Wrapped together in a package, placed above the
right wrist of Tutankhamun's mummy, were five rings,
three of which are illustrated here.
(Top to bottom)
(a) Particular interest attaches to the material of
this ring. It is a green translucent stone, which
Carter thought was chalcedony. However, scientific
tests carried out by Alfred Lucas, the chemist who
assisted Carter in his work at the tomb, proved that
neither a steel point nor quartz would mark it and
that the stone itself did not scratch glass. He
therefore deduced that it was probably nephrite, and
not jadeite, as he had once supposed. Nepthrite is
not a stone that is known to exist in Egypt or in
any country of the Middle East; all the sources at
present are located in either Europe or the Far
East.. In view of its hardness it is not surprising
that the figures are so roughly engraved in the two
cartouches that form the bezel.
The king himself,
wearing the blue khepresh helmet with
streamers and a triangular kilt with apron, is shown
in the right-hand cartouche. His throne name,
followed by the words "given life", is written in a
separate cartouche inside the main cartouche. He
stands before the ithyphallic god
Min of Coptos, who
wears the same kind of plumed headdress as Amun, and
holds a flail in his right hand. Beneath the flail
is a single blue lotus flower with a long stem.
Min was an ancient god of vegetation and fertility
whose cult was suppressed by Akhenaton when he
closed the temples of all the gods except Aton.
Tutankhamun revived the cult and reinstated its
priesthood.
(b) The cartouche-shaped bezel of this
ring bears a three-dimensional device. In this
respect it is not unique among the rings from this
tomb, but it is certainly the most elaborate of the
fifteen rings found on the mummy. The central
feature is a scarab of either lapis lazuli or blue
glass with an atef crown on its head; two
uraei with solar disks are mounted near the tips of
the horns at the base of the crown. In front of the
scarab is the lunar bark bearing the disk of the
moon and its crescent. At the back, protecting the
scarab with its outspread wings, is the falcon of
Horus with sun's disk holding the shen sign
in each talon, all in closionne-work; the inlay is
of lapis lazuli, feldspar, and carnelian. Supporting
the bezel are terminals with floral motifs, each
consisting of a papyrus flower flanked by poppy
buds, the stems of which form the tripartite loop of
the ring. All three stems are made of gold and the
two on the outside, which are those of the poppy
buds, are inlaid with blue glass. Beneath the gold
bezel, on the inner surface of the ring, are
engraved the king's throne name and titles and the
epithet "beloved of
Thoth."
(c) The finely carved
scarab that forms the bezel of this ring is made of
chalcedony, a stone found in several places in Egypt
both east and west of the Nile. Engraved on the base
is a figure of the god Thoth, ibis-headed, with a
lunar disk and crescent on his head. In his
out-stretched left hand he holds an udjat eye
and in his right hand he holds the ankh sign. The
milky color of the stone is particularly suitable
for the moon-god and very probably it was chosen for
that reason. Besides being the moon-god, Thoth was
also the patron deity of writing, magic, and wisdom,
and it was he who restored to
Horus the eye that he
lost in his fight with Seth, the murderer of his
father,
Osiris. Although Horus is not represented on
this scarab, Thoth's action in holding out the eye
is an allusion to its return to Horus in accordance
with the legend.