Write a 1 paragraph (7 sentence) responding to the writing prompt at the bottom of this entry. Due Friday, October 23rd.
Curse Of King Tut
Digging your way into a Pharaoh's tomb may make you rich but it could leave you DEAD!. Or so the Legend of the Curse would have us believe. Dr Karl has discovered this may not be so with the most famous Pharaoh...
By Karl S. Kruszelnicki
From time to time, Hollywood releases another "Curse Of The Pharaohs" or "Mummy" movie. They all have some kind of credibility, because of the well-known Curse of The Pharaohs. You see, when the tomb was opened in 1922, the journalists reported that an inscription near the door of King Tutankhamen's tomb read, "Death shall come on swift wings to him that touches the tomb of the Pharaoh". The Curse seemingly proved itself to be real, when all of the archaeologists and workers who desecrated the tomb of Tutankhamen were reported to have died horrible and early deaths.
About 3,300 years ago, the tragic boy king, King Tutankahmen, reigned very briefly in Egypt, until he died at only 18 years of age. He was the third of the fourth 18th Dynasty 'Amarna Kings'. The 19th Dynasty rulers didn't like the rulers of the 18th Dynasty, so the Amarna Kings were publicly stricken from the list of the Royalty. Monuments to King Tut were destroyed, and the location of his tomb was forgotten.
Its whereabouts had been well and truly forgotten by the 20th Dynasty. When the chief architect started cutting the rock for the tomb for Ramses VI, he unknowingly let all the rubble tumble over King Tut's tomb.
Another reason that King Tut's tomb had been forgotten was that he had been a very unimpressive ruler. This had the unexpected advantage to us, 3,300 years later, that his tomb was perfectly hidden from robbers - so his considerable treasure was untouched.
By November 1922, the archaeologist Howard Carter had spent seven frustrating years looking for King Tut's tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings. Eventually, his workers dug down 4 metres beneath the tomb of Rameses VI, where they found an entrance in the rock that led to a passageway 3 metres high and 2 metres wide. They cleaned out the rubble, and at the twelfth step, they found the top of a sealed stone doorway.
This was exciting news, so Howard Carter immediately invited his financier, Lord Carnarvon, to come to the site to be present for the opening of the tomb. On the evening of November 24, Carter and Carnarvon were present when all the rubble was removed to reveal the stone door with the seal of King Tutankhamen in the plaster. This door was opened. It took another two days of hard work to clear another descending stairway full of rubble. This time they found a second door, which had the seals of both the Royal Necropolis and Tutankhamen. The workers made a hole through the stone door and Carter looked in with the light of a candle. Lord Carnarvon asked, "Can you see anything?" Carter replied, "Wonderful things".
There was magnificent treasure in the anteroom - and even more in the inner room, which took them another three months to get to. Lord Carnarvon himself opened this inner door on February 17th, 1923. King Tut's mummified remains were inside three coffins. The outer two coffins were made of hammered gold fitted to wooden frames, while the innermost coffin was made of solid gold.
Lord Carnarvon died on April 6, 1923 from pneumonia, which was a complication from an infection that he got from a mosquito bite. It was then that the newspapers invented the inscription near the door of the tomb about "Death On Swift Wings", and claimed that the "Curse Of The Pharaohs" had killed Lord Carnarvon.
King Tut's treasures went on exhibition to various museums around the world. When Arthur C. Mace from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and George Benedite of The Louvre in Paris each died after showing the treasures of King Tut, the "Curse" was again blamed.
Writing Prompt:
What makes the story of the Curse of King Tut so engaging? How can we look at the story to determine the veracity of the curse? What may explain the curse?
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Due When?
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the curse was real because King Tutankhamen probably did not want people to visit his place of where he died. I also think that he wanted his tomb to be undisturbed so he can rest in piece in the Afterlife and his people wanted him to be happy. i think that the story was engaging because of the effect of the opening of the tomb and what had happened to the archaeologists. Did you know? that the Titanic had a ancient Egyptian mummy aboard the cargo?
ReplyDeleteAre we alowed to answer these on the blog? and if so, WHEN IS THIS DUE? [:©
ReplyDeletehas anyone found out when this is due yet
ReplyDeletewhy did Alex do his on a comment?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it say it is due Friday, October 23rd??
ReplyDeleteyeah it does lol READ THE DIRECTIONS :b
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ReplyDeleteare we suppose to write this on the blog???
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ReplyDeleteMr Williams said that we can write it on here or we can type it and print it
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ReplyDeleteThe curse of king Tutankahmen is engaging because the warning was probably put above king Tut's tomb to scare off robbers and so manyrchaeologists died after seeking out the tomb. You could explain the curse by saying that King Tut and his people wanted him to be safe from robbers and wanted him to be able to rest in his afterlife, so they wrote a curse above the tomb to protect him.
ReplyDeleteI think the curse was real. I think it was real because King Tut probably didn't appreciate the idea fo people being where he was dead. He probably didnt want to be disturbed either. He is supposed to be in the afterlife. Which is supposed to be peaceful. Don't you think?! The curse was rngaging because it's kind of cool what happened.... i guesssss : ]]] sorry it's so short M. Williams!
ReplyDeleteWhat mekes the story of the curse of king Tut so engaging is that everytime someone went near or by the tomb they died! They lived a short life because of it. I believe the story is true!! He had all those treasures and gold he didn't want anyone to take them because they were his and anyone that did died. Archaeologists were looking for his tomb for awhile. they finally found it and they took his gold tomb to preserve for others to see, well do you want to guess what happpened to them?? Thats right they died!! all of them. what may explain the curse was that he was basically rich and when people started digging up his body for all the gold and stuff he started haunting them and they would die shortly after. even the people who were just preserving the tomb died from the "curse"!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat Makess Thee Storyy "Thee Curse Of Kingg Tut" soo engaging is thatt everytime someone went back to visit or near the tomb they diedd. They livedd a shortt lifee timee becausee of it. I beleive it is true because he had all the treasure and it was worth quiet a bit of money, King Tut probably wasnt looking forward to getting it stolen. After the Arcaeologists had there workers dig 4 meters beneath the tomb of Rameses VI. They found anentrance in the rock that led to a passageway 3 metres high and 2 metres wide. They cleaned out the rubble, and at the twelfth step, they found the top of a sealed stone doorway. Took hiss goldd andd treasuree fromm himm theyy had diedd onlyy a fewww mothnths laterr. what may explain the curse is that he was basically rich and when people started digging up hiss body for all the gold and stuff, he started haunting them, and they died shortly after. Evemn thee peoplee whoo were just preserving the tomb diedd fromm thee "Cursee" too.!
ReplyDeletek. thankss. Byee.
The story about the curse of King Tutankahmen is engaging because everyone died weird deaths that went in Tutankahmens tomb. It was good that no one liked the king because if they knew where his tomb was there probably wouldn't have been anything left for the archiologists to look at. It is an interesting concept. It could just be a coincidence. People might have just naturally died, because everything dies. So it might just be a made up story to scare people away from the tomb. If there was no written curse then people wouldn't worry about it and just go in there and steal stuff. The people that burried him didn't want that, so thats why they wrote the curse.
ReplyDeleteThe Curse of King Tut is engaging to people because when the archeologists opened Tut's tomb there was the inscription on the door marking it as a curse. It seems that the curse it true because the people who entered Tut's tomb died a horrible and early death. This story seems true to me because so many people died after entering the tomb. This story could also be a myth because it could be a coincidence that these people died. The desert is a dangerous place and people are more likely to die there.
ReplyDeletehiii doode:]]]]]]
ReplyDeleteThe story of The Curse of King Tut is engagaing because it tells the reader of King Tut's life and death. The story also talks about the person who found King Tut's tomb, Lord Carnavon and how he died because of pneumonia shortly after entering the tomb. It's stated that he died because of The Curse of King Tut's tomb. We can look at the veracity of the curse by looking at how Lord Carnavon died, but everyone still believes that it was the curse of King Tut that killed him. The curse can be explained by any of the bugs that were in the tomb for a while. They could be carrying any diferent amounts of diseases inside them, like the one that bit Lord Carnavon. The Curse was also blamed for the deaths of every person who went inside King Tut's tomb ( helped Lord Carnavon) and the Deaths of Arthur C. mace and George Benedite after showing the treasures of King Tut. Is it true that there really is a curse of King Tut, or is it just something created by bugs carrying diseases?
ReplyDeleteI'm really tired and I totally forgot about this. Sorry. -Lizzie Sparks-
The story of king tut is engagaing because every one who discovered it died just like the hyrogliphics said by the door way."Death shall come on swift wings to him that touches the tomb of the Pharaoh". Shure enough they fell ill to pneumonia and died soon after.Others say that it was a coincidence.But what are the odds of being biten by a misquito with pneumonia right after he opened a cursed tumb?Very slim, but there is always that little percentage which could have fallen upon Mr.Carter.The answer is still unknown.
ReplyDeletesome sources:http://apharaohs.blogspot.com/
The story of king tut is engagaing because every one who discovered it died. I belive That this mishap was just Ironic and that people wouldnt have acknowledged thier early deaths if it hadnt of stated the curse. This is still engaging to people becuase people love a good myth/Story. Thier deaths could have been cuased by anything but people just noticed becuase because of the curse.
ReplyDeleteThe curse of king tut is engaging because all of the expeditioners who helped open the tomb, died mysterious, and early deaths. The curse was not very specific, and the tons of ways somebody could die, could be pressed onto, or blamed on the curse. There realy is not any good way somebody could prove the curse was real, and of course the media is going to take to this curse idea and exploit it for lots of money. Even though most people know it is a fake, they still like to think of the expeditioner's death's as curse victoms. If we look at the story to prove the veracity of the curse, there is not much info to prove it, unless we look at paragraph 6 where carter opens the tomb and looks in. this can be used to prove a little of the curse because he died of pnuemonia from a mosquito bite, and the curse said that death would come on swift wings to whoever entered the tomb. there are many ways to prove weather the curse was true or fake.
ReplyDeleteoh man is my question going to be counted late because it was a minute late? :(
ReplyDeletelololol it was a minute? haha that is funny
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