By Carla Marangelli Year 8

'May the immortal spirit live! Mayest thou spend millions of years, O thou who lovest me be seated with thy face to the north wind and thine eyes contemplating Felicity’, is the first thing that greeted Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon as they entered King Tutankhamun's tomb. As archaeologists were studying King Tutankhamun's tomb, many questions arose, one of which was ‘Was it Murder?’ Definitely, all the evidence points to Ay and Horemheb, King Tutankhamun's adviser and chief of the military. So with Ay’s brains and Horemheb’s power they were scheming together to seize the throne.

King Tutankhamun was brought up in the court of Amenophis IV, his wife Queen Nefertiti, their six daughters, and Tutankhamun’s older brother. Amenophis IV challenged the religion of his people bringing in the worship of one God, Aten (Monotheism). Amenophis forbade the worship of Amen so much so he changed his name from Amenophis to Ankhenaten because Amenophis had the word Amen in it. Ankhenaten means "in the spirit of Aten".

King Tutankhamun studied Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Geology, Astronomy, a Foreign Language and for fun and relaxation he learnt, archery, wrestling and how to drive a chariot. King Tutankhamun gained the throne after his father and brother died within a few months of each other in 1334 BC. He married Ankhesenamen, aged 13, the third daughter of Ankhenaten, at the age of 8 or 9. As Tutankhamun got older he had twin daughters who were unfortunately born dead. Then in 1325 BC King Tutankhamun was killed. On 4 November 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered King Tutankhamun's tomb, untouched by thieves.

You may ask what evidence there is to support the theory that Ay and Horemheb killed Tutankhamun. Here are a few reasons.

• King Tutankhamun had a calcified blood clot in his head
• After Tutankhamun's death Ay refused to start an investigation
• Queen Ankhesenamen sent a letter to a foreign King asking for a prince to marry. This prince – murdered!
• Queen Ankhesenamen disappeared.
• Ay is pictured with Tiy as wife on his tombs walls.
• Horemheb removed King Tutankhamun, Ay and Queen Ankhesenamen from the Royal list of Pharaohs.

The calcified blood clot in King Tutankhamun’s skull could have been caused due to a blow to the head with a blunt object. Both Ay and Horemheb had plenty of opportunities to do this.

Then Ay refused to start an investigation into King Tutankhamun's death. This has two deep meanings:
1) Did King Tutankhamun’s people suspect that there was some foul play involved. 2) Did Ay have something to hide?

The letter that Queen Ankhesenamen sent to a foreign king that was begging him to send a prince for her to marry read like this: ‘Never shall I pick out a servant of mine and make him my husband! I am very afraid!’ So the foreign king sent his son but his son was murdered before he could reach the palace. Horemheb could have got someone in his army to do this ensuring that he ‘didn’t get blood on his hands’. Queen Ankhesenamen disappeared. Was she the victim of a terrible plan to overthrow the throne?

Ay is pictured with his wife and Queen of Egypt Tiy on his tomb wall. There is no sign of Ankhesenamen at all, the person he married to get to the throne. Then when Horemheb came to the throne in 1321 BC he removed King Tutankhamun, Queen Ankhesenamen and Ay from the royal list of Pharaohs. Did he have reasons to ‘get rid of them’ or ‘remove the evidence’.

All of these facts point to the fact that Ay and Horemheb murdered King Tutankhamun.