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The Tutankhamun Deception: The True Story of the Mummy's Curse
The discovery and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb is one of the most famous archeological finds in history. But compelling evidence suggests the story we know is a sham—Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon actually discovered Tutankhamun's tomb several years before they told the world they did, looted it. re-sealed it, then led the world's media back to the site to claim their place in history. This book tells the story of the skullduggery that went on in the Valley of the Kings and how the famous Mummy's Curse, far from being something mystical, could well have been a systematic way of getting rid of those who were about to blow the cover on the secret of the find, and the secrets of the tomb.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published July 6, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 6, 2014
This book was quite a wonderful telling of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, pointing out numerous discrepancies and pulling from various historical sources. However, the last part of the book then delves into what may only be termed "pop" or pseudo-historical, Dan Brown-esque theories about the boy-king and his illustrious heritage. While much has been made if the monotheism of Akhenaton, as well as similarities between Egyptian and biblical laws and hymns, there is nothing to suggest this is not merely a result of routine cross-pollination. If one is to assume that there was a collection of Israelites in Egypt, they would have been there about this time, and such syncretism, regardless of its origin in either Israelite or Egyptian thought, is to be expected. The book is worth a read, and the theories, crackpot as they may be, do inspire the imagination and lead us to ask real questions about the ambiguous and shadowy figure of Akhenaton. He may not have been the biblical Moses, but his place in history as an enigmatic leader of the Egyptian people makes him a fascinating study, all the same. Since all serious historical study is built on curiosity, maybe this book does more good than it does harm.
March 16, 2011
This book certainly had a good run the first half. Lot's of interesting information about the dig. The second half was equally as interesting but highly speculative. The author did however provide some good evidence for his case and why he thought down this route. It was not some quickly contrived scam on the authors part. I think the author genuinely believes this is what happened, fanciful or not. For myself I think that yes they probably did rob the grave for a great many number of years as is evident by the condition and placement of the contents of what remained when the tomb was "opened", however, ascribing this to more than just thievery and to that alleged papyri seems a bit bold based on one statement by Carter and little other evidence. Also ascribing so many murders seems harsh. Bandits yes, murderers doubtful but fun to consider.
August 7, 2012
This book is like a giant pot of all the craziest Akhenaten theories out there (minus "Akhenaten was an alien!").
Yeah, so: Akhenaten is both Moses and Oedipus and Tutankhamun was actually the real messiah, not Jesus. This isn't common knowledge because Howard Carter et al found Tutankhamun's tomb earlier, found the evidence and hushed it up. And before you say, "but wasn't Tutankhamun's burial a rush job", that's explained away by "No way! He was a god-king! Nothing, not even an unexpected early death, would have stopped them from sending him off in fitting splendour!"
As a misguided teenager, I read this in 2004(?) and still can't get over the crazy.
Like the shelf title says: whackadoodle.
Yeah, so: Akhenaten is both Moses and Oedipus and Tutankhamun was actually the real messiah, not Jesus. This isn't common knowledge because Howard Carter et al found Tutankhamun's tomb earlier, found the evidence and hushed it up. And before you say, "but wasn't Tutankhamun's burial a rush job", that's explained away by "No way! He was a god-king! Nothing, not even an unexpected early death, would have stopped them from sending him off in fitting splendour!"
As a misguided teenager, I read this in 2004(?) and still can't get over the crazy.
Like the shelf title says: whackadoodle.
November 30, 2021
Διασκεδαστικο μόνο ως ανάγνωσμα εικασιών και όχι πραγματικών γεγονότων, αφού εξετάζει θεωρίες συνωμοσίας σχετικά με τον Τάφο του Τουταγχαμών.
November 1, 2009
I like to read about ancient Egypt and this book on the boy Pharaoh caught my eye. It certainly puts forward a convincing argument for the fact that his tomb was discovered prior to the official announcement of its discovery. This book is for anyone who enjoys reading about Tutankhamun, discoveries of ancient Egypt or a conspiracy theory.
January 6, 2018
A Historical book that is written very much in the style of a mystery. Great writing and the author Gerald O'Farrell really impresses upon you the saddening disregard 'grave robbers' and some archeologists have for these amazing sites. Along with the political unrest and growing frustrations that the Egyptians had losing these national treasures to other countries. It also pushes you to question the 'right' we have to disturb these beautiful and sacred resting places.
The first half of the book I really enjoyed, with well-presented theories and evidence to support that Carter and Carnarvon knew about King Tut's tomb before they said. However, towards the end of the book the speculation of Tutankhamun's role, the discovery of shocking artifacts that may have been destroyed and the 'murders', seem a lot less thought out and have very little evidence.
Overall a good book to read.
The first half of the book I really enjoyed, with well-presented theories and evidence to support that Carter and Carnarvon knew about King Tut's tomb before they said. However, towards the end of the book the speculation of Tutankhamun's role, the discovery of shocking artifacts that may have been destroyed and the 'murders', seem a lot less thought out and have very little evidence.
Overall a good book to read.
May 4, 2023
A very mixed bag.
As a reasonably well read generalist, the first half seems quite likely, with a few surprises- such as the different death mask portraits.
The second half varies from the
fanciful (empty a tomb, raise the floor to hide the debris of creating a new entrance, then fill and seal it again?)
through the outlier (who influenced whom on monotheism)
to the ridiculous (Moses a pharaoh)
and contradictory (Isaiah prophesying Joshua; Freud as a late comer but also having the idea a decade earlier)
And some of the murder conspiracy stuff is almost “there must be a conspiracy because ‘they� hid the evidence�
As a reasonably well read generalist, the first half seems quite likely, with a few surprises- such as the different death mask portraits.
The second half varies from the
fanciful (empty a tomb, raise the floor to hide the debris of creating a new entrance, then fill and seal it again?)
through the outlier (who influenced whom on monotheism)
to the ridiculous (Moses a pharaoh)
and contradictory (Isaiah prophesying Joshua; Freud as a late comer but also having the idea a decade earlier)
And some of the murder conspiracy stuff is almost “there must be a conspiracy because ‘they� hid the evidence�
November 9, 2019
First half of book is interesting as the author presents the case that Howard Carter actually discovered Tutankhamun's tomb many years earlier than is officially recorded, and looted many of the artefacts from the tomb. Second half of book makes the extraordinary claim that Tut's father was actually Moses, that Tut himself is the prophesied Jesus, that this is written on some stolen papyrus, and that many murders occurred in order to cover thus up. No evidence is presented got any of this. Ridiculous.
February 3, 2019
Three stars for entertainment value and one star for believability averages put at two stars, which I think is generous!
October 11, 2020
At first I found some of the ideas about possible deception in the finding of Tutankhamen’s tomb plausible, but as the book went on I found some of the theories too far fetched for me.
October 12, 2023
Tbh I skipped many things but I catched on the important stuff and I have to say, what the heck, that theory is very interesting
December 15, 2023
Not what I was expecting.... Interesting though!
December 15, 2011
This book is worth a read for the Egyptology fan but must be taken in context of other books and evidence and not taken as fact. The section at the beginning on the possible theft by Carter and Carnarvon of up to 60% of the tombs original treasure and their subsequent cover up of this is by far the most interesting and plausible section of the book. Indeed there is some evidence to support the author's theories on this and he puts forward his case fairly well, though not wholly convincingly.
There are other explanations for certain anomalies in the tomb that the author does not give enough credence too, such as the tomb being rushed due to the sudden death and possible murder of it's occupant. Indeed he does not mention the fact that this was not the tomb originally intended for Tutankhamun, and that his successor Ay was buried in the tomb intended for him - a significant fact in my view. However, his opinion on the layout of the tomb is worth exploring further, although the book would have benefitted from some maps to aid the reader in understand the supposed alterations. I also find it hard to believe that an archaeologist who clearly had the passion for Egypt that Carter did would destroy objects in the tomb such as chariots to cover his tracks. Pinching a few objects maybe, but the wholsale destruction of artefacts I just cant believe.
The second theory of the book is where the author really does seem to lose touch with reality. Whilst his claims that papyri from the tomb were destroyed in order to cover up the fact that Akenaten was Moses and Tutankhamun was Jesus are undoubtedly headline grabbing, they are totally unjustifiable. He provides no evidence for this other than the holder in the statues he believes held the papyri being empty. Sure they could have held papyri, but I can only assume he has some sixth sense that enables him to see what was on the missing papyri. There are many flaws in this story that even the most inexperienced reader of Egyptology could see.
All in all, a worthwhile read and interesting enough but the vast majority is speculation without much evidence and some of it, well, positively comedic.
There are other explanations for certain anomalies in the tomb that the author does not give enough credence too, such as the tomb being rushed due to the sudden death and possible murder of it's occupant. Indeed he does not mention the fact that this was not the tomb originally intended for Tutankhamun, and that his successor Ay was buried in the tomb intended for him - a significant fact in my view. However, his opinion on the layout of the tomb is worth exploring further, although the book would have benefitted from some maps to aid the reader in understand the supposed alterations. I also find it hard to believe that an archaeologist who clearly had the passion for Egypt that Carter did would destroy objects in the tomb such as chariots to cover his tracks. Pinching a few objects maybe, but the wholsale destruction of artefacts I just cant believe.
The second theory of the book is where the author really does seem to lose touch with reality. Whilst his claims that papyri from the tomb were destroyed in order to cover up the fact that Akenaten was Moses and Tutankhamun was Jesus are undoubtedly headline grabbing, they are totally unjustifiable. He provides no evidence for this other than the holder in the statues he believes held the papyri being empty. Sure they could have held papyri, but I can only assume he has some sixth sense that enables him to see what was on the missing papyri. There are many flaws in this story that even the most inexperienced reader of Egyptology could see.
All in all, a worthwhile read and interesting enough but the vast majority is speculation without much evidence and some of it, well, positively comedic.
October 6, 2014
This is possibly the worst book I have ever read. While I appreciate a good conspiracy theory, there is a saying that the more outlandish the theory is, the more evidence it has to have to back it up. None is given in this, only the author's gut instincts and feeling.
The author feels Carnarvon's and Carter's deception, he feels that they must have found papyri that show that Tutenkhamun was Jesus and that Ahkenaten was Moses, and offers nothing to suggest why. Given that he also suggest that the deaths associated with the dig were due to the Secret Service bumping people off because these papyri showed how similar Tutenkhamun's story is to Jesus's, one wonders why archeologists investigating Zoroaster since his story too is very similar to Jesus's.
Linking the death of Freud into this garbled narrative is an other added flavour of bizarreness in a theory too garbled to be possible, in a book too badly written to be recommend to all but die-hard conspiracy nuts (and not even to them, I think they could write better) and generally, it's a terrible book.
The author feels Carnarvon's and Carter's deception, he feels that they must have found papyri that show that Tutenkhamun was Jesus and that Ahkenaten was Moses, and offers nothing to suggest why. Given that he also suggest that the deaths associated with the dig were due to the Secret Service bumping people off because these papyri showed how similar Tutenkhamun's story is to Jesus's, one wonders why archeologists investigating Zoroaster since his story too is very similar to Jesus's.
Linking the death of Freud into this garbled narrative is an other added flavour of bizarreness in a theory too garbled to be possible, in a book too badly written to be recommend to all but die-hard conspiracy nuts (and not even to them, I think they could write better) and generally, it's a terrible book.
Read
March 24, 2007nteresting in regards to the theory of deception; appears to have put much time and effort into his research. The ideas regarding the 20th century events are conceivable. However, the theory of Hebrew history is ridiculous. Overall, the book has a feel of a glamorized tabloid.
It is interesting to note that there is no author biography, nor comments or praise from anyone, scholarly or not, anywhere in the book. Has the feel of something dropped from the sky and promptly returned via black hole.
It is interesting to note that there is no author biography, nor comments or praise from anyone, scholarly or not, anywhere in the book. Has the feel of something dropped from the sky and promptly returned via black hole.
November 17, 2017
For a book that purports to be non-fiction, it reads more like a conspiracy theory. Still, it wasn't a bad read for 3.5 hours curled up in a Jewish library in Chicago, and fortunately I had Stranger in the Valley of the Kings by Osman already in my suitcase since I find the Yuya/Joseph claim to be the most reasonable of all the claims made by this ridiculous book.
Update: I reread this in 2017 after reading Hoving's book. Hoving lays out a very believable scenario. O'Farrell starts out sounding reasonable enough but then dives in the deep end of the crazy pool.
Update: I reread this in 2017 after reading Hoving's book. Hoving lays out a very believable scenario. O'Farrell starts out sounding reasonable enough but then dives in the deep end of the crazy pool.
June 3, 2012
This book left me going "huh" at the end. And that's not a bad huh. It was a very good huh. Some of the things he wrote about I had never even considered before. It has certainly opened my eyes about the story that I basically took for granted, making me think about everything I have been told. All in all, it was a great read. Now I will start Act of God by Graham Philipps. :)
April 30, 2016
Hilarious.
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