderful collection of funerary equipment, but were merely a general commentary on the meaning of the information being given by the reporters from the Theban necropolis. Nor was any attempt made to collect the few facts concerning Tutankhamen himself, or even to discuss the events of his time. The exploration of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, for which the late Lord Carnarvon and Mr Howard Carter were responsible, had brought to light the tomb of the youthful nonentity Tutankhamen, which sheds a dazzling searchlight on one particular phase of the history of civilization thirty centuries ago. What I set out to attempt was to interpret the deeper meaning of those Egyptian beliefs which found such brilliant expression in the luxuriously extravagant equipment of his tomb.

I have been urged to collect these articles into the more convenient form of this little book. As they were merely comments on the descriptions of the actual tomb and its contents the separate issue of these topical and ephemeral notes seemed at first to lack any justification, but I have received so many requests for information and guidance that I thought it might serve some useful purpose to redraft my articles and give such bibliographical references as would help the general reader to understand the results that have so far been attained and to appreciate the value of the more important discoveries that next season’s work will certainly reveal.

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I have used the pharaoh’s name “Tutankhamen” as the title of this book merely as a label to suggest the circumstance that called it into being. But I have written an introductory chapter to give an account of what is known of him and his times.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The only accurate and reliable account that has ever been given of the Egyptian funerary practices and their significance is Dr Alan Gardiner’s introductory memoir on _The Tomb of Amenemhēt_ (illustrated by Nina de Garis Davies) which was published in 1915 under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society).

Dr Gardiner describes the actual condition of affairs found in a private Theban tomb of the eighteenth dynasty (in the reign of Thothmes III, about a century earlier than Tutankhamen); and in the light of his intimate knowledge and understanding of the literature of the period, he interprets the meaning of the arrangement of the tomb and especially of the scenes and inscriptions sculptured and painted upon the walls, which Mrs de Garis Davies has reproduced with such skill and accuracy. This unique work is indispensable to anyone who wants to read what the ancient Egyptians themselves actually wrote to express their beliefs or interpret their customs. Professor James H. Breasted’s _History of Egypt_ and _Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt_ are the best guides to a knowledge of the history and religion of ancient Egypt. The late Sir Gaston Maspero’s _Egyptian Art_ (London, 1913) contains a great deal of information directly relevant to the interpretation of objects in Tutankhamen’s tomb. But Mr Burton’s photographs of Tutankhamen’s funerary equipment give a new interest and value to Birch’s edition of Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s _The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_ (London, 1878), for many of the objects and funeral scenes depicted in that remarkable book enable us to form a mental picture of the Valley of the Tombs as the funeral of Tutankhamen wound its way to the place where Mr Howard Carter has just brought to light so many articles closely analogous to those depicted in Birch’s and Wilkinson’s book.

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All the information at present available concerning the life of Tutankhamen and Horemheb, his successor once removed, was collected and published (in 1912) by the late Sir Gaston Maspero, _The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou_ (_Theodore M. Davis’ Excavations_).

The other volumes of reports published by Mr Theodore Davis are valuable for reference and comparison in studying the results of the exploration of Tutankhamen’s tomb. The two volumes, _The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou_ (1907) and _The Tomb of Queen Tiyi_ (1910) are specially important, and relevant to the discoveries in Tutankhamen’s tomb. Mr Arthur Weigall’s book _The Life and Times of Akhnaton_ gives a popular and romantic picture of his conception of the history of the times of Tutankhamen and his father-in-law.

TUTANKHAMEN