King Tutankhamun, Gold Mask, Egyptian Pharaoh Card

King Tutankhamun, Gold Mask ... One of the most beautiful works of art and fine craftmanship in solid gold with inlays of coloured glass and rare Afghanistan Lapis Lazuli stone ... Lapis Lazuli stone used for the brows and eyeliner. (matching dark blue glass in the Nemes headdress.) Boy King Egyptian Pharaoh, 18th Dynasty Ruled about 1332 - 1323 BC ... he died by age 19 ... some 3,342 years ago (I write this in 2019). New Kingdom Discovered 1922 by Howard Carter ... 97 years ago! The 100th anniversary will be in only 3 years! Egyptian Museum Image found online. The sheer beauty and the craftsmanship of this unbelievably ancient work of art is astounding. We are talking about something created some 3,342 years ago (as I write this in 2019). This is pure solid gold. With inlays of rare imported dark blue precious stone Lapis Lazuli from far away Afghanistan ... remember, imported from Afghanistan some 3,342 years ago! ... Used for the eyeliner and eye brows. And the unbelievably incredible skill to be able to make matching colour dark blue glass used in the Nemes headdress. The symbols on the headband Crown of rulers of a unified Egypt are the heads of the goddesses of upper and lower Egypt: Nekhbet The White Vulture patroness of the Nile and protector of all Upper Egypt and Wadjet The Cobra Uraeus Serpent patroness of all the Nile Delta and protector of all Lower Egypt. Egypt was unified about 3,100 BC ... some 5,119 years ago (now being 2019 as I write this). Together they are called Nebty ... the Two Ladies. The Nemes striped cloth headdress and the Nebty Two Ladies crown date from the Old Kingdom. Nebty The Two Ladies from the unification of Egypt 3,100 BC ... 5118 years ago ... and separately previous to the unification. The symbolism of the Nemes headdress is thought to be the rays of the Sun. My own personal idea is that wearing such a headdress might enable the Pharaoh to actually hear better the mutterings of his court and subjects perhaps seeming to give him powers in this way. The sides would essentially act as extended ears! I would guess that the pharaoh surprised his court more than once being able to hear more than they expected. Ancient Egyptian pharaohs traditionally married their own sisters in reflection of Osiris marrying his sister Isis who bore their child Horus. Each pharaoh had a Horus name. At death the king became one with Osiris and the new king became the new Horus. Sometimes the pharaoh might marry his own mother or his own daughter. Sometimes in change of dynasty or power takeover the new pharaoh might marry the sister, mother, daughter, or widow of the previous pharaoh in order to increase his legitimacy to rule Egypt. Thus, in keeping the line as pure as possible sometimes brought problems with inheriting any recessive genes that were passed down including some lesser desired consequences that otherwise would had been naturally weeded out. It is believed that King Tut suffered from such weaknesses ... and that his marrying his wife who was closely related to him might had been a cause for two of their children to be stillborn, both having been buried with him. Being so young, he depended upon his advisers, who essentially ruled Egypt for him when he was younger. But, as he came of age to rule, however briefly, in the time remaining to him, he acted as pharaoh himself. We cannot even imagine the accomplishments of so early a civilisation. Ancient Egypt had a better calendar than Rome had until Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII passed this Ancient Egyptian knowledge on to Roman leader Caesar, by whom she bore his son. Queen Cleopatra compared herself to the goddess Isis. Ancient Egytians had architectural ability to build the pyramids and pillared temples all of stone, mine and create art in pure gold, manufactured glass , imported rare valuable Afghanistan dark blue stone Lapis Lazuli, studied comparative geometry, calculated architectural slopes of pyramids, studied the stars thus had astronomy, could predict the date of the annual flooding of the Nile, had Nilometers to measure the rise of the Nile, invented a sort of religion in which each pharaoh was seen as the Son of the god Amun-Ra as also the Son of Osiris: Horus ... and had images of Mother and Child of Isis holding her son baby Horus ... invented the origin of life resulting from a first mound of Earth appearing from a great flood ... even their priests chanting the god's name Amun or Amen is likely the origin of our prayers ending Amen. Ancient Hebrews took refuge in Ancient Egypt during a great famine in their own land. Many generations of Hebrews lived in Ancient Egypt and undoubtedly resulted in their own versions of Ancient Egyptian thought. While King Tut was a relatively trivial compared to other pharaohs who lived longer and accomplished far more, it is only his mummy that yet has been discovered intact with its pure gold mask and precious amulets and pure gold innermost sarcophagus. The current idea holds that his burial tomb was added to a much bigger pre-existing tomb perhaps of Queen Nefertiti whose original burial chamber could yet be found just beyond the walls of King Tut's tomb. Some of the material found in King Tut's tomb belonged to her. And it is suggested that even his gold mask face had been made for her ... remains of her cartouche having been found inside the mask face. My work on this image includes: correcting a tilt to it, 'restoration' of the broken or missing dark blue glass of the Nemes headdress and other stones in his necklace, and removing the display stand, and adding reflective highlights to the eyes to try to make them appear moist and more life like. Created by Mark Edward Westerfield