Tut’s ears have holes which were ostensibly covered by gold pieces? Perhaps the ears were meant for Queen Nefer- titi’s mask. Although the face of the mask does appear as the official royal likeness of the Pharaoh Tut, it is of a lower purity of gold than the
rest of the headpiece. The headdress, apart from the face and ears, might have come from his father, Akhenaten - who would have been given a lower quality of gold due to his alleged “heretic” behavior during his reign as pharaoh of Egypt. In order to understand why some of Tut’s father’s artifacts may have been used for the construction of his mask, a brief history of his father must be given. Originally, Akhenaten was named Amenhotep IV. Subsequently, he changed his name to reflect the new monotheistic religion of the Sun Disc God Aten – Ra, hence the new name Akhenaten. With the onset of a new forced religion, the Egyptian people had to abandon worshipping many gods. Not only did this religious transformation prompt the name change to Akhenaten, which meant the servant of Aten, Nefertiti also changed her name to Nefernefruaten, which meant fair is the goddess of Aten. And King Tutankhamun was re-named Tutankhaten, which meant living image of Aten. To set the stage, the change to a new monotheistic religion of Aten meant that all of the people could no longer worship all of their usual Gods, the old temple doors were closed and many priests were out of a job, thus creating a very turbulent time for Egypt and dislike for Akhenaten. Subsequently, after the death of Akhenaten, Tut’s father, Egypt was restored to its old ways of worship. Henceforth, King Tut and his viziers renewed the old practice of worshipping many gods including Amun -Ra, the central and primary god who is depicted not as a sun disc with rays, but that of a man, self-created. Consequently, Tutankhaten would Tomb of Tutankhamun in Valley of Kings,Luxor,Egypt
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