The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb; Fact or Fiction? “Death shall come on swift wings to he who disturbs the peace of a king.”

Breaking the Seal on the Tomb (you must write the curse and the bolded words) These words were supposedly written across the seal of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt when this tomb was opened for the first time in 3400 years by the English Egyptologist Howard Carter. When it was opened, newspapers around the world announced the discovery and warned people of the curse……. “Death Shall Come on Swift Wings to He Who Disturbs the Peace of the King.”

Who was King Tut anyway? (You do not have to write the 4 th bullet) Tutankhamen was an Egyptian pharaoh who is more famous for his death than for his life because his tomb was completely ‘intact’ and gave us a clear idea of the details that went into burying a pharaoh. Tut began his reign when he was just 9 years old and died approximately 9 years later at the age of 18. Very few written documents on Tut survive and not very much is known of his life because he only reigned for a short time. Most experts agree Tut may have possibly died a violent death but they don’t know for sure if he was murdered, died in a chariot accident, or of an illness or possibly a combination of these things. Tut is most famous because his spectacular tomb was discovered filled with all his personal treasures, by Howard Carter on November 22, 1922.

Here are some of those treasures! Nice, aren’t they?

Who were Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon? (only write the bolded words into your notes) In 1907, Howard Carter, a British archaeologist was introduced to Lord Carnarvon, a wealthy Englishman who agreed to supply the money necessary for Carter to go to Egypt and search for the tomb of a little-known pharaoh named Tutankhamen, whose existence Carter had discovered. n was a very wealthy Englishman who paid Howard Carter to search for the tomb of King Tut in Egypt. Howard Carter searched for the tomb for five years. Their find became the most famous archaeological discovery of all time. On November 22, 1922 Howard Carter and his crew found Tutankhamen’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings---- after a water-boy sat down for lunch and ran his hand along the sand, feeling a hard step under the sand. On November 26 th, Lord Carnarvon watched as Carter made a hole in the door. Carter leaned in, holding a candle to take a look. Behind him Lord Carnarvon asked, “Can you see anything?” Carter’s reply was, “Yes. Many beautiful things!” After ten years of fruitless searching, Lord Carnarvon was becoming unhappy with the poor results of Carter’s excavations, so in 1922 he told Carter he would only give him one more year of funding (money) to find the tomb.

Some Strange Happenings…. You must chose any 4 of these and write them into your notes. Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter entered the Tut's burial chamber on February 17, On or about March 6, Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito on his cheek and became ill. The mosquito bite became infected, he contracted pneumonia and blood poisoning, and on April 5, he died. He was only 56 years old. The bite was in the same spot on his cheek as a scar found on the mummy of Tut. At the same time Carnarvon died, all the electricity in Cairo went off. In fact, the lights in the hospital went off almost to the second when he died. At the same hour Carnarvon died, Carnarvon’s pet terrier, Susie, howled and dropped over, dead. Exaggeration? On the same day that the entrance to the tomb was laid open, Carter’s pet canary was eaten by a cobra. Cobras are and were very rare in Egypt and especially so in winter. In ancient times they were regarded as the symbol of royalty. Coincidence? Carter did have a canary, but he gave it to a friend to have about a year before the discovery so technically it wasn’t his pet any longer. No one has ever proven the ‘cobra’ story. Most of the Egyptian workers who were present when the tomb was opened died within a year. Some say, 6 out of the 26 workers connected with the excavation of Tut’s tomb were dead within 10 years.

So What Do You Think? There have been many claims that all of these unusual circumstances are evidence that a curse was in fact placed on Tut’s tomb to be given to anyone who disturbed the king’s restful afterlife. Even with all these unusual happenings, there has never been any proof in photos of a curse written anywhere on the door of Tut’s tomb or it’s chamber walls, nor did Howard Carter or Lord Carnarvon speak of any curse. Over the years, the stories may have changed and become exaggerated, as is often the case in history. What do you think? Do you believe the stories and do they seem credible enough to convince you that there must have been a curse, or do you think this is typical of what happens when stories get exchanged and spread over the course of many years? You will write your opinion starting with a strong thesis statement. Thesis statements let the reader know your opinion from the first sentence of your essay. For example: “I believe the curse existed because….” or “No, I don’t believe in the curse because…..” Thesis statements must also be backed up with supporting details. These are details that support or tell why you have the opinion you do. You will have at least two supporting details in your essay. I will be grading you your IDEAS using the Kyrene Six Traits Writing Rubric….and as always, Ms. Nunez expects proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. DO YOUR BEST WORK!