Pandora

Has anyone here read “The Tutankhamen Deception” by Gerald O’Farrell? I finished it last night and found a lot of what he says interesting, though he is obviously writing for the general public and didn’t go into much depth at the end.

Do we have anything here on the theory that Jesus = Tutankhamen? I tried the search function and didn’t find anything, but that could also be because my computer is on the blink again.

Marduk

I'm familiar with the theory that Tutahnkamen's dad or predecessor Ahkanaten was Moses, interesting but highly speculative. He was a monotheistic Pharoah who caused all kinds of chaos in Egypt around the time the Exodus was supposed to have happened but this is a new one to me. Tell us more.
Sounds interesting.

Pandora

Okay, here’s a basic run down – I haven’t got the book in front of me so sorry if I get something wrong!

Basically what O’Farrell is says is that it appears that Carter and friends discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb probably about ten years before they officially discovered it. They robbed about four fifths of the contents and to cover this up moved everything into four small ante-chambers and created a new entrance. Carter was a trained artist and even stuck in a few fake frescos to make it all look authentic.

In doing all this they managed to vandalise and destroy rather a lot of objects and nothing was properly catalogued as it would have been originally. Inside the kilts of the sentinels guarding the sarcophagus would have been papyrus scrolls detailing the life of the Pharoah. These have never come to light, although they were found. Carter was heard to say that they contained information that would change the politics, religion and history of the world.

O’Farrell reckons that T.’s father Ahkanaten was the biblical Moses and was booted out of Eygpt with his people the Semites. T. was put on the throne at the age of 9 until he was murdered at 18. The following Pharaoh was of a different line, went back to pantheism and did everything to destroy all traces of Akkanaten and Tutankhamen and their religion.

The story of T. fulfills the O.T. prophecies regarding Jesus. There are also various similarities in that Tutankhamen means son of God, he was also known as the Messiah (a word of Eygptian origin).

O’ Farrell is a friend of Ahmed Osman a biblical scholar (though they got together after O’Farrell arrived at his own conclusions)

Here’s some stuff I found on the web:
<a href="http://dwij.org/forum/amarna/egypt.htm" target="_blank">http://dwij.org/forum/amarna/egypt.htm</a>

quote“Vast catalogs of recent scientific discoveries are quickly rewriting history and redefining the way we interpret past events. Knowing that the Eighteenth Dynasty Prince Amenhotep lV, Pharaoh Akhenaten and Moses are one and the same person is not so shocking when research identifies its suppression for centuries by those in high places. The infamous, future-linked, battle of Armageddon, which occured in 1469 BC was in fact won by the Pharaoh Tuthmosis lll, the historic David, whose great exploits were credited to the tribal David (of David and Goliath fame) who appeared five centuries later. “

As I find more, I’ll post it here, if anyone is interested!

Amen-Moses

So does virtually every other Pharoahs name, that was the whole point Pharoah=a God so Pharoahs son=Son of a God, in order to make this blindingly obvious they named them after the Gods, i.e Thoth-Moses, Ra-Moses, Tut-Ankh-Amen ("life from the Amen").

Amen-Moses (Son of God no less! )

Pandora

Here is the first of a series of lectures by Ahmed Osman….


INTRODUCTION

Out of Egypt: Embracing the Roots of Western Theology
© Ahmed Osman 2001

{All very interesting, but could you post links to copyrighted articles rather than cut and paste them directly please? The lecture is to be found <a href="http://dwij.org/forum/amarna/egypt_intro.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Thanks, Pantera}

[ February 08, 2002: Message edited by: Pantera ]</p>

hyzer

I have not read “The Tutankhamen Deception” by Gerald O’Farrell. However I have read extensively about Tutankhamen, both technical archeological journals and popular books (some my trained archeologists and some by laypersons).

The Murder of Tutankhamen: A True Story
by Bob Brier

CSI meets history, forensics of a 3000 year old (possible) crime. Not definitive IMHO, but well researched and reasoned, foot notes and references to scholarly works.

Tutankhamen : The Life and Death of a Boy-King
by Christine El Mahdy

A very balanced recounting of Tutankhamen and his father’s politics/religion – her thesis is that Akhenaten was not such a rebel as popularly portrayed today. She explains the politics & religion in Egypt at that time (far more complicated with many players). She is an Egyptologist (educated in England, married to an Egyptian Egyptologist, with far more field time to her credit than any other writer I’ve come across).

The Tomb of Tut.Ankh.Amen: Discovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter: The Annexe and Treasury
by Howard Carter

A frankly amazing step-by-step, object-by-object recounting of everything in Tutankhamen’s tomb. Read this first.

As for O’Farrell – it has been widely speculated that Carter “found” Tutankhamen’s tomb in the first year of his concession in the Valley of the Kings. Many facts point to this. I’ll not go into them now, but Carter was a skilled draftsman, and had been the draftsman working for other archeologists in the Valley for years before his patron Lord Carnarvon sponsored him (and the other archeologists relinquished their concessions). Many have wondered if Carter kept his patron “strung along” for 6 years (allowing him to catalog the entire valley first before returning to where he suspected King Tutankhamen lay) before calling Lord Carnarvon to Egypt to share in the opening of the tomb.

That being said IMHO it would have been impossible for Carter to have opened the tomb early and to have removed any objects of appreciable size. Just read Carter and consider – the Valley was an immensely popular tourist attraction (as it still is today) in the 1920’s. And Carter was far too busy researching the valley from end to end, all of his work is recorded in daily journals in fine detail. It is much more likely that O’Farrell is off on a conspiracy tangent regarding Carter. I can't comment on the Tutankhamen = Jesus theory.

BTW - I am a practicing architect (20 years) and have spent 2 ½ years living in Europe visiting ruins. My next visit will be to Egypt.

Pandora

It appears that the largest objects were left behind although they were damaged – such as chariot axles being cut in half. The smaller stuff could easily have been carried out through interconnecting tunnels between tombs and away from the public gaze.

I too wondered how Carter would have found time to do all this, but he had a lot of connections with the Egyptians especially a famous family of grave robbers.

Also interesting was the condition of the actual sarcophagus – which had been sawn up at points and even broken. This could have been the work of grave robbers but it seems strange that they didn’t steal any of the gold objects or jewellery that was with the body. The sarcophagus is also pointing in the wrong direction.

If you’re going to bury someone with all that loot it seems strange not to do it properly! And Egyptian priests were pretty strong on doing things in the right way.

Lucky you going to Egypt – if you find anything interesting let us know!

Thanks Pantera – I’m not good on how to post links and my computer keeps crashing on me!

nerv111

In reference to Tutankhamen’s burial equipment, some scholars have suggested that his successor Ay, having only 70 days to prepare a proper burial for the boy king (while the mummification process was taking place) before he could ascend to the throne, took the burial equipment of Akhenaton. There is evidence on the equipment itself that suggests this, or at least that it was not originally designed for Tutankhamen. For example the face of the famed burial mask shows evidence of being crudely attached; some of the statues and other various objects depict Tutankhamen in a feminine form, suggesting both that the burial equipment was once again not intended for him, and it also suggests that Nefertiti herself (under a different name) might have been on the throne sometime after Akhenaton.

hyzer

I cannot now adequately address the fantastic conspiracy idea that Carter somehow removed the bulk of the treasure prior to the published opening of the tomb – however I will offer the following (and thank nerv111 for the previous post) and suggest a reading of “The Tomb of Tutankhamen” by Howard Carter, Excalibur Books, 1972 (with 17 color plates, 65 monochrome illustrations and two appendices).

Carter photographed every step of the opening of the tomb (including intact necropolis and royal seals) and the removal of the objects (which covered every surface of the floor such that they could scarcely walk).

Carter was a consummate professional when in came to handling the objects in the tomb. He utilized the very best experts to photograph, draw and preserve the objects. It took him 2 years to fully empty what he found. Every bead was picked up with tweezers from the stone floor and reassembled into Tutankhamen’s royal necklaces.

This is no evidence today of “interconnecting tunnels.”

Carter craved fame more than wealth (but fully expected to become well-off by virtue of his discovery). He was “caught” by the Egyptians, in fact, with one small statuette from the tomb an extremely embarrassing predicament for one so indebted to his host country.

The stone sarcophagus was intact – that is the bottom (basin) was fully carved and unbroken as it is today – but the top was evidently broken in two at the time it was being installed, the crack was plastered over and top painted to hide the imperfection. Evidence of a hasty burial.

The feet of one of the coffins, evidently, had to be hacked off to fit into the sarcophagus. More evidence of a hasty burial.

The intact seals on the shrine surrounding the sarcophagus indicate that the original tomb robbers did not reach the king’s remains.

The panels that make up the four sides of the shire nearly filled the sepulchral hall – so little room existed in fact that if the panels were brought into the tomb in the wrong order then they would be assembled such that the shire would face the opposite of the traditional Egyptian burial orientation. More evidence of a hasty burial. Remember, the new king could not assume full kingship until the dead king was buried, time was very much of the essence.

Egyptian tomb carvers, tomb painters and the priests made many errors and deviations from the “ideal.” Archeologists have numerous examples. That Tutankhamen’s tomb and treasure had “mistakes” is hardly proof of a conspiracy.

Tomije

Am I crazy, or are there some much larger holes in this theory?

King Tut was in his late teens when he died in the 12th century BCE. Now, even someone who hasn't attended church for 20 years knows that the Jesus of history wasn't born 1300 years before his death, when he was in his 30's.

The Bible has a hell of a time connecting Moses, David and Jesus (one could argue that it doesn't really). Now we are connecting some poor itinerant preacher to the Kings of Egypt (who were under Roman rule by the time Jesus rolled around, anyway).

This theory seems to be forgetting that time is an actual factor. It's like suggesting that Kennedy wasn't assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald (fine) but by John Wilkes Booth (not fine).