What do we know about King Tut during his life -- not just what was found in his tomb?
   Sharon, Web post

Dr. dig responds:
We know very little about Tutankhamun's life. Although his tomb was crammed with a great variety of objects, it held very few written documents. For this reason, it told us very little about the king himself. We are never told who Tutankhamun's parents were, although his father was probably Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV). His mother may have been Queen Nefertiti, or a different queen, perhaps a lady named Kiya. Tutankhamun was originally called Tutankh-aten. He came to the throne at eight years of age and married his sister/half sister Ankhesenpa-aten. The two changed their names to Tutankh-amun and Ankhesen-amun to honor the god Amun who was being reinstated as Egypt's patron god. We know that Tutankhamun ruled from Thebes, that he promoted temple building, and that he was about 18 years old when he died. We do not, however, know how he died. There have been theories that he was killed, but this has not been proven. He was followed on the throne by Ay.