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By Jason McKee Chester, PA - The splendors of the ancients will be unveiled Saturday for millions to see. Treasure found in the tomb of the famous Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922 will be on display at the Franklin Institute, an exhibit that has drawn record crowds in three other American cities. "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," will run from Feb. 3 to Sept. 30.
The exhibit is the result of two years’ hard work for the people at the Institute, as well as several sponsors and coordinators who lobbied for Philadelphia as a host city. The man they had to convince was Zahi Hawass, an energetic, outspoken Egyptian archaeologist who is changing the way Egypt handles its historical cache of artifacts left by a mysterious society that thrived thousands of years ago and erected giant pyramids that remain one of the wonders of the ancient world.
Hawass has convinced his government that sharing the ancient artifacts will be a profitable venture. He gets frustrated when he talks about the Tut exhibit that traveled America 30 years ago.
"Everybody made money. Egypt made nothing," Hawass said.
Now, Hawass said Egypt expects to bring in about $10 million in each of the four cities where the exhibit will be displayed. The money is going toward building more museums in Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities, Hawass said. It also goes to preservation efforts that he says cost his government $300 million each year.
Hawass is all smiles as he explains that he had to bring Tut to Philadelphia because he lived here in the 1980s while studying for his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. He smiles when he says, "I lived at 43rd and Walnut. It was the worst place I had ever seen. Garbage everywhere."
Hawass even dares to take a jab at Mellon Bank, the primary sponsor of the exhibit, saying, "They gave me a hard time when I lived here."
Apparently not afraid to ruffle feathers, and destined to do so, Hawass launched into a tirade about the world’s systematic thievery of Egyptian treasure. Artifacts have been stolen from Egypt for museums, and Hawass is always on the lookout for these items. He got into an argument with an influential sponsor responsible for bringing the Tut exhibit to Chicago recently because the man had a sarcophagus in his office.
"All of these coffins belong in a museum," Hawass said unapologetically.
The two argued, but Hawass said he eventually wore the man down and had the item returned to a museum.
The director of a museum in St. Louis, however, has not been so forgiving. Hawass said the museum is exhibiting an ancient mosque that was stolen from Egypt 50 years ago. He said he is demanding the artifacts be returned.
"I will make that man’s life miserable," Hawass said, vowing to have 1,000 elementary school students in his fan club write letters to the museum director.
Three other American cities have hosted the exhibit: Los Angeles, Chicago and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., each drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors. All told, more than 2.5 million people have viewed the artifacts. That number, however, is expected to rise considerably before Tut’s burial items are packed up and shipped overseas.
Philadelphia is the final American stop for the exhibit, and the people who brought it here say this will be the most popular venue.
Franklin Institute President and CEO Dennis M. Wint told a crowd of assembled journalists at the press preview event Wednesday morning that "Tutankhamun" is on course to break the attendance records of all previous exhibits at the Institute. And it hasn’t even opened yet.
"More than 400,000 tickets have been pre-sold," Wint said.
The draw, according to Wint, is not only the glittering gold treasure and intricately carved artifacts that demonstrate the talent and style of the ancient society, but the mystery that surrounds the life and death of the boy king.
"We want to understand the world of Egypt and the magic boy king," Wint said.
What about Tut?
It was 3,340 years ago that a 9-year-old boy named Tutankhamun took the throne of the ancient world’s most powerful empire. Tut lived only to the age of 19, and left no heirs, though two mummified fetuses of girls believed to be his daughters were buried with him.
Experts say Tut was a minor king, and believe the actions taken under his reign were most likely the work of advisors to the boy king. It cannot be denied, however, that the kingdom underwent many changes in Tut’s time. After all, his predecessor, a man believed to be Tut’s father, though that has yet to be proven, had shaken things up quite a bit.
Akhenaten was a revolutionary king who changed the entire structure of Egyptian society, from how the people worshipped to the location of the capital city. Born Amenhotep IV, he changed his name to Akhenaten and at one point during his reign decided that the tradition of worshipping multiple gods was wrong.
Akhenaten ordered his people to worship only the god of the sun, and started construction on a new capital city.
Akhenaten is a man of great mystery, not only for his revolutionary ideas, but for his appearance. He is depicted as extremely tall, with elongated limbs and a long thin face, making him unmistakable among all other pharaoh depictions.
But after his rule, the boy King reverted back to the traditional form of worship, moved the capital city back to Memphis and had Akhenaten’s image obliterated from drawings and paintings located throughout the empire.
The return to orthodoxy continued after Tut’s brief tenure at the throne. His fame is not, however, the result of eliminating the changes brought about by Akhenaten. Tut is famous because his tomb, at first destined to house someone of lesser importance, but used after his untimely death because his royal tomb was not completed, was intact when discovered by the British scientist Howard Carter in November 1922.
Interestingly, Tut’s tomb almost escaped discovery and could have been undiscovered to this day.
Carter had been searching for the tomb for a number of years and his financial backer had decided that enough time and money had been expended with little return. However, Carter managed to persuade his backer to fund one more season and within days of resuming the tomb was found.
Today, the tomb still contains the pharaoh’s remains, hidden from view inside the outermost of three coffins. He is the only pharaoh still residing in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb itself is very small and appears to have been destined for someone of lesser importance.
Interestingly, there was also evidence found that Tut, whose body remained mummified and at rest in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings for well over 3,300 years, did not die a natural death. There are some who firmly believe Tutankhamun was murdered before he reached his 19th birthday.
For years after the initial discovery, it was believed there was evidence of a blow to the head which indicated Tut was murdered by a conspirator.
But, it appears that later inspections have found that Tut probably died of a swift attack of gangrene after badly breaking his leg. But, of course, that is just one theory.
In fact, Tutankhamun’s status in history may have contributed to the discovery of his tomb.
His tomb was covered over by a later pharaoh who had the area cleared to cut in his own tomb.
Most of the tombs of Egypt’s kings and queens had been robbed hundreds, if not thousands of years before 20th century archaeologists trekked to Egypt. Discovered 84 years ago, it amazingly contained most of its treasures. Thus, Tut’s resting place gave archeologists a real look at burial rites and the death of a pharoah and revealed for the first time the true splendor with which royalty had been laid to rest in ancient Egypt.
And those treasures, from golden scepters to obsidian jars that held internal organs after mummification, to ornate jewelry boxes carved from exotic wood, are now only a ticket purchase away.
IF YOU GO:
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St., Philadelphia, opens Saturday and runs to Sept. 30. Tickets are sold for specific times and dates. Admission is $27.50 for adults and $32.50 (Fri-Sun). Senior, student, military: $24 and $30 (Fri-Sun) and children ages 4-11: $17.50. Audio guide: $7 ($6 for all discounted tickets). IMAX film is additional $5. Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. More information: (877) TUT-TKTS; or www.kingtut.org. http://www.zwire.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=1675&dept_id=18179&newsid=17798552 |
