Talk Like An Egyptian

This is a mildly edited recording of the livestream we broadcast on youtube on 11.11.25. Thank you for all those who made it. You can watch the broadcast from our patreon page where you can also download loads of extra content.

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Tutankhamun is now very famous of course but ironically he was relatively insignificant right? We know that Tutankhamun was the 'boy king' and ruled as a child and so didn't - couldn't have - done much… In this episode we challenge this view, and show that in fact Tutankhamun ruled at the most interesting of times and may have been responsible for restoring the traditional religion after the brief period of heresy under Akhenaten.

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The greatest archaeological discovery of all time. Even now, it's difficult to comprehend the full extent of what Howard Carter found in Valley of Kings tomb no. 62: the intact tomb of a pharaoh who turned out to have been a little boy when he came to throne, and possibly still in his teens when he died, containing more than 5,000 objects, almost all of them made of the finest materials and exquisitely fashioned. It was watershed moment for Egyptology, and it's almost inconceivable that anything more sensational will ever be found in future.

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Extra content: https://www.patreon.com/talklikeanegyptian

The last word on the subject, is Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun, a revised edition of which was produced in time for the centenary of the discovery in 2022.

For an even more lavishly illustrated volume on the objects alone see Hawass, Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb

The most thorough account of the life of the discoverer, Howard Carter, and the story of the discovery itself, is James, Howard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamun

Why are we so obsessed with Ancient Egypt? All children study it, museum galleries displaying Egyptian objects are always full, documentaries always do really well, and we've had a couple of waves of Egyptomania – in the 1800s and following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. We talked a lot in this episode about the historical background to the development of Egyptology, in particular colonialism and the rivalry between Britain and France. Also about how the aesthetic of Egyptian art and architecture is very distinctive and striking and so many other aspects of Egyptian culture are so intriguing including: mummies and mummification, animal-headed gods, the lure of the desert, and the idea that treasure is buried and awaiting discovery - 'revealing' things that are 'hidden'…

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