King Tut’s Tomb and the Battle for Egypt’s Past

Summary

HISTORY This Week

Episode: King Tut’s Tomb and the Battle for Egypt’s Past

Date: December 29, 2025
Host: Sally Helm
Guests: Professor Christina Riggs, Heba Abd El Ghawed

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Episode Overview

This engrossing episode explores the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the early 1920s—a finding that not only electrified the world with golden wonders but also ignited fierce debates about the ownership and interpretation of Egypt’s past during the country’s fight for independence from British colonial rule. Host Sally Helm, joined by experts Professor Christina Riggs and Heba Abd El Ghawed, unpacks both the archaeological drama and the often-overlooked story of Egyptians’ reclaiming their heritage amid political upheaval.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Unearthing the Tomb

• Setting the Scene (03:19 - 05:38):
  The discovery in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, a climax after three thousand years undisturbed, unfolded under the leadership of the British archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon.
• Howard Carter’s Path (07:54 - 10:16):
  Carter’s humble background and artistic skills are contrasted with Carnarvon’s aristocratic pedigree.
  • Quote (08:16, Professor Riggs): “He loves animals. He’s a good artist. His father was a talented professional artist of animals... Howard Carter helps his father with these commissions. That gets him into the room with people of wealth, AKA potential patrons.”
• Discovery Moment (12:03 - 15:05):
  The fateful scrape of a trowel against stone signals the start of a global sensation. Carter’s legendary line:
  • Quote (15:00, Carter recollection): “I replied, yes, I see wonderful things.”

2. The Global Tut Mania & Media Controversy

• Tut Fever (17:32 - 19:25):
  The world is swept up in fascination—newsreels, jazz songs, fashion, and even “King Tut lemons.”
  • Photographer Harry Burton’s images make the treasures instantly iconic.
• Exclusion of Egyptian Press (17:32 - 19:12):
  The exclusive rights sold to The London Times spark dismay among Egyptians, raising questions of narrative ownership.
  • Quote (19:12, Heba Abd El Ghawed): “Not in the sense of physical ownership, but sentimental, emotional and symbolic ownership of this heritage...most importantly, the ownership of the narrative. Who should tell the story of Tutankhamun?”

3. Egyptian Identity & Colonial Tensions

• National Pride and Outrage (20:14 - 21:25):
  The find fuels pride but also anger over foreign domination.
  • Quote (21:05, Heba Abd El Ghawed): “This became like the national anthem at the time, to celebrate not only the discovery, but...to celebrate this defining moment of reframing and reinventing Egyptian identity.”
• Dilemmas of Artifact Ownership (21:40 - 22:52):
  Traditionally 50% of finds went to the foreign excavator, but Tut’s tomb triggers calls to keep everything in Egypt.

4. Political Battle and the “Curse”

• Lord Carnarvon’s Death and the Western Idea of the Curse (24:10 - 25:22):
  Carnarvon’s unexpected death fuels the “mummy’s curse” myth, a concept foreign to Egyptian culture.

  • Quote (24:31, Heba Abd El Ghawed): “This does not exist in our culture whatsoever, this conception of the walking dead and zombies... the dead deserve respect.”
  • Quote (25:08, Prof. Riggs): “I think there’s a certain unconscious kind of idea that the dead do come back. If you invade a grave, right? If you invade a country, there is a reaction to that.”

• Egyptian Independence and Changing Power Dynamics (29:20 - 32:21):
  Egypt’s independence (1922) alters the landscape.

  • Carter, used to old arrangements, is shocked as Egyptians demand full ownership and control.
  • Carter strikes, tomb locks are changed, and the government stands firm.

5. Resolution and Legacy

• New Agreement, All Artifacts Remain in Egypt (32:21 - 33:19):
  After conflict and negotiation, it’s agreed that everything from the tomb stays in Egypt—a turning point in international archaeology and cultural heritage.
• The Unveiling of Tut’s Mask (33:19 - 34:06):
  The world is entranced by the golden mask, but the young pharaoh himself remains an enigma.
  • Quote (33:40, Prof. Riggs/Abd El Ghawed): “It’s this mix of something that looks so intimate but equally so lavish and so luxurious that...can captivate you and capture people’s fascination.”
• Tutankhamun as a Symbol (34:34 - 35:46):
  Tut’s role as a post-unrest king is mirrored in his function as a unifying symbol during Egypt’s 20th-century reinvention.

6. Modern Touring of the Treasures and Lasting Lessons

• The Treasures on Tour (36:23 - 37:43):
  The global exhibition of the treasures in the 1960s–70s builds bridges, particularly with the U.S.—but these are not just art events but diplomatic gestures.
• A Broader View of Egypt (38:41 - 39:07):
  Heba Abd El Ghawed urges listeners to look beyond the gold and pharaohs.
  • Quote (38:41, Abd El Ghawed): “Egypt is not only about gold, it’s not only about pharaohs. And there is more to Egypt than the so-called mummy curse. We should be fascinated by the ancient Egyptians, by the people, the ordinary Egyptians who made those objects.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I replied, yes, I see wonderful things.”
  — Howard Carter’s famous words at the moment of discovery (15:00)

• “Who should tell the story of Tutankhamun?”
  — Heba Abd El Ghawed on narrative ownership (19:12)

• “This became like the national anthem at the time, to celebrate not only the discovery, but...to equally celebrate this defining moment of reframing and reinventing Egyptian identity.”
  — Heba Abd El Ghawed (21:05)

• “It’s this mix of something that looks so intimate but equally so lavish and so luxurious that... can captivate you and capture people’s fascination.”
  — Prof. Riggs/Abd El Ghawed on the iconic mask (33:40)

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |:-------------:|:-------------| | 03:19 | Setting up the burial and discovery of the tomb | | 07:54 | Background and pairing of Carter and Carnarvon | | 12:03 | Moment of tomb discovery | | 15:00 | Carter’s “wonderful things” quote | | 17:32 | Global Tut-mania and exclusion of Egyptian press | | 19:12 | Ownership and who tells Egypt’s story | | 21:05 | Nationalist songs and celebration after discovery | | 24:10 | Carnarvon’s death and “mummy’s curse” myth | | 29:20 | Egyptian independence and rewritten archaeology politics | | 32:21 | Resolution: all artifacts remain in Egypt | | 33:19 | World’s fascination with Tut’s mask | | 36:23 | Treasures’ international tour and diplomatic uses | | 38:41 | Looking beyond the gold to everyday Egyptians |

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Conclusion

This episode of HISTORY This Week masterfully weaves the dazzling story of King Tutankhamun’s tomb with the intense political and cultural struggles for Egypt’s legacy and self-definition during the time of its independence. Through accessible storytelling and powerful expert commentary, listeners come away with a heightened appreciation not only for the treasures themselves but for the contested, dynamic history that decided their fate.

Transcript

[Sally Helm]

Hello History this Week listeners. It's Sally here. As we are heading to the end of the year, I just wanted to thank you all for sticking with us these last five years. We really do love bringing these stories to you every week and we cannot wait to keep it going in 2026. If you like what you have been hearing, you can always support our work by subscribing to History this Week. Plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. You can also get email notifications and bonus content by signing [e-mail] and of course you can follow us on Instagram or Facebook. Thank you so much for listening. We could not make this show without you.

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[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Today.

[Sally Helm]

King Tut's tomb. What made this archaeological discovery so electrifying? And what is the little told story of the political battles that broke out with the unsealing of the pharaoh's final resting place? 1922. The sun rises on Egypt's Nile River. There's a once thriving city on its eastern bank called Luxor. And across the river, majestic peaks of limestone and rock. Among them are the ruins of ancient temples.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

And if you went far enough back into the mountains, then you get to the Valley of the Kings, where the kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties of Egypt, a new kingdom, were buried underground.

[Sally Helm]

Professor Christine Dina Riggs is a historian of photography and archaeology. She tells us by 1922, the Valley of the Kings is struggling to keep its ancient secrets. Britain had invaded Egypt back in 1880. Two decades later, the valley has been overrun by European archaeologists, each hoping to dig up something important. And decades after that, Riggs and other Western kids like her would hear stories about all the things those archaeologists did dig up. Riggs first became fascinated with ancient Egypt in her Ohio elementary school, watching a documentary that probably sounded something like this one. And what of the Sphinx, that strange, silent, mystical figure crouching in the sands near the pyramids?

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Is it too a tomb?

[Sally Helm]

Riggs was hooked. She trained as an Egyptologist, but in recent years, she's turned her attention from a study of ancient Egyptian culture to a study of. Of Egyptology as a field. Riggs felt that the accounts of this history were often oversimplified. After all, they'd often been written by people who had an interest, who, like Riggs, were archaeologists themselves.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

There's a kind of a tendency, a bit like writing your own family history. In a way, you sort of want to bring out, you know, the good bits and put any murderers or anybody who did something dodgy, you know, maybe put them off to the side and that's not good history.

[Sally Helm]

So Riggs decided to write the history herself. Her most recent book is about the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. And through her research, she became familiar with the man who would become most famous for Tutankhamun's discovery. Howard Carter. At least she became as familiar as any historian can be.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

I think he's a difficult character to get to know in a way, because of how he shapes and writes his own story.

[Sally Helm]

Howard Carter will come to have a hand in writing the legend of Howard Carter. But here are some things we know. He's born into a large London family, but he spends his childhood living with aunts in an English market town. He isn't wealthy or high class. He has little formal education. What Carter does have is a knack for, for drawing.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He loves animals. He's a good artist. His father was a talented professional artist of animals. Kind of did like cute little wild animal drawings, but also did nice portraits of wealthy people's pets.

[Sally Helm]

Howard Carter helps his father with these commissions. That gets him into the room with people of wealth, AKA potential patrons.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They get to know the local landed gentry who happen to be supporters of archaeology in Egypt and happen to have a collection of Egyptian antiquities.

[Sally Helm]

When Carter is 17, one of these families gets him a job in Egypt copying tomb paintings for archaeologists. And after a few years, Carter trades in his paintbrushes for a trowel. He becomes an inspector supervising digs in southern Egypt.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Howard Carter, who may otherwise have just been a jobbing who knows what somewhere in small town Norfolk.

[Sally Helm]

Around age 31, Carter falls out with the Antiquities Service and resigns his post. For the next few years, he's nearly jobless, selling artwork to tourists and waiting for an opportunity to put his archaeological skills to use. He meets a man who can help. George Edward stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon. We'll call him Lord Carnarvon. Unlike Carter, Lord Carnarvon has plenty of cash and a permit to dig in Egypt. He's from the upper classes in England.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He graduates from Trinity College at Cambridge. He's from a big, wealthy landed family who will have had a London townhouse and in the countryside had a Highclere castle, which is still in the family.

[Sally Helm]

Lord Carnarvon's country estate looks like the manor from Downton Abbey. In fact, it looks exactly like the manor from Downton Abbey. It was used as a set in the show. Carnarvon is the prototypical high flying aristocrat.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He likes fast cars, fast horses. He's nearly killed in an automobile accident and on the advice of his doctors, went to Egypt to take the sun. Then got interested in archaeology as a sort of a hobby.

[Sally Helm]

Carter and Carnarvon make an odd couple. Carter has intense eyes and a dour expression. Carnarvon is dapper and at ease. They're worlds apart in education and status. But Egypt has brought them together. Carnarvon even takes Carter back to his home in England during archaeology's off season.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Carter spends time in the summers at Highclere Castle for the grouse shooting and to catalog the antiquities. Becomes sort of an English gentleman, but will always have known himself that he wasn't.

[Sally Helm]

By 1922, the two men have worked together in Egypt for 15 years, with Carter leading excavations and Carnarvon footing the bill. They've been digging for antiquities in the Valley of the Kings without much success. And rumors begin to swirl that Lord Carnarvon has refused to pay for another season's permit. Carter has yet to make a significant find. And now time may be running out. The morning of November 4, 1922, begins like any other for Carter's team. The project depends almost entirely on Egyptians, from local archaeologists to government officials to the local boys who clear away debris.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

So they're trying to get down to bedrock, basically down to the original floor of the valley.

[Sally Helm]

Suddenly their tools scrape against something that feels different.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

I know what it feels like when you scrape your trowel across the ground and you feel a change. You feel the ding, ding, ding of stone. And they knew, obviously they have experienced, experienced diggers. They've lived there their whole lives among these archaeological ruins. That's their land, their country. They scrape away the sand, the dirt, everything on top of it, and they see that it's a step that's going to be going cut down into the.

[Sally Helm]

Bedrock, an ancient staircase beckons. Accounts differ on whether Howard Carter at this momentous juncture, was even there. He had just returned to the region from some time off.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He'd been in Cairo 50 days. He'd been selling antiquities. He'd been to the bank, he'd been to his dentist.

[Sally Helm]

He'll later insist that he made it back in time to see the first step uncovered. Though Professor Riggs says his early accounts of the discovery seem to cast that into doubt. Either way, soon enough, the men start digging to discover what lies within.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They clear the staircase. There's 16 steps going down.

[Sally Helm]

About halfway down the stairs, the team sees part of a door caked in mud plaster. It bears the mark of ancient priests.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They used a big carved stamp essentially to press all over the surface of that mud to mark it and to make sure it was intact. Right. If anybody broke through, you would immediately see. And so it's at that point that Carter gets a glimpse of what the inscriptions say.

[Sally Helm]

On the upper half, the inscription reads, tud uncommon.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

And that's when Cairo says, okay, we've got something here. And they can't do anything more until Lord Carnarvon comes out from London. Okay, so then we get a couple of weeks waiting, which must have been, I mean, Carter's mind must have been going, you know, crazy.

[Sally Helm]

When Lord Carnarvon arrives, the work continues. Carter takes photos and makes notes about the door, then tears it down. Next, the archaeologists see a small hallway. At the end stands another door. Carnarvon and Carter and a small crew climb down into the cramped, dimly lit corridor and begin to dismantle the second door. When they've made a small hole, Carter grabs a flashlight and peers into the room.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

That's when he sees what we now know was the first of four rooms of this tomb. And it must have been an extremely eerie and just awe inspiring experience. A total shock.

[Sally Helm]

Carter will later describe this moment in almost cinematic terms. He says Lord Carnarvon was crouched behind him in the hallway and he asked Carter, can you see anything?

[Narrator/Interviewer]

And Carter says, I replied, yes, I see wonderful things.

[Sally Helm]

The things Carter sees are wonderful treasures fit for a king. A pair of imposing life size statues in black and gold. A pile of chariot parts, precious vases and trinkets. It's obvious to everyone involved that the discovery is something truly magnificent. A nearly complete set of burial objects over 3,000 years old. An astonishing window on the ancient past. Almost perfectly preserved. Photographer Harry Burton takes photos of the room known as the antechamber.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The entire first winter of work. The things that the world first sees are what comes from that room.

[Sally Helm]

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[Narrator/Interviewer]

Lord Carnarvon, at the start of the excavation, had sold the rights to it to the London Times, the most prestigious newspaper at the time.

[Sally Helm]

The car coverage is wildly popular, Burton's photos are reprinted throughout the world, and Tut fever sweeps across Europe and North America. A headline in the LA Times announces Hollywood's latest fads come from ancient Egypt. In silent newsreels, footage of men on camels is spliced with exterior shots of the tomb. The text reads, the story is on the lips of all men. No discovery of our time has so moved the whole world. There's even a popular jazz song. 3,000 years ago in history, we know King Tutankhamen ruled a mighty land. Magazines peddle Egyptian style dresses. Movie theaters are given faux Egyptian makeovers. There are even King Tut branded lemons. The world is fascinated by the untouched tomb, and they have only seen the first room. But back in Tutankhamun's home country, the exclusive London Times contract is an insult to the Egyptian press. After all, this is an Egyptian tomb. We spoke about this with Heba Abd el Ghawed, an Egyptian curator and museum researcher. She told us the media frenzy raises big questions about who owns the discovery.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Not in the sense of physical ownership, but sentimental, emotional and symbolic ownership of this heritage, but I think most importantly, the ownership of the narrative. Who should tell the story of Tutankhamun?

[Sally Helm]

Like Professor Riggs, Abd El Ghawed fell in love with Egyptian history at a young age. But the more she studied the colonial impact on discoveries like Tutankhamun's tomb, the more she yearned for nuanced representations of Egypt, its history and Egyptian contributions to archaeology.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Why did the history of Egypt end up being one of the very frozen past and one that does not include or involve any Egyptians or the wider Egyptian community in general, apart from the pharaohs?

[Sally Helm]

For Abdul Ghed, the story of Tutankhamun's tomb is about more than the lustrous life of a pharaoh. It is also about the regular Egyptians experiencing this discovery in 1922, everything that.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Happened surrounding it became part of how the Egyptians were reframing and reinventing their Egyptian identity at the time.

[Sally Helm]

First of all, the discovery of Tutankhamun prompts pride among Egyptians in their spectacular ancient heritage.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

There were celebrations all over Egypt, but.

[Sally Helm]

This feeling of pride is mixed with renewed outrage over Britain's continued occupation of the country.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

And we know even of songs that were created. One of them is the very famous song of an Egyptian diva, singer Munir Al Mahdeya. And the song was called We Are the Children of Tutankhamun.

[Sally Helm]

The lyrics go, why do you think you are above us? Our father is Tutankhamun.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

This was what you could hear playing at the local cafes in Cairo and in most of the cities. This became like the national anthem at the time, to celebrate not only the discovery, but but to equally celebrate this defining moment of reframing and reinventing Egyptian identity.

[Sally Helm]

There are also rumblings about that more literal ownership, about where in the world Tutankhamun's precious artifacts will end up at this time, Egyptian archaeology has a standard system for dividing such discoveries.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

There would be a selection process of 50% of the finds would stay in Egypt and the other 50% would be the right of foreign excavator who have conducted the excavation.

[Sally Helm]

50, 50. But Tutankhamun's resting place is something very special. It's the most complete set of ancient burial artifacts ever unearthed. And Tutankhamun himself is already an icon. So many Egyptians Start to think the terms of that old system need to change. February 1923. Just a few months after the discovery of the tomb's first step. The crew has cataloged and cleared the antechamber, preparing to open the next room. Professor Riggs told us Lord Carnarvon arrives from Europe to oversee the event.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They love staging these kind of press events, partly because the press is interested.

[Sally Helm]

A group of Egyptologists and officials crowd into the tomb. Carter climbs onto a makeshift wooden platform and begins knocking down a portion of the antechamber wall beyond the burial chamber.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It almost looks like there's another wall.

[Sally Helm]

That wall is actually a large shrine.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Think of it as a big piece of furniture. It's a big shrine made out of gilded wood with these amazing bright blue inlays of a kind of glassy like material.

[Sally Helm]

They all hope that beyond this wall, within many layers of protection, lies Tutankhamun himself. Now it's time to finally pull him into the light of day. But that's not what happens. Spring is fast approaching and the archaeological custom in Egypt is to work only in the fall and winter. After that, it gets too hot. So Carter and Carnarvon give final tours to dignitaries and the press to show what's already been uncovered. Then they announce they'll be resuming work in half a year's time. Lord Carnarvon leaves the Valley of the Kings for Cairo. His plan is to enjoy his usual high flying summer, then return to preside over what will surely be one of the greatest finds in archaeological history. Instead, Lord Carnarvon is bitten by a mosquito. The bite becomes infected, sepsis sets in, and at age 57, he succumbs.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Lord Carnarvon dies and is son sent back to England for burial. So one of the rival newspapers says, ah, the mummy's curse.

[Sally Helm]

A curse on those who dared to trespass pass in the sacred spaces of the dead. Abdel Ghawed tells us the concept comes not from Egypt, but from the West.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

This does not exist in our culture whatsoever, this conception of the walking dead and zombies, or the being scared of a wrapped up dead body. In the ancient times, bodies were sacred. And still for us, in Coptic Christianity or in Islam, the dead deserve respect. This is not part of the Egyptian culture, either in the past or in the present.

[Sally Helm]

Professor Riggs told us she sees in this mummy's curse evidence of a kind of suppressed anxiety that some in the west felt at disturbing Tutankhamun's grave. Perhaps even guilt at invading Egypt in the first place.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

I think there's A certain unconscious kind of idea that the dead do come back. If you invade a grave, right? If you invade a country, there is a reaction to that.

[Sally Helm]

Despite Lord Carnarvon's untimely death, Carter's goal remains the reach. Tutankhamuns remains. He still needs money for the excavation, so Lady Carnarvon steps in to fund the project. Through the winter of 1924, Carter's team works to dismantle the shrine, which turns out to be four shrines, each one inside of the next.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It's phenomenal, but it's been built. Like I always say, it's a combination of a ship in the bottle and those little Russian nested dolls.

[Sally Helm]

After weeks of slow, delicate work, Carter pushes open the final shrine doors and sees the sarcophagus.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They've got to this massive granite sarcophagus. I mean, I'm about five' five and it's taller than I am.

[Sally Helm]

The red stone sarcophagus is carved with images of the goddesses Isis, Nephsis, Neith, and Selket, protecting the pharaoh in his afterlife. Carter and his team rig up a system to hoist the lid. Inside, they can see the first of Tutankhamun's gilded coffins. But then, another interruption.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The lid is still kind of winched up there when Carter just snaps and he says he won't work anymore.

[Sally Helm]

Carter is a few layers of wood and gold away from the young pharaoh when a rising tide of political, political tension stops him in his tracks. Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order.

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[Sally Helm]

Here's to quitting. Quitting the couch for a quick run. Quitting the snooze button for a morning workout. Quitting giving up after two weeks. You see, staying committed to your fitness goals isn't easy. But with Apple Watch, you don't have to do it alone. Because Apple Watch gives you real time motivation, plus advanced metrics that track all your workouts so you can stick to your New Year's fitness resolutions. And once and for all, quit quitting with Apple Watch. IPhone 11 or later required shopping is hard Right. But I found a better way. Stitch Fix online. Personal styling makes it easy. I just give my stylist my size, style, and budget preferences. I order boxes when I want and how I want. No subscription required. And he sends just for me pieces, plus outfit recommendations and styling tips. I keep what works and send back the rest. It's so easy. Make style easy. Get started [e-mail] Spotify that's stitchfix.com Spotify. Inside an ancient Egyptian tomb, Howard Carter snaps, leaving the sarcophagus lid dangling over Tutankhamun's golden coffins. Carter's frustration with the authorities overseeing the excavation has been growing for some time. And it has everything to do with the political situation between Egypt and Great Britain in 1924. Five years earlier, Egyptians had revolted against British colonial rule and demanded independence.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Britain realizes it's got to do something, right? So it spends a couple of years writing a report, basically about the situation, enters into negotiations.

[Sally Helm]

In February 1922, nine months before Tutankhamun's tomb is discovered, Britain declares Egypt a sovereign nation.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Britain calls a halt, says, okay, fine, you can have your independence, you can have home rule.

[Sally Helm]

On the one hand, this is a major victory.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It's a huge achievement, symbolically and politically for Egypt, that it can hold its own elections and, you know, elect properly an independent government, an independent prime minister, and control its own affairs for the first time in centuries.

[Sally Helm]

But in many ways, the British are still in control.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

We still control the Suez Canal, we still keep an army parked here, and we control all the foreign affairs.

[Sally Helm]

And when Carter and his team make their way down those 16 tomb steps in November of 1922, the British still control the antiquities permits. Which brings us back to that old 5050 system of dividing up treasures. Carter assumes that is still the arrangement.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Carter has already been making preliminary deals and offers with the British Museum and with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, hinting that, well, when we get our share of the fine, some of them will go to London, some of them will go to New York, some of them are also going to go to Highclere Castle. You can count on it, right?

[Sally Helm]

That's certainly what Carter believes. But times are changing.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

And by the time work resumes in the autumn of 1923 for that second winter excavation, Egyptian elections are taking place.

[Sally Helm]

The Egyptians elect Saad Zaglol as prime minister.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He was a lawyer, he was a political leader. He'd been exiled twice by the British, and he was not going to give an inch to British interests.

[Sally Helm]

Suddenly, a Freely elected Egyptian government is in charge of antiquities. That calls into question the destiny Tutankhamun's treasures. It also means there are Egyptian inspectors on site as Carter dismantles the shrines.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The inspector is the kind of local title, you know, the guy who's there really to kind of watch that you're doing everything by the book and to also to see if there's anything the servants can do to support you.

[Sally Helm]

There's also conflict brewing about who gets to visit the tomb. Remember, Carter had been taking dignitaries on tours, also kind of showing the tomb off to his friends.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The thing that finally snaps is that Carter had told the wives of his British and American colleagues that they could come and have a look inside the sarcophagus. But if he has to follow procedure, he has to submit that list to the Ministry of Public Works, which runs the Antiquities Service. And the answer comes back no. And so he snaps and he says, that's it. That's the last straw.

[Sally Helm]

Carter goes on strike and the Antiquities Service rescinds his permit. They change the locks at the tomb site. Carter files a lawsuit claiming he was illegally let go. But his case is dismissed. Eventually, the two sides draw up a new agreement that will fundamentally change Egypt's relationship to its artifacts. No more 50. 50. Everything found in the tomb will remain in the country, and Lady Carnarvon will agree to continue funding the excavation. Carter returns to the tomb in 1925 with a smaller crew. They begin disassembling the three nested coffins, one of solid gold. Three years after the discovery of that first tomb step, Carter opens the the final coffin and faces Tutankhamun.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

There was the wrapped and mummified body of the king, and then there were the jewelry stacked up on his body together with the mask inside the sarcophagus.

[Sally Helm]

You probably know this mask. It is a stunning object. Tutankhamun's golden head with vivid blue horizontal stripes and obscene obsidian eyes.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

I think the mask itself, the way it was made and the gold and the blue and everything makes it a bit more lively and more vivid than anything else. And it's this mix of something that looks so intimate but equally so lavish and so luxurious that that can captivate you and capture people's fascination. Today.

[Sally Helm]

Pictures of the mask are published in 1926, introducing the boy king to the world. Though very little is known about the young man underneath. He's about 19 when he dies, probably from disease. A popular theory held that he'd been killed, but that's been disproven damage to the mummy had been mistakenly interpreted as wounds. He came from a long line of rulers, an important royal family, and he.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Was the last king of this dynasty. And I think that he came after a time of extreme political unrest.

[Sally Helm]

In one possible version of Tut's life, his father, Akhenaten, makes major changes during his rule. He rejects the old gods in favor of a new singular God. This shift likely left the kingdom in upheaval. And when Tutankhamun ascends the throne as a boy, he restores the old ways.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

When there is political unrest, you would usually need someone to rule in transition, to reunite the political powers and to reunite Egypt once again. And I think this is the symbolic role that he has played for Egyptians.

[Sally Helm]

His role in life mirrored his new role in death. A unifying figure in the face of a changing Egyptian identity.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

It's usually a backdrop of great incidents, be it in the past or in the present.

[Sally Helm]

By 1932, work in the tomb is finished. The shrines are packed up, bound for the Cairo Museum, and the Egyptian government reimburses Lady Carnarvon for the excavation expenses.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Egypt has paid back every single penny. This is how the antiquities have stayed in Egypt.

[Sally Helm]

Abd El Ghawed recalls seeing archival footage of the artifacts as they were loaded onto a ship heading up the Nile from Luxor to Cairo.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

The Egyptians lined up on both banks, and they offered Tutankhamun a second funeral on his way to Cairo.

[Sally Helm]

Women in the crowd mourn according to ancient customs, chanting as a chorus and covering their heads and and bodies with sand.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

It's their symbolism of defining how lost feels like from an emotional point of view.

[Sally Helm]

The artifacts remain at the Cairo Museum for several decades, but in the 1960s, some items start touring in Europe, North America and Japan. In the 70s, an exhibition called the Treasures of Tutankhamun makes stops in six US cities. It's a sensation.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh of Egypt, has set Washington right on its ear lines.

[Sally Helm]

Wrap around the museums at every stop.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Since way back last November, hundreds of thousands of people have waited in line, some of them five or six hours or longer, for the chance that they might get in to see the treasures of King Tut.

[Sally Helm]

Over a million people visit the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City alone. But as with the discovery of the tomb itself, Professor Rakes says these tours are not apolitical. The cultural exchange marks a strategic move to get Egypt and the US on friendlier terms.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

There was a planned effort to use promotion of ancient Egypt, for instance, through the Tutankhamun exhibitions that toured America in the 1970s to use those to get people thinking positively about Egypt as a friend to the United States, which up to then it had not necessarily been.

[Sally Helm]

And to a large extent, it works. King Tut also conquers American pop culture. He shows up everywhere on Saturday Night Live. Now, when he was a young man, he never thought he'd see people stand in line to see the boy king. And in movies, death will come swiftly.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

To those who disturb the eternal sleep of the king.

[Sally Helm]

After their tour, the treasures of Tutankhamun go back to Egypt, where they are today. And they have a new home. Egyptians are preparing to open the Grand Egyptian Museum, or gem. It'll be about five times larger than the Cairo Museum, big enough to display the entire Tut collection in all its glory. Though Heba Abdelkawed reminds us the treasures themselves are only part of the story.

[Guest Expert (e.g., Professor Christina Riggs or Heba Abdelghawet)]

Egypt is not only about gold, it's not only about pharaohs. And there is more to Egypt than the so called mummy curse. We should be fascinated by the ancient Egyptians, by the people, the ordinary Egyptians who made those objects.

[Sally Helm]

Thanks for listening to history this week. For moments throughout history that are also worth watching, check your local TV listings to find out what's on the History Channel today. If you want to get in touch, please shoot us an email at our email address, historythisweekhistory.com or you can leave us a voicemail. 212-351-0410. Special thanks to our guests, Professor Christina Riggs, author of How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century, and Hebba Abdelghawet, curator and heritage specialist and museum researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, University College of London. This episode was produced by Corinne Wallace, it was sound designed by Bill Moss and story edited by Jim o'. Grady. Our senior producer is Ben Dickstein. History this Week is also produced by Julia Press and me, Sally Helm. Our associate producer is Emma Fredericks, our supervising producer is McCamey Lynn and our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review History this Week, wherever you get your podcasts and we'll see you next week.