Il 4 November of the 1922, the British archaeologist Howard Carter made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of archeology. He was far from home: near the Egyptian city of Luxor, in the Kings' Valley. And what he found was the burial of one of the most famous rulers of the ancient world. Ninety-eight years ago, Carter and his expedition companions discovered the entrance to the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun. It was the beginning of an epochal work: the excavations lasted eight years and brought to light almost 5.500 objects on an area of about 180 square meters, including jewels, weapons, cosmetics and even carts and musical instruments.
The name inspires fear, but Tutankhamun was a child king. Ascended to the throne at 9 years old, he died just 18 years old. Various analyzes - including a study on the Pharaoh's DNA carried out in 2009 - have made it possible to ascertain that the young sovereign suffered from various pathologies, including a rare bone disease in the foot, which forced him to walk leaning on a cane.
We are talking about a boy who lived in the fourteenth century BC, for which the conditional is a must, but the detail of this disease would explain why in his tomb there were well 130 sticks, many of which with evident traces of wear at one end.
Carter's discovery represented a crucial turning point in the history of Egyptology. Not so much because of the historical importance of the unfortunate teenager, but because his tomb is one of the few to have come down to us almost intact, across 24 centuries. Among the burials in good condition, that of Tutankhamun is the only one that belonged to a sovereign, and therefore by far the richest.
Around the tomb was also born a legend that had great narrative success: that of the "Curse of Tutankhamun”. Some newspapers invented the discovery of an inscription inside the burial: "Death will come on agile wings for the one who desecrates the tomb of the Pharaoh". A hoax, sure. But one of the most fascinating ever.
