By Mursi Saad EL-Din King Tut is famous. Since the Tut-Ankh-Amun exhibitions began to tour the world in the 1960's, the Egyptian king's name has become a household word. Replicas of his jewellery were made in gold, silver and wood; for many years they were the fashion. When the exhibition went to Japan, the Japanese made replicas of the gold mask and sent one back to Egypt, where, for many years, it stood at the entrance of the Ministry of Culture. In keeping with Japanese efficiency at imitation it was difficult to distinguish it from the original. And yet, in spite of this popularity and of the spate of books that have been published since this Royal Tour, little more has been added to what Carter wrote about his discovery in 1922. This is what gives Nicholas Reeves' book The Complete Tutankhamun its value. Nicholas Reeves has been under Egypt's spell since he began to study ancient history at University College, London. Later on he received his PhD in Egyptology from the University of Durham and is now working as a member of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum in London. I still remember the furore that went up when the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, the financier of the Carter expedition, discovered a further Egyptian collection at Highgate Castle, the family's seat. It was Dr Reeves who identified the collection, catalogued it and finally put it on display. According to the 7th Earl of Carnarvon in his forward to the book, "Dr Reeves' knowledge of the period of Tutankhamun is quite remarkable." In fact the book testifies to this. The title is apt, since the book gives details of the king, the tomb and the royal treasure. The book is divided into five sections: "Tutankhamun and his Time", "Search and Discovery", "The Archaeology of the Tomb", "The Pharaoh's Burial" and "Treasures of the Tomb", as well as an epilogue. It contains 519 illustrations, 65 in colour. A long but pleasant journey: in it we follow Tutankhamun's path from the moment of discovery, and through to the history and times of the Egyptian king. Who was Tutankhamun? It is the question posed on the first page, starting with a quotation from Howard Carter, "The mystery of his life still eludes us, the shadows move but the dark never quite dispersed." In fact, despite the richness of his burial, Tutankhamun remains an enigma. He lived and died against a backdrop of one of the richest and most sophisticated periods of Egyptian history, an age of international power-politics, religious turmoil and unlimited artistic and literary creativity -- brought to fruition largely by the will of one man, his father, the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaton. Tutankhamun was Akhenaton's only son and succeeded him to the throne as a mere child following the brief intervening reign of the enigmatic Smenkhare. When Tutankhmun acceded to the throne the country was physically and spiritually drained following his father's imposition of the Aten cult centred upon the new capital at El-Amarna. With the boy's succession the Amarna experiment was brought to an end; the religious factions were reconciled and the country returned to relative normality. In fact, judging from the king's mummy, Tutankhamun must have died as a boy, not more than 16 or 18 years of age. Going through the book is like going through a museum with a highly qualified guide. We are given a background of archaeology of Tutankhamun's reign, covering El-Amarna, Thebes, Memphis and other sites; and only then are we introduced to all the King's men, his inner circle, his officials and administrators and even lesser contemporaries...
