Tutankhamun

He was nine years old when the throne came to him, inheriting a country fractured by the religious revolution of his father Akhenaten. The empire's traditional temples were closed, and the powerful priests of Amun were stripped of their wealth. Guided by the aging vizier Ay and the military commander Horemheb, the boy king made a historic decision: he would return to the old gods.

He changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun, representing the restoration of the king of the gods, Amun. He abandoned the desert city of Amarna, returning the court to Thebes and reopening the ancient temples.

His reign was short, lasting only nine years before his sudden, unexplained death at nineteen. The court buried him quickly in a small, unfinished tomb in the Valley of the Kings, covering him with a spectacular golden mask.

Because his tomb was buried by the builders of a later pharaoh, it remained undisturbed for over three thousand years. When archaeologist Howard Carter broke the seal in 1922, the boy king emerged from the shadows of history as the most famous face of Ancient Egypt, showcasing the incredible wealth of the Eighteenth Dynasty.