The Boy Behind the Mask: Meeting the Real Tutankhamun

by Charlotte Booth

The name of Tutankhamun brings to mind shining images of gold treasure, a secret tomb, and an ancient curse. However, the real history of the young king is surrounded by rumor and mystery. Alongside the vast riches miraculously discovered by Howard Carter in the famous tomb were more mundane finds including textiles, plates of food, plants, and childhood relics. In this revelatory book, Egyptologist Charlotte Booth uses these artefacts along with photographs of the finds made available here for the first time for the general public to breathe brilliant new life into Tutankhamun and the world in which he lived. Surviving a plague which felled his family one by one as it swept across the land, Tutankhamun stepped up to the throne at one of the most turbulent periods of Egyptian history. Only seven or eight years old at the time, he managed to unite a divided empire, restore the ancient religious practices, and maintain years of peace with the neighboring empires. A decade later, he was gone, the victim of a mysterious death surrounding which questions have persisted that researchers are only now beginning to answer: What were the real reasons behind the boy king’s sudden death? Why was the tomb so hastily closed? And while a young boy, what was his relationship with his mother, his father the king, his wife, and allies? By looking beyond the glittering treasure to the personal and beloved items that were buried alongside him over 2,500 years ago, including games, clothes, plants, and food, Booth provides a refreshing and unique examination of the life and times of the most famous pharaoh in the world, from his childhood pastimes and familial relationships, to his brief reign, political relations, and amazing legacy.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography

200 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Billed as the first attempt at a biography of Tutankhamun (mid-14th c. BCE), one can see from the results why such had not been attempted in the past. There really isn't much to go on. Thus much of the text is about his predecessor, possibly his father, Akhenaten, and his predecessors and successors, the material about Tut himself being mostly inferential, based on surviving inscriptions and the contents of his tomb. While asides are made to such aspects of court life as diet, cosmetics, attire and the like, no real sense is conveyed of the period.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is necessarily a book made up almost entirely of guesswork. Though it claims to add something different to the body of work about Tutankhamun, I can't say it really did teach me anything I didn't already know -- Charlotte Booth has to use the treasures from the tomb to illuminate Tutankhamun, and that has been done before in several different books.

In addition, some of the facts she stated are contradicted in my other books -- not exactly uncommon in Egyptology, I'm sure, but not reassuring, particularly when the book is also badly proofread and rife with misspellings, missing words, and even double negatives! Ugh.

It was interesting to read Charlotte Booth's ideas about Tutankhamun's life, but it's really no more conclusive than anything else.

[GBL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte Booth attempts to write a more personal portrait of Tutankhamen, looking behind the glittering gold of his tomb to find the real person. However I’m not sure she succeeds in adding much to our knowledge of the boy king. She does focus on the more mundane items from the tomb which do give a picture of a more normal individual but her picture inevitably has to focus on the role Tutankhamen played in the society of the time.

[UraniaEXLibris · Rating 3 out of 5]

L’interesse nei confronti di questo libro parte da zero e arriva gradualmente al massimo.
Una sorta di Odissea: superato lo scoglio dei primi due capitoli, non troppo entusiasmanti a dirla tutta, si apre un saggio con dovizia di informazioni e dettagli sulla figura di Tutankhamon e sul suo governo, spesso oscurato dal mistero della sua sepoltura e dalla maledizione a lui attribuita.

Un percorso biografico interessante e puntuale nei dati storici, parallelamente avallati dai ritrovamenti archeologici e le raffigurazioni parietali. Nonostante sia breve (consta infatti di 142 pagine), riesce a catturare il lettore e a dare una completa panoramica sul personaggio, oltre ad indicare un apparato bibliografico diviso per capitoli con interessanti proposte di approfondimento.

Avevo grandi aspettative nei confronti di questo saggio e, anche se l’inizio mi aveva delusa, la seconda parte ha decisamente riequilibrato il tutto. Lettura piacevole e scorrevole e bellissima descrizione del quadro clinico del giovane faraone, nonché la storia della sua mummia e delle analisi (non sempre corrette) su di essa effettuate. Di certo non é l’unica lettura necessaria per comprendere il contesto storico, sociale e politico in cui opera Tutankhamon, ma certamente una buona infarinatura per iniziare ad approfondire questo argomento.

[Meaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly don't see why this book was written at all. Even in the introduction it was acknowledged that Tutenkhamun was not a very important king and didn't live very long and not a whole lot happened during his reign. The Boy Behind the Mask purports to be a biography of Tutenkhamun, but since practically nothing is known about King Tut -- not even his parentage -- this biography is nothing more than a series of educated guesses, based mainly on the items found in his tomb. It's full of words and phrases like "maybe" and "probably" and "could have" and "however." The author should be credited for not making declarative statements when so little is known, but her book left me feeling frustrated rather than intrigued.

[April Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

What ages would I recommend it too? – Twelve and up.

Length? – A couple of days to read.

Characters? – Memorable, several characters.

Setting? – Real world Egypt 1350 - 1340 BC.

Written approximately? – 2007.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? No. In a few places it s repetitive, and in others it contradicts itself.

Short storyline: A study of the history of one of Egypt's most famous kings, as well as the dance through his family and life.

Notes for the reader: An enjoyable look at history though the "It may have been like the lens." Sometimes it's difficult to distinguish between known facts and conjecture.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! Of course, my love of history is responsible for sparking my love of this novel. The idea of trying to reconstruct Tutankhamun's life based upon known history, archeological studies in Egypt, as well as the contents of his tomb is a brilliant innovation. As all explanations of daily life during ancient history, supposition and assumption permeat this writing; however, I feel that the author reached the correct conclusions in most instances. It is a compelling study of life for this pharoah, and a great read for lovers of history.

[Russell Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A view of this enigma of history as more than the occupant of one of the most famous tombs of history, but as the young man he surely was...