King Tut

King Tutankhamen was the 12th, and one of the last, Egyptian pharaoh’s of the 18th dynasty. He lived during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. As of today he is more commonly known as King Tut. He was born circa 1343BCE and was probably the son of the famous pharaoh Akhenaton and one of Akhenaten’s minor wives, either Nebetiah or Beketaten (Edwards 7). His original name, Tutankhaten, means the "Living Image of Aten". King Tut suffered from many health problems throughout his short life. It is believed that he was born with epilepsy and also inherited Marfan syndrome from his father which was the cause of his elongated head. Tut also had a cleft palate, a curved spine, and was probably weakened by inflammation and problems with his immune system. He also may have had a disease that caused his left foot to become clubbed. These ailments were probably at least somewhat caused by a long line of inbreeding. His parents, Akhenaten and either Nebetah or Beketaten, were siblings. King Tut was raised in the city called Akhetaten or Amarna. This city was created by Akhenaten in the fifth year of his reign several years before Tutankhamen was born. It was made the capitol of Egypt, replacing the great city of Thebes. This city still exists today; it is now called Tall al Amarinah. The city was created during Akhenaten’s campaign that replaced the original polytheistic religion with a monotheistic religion in which the sun-disc god, Aten, was considered above all others. This change in religion caused Egypt to go through social and political upheaval. For this, he is known as the "heretic king."
Akhenaten changed many things during his campaign. Akhenaten’s name was previously Amenhotep IV before he changed it to signify the transition to Aten. Sun god, Ra, according to the cult, created himself from a primeval mound in the shape of a pyramid and then created all other gods. He was invoked as Aten or the Great Disc that illuminated the world of