Tutankhamun, the boy king who died prematurely and whose treasures have mesmerised people from around the world since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, has long been the subject of controversy among scholars and non-specialists alike. Numerous works have speculated about the reasons behind this monarch's death. I was interviewed for two documentary programmes that presented two different theories for the death of the king. The first argued that Tutankhamun was killed in a chariot accident, and the second, and most recent, argued that an epileptic seizure led to the king's untimely demise. In the first programme I only spoke about the famous mask of the boy king. In the second, I spoke about the so-called “dream stela”of Thutmose IV and argued against the idea that it could be used as evidence to support the notion that the family of Tutankhamun suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy. That part, however, was edited out and did not appear in the broadcast programme. The argument that Tutankhamun died from an epileptic seizure is based on a theory put forward by HutanAshrafian, a surgeon at Imperial College London. Ashrafian argues that Tutankhamun came from a family with a long history of temporal lobe epilepsy. He based his argument on artefacts produced during the reigns of members of Tutankhamun's family. The earliest artefact is the dream stela of Thutmose IV, Tutankhamun's great-grandfather. The stela, as I said in the programme, records an event during the reign of Thutmose IV. The text says that while Thutmose IV was on a hunting trip, he stopped for a rest under the head of the Sphinx, which at that time was covered in sand up to its neck. He fell asleep and had a dream in which the Sphinx told Thutmose that if he cleared the sand away from his body, he would become the next pharaoh. Thutmose did as he was told and became the next king, even though he was not the crown prince. According to Ashrafian, this stela supports the idea that Tutankhamun's family suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, since people with this condition often have visions. The religious and artistic revolutions of Thutmose IV's grandson Akhenaten have been used as further evidence to support Ashrafian's theory, arguing that the religious revolution was the result of another vision. “People with temporal lobe epilepsy who are exposed to sunlight get the same sort of stimulation and religious zeal,” explained Ashrafian, as quoted in an interview with the Washington Post. Ashrafian also says that epileptic seizures are known to alter the levels of hormones involved in sexual development, which he believes may explain the effeminate depictions of the physical appearance of this king and his successors, Semenkhkare and Tutankhamun. Medically speaking, this theory is almost impossible to prove, since there is no definitive test for epilepsy. Egyptologically, the theory also has very little merit. Ancient Egyptian art usually served a symbolic function. The dream stela, for instance, cannot be used to support the idea that Thutmose IV suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, simply because those who have studied ancient Egyptian royal art know that such works were often used as propaganda aimed at legitimising the rule of a king who was not in the direct line of succession. Thutmose IV was not supposed to succeed his father so he sought to justify his ascent to the throne by claiming that it was the result of divine will. Queen Hatshepsut did something very similar. In her mortuary temple at Deir Al-Bahari there is a scene in which the god Amun-Re appears in the form of Hatshepsut's father, Thutmose I, and impregnates her mother with his divine breath. Hatshepsut thus legitimises her rule by presenting herself as the daughter of the god Amun-Re himself. Although the reason behind Akhenaten's religious revolution is still the subject of debate among scholars, the idea that it was the result of a vision during an epileptic seizure seems highly unlikely. Egyptologists and non-specialists alike will continue to speculate about what led Akhenaten to revolutionise religion and art, and they will continue to theorise about the reasons behind the premature death of Tutankhamun. More documentaries will be produced presenting a theory and editing out any argument that does not agree with whatever it is they are trying to “prove.” Where is the truth? We may never know.
