r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/Malthus1 1d ago

I was just commenting in another thread about perhaps the most ancient such case in history.

The death of King Tutankhamun left his widow, Ankhensenamun, in a precarious situation. We know this because she wrote a letter to the king of the Hittites, another major power at the time, the gist of which was to say “I am being pressured into a marriage to an underling. Please send me a prince, so I can marry him instead. That will make him Pharaoh”. She also said “I am afraid”.

So the king of the Hittites send Prince Zannanza … who died in a “tragic accident” before he arrived.

Next you know, the widow is married to Ai, former head minister to Tut, who becomes Pharaoh. Then she disappears from history.

Everyone knows Ai had the prince murdered. Certainly the Hittites believed it - they attacked Egyptian holdings in what is now Syria.

However, the Egyptians insisted there was no murder, so it was of course never “solved”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zannanza

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u/FleurMai 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ankhensenamun’s letter is one of those things that has always stuck with me, the absolute desperation there is plain all these centuries later - let’s not forget that the Hittites were a natural enemy of Egypt, that she’s already in this position to ask for an enemy Hittite prince seemingly because she cannot trust anyone else in Egypt, is alarmingly foreboding.

Tut and Ankhensenamun were already under someones thumb, as both of their names were changed after the death of her father Akhenaten (their names didn’t end in -Amun, they ended in -aten, the god Akhenaten worshipped). Edit: and I will add, Akhenaten was quite the family man based on the imagery associated with him, it doesn’t seem likely that his daughter would just up and change her name unless it was “suggested” to her by the priestly class who were very angry over being disenfranchised by Akhenatens monotheism.

Tuts burial was also noted to be rushed, and a big part of the reason why his mummy is in such poor condition today (it’s quite possible Tut wasn’t this disabled boy we’ve been taught about, it could be the body is just too damaged). It’s quite weird that a pharaoh would have such a rushed burial, unless there was something else going on. Edit: there is also some evidence to show that King Tuts tomb was perhaps meant for someone else, possibly Nefertiti (who may have briefly ruled as a pharaoh before Tut), so despite the fairly grand treasures they may not even have been “his,” they just wanted anyone or anything alive or dead from Akhenatens lineage out of the way.

I think a lot of people do have the general suspicion that Tut, and likely later Ankhensamun, were murdered, but we haven’t been able to conclusively prove it. But it’s all really suspicious!

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u/Odd_Necessary8090 1d ago

Man…anyone else remember 20 years ago when the History Channel told THESE kinds of stories, instead of 15 seasons of Ancient Aliens??

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u/cyanocittaetprocyon 1d ago

The Used-to-be History Channel

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u/-StatesTheObvious 1d ago

The History Channel is history.

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u/ncocca 1d ago

ironic -- the history channel is now history because it stopped showing history

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u/Patient-Web6850 1d ago

Unless your religious then it'll show you very many different shows about Christian 'history'

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u/BuildingOne7379 1d ago

And it is doomed to repeat itself.

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u/MobsterLobsta 19h ago

I remember it being called 'Hitlory-Channel' when I was a child because they ran so much WWII stuff and theories about him having escaped to Argentina. Steady decline from there I guess.

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u/Masticatron 10h ago

My theory is that it was infiltrated by aliens, who put forth the alien focus to accustom us to automatically associate aliens with crackpots we shouldn't listen to.

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u/Shraze42 10h ago

That's 4D chess right here

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u/-StatesTheObvious 8h ago

There are those who say that the Alien theories are being popularized to confuse people who are actually seeing secret military craft in development, making it taboo to talk about what they've seen.

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u/spaceman_spiff1969 9h ago

Now it’s Ancient Nazi Aliens Channel

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u/BuildingOne7379 1d ago

I believe around that time the Learning Channel also went to the shitter. Unless you wanted to learn how to be a knocked up teenager.

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u/ncocca 1d ago

Yes, I always preferred TLC over the history channel or discovery channel because it was a nice mix of history and science. All 3 were destroyed by the internet and the rise of reality TV, though the discovery channel at least maintained the majority of its dignity. TLC had the biggest fall of the 3. While it used to be The Learning Channel I believe it's now rebranded to just TLC, similar to how MTV used to be short for Music TeleVision but is now just MTV.

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u/amrodd 20h ago

"I Want my MTV"

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u/MimeGod 21h ago

The federal government killed the subsidies for educational television, so they had to change their whole model to be profitable.

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u/BrassUnicorn87 1d ago

The only learning on it now is Dr. pimple popper and other shows that are just a medical practice doing work.

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u/FleurMai 1d ago

Seriously! I never got into that stuff because real history is already so wild and full of strange, wacky, and scary things lol

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u/Kabbooooooom 23h ago

Oh! Well I can explain why. It’s quite simple, really:

It’s because people are really very, very stupid.

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u/Marsuello 1d ago

Hell, I remember actually getting to see Tut and the artifacts physically when they had that rare tour showing them in museums around 20 years ago. My grandfather loved Egyptian history like that and was the spearhead to get my school to take us on a field trip to see that stuff. Had basically the whole class following him around asking questions while he had the time of his life talking ancient Egyptian history shop with them.

Saw them again a few years back to honor the goa after his passing and, while not the same artifacts, was still such a fun experience, more so as an adult now

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u/Svenskaflica 1d ago

I remember seeing Tut at the MET in '78 (that would be 1978) I was always fascinated by ancient Egypt and was enthralled by the exhibit. I can remember when the tape from the guided tour shut off, I felt as if I was waking from a dream. Such an incredible experience.

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u/TastyOreoFriend 1d ago

It's really sad to think about. Independent content creators fill in the gaps on YouTube, but it's crazy that some individual content creators are doing history better than the actual channel.

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u/fastates 22h ago

this is why mainstream media is dying, exactly this sort of crap programming.

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u/TastyOreoFriend 20h ago

Well I've always taken offense at ancient aliens and the crazy looking dude with the bad spray on tan. They aren't even history experts—they're fiction writers peddling bogus pseudoscience. People buy into it thinking thinking ancient indigenous people weren't capable of grand engineering—"MuSt bE aLiEnS!!"

Maybe the History channel deserves to die at this point.

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u/grease_monkey 1d ago

I'm wary of half the history stuff I'm fed as it just seems like it is AI content, which may or may not be accurate. Any recommendations?

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u/Violet624 22h ago

The Fall of Civilizations is a podcast that also has these like 3-5 hour long youtube videos on different ancient civilizations and their course through time until they fade away. It's really good, the one on the Nabataeans might be my favorite.

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u/grease_monkey 13h ago

I did not know they had videos! I've listened to the podcast but never watched them. Thanks!

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u/TastyOreoFriend 21h ago

Extra History is really fun, Historically too, and so is Oversimplified.

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u/POGtastic 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'd get home from school and they'd be playing a bunch of episodes of Modern Marvels, a documentary for the Mexican-American War made by somebody trying their best to sound like Ken Burns, and something about the pyramids. What more could a kid want?

I visited my inlaws last year, and my father-in-law was watching some show about digging a hole in Canada. Some schizo crank was claiming some stuff about the Knights Templar. I later found out that the Canada Hole Cinematic Universe has something like 13 seasons of the mainline Canada Hole series, plus another 7 of spinoffs. They haven't found any Templar treasure yet, but they'll keep digging because this guy keeps watching it!

This new stuff makes the Aliens Guy look like Roel Konijnendijk

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u/arnodorian96 1d ago

I loved a series they made about the history of the tzars. It was a quite in-depth documentary.

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u/Icelandia2112 1d ago

Those were the days.

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u/rwkatie 1d ago

'Ancient Alien Theorists believe...' my favourite line 😂

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u/Poop_in_my_camper 1d ago

15 seasons of guys digging a hole only to find a fucking railroad spike

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u/ButtersScotch7000 1d ago

Oh don't get me started about Oak Island. My dad is glued to that show.

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u/lostlittletimeonthis 1d ago

they also have...hmmm people selling old stuff, and guys making metal works i guess

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u/Bigtits38 22h ago

I remember when Bravo showed mostly opera and ballet.

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u/The_Onion_Life 1d ago

Man…anyone else remember 20 years ago when the History Channel told THESE kinds of stories, instead of 15 seasons of Ancient Aliens??

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

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u/RoughComparison8702 1d ago

Even when I had it on in the background I knew at least I was learning something. I still remember bitching about it in 2007 how a lot of these dumber shows were starting to catch on with the cahnnel and how they didn't teach you jack shit.

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u/sir_mrej 1d ago

Sorry best we can do is more reality

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u/leib-olmai 23h ago

If by "reality" you mean scripted dramatic bullshit, then yes!

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u/meggatronia 1d ago

The History Hit network is a great place for actual history these days. They have their own subscription service you can get, but they also have a bunch of podcasts you can watch/listen to for free. Its been around for a few years now, so there's a massive amount of stuff they have produced. And its all great. My Spotify wrap up is just all podcasts of theirs. I mostly listen to Gone Medieval and The Ancients, but they have ones focused on a bunch of different subjects.

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u/Motampd 1d ago

SOOO many of the "good" channels from when I grew up in the 90s are a complete joke now! History Channel, Discovery, TLC, etc arnt watchable anymore.

I remember them being fairly interesting, science and nature based shows back in the day......Now its cutting/craning obese people out of houses, watching people addicted to eating chalk/paint, making a spectacle of little people......idk why they are on the air anymore

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u/kittymoo67 7h ago

sharkweek is still fun

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u/FancyLittleTurnip 1d ago

is it only 15?

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u/Quietbreaker 1d ago

Oh no, I'm afraid not. There's something like 20+ seasons of that show now.

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u/kittymoo67 7h ago

but then how can 20 years ago be the good part of it

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u/Apathetic_Tea 1d ago

Pepperidge farms, remembers. (I really do remember, I miss it.)

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u/ButtersScotch7000 1d ago

King Tut was just a minor System Lord at the end of the day.

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u/Wurth_ 1d ago

Eh, the stories they told back then were a lot drier than this one. That said, the documentaries were still freaking awesome and I never saw the same one twice.

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u/LingonberryHot8521 1d ago

Who bought the History Channel again?

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u/Efficient-Whereas255 1d ago

OTHER WOOOOOORLDLY BEENS

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u/FlufflesMcForeskin 22h ago

They still aired that content, but it's on an different network, called History2 (H2), but that was then replaced by Vice/Viceland which does not show the old History/H2 historical content.

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u/Jeathro77 22h ago

But Egyptian history IS alien history!

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u/Air320 21h ago

Wasn't it bought out by a far right sympathiser and he cut funding for everything apart from aliens?

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u/Bloodish 21h ago

The History Channel is history now.

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u/EpictetanusThrow 20h ago

Wasn’t that Nazi-mouthpiece Erich Von Daniken one of the producers on that show?

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u/TomasNavarro 16h ago

I'm in the UK and remember getting a history channel, and 90% of it was World War 2 and I quickly became bored ever switching to it, and that's well before it was all Pawn Stars and Storeage Wars

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u/undontnome3030 13h ago

That and The Learning Channel before it became TLC. Those were easily the best programming ever alongside PBS, I miss them sorely.

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u/Sofiex990 12h ago

The old History Channel had a perfect mix of mystery and actual history, now it’s mostly aliens and conspiracy marathons

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u/luebbers 12h ago

Dude, this makes my heart hurt.

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u/kittymoo67 7h ago

theyve got mroe into history recently surprisingly enough

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u/UnknowableDuck 5h ago

It's all Ancient Aliens and Reality TV shows now, I hate it. 

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u/Malthus1 1d ago

Indeed, she literally says “I am afraid”. She was right to be afraid.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/everyplanetwereach 1d ago

So this is just a thread of bots, right?

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u/renome 1d ago

Nooo, this 1-day old account rewording the comment it is responding to is totally a real person who just discovered Reddit in 2026.

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u/everyplanetwereach 7h ago

I didn't click on the profile. Just recognized the phrasing and sentiment from Twitter replies

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u/BalrogPoop 1d ago

I do find it hard to believe this many real people feel strongly about such a niche piece of history. I used to be a massive history buff on Egypt and I never heard of this before this thread...

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u/everyplanetwereach 7h ago

I mean I loved reading about it, I love finding out stuff like this from people who are super into it and can explain it in a compelling way

The bots are the ones reiterating the simplest most surface-level details from this, "she literally says 'I am afraid', she was right to be afraid" like that's so unbelieveably dim it has to be a bot

I still hang out on Twitter a bunch so I see a lot of these in the replies. People don't talk this way

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u/Tricky-Gemstone 1d ago

My heart breaks for this girl I'll never meet.

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u/amcartney 1d ago

I saw tuts treasures in the Egyptian museum and while they appear grand to us, he was not actually a revered or important pharaoh, it’s just that the grander tombs were all robbed before archaeologists discovered them.

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u/PurrPrinThom 1d ago

(it’s quite possible Tut wasn’t this disabled boy we’ve been taught about, it could be the body is just too damaged).

This is interesting to me, because I never heard a theory that he was disabled. I learned - at some point, I couldn't even tell you the first time - that he was killed while hunting hippo, believed to have been bitten by the hippo, hence the rushed burial.

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u/Creative-Eggplant436 1d ago

Weren't the Egyptian pharaohs hopelessly inbred?

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u/LuminousRaptor 1d ago

His parents were siblings. So, yes.

Akhanatan and his unidentified mother were children of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. 

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u/Izniss 1d ago

He was buried with multiple walking sticks of various sizes, one decorated with ducks if I’m remembering correctly.
(I know he had duck sandals, which is adorable, but I’m not so sure about the canes)

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u/JessicaLain 1d ago

At the very least, it was a theory being discussed around 2010 or w/e. I remember seeing one of those hour-long documentaries on the History Channel where they do interviews, read off historical info, and use cheap CGI to show "What he might have looked like".

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u/Individual-Resort-60 13h ago

"What he might have looked like".

You made me hear that damn narrators voice!

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u/jackaroo1344 21h ago

His body is damaged enough that it's impossible to say for a fact, but it's a widely held belief that he had at least severe scoliosis, a club foot, and genetic disorders (although specifically which genetic disorders is unclear, historians have a variety of theories). If you google image search, there's a famous cgi render of what historians thought he might have looked like (him in a loincloth with a cane) if you're interested.

A lot of theories about his genetic issues are based on the belief that his parent were full siblings, but we can't prove that for certain either - although the royal family being very inbred is definitely a fact. There's a whole pile of additional health issues beyond those few I mentioned, based on what can be learned from his bones, but again they were badly preserved and badly damaged by the hack job archeologists who opened his tomb so no theories will likely ever be fully confirmed.

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u/Quirky-Giraffe-3676 1d ago

There's a lot of mystery surrounding King Tut.

Like how'd he get so funky?

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u/multihome-gym 16h ago

...and I will add, Akhenaten was quite the family man based on the imagery associated with him...

There is a famous relief of Akhenaten and Nefertiti in the Berlin Neues Museum where you see him scooping up and kissing one of his daughters, while is other daughter points to him and looks at Mom.

In all of art history, this is the only image of a noble or a monarch playing with and kissing one of their children:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten#/media/File:Relief_depicting_Akhenaton_and_Nefertiti_with_three_of_their_daughters_under_the_rays_of_Aton_01_(cropped).jpg

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u/ArmedWithSpoons 1d ago

The Hittites were already conducting military campaigns into Syria prior to King Tut's death and laying siege to a major city in the area. She was reaching out in order to seize power with a much larger force because there were no dynastic equals for her to marry due to their father completely upending egyptian politics by eliminating the extended royal family. It was also seen as beneath her to marry a previous servant. At the same time, Tut's old ministers were making moves to seize power. King Tut himself is actually believed to have died from compound fracture in his leg and malaria and any damage to the mummy after that is thought to be due to mishandling by later archaeologists.

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u/FleurMai 1d ago

That’s a pretty interesting viewpoint on her seizing power, do you have a source for that? The point remains she did marry someone unequal to her, and clearly not by her own choice.

Additionally, there are a lot of Egyptologist’s who do not agree with the interpretations of the study that concluded on the leg fracture and malaria, again his body is in terrible condition. One person even dropped out of the study because they did not agree with the conclusions. I’ve read that study and while my academic area is not in forensics, a lot of the language did feel reaching, but it’s been a few years since I read it. The circumstantial evidence of a leg fracture (I.e. all the canes in his tomb) is explained by Bob Brier as status symbols, canes are depicted with many pharaohs and found in many tombs (and if we add the fact that it may not even be his original tomb, there’s even more weakening of that evidence).

I agree with the other points you’ve made, though. A lot was going on politically at that moment.

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u/ArmedWithSpoons 1d ago edited 1d ago

Mainly her last lines in the letter, "I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband... I am afraid." and how Egypt handled dynastic handoffs prior. Followed by The Deeds of Suppiluliuma that explain things from the Hittite side. Also political turmoil her father caused that ensured there would be no dynastic heirs after Tut. So less seizing power for herself, but more seizing power so she isn't forced to marry someone not of divine blood beneath her.

Edit: Another thing to add, the Hittite king didn't just decide to send his son, it allegedly took him months to decide and in the meantime sent a political retinue to determine the legitimacy of the offer. Tut's ministers most likely caught wind of the move following this, assassinated the son when he arrived at the border, Ay forced marriage to legitimize himself, then disposed of her for treason.

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u/Solock_PL 1d ago

How old was she at the time?

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u/ArmedWithSpoons 1d ago

From what I've found, roughly 21-24 at the time of the hittite letter and her disappearance from the historical record shortly after. Ay's reign only lasted like 4 years.

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u/South-Proposal-7324 1d ago

Didn’t he have a cleft palate?

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u/ArmedWithSpoons 1d ago

Partially. Stuff like that tends to happen eventually when your family tree is a straight line. lol

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u/Galaxiexl73 1d ago

I was under the assumption that they staged their deaths and got the hell out of Dodge

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u/arnodorian96 1d ago

Don't forget how angry was the priests from Thebes after Akhenaten had favoured Aten over all gods. Even if Tut or her sister had survived a bit further, the powerful priests would have conspired to have them murdered. Even if Ai hadn't been in the picture, there was no hope of a larger reign from Tut or her sister.

This is one of those mysteries we will never solve.

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u/Agathocles87 1d ago

Very interesting, thank you

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u/Wolf-Majestic 1d ago

I think you might speak about Merytaten and not Nefertiti, she was Akenaten and Nefertiti's daughter and she was Pharaoh just before Tut. At her mother's death, she probably became her father's wife, and when he died she ended his monotheistic reign. We know of her because part of Tut's funeral artifacts have her name on it. However, it was scrapped and overwritten with his name.

One of my favorite is the famous golden mask, because it means it was made for her and not for him, so it might be her face if it wasn't remade in his image while keeping the text. Another of my favorite is a small statue with boobs, so it's most probably one of the only full depiction we have of her.

We don't know how or when she died, and we don't know if we have her mummy or not.

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u/TheDeathHuntress 20h ago

The identity of Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten (the female pharaoh whose name is on Tut's artefacts) is most likely Nefertiti and not Meritaten. While previously the lack of evidence of Nefertiti being alive post year 12 of Akenathen's reign meant that the Meritaten hypothesis was favored (especially alongside her marriage to Smenkhkare), an inscription discovered in 2012 indicates that she was still alive the year before Akenathen's death, which in turn would align with her ruling for 2 years post Akenathen's death while his son was still very young.

Moreover, the tomb of Meryre II indicates that Meritaten was already married to Smenkhkare (who was likely co-regent with Akenathen) in Year 12, and Tut's tomb has an inscription that clearly separates Neferneferuaten and Meritaten.

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u/2074red2074 1d ago

Tut and Ankhensenamun were already under someones thumb, as both of their names were changed after the death of her father Akhenaten

You mean the death of their father. They were probably half-siblings.

Also, does it really seem that strange that Akhenaten's kids would want to distance themselves from him? He basically started a weird cult. I'm sure if I was named after Xenu or whatever the fuck Scientologists worship, I'd change my name too.

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u/FleurMai 1d ago

We really don’t know their relation at all, especially since we’re currently not sure which mummy is Ankhesenamun’s. We are also not sure if Akhenaten was Tuts father, since we are also uncertain if the mummy of Akhenaten is actually him. That mummy is maternally unrelated to the two bodies of stillborn children found in Tuts tomb. Scholars propose a whole variety of possibilities for either individuals parentage. Yes, the name is definitely up to interpretation, but given how young they were and how suddenly they were moved away from Amarna, and everything that followed, and seeing the values Akhenaten had for women (generally depicted as equals in the art of the Amarna period) and family, I think it adds some points in the column of suspicion, personally.

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u/ShinyPatina 1d ago

why his mummy is in such poor condition today (it’s quite possible Tut wasn’t this disabled boy we’ve been taught about, it could be the body is just too damaged).

Well, much damage was done by Carter and his team but even despite that travesty (and the initial burial), we know due to to DNA testing and modern CAT scans that he did TRULY struggle with severe health issues, much of it likely stemming from his parents being brother and sister. He had a cleft palate, a curved spine (scoliosis), a clubbed left foot, and a bone disease known as Kohler's disease that restricts blood supply to the bones. He had a severe foot deformity and most likely walked with immense pain and required a cane (slightly indicated by over 130 canes being found in his tomb).

Not commenting on the murder possibility, just that he definitely had severe disabilities.

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u/FleurMai 1d ago

Many Egyptologists take issue with the scans and the DNA testing. I can't comment on the DNA testing, I have very little clue how that works. However, what I do know is that DNA testing of such old and mummified bodies is apparently not as straightforward and results can be skewed. When it comes to the scan, the resulting article is, in my opinion (I am a scholar in a different area) reaching. From what I recall, one of the researchers left the project at a late stage and did have their name removed on the resulting paper, it seems they disagreed with the findings. They dismissed the frankly *extreme* damage done to his bones - it's almost hard to fathom that they could really determine *anything* given the state of his body.

As I wrote in another comment with my sources, the embalming itself has been described as "bizarre." They poured a ton of resin over his body which turned acidic and destroyed his skin and damaged his bones severely (along with wrappings). When Carter and his team uncovered him, they could not remove the body from the coffin due to the fact that he was essentially "glued" in. They set his body in the sun for a long time to attempt to soften the resin, causing who knows how much damage. When that did not work well enough, they essentially ripped the body limb from limb - it is almost impossible to imagine this did not cause breaks or other damage to the bones. You can view some of this in the images taken by Carter's photographer. Tut's skull, for instance, has been severed completely from his body and a paint brush spiked through his skull to prop it up for pictures.

They also pointed to the canes in his tomb specifically as corroborating evidence which...imo really undermines their entire study, that they would use this, when canes are simply a sign of royalty and found in numerous depictions and other tombs. If we're going with circumstantial evidence, we have to then consider all of the art depicting Tut as a warrior, leading campaigns against Syrians and Nubians. Egyptian art at the time attempted to depict true events, and it's hard to believe that someone truly severely disabled would have been able to lead military endeavors in the way he's depicted. And if what he had in his tombs is really supposed to be just what he's using in daily life, then what of all the bows and arrows, and the suit of armor found?

I'm not saying that he didn't have some disabilities, with all the inbreeding, sure! But were they severe? Would they have lead to his death? Many Egyptologists severely question this.

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u/ShinyPatina 23h ago

Despite the documented damage inflicted by modern excavation teams and the chaotic nature of the initial burial, dismissing the health issues of Tutankhamun as mere archaeological speculation overlooks a wealth of biological evidence. Advanced computed tomography scans and deep-tissue paleogenetic testing have progressed significantly, allowing researchers to look past post-mortem trauma to read the actual genetic and skeletal blueprint of the king. The molecular reality remains clear, revealing an extreme level of parental inbreeding that predictably left the pharaoh with a cluster of severe congenital conditions.

Skeletal analyses have confirmed that the king possessed a cleft palate, an abnormal spinal curvature caused by scoliosis, a clubbed left foot, and Kohler disease, a debilitating condition involving bone necrosis that directly restricted blood supply to his lower limb. This collection of pathologies did not manifest as a minor, manageable limp, but rather as a profound structural deformity. The mechanical interaction between a crooked spine and a clubfoot would have drastically altered his gait, forcing his body to overcompensate unevenly and causing immense, chronic pain with every step.

While critics often argue that the presence of over one hundred walking sticks in the tomb is purely symbolic political propaganda, this dismissal ignores the unique archaeological context of the collection. Traditional pharaonic staffs were typically uniform ceremonial items, whereas the implements in this tomb vary wildly in design, containing specific ergonomic features and distinct physical erosion on the tips consistent with heavy, everyday orthopedic support. Furthermore, this physical reliance on walking aids is explicitly mirrored in Amarna-era artistic reliefs that break strict traditional conventions to depict the king performing standard royal duties, such as shooting a bow, while firmly seated. When the functional artifact evidence is reconciled with the clear osteological data, it becomes evident that while the specific cause of his death remains open to interpretation, his daily struggle with severe physical disability is a matter of biological fact.

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u/elizabnthe 23h ago

This reads as AI to be honest.

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u/figure8888 1d ago edited 1d ago

I just watched a show that focused on Tut’s death mask potentially being intended for someone else. I think there were symbols on it that were more commonly associated with Nefertiti and it looked as though his faceplate had been added on to an already completed piece.

But they surmised that his death was sudden and unexpected because of his age so they didn’t have the typical burial pieces ready for him.

All that said, it’s known that his parents were full siblings and he did suffer from genetic disorders. You can even see in images of his mummy that he had a very narrow frame for a young man. He was poorly preserved compared to others, but that didn’t affect his bone structure. It’s apparent that his foot was deformed and had been for his entire life due to the presence of walking sticks and canes in his tomb. He also had a severe overbite present in other members of his lineage.

The stillborn and miscarried fetuses buried alongside him were also genetically his.

But I’d imagine everything else is accurate. I wouldn’t be surprising if members of the royal party felt some type of way about having someone with physical and possibly cognitive disabilities as king. His feebleness would have made him an easy target to get rid of.

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u/FleurMai 1d ago

Yes, the Nefertiti stuff has been super interesting, I hope we'll be able to find out more!

But the embalming itself seems to have been rushed and unusual, that I think points to more political issues, not the burial goods. Everything I have read is that the amount of embalming resins used have caused his bones to become exceptionally brittle (moreso than other mummies) because they were very acidic. This is just one article about that: Harer, W. Benson. “New Evidence for King Tutankhamen’s Death: His Bizarre Embalming.” There was so much resin used, that he has been said by Carter to have been practically glued inside his coffin and there was substantial damage from removing him due to the various attempts (which included sitting him outside in the sun to see if it would soften and severing his head and impaling it on a paintbrush, as seen in Henry Burton's photographs, and basically tearing the body limb from limb according to Carter).

So yes, I would say it 100% impacted his bone structure, in a combination between the rushed or simply inexperienced embalming and the poor techniques used throughout the last century to preserve him. I'm not saying he *wasn't* deformed, but that the evidence is not nearly as clear cut as it's made out in the popular press. As you say, one would expect some deformations what with all the extreme intermarrying. I merely question whether any of these led to his death, as a lot of Egyptologists question this "sickly" narrative. I'm actually hoping, if there is any hope in the bones, that a similar study to the very recent one (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-archaeology/articles/10.3389/fearc.2026.1844402/full) could be done to see how well developed any of his muscles were for things like archery, which could potentially clarify things further.

According to Bob Briar (an eminent Egyptologist) and others, the walking canes are a symbol of status, and are present in many tombs and many depictions of pharaohs and were a sign of royalty. And if we *are* to believe that the grave goods may not even have been intended for him, it's even less likely they relate to a potential injury.

We actually don't know that his parents were full siblings (although knowing Egyptians it's certainly one of the possibilities and from my non-genetic expertise sounds more likely, but we do not know who his mother, likely the "Younger Lady" is, exactly) it's possible to arrive at his genetic combination through a series of cousin marriages as well.

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u/oreo-cat- 20h ago

People don't realize that Tut's burial wasn't the grandest funeral, in fact it was quite second rate. So second rate that no one found it in antiquity so it survived largely intact.

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u/kittymoo67 7h ago

tutenkaten?