How Did King Tut Die

King Tutankhamun, or King Tut for short, was an Egyptian pharaoh who lived from roughly 1341 to 1323 BCE. He is most famous for being the ancient Egyptian royalty whose burial tomb was discovered intact in 1922 by a British archaeologist. Although his tomb gave us great insight into how Ancient Egyptians lived and worshipped, there is still much mystery surrounding the pharaoh’s young death at the age of nineteen.

At first, archaeologists and historians believed that King Tut died from a fatal injury to the head, as x-rays of his mummy revealed an irregularity in the shape of his skull. However, a 2010 CT scan of his mummified body instead revealed that a bone fragment was located slightly off-center in his left thigh bone. This raised a new potential cause of death for the king: a broken leg.

It is likely that the broken leg occurred before his death, as injuries usually heal after death. To scientists, this indicated that the king could have died from an infection that set in from his leg injury. There are stories from the Ancient Egyptians’ writings that King Tut was injured from a chariot crash. Because of the infection, his body’s supply of red blood cells dropped significantly, leading to a fatal case of anemia.

Recent scientific studies suggest that King Tut may have died from an unknown combination of illnesses and infections. Many have speculated that his severe medical ailments were due to genetic disorders and interbreeding, a custom that was popular in the royal families of Ancient Egypt.

No one can say with certainty how King Tut died, but all evidence points to a cruel twist of fate that ended the life of such a significant historical figure in Ancient Egypt so young. Regardless of the cause of death, King Tutankhamun remains one of the most well-known rulers in Egyptian history, and his remains continue to be revered to this day.