CHAPTER 3 : DISCOVERING TUT : THE SAGA CONTINUES
Written by : A. R. Williams
Summary
Glossary
Textbook Questions and Answers
Tutankhamun was a teenage heir to the royal throne of Egypt.
He died very young. He was the last of the line of his family.
With his death a very powerful dynasty which ruled Egypt, came to an end.
Amenhotep III was his father or grandfather.
He was a very powerful Pharaoh. He ruled for 40 years. Amenhotep IV succeeded him.
He promoted the worship of Aten, the sun-disk. He changed his name to Akhenaten i.... servant of the Aten.
He shifted his capital from old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten.
The country was shocked when he attacked Amun, a major God of the Egyptians.
He broke down his image and closed his temples. After his death he was succeeded by a mysterious ruler.
But he too died soon. Then Tutankhamun ascended the throne of Egypt. He was popularly known as Tut.
He restored ways and worship of God Amun. He changed his name to Tutankhamun.
He ruled Egypt for a short period of nine years. His mummy was discovered in 1922 by a British archaeologist Howard Carter.
Perhaps Tut was murdered and laid to rest with a lot of gold, everyday things of requirements and cases of food and wine. The Egyptians believed in life after death.
Howard Carter discovered the tomb after a long search in 1922.
Most of the treasure buried in the tomb was already looted.
The treasure was richest royal collection. The rock-cut tomb was 26 feet underground. Walls had paintings.
The coffin had his face gilden. The treasure was recorded.
After three months, began the investigation of the three layer coffin in the tomb.
The first layer had garlands of olive leaves. lotus petals and cornflowers.
This suggests that the burial might have taken place in March or April.
On reaching the mummy Carter had to face trouble. Resins were used for cementing the gold coffin.
It had become very hard. It was impossible to free the body from the coffin.
The burning sun failed to melt it. Resins had to be removed with chisel and hammer.
To draw the body out, they had to cut the mummy limb by limb. This would also avoid the theft of gold.
First head was removed, then every joint was removed.
Later the body was reassembled on a layer of sand in a wooden box and then put in the original place.
In 1968 Anatomy professors X-rayed the mummy and revealed new facts.
The breast-bone and the front ribs were missing.
Today (Computed Tomography) CT takes hundreds of X-rays and creates a three-dimensional image of the body.
On 5th Jan. 2005 the mummy of Tut was put into a CT scanner.
They wanted to find out how Tut had died and the age at the time of his death. Siemens, the manufacturer of the scanner donated the scanner.
After scanning, it was revealed that Tut had died 3300 years ago. On the night of scanning, they had put the body in a trailer.
The process took less than 3 hrs. the Pharaoh was carried back to the tomb. All the doubts were dispelled.
Nothing had gone seriously wrong. Today Tut is resting in the valley of departed kings of Egypt.
Facts: Tutankhamun
(Ruled C. 1332-1323 BC in the conventional chronology)
Father: Akhenaten (Formerly Amenhotep IV)
Forensic reconstruction: activity of building again something damaged or to help scientific test to solve crime.
Scudded across: moved quickly across something.
Casket grey: (here) grey sky
Resurrection: a new beginning for something which is old
Funerary treasures: collection of valuable things used at a funeral
Circumvented: found a way of avoiding a difficulty or a rule
Computed tomography: tomography in which computer analysis of a series of X-Ray scans made of a badily structure or tissue which is used to construct the three dimensional image of that structure
Eerie detail: strange and frightening little bits of facts
Saga: long story covering A period of many years
Speculated: to form an opinion, to guess
Ransacked: searched
Laid to rest: (here) buried
Lavish with: adore luxuriously with
Ans.
King Tut's body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny for the riches it was buried with.
There has also been a lot of speculation about the manner of his death and the time of his death.
Ans.
Howard Carter's investigation was resented because he used unscientific methods to cut the body away from the wooden base.
He also focused more on the discovery of gold than on the fascinating details of Tut's life and the mysteries of his death.
Ans.
Carter found that the ritual resin that was used as a polish has hardened.
The result was that the mummy was cemented to the bottom of the solid gold coffin.
Neither the strongest force could move the mummy nor the burning sun could loosen the remains of the king,
Ans.
The ancient royals of Egypt were fabulously wealthy. They believed in afterlife.
They also believed that they could take their wealth with them. So, gilded treasures were buried with them.
Ans.
Tutankhamun means 'Living image of Amun'.
He was a major god in ancient Egypt. King Amenhotep smashed the images of Amun and closed his temples.
Tut oversaw a restoration of the old ways. He also changed his name to express his belief on Amun.
Ans.
Akhenaten means the servant of the Aten i.e.. the sun-disk.
He moved the religious capital from the old city of the Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amarna. He smashed the images of Amun, a major God and closed his temples.
These deeds led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten 'wacky’.
Ans:
The results of the CT scan were quite encouraging.
1700 digital X-ray images in cross section were created.
A grey head appeared on screen. Neck vertebrae were quite clear.
The images of hand, ribcage and skull were equally bright.
These revealed that nothing had gone seriously wrong with Tut's body.
Ans.
The advances in technology have helped in improving forensic analysis.
Many scientific tests can be carried out to determine the causes of crime.
These include X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan, postmortem, autopsy and biopsy.
All these help in diagnosis and provide exact information.
Ans.
King Tut's mummy was the first one to be X-rayed by an anatomy professor in 1968.
On 5 January, 2005 CT scan created virtual reality and produced life-like images.
King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned.
Thus, in death as well as in life Tut moved regally ahead of his countrymen.
Written by: Ted Hughes
The Laburnum Top' is a very powerful poem in which the laburnum symbolizes the hardships in life.
The poem describes the laburnum tree whose seeds have not only fallen but also the leaves have turned yellow.
It is an afternoon in September and the tree top is silent until a goldfinch appears.
As soon as the goldfinch appears, there is a sudden strong tremor in the tree; there are noises of twitching of wings and chirping in bird language.
The whole tree trembles. The engine of the bird's family has appeared that is the mother goldfinch has brought food for her babies.
The movement of the goldfinch is like a lizard, sleek and smooth.
She is the engine of her family, which means she is working to provide nutrition to the family just like the engine is the major part of a machine.
In the end, the goldfinch again launches herself in the sky in a mysterious way and the laburnum is reduced to silence and emptiness again.
Laburnum: a small tree with hanging branches of yellow flowers and poisonous seed
Goldfinch: a small singing bird with yellow feathers on wings
Twitch: movement of a small body part
Chirrup: sound made by birds
Startlement: amazement
Sleek: smooth
Chitterling singing sound of birds
Stokes: add fuel to the engine, (in poem) the goldfinch is a source of food to the family
Eerie: strange or mysterious
Ans: In the beginning of the poem the tree is calm and silent and in the ending it ends with motionless and empty level.
Ans:
The goldfinch's movement is compared to that of a lizard.
The basis of the comparison the sleek, abrupt and alert movements of a lizard.
The same kinds of movements are observed when the goldfinch arrives on the laburnum tree.
Ans.
The engine is the source of energy to run machine.
It is compared to bird as she too is a source of energy for her family.
As without engine a machine can't work in the same without a mother bird her family can't survive.
Ans.
I like presentation of the poem.
The comparison between bird's the simplicity and pictorial movement with machine and Lizard is made in nice way.
Also chirruping and trilling of goldfinch bring to us audio-imagery.
Ans. The phrase means that the bird's barred or covered face becomes her identity mask for recognition.
Ans.
In the poem "The Laburnum Top by the poet Ted Hughes, laburnum' is the golden chain tree which is a commonly found tree with golden flowers that hang in the bunches.
Ans.
The late twentieth century poet Ted Hughes draws a very clear symbolism through this very figure of laburnum tree in the poem. "The Laburnum Top'.
Actually the laburnum symbolizes the hardships in life of every living being.
It stands for the upheavelish survival requirement all throughout one's life.
Ans.
The poem 'The Laburnum Top' has begun with an immense solitude.
The very top of the laburnum tree is calm and silent with the fading yellowish sunlight in a solemn afternoon of September.
The tree is standing with the remaining few dull yellow leaves and bereft of any seed.
Written by : A. R. Williams
Summary
Glossary
Textbook Questions and Answers
Tutankhamun was a teenage heir to the royal throne of Egypt.
He died very young. He was the last of the line of his family.
With his death a very powerful dynasty which ruled Egypt, came to an end.
Amenhotep III was his father or grandfather.
He was a very powerful Pharaoh. He ruled for 40 years. Amenhotep IV succeeded him.
He promoted the worship of Aten, the sun-disk. He changed his name to Akhenaten i.... servant of the Aten.
He shifted his capital from old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten.
The country was shocked when he attacked Amun, a major God of the Egyptians.
He broke down his image and closed his temples. After his death he was succeeded by a mysterious ruler.
But he too died soon. Then Tutankhamun ascended the throne of Egypt. He was popularly known as Tut.
He restored ways and worship of God Amun. He changed his name to Tutankhamun.
He ruled Egypt for a short period of nine years. His mummy was discovered in 1922 by a British archaeologist Howard Carter.
Perhaps Tut was murdered and laid to rest with a lot of gold, everyday things of requirements and cases of food and wine. The Egyptians believed in life after death.
Howard Carter discovered the tomb after a long search in 1922.
Most of the treasure buried in the tomb was already looted.
The treasure was richest royal collection. The rock-cut tomb was 26 feet underground. Walls had paintings.
The coffin had his face gilden. The treasure was recorded.
After three months, began the investigation of the three layer coffin in the tomb.
The first layer had garlands of olive leaves. lotus petals and cornflowers.
This suggests that the burial might have taken place in March or April.
On reaching the mummy Carter had to face trouble. Resins were used for cementing the gold coffin.
It had become very hard. It was impossible to free the body from the coffin.
The burning sun failed to melt it. Resins had to be removed with chisel and hammer.
To draw the body out, they had to cut the mummy limb by limb. This would also avoid the theft of gold.
First head was removed, then every joint was removed.
Later the body was reassembled on a layer of sand in a wooden box and then put in the original place.
In 1968 Anatomy professors X-rayed the mummy and revealed new facts.
The breast-bone and the front ribs were missing.
Today (Computed Tomography) CT takes hundreds of X-rays and creates a three-dimensional image of the body.
On 5th Jan. 2005 the mummy of Tut was put into a CT scanner.
They wanted to find out how Tut had died and the age at the time of his death. Siemens, the manufacturer of the scanner donated the scanner.
After scanning, it was revealed that Tut had died 3300 years ago. On the night of scanning, they had put the body in a trailer.
The process took less than 3 hrs. the Pharaoh was carried back to the tomb. All the doubts were dispelled.
Nothing had gone seriously wrong. Today Tut is resting in the valley of departed kings of Egypt.
Facts: Tutankhamun
(Ruled C. 1332-1323 BC in the conventional chronology)
Father: Akhenaten (Formerly Amenhotep IV)
Forensic reconstruction: activity of building again something damaged or to help scientific test to solve crime.
Scudded across: moved quickly across something.
Casket grey: (here) grey sky
Resurrection: a new beginning for something which is old
Funerary treasures: collection of valuable things used at a funeral
Circumvented: found a way of avoiding a difficulty or a rule
Computed tomography: tomography in which computer analysis of a series of X-Ray scans made of a badily structure or tissue which is used to construct the three dimensional image of that structure
Eerie detail: strange and frightening little bits of facts
Saga: long story covering A period of many years
Speculated: to form an opinion, to guess
Ransacked: searched
Laid to rest: (here) buried
Lavish with: adore luxuriously with
Ans.
King Tut's body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny for the riches it was buried with.
There has also been a lot of speculation about the manner of his death and the time of his death.
Ans.
Howard Carter's investigation was resented because he used unscientific methods to cut the body away from the wooden base.
He also focused more on the discovery of gold than on the fascinating details of Tut's life and the mysteries of his death.
Ans.
Carter found that the ritual resin that was used as a polish has hardened.
The result was that the mummy was cemented to the bottom of the solid gold coffin.
Neither the strongest force could move the mummy nor the burning sun could loosen the remains of the king,
Ans.
The ancient royals of Egypt were fabulously wealthy. They believed in afterlife.
They also believed that they could take their wealth with them. So, gilded treasures were buried with them.
Ans.
Tutankhamun means 'Living image of Amun'.
He was a major god in ancient Egypt. King Amenhotep smashed the images of Amun and closed his temples.
Tut oversaw a restoration of the old ways. He also changed his name to express his belief on Amun.
Ans.
Akhenaten means the servant of the Aten i.e.. the sun-disk.
He moved the religious capital from the old city of the Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amarna. He smashed the images of Amun, a major God and closed his temples.
These deeds led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten 'wacky’.
Ans:
The results of the CT scan were quite encouraging.
1700 digital X-ray images in cross section were created.
A grey head appeared on screen. Neck vertebrae were quite clear.
The images of hand, ribcage and skull were equally bright.
These revealed that nothing had gone seriously wrong with Tut's body.
Ans.
The advances in technology have helped in improving forensic analysis.
Many scientific tests can be carried out to determine the causes of crime.
These include X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan, postmortem, autopsy and biopsy.
All these help in diagnosis and provide exact information.
Ans.
King Tut's mummy was the first one to be X-rayed by an anatomy professor in 1968.
On 5 January, 2005 CT scan created virtual reality and produced life-like images.
King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned.
Thus, in death as well as in life Tut moved regally ahead of his countrymen.
Written by: Ted Hughes
The Laburnum Top' is a very powerful poem in which the laburnum symbolizes the hardships in life.
The poem describes the laburnum tree whose seeds have not only fallen but also the leaves have turned yellow.
It is an afternoon in September and the tree top is silent until a goldfinch appears.
As soon as the goldfinch appears, there is a sudden strong tremor in the tree; there are noises of twitching of wings and chirping in bird language.
The whole tree trembles. The engine of the bird's family has appeared that is the mother goldfinch has brought food for her babies.
The movement of the goldfinch is like a lizard, sleek and smooth.
She is the engine of her family, which means she is working to provide nutrition to the family just like the engine is the major part of a machine.
In the end, the goldfinch again launches herself in the sky in a mysterious way and the laburnum is reduced to silence and emptiness again.
Laburnum: a small tree with hanging branches of yellow flowers and poisonous seed
Goldfinch: a small singing bird with yellow feathers on wings
Twitch: movement of a small body part
Chirrup: sound made by birds
Startlement: amazement
Sleek: smooth
Chitterling singing sound of birds
Stokes: add fuel to the engine, (in poem) the goldfinch is a source of food to the family
Eerie: strange or mysterious
Ans: In the beginning of the poem the tree is calm and silent and in the ending it ends with motionless and empty level.
Ans:
The goldfinch's movement is compared to that of a lizard.
The basis of the comparison the sleek, abrupt and alert movements of a lizard.
The same kinds of movements are observed when the goldfinch arrives on the laburnum tree.
Ans.
The engine is the source of energy to run machine.
It is compared to bird as she too is a source of energy for her family.
As without engine a machine can't work in the same without a mother bird her family can't survive.
Ans.
I like presentation of the poem.
The comparison between bird's the simplicity and pictorial movement with machine and Lizard is made in nice way.
Also chirruping and trilling of goldfinch bring to us audio-imagery.
Ans. The phrase means that the bird's barred or covered face becomes her identity mask for recognition.
Ans.
In the poem "The Laburnum Top by the poet Ted Hughes, laburnum' is the golden chain tree which is a commonly found tree with golden flowers that hang in the bunches.
Ans.
The late twentieth century poet Ted Hughes draws a very clear symbolism through this very figure of laburnum tree in the poem. "The Laburnum Top'.
Actually the laburnum symbolizes the hardships in life of every living being.
It stands for the upheavelish survival requirement all throughout one's life.
Ans.
The poem 'The Laburnum Top' has begun with an immense solitude.
The very top of the laburnum tree is calm and silent with the fading yellowish sunlight in a solemn afternoon of September.
The tree is standing with the remaining few dull yellow leaves and bereft of any seed.
