Dig Days:

The Magic of Tut

By Zahi Hawass

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He was always known as Tutankhamun until he travelled to America, where they nicknamed him "Tut". King Tut captured all hearts when he first visited America 26 years ago. Last month, I travelled back to America with Tut for the opening of the exhibition, "Tut and the Golden Beyond". I was interviewed on the popular TV programme "Good Morning America" about the exhibition, and during the interview the presenter asked me: "Why does Tut capture the heart of everyone?"

"It is because of his magic and mystery," I replied.

When Howard Carter found the intact tomb of the golden king on 4 November 1922 it held more than 5,000 objects, most of which were made of gold, including several magical pieces such as the golden mask and throne. The so- called "curse of the Pharaohs" became famous all over the world after the untimely death five months later of Lord Carnarvon, the wealthy sponsor of the excavation. It happened in this way. In February 1923 Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito. The next day, he cut open the bite while shaving and developed a severe infection. He then contracted pneumonia, and died on 5 April. While Carnarvon lay ill with pneumonia at the Shephard Hotel in Cairo, curse stories were spread by a novelist named Marie Corelli. She told The Times of London that Carnarvon was dying because of something much more sinister than a mosquito bite. She said it was the "curse". She backed up her claim with a false translation of an ancient text concerning a magical brick found in front of the Anubis Shrine.

In all, four magical bricks were found in the tomb. They are described in chapter 151 of the Book of the Dead. The inscription says:

It is I who hinder the sand from choking the secret chamber, and who repel that one who would repel him with the desert-flame. I have set aflame the desert. I have caused the path to be mistaken. I am for the protection of the Osiris. This is to repel the enemy of Osiris, in whatever form he may come.

Corelli and the newspaper mistranslated this text as saying:

I will kill anyone who comes across my tomb.

Many stories have been told about the death of Lord Carnarvon, such as that he was bitten by a cobra or a deadly insect. After the newspaper article was published the idea of the curse flourished and many crazy stories were invented, such as that his dog died at his London mansion at the exact same time that he himself died at the Shephard Hotel. It was also reported that the lights went out, and that this happened on many occasions at the hour of his death. These stories were all attributed to the curse of the Pharaohs. However, this is ridiculous! In 1922 communications were difficult, so how could they possibly know if the dog died at the exact same time or not? Also, electricity in Egypt during that time was terrible so the lights were always going off and on.

This time, Tut did not go to America alone. He arrived in Los Angeles with objects from the 18th Dynasty representing the Golden Age of ancient Egypt. Tut travelled with his father Akhenaten and others, and with objects from the tomb of Yuya and Tuya, his grandparents, that were found in the Valley of the Kings in 1907. The exhibition includes 50 objects from the tomb of Tut, such as the bust of the Pharaoh (known as the mannequin) and gold statues showing him as king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the beautiful dagger that was given to the golden king and placed inside his mummy so he could defend himself in the afterlife, and the diadem, the statue shrine, the fan and many other spectacular artefacts.

Three days before the opening of the exhibition all the newspapers, TV channels and magazines were talking about Egypt. I have never seen such a media frenzy. The "Today Show" interviewed me in the Valley of the Kings, "Good Morning America" interviewed me at the Pyramids. I was at the museum giving live interviews to most of the TV stations. I was at the opening of the exhibition with Ahmed El-Maghrabi, the minister of tourism; Nabil Fahmi, ambassador of Egypt to the United States; and Taher Helmi, president of the Egyptian- American commerce group. We were all very proud to be at the celebratory opening of the exhibition for our Golden King Tut.