THE WOMAN BEHIND TUTANKHAMUN'S GOLDEN THRONE BY Marianne Luban  [mod. 2002]
		Year 12 of the heretic pharaoh, Akhenaten, shows every sign of being the last happy one in what remained of his reign.  He was now sole king of Egypt after what appears to have been a lengthy co-regency with his late father, Amenhotep III. [1]  Thus, the pharaoh had at least one lovely wife and six growing daughters at this time of his life.  The  family unit is portrayed in the tomb of an official, Meryre II, with the king and queen perpetuating the artistic innovations of  this regime by affectionately holding hands.  Before two more years had passed, tragedy evidently struck.  Perhaps it was due to a plague that may have eventually decimated the royal house, [2] but there is no doubt that, by Year 14, Akhenaten's second daughter, the Princess Meketaten, was dead.  We see her laid out in scenes in the Royal Tomb at Amarna, mourned by her distraught parents and the entire court.  Most interestingly, these depictions also contain the figure of an infant, held in the arms of a nurse. [3]  That the child is a male, perhaps the long-awaited heir, is indicated by the great deference shown to him with fan-bearers hovering in attendance lest strong light, heat or insects threaten this precious individual.  Pestilence or no, the tiny,  nameless person tantalizingly inserted into these scenes does likely survive and in due course becomes the pharaoh Tutankhamun, the most famous king of Egypt ever.                                 CONTINUE