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Primary sourceSculpture

Relief of Tutankhamun from Luxor Temple

A rare sandstone relief of Tutankhamun from the Luxor Temple colonnade, later reinscribed by his successor Horemheb.

Commissioned under Tutankhamun, this relief was later usurped by Horemheb, illustrating the erasure of his memory.

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Sandstone wall relief of an Egyptian pharaoh in profile wearing a striped headcloth and ear ornament, with two oval cartouches of hieroglyphs above him and ankh symbols nearby. The stone is weathered and lit by warm sunlight, with more carved blocks below.
Relief of Tutankhamun, later usurped by Horemheb, Luxor Temple colonnade.

About this source

What it is

This sandstone wall relief, from the Opet festival scenes in the colonnade of Luxor Temple, was commissioned under Tutankhamun. It shows a pharaoh in profile wearing a striped headcloth, with cartouches of hieroglyphs above him.

Why it matters

The relief is one of very few surviving images of Tutankhamun at Luxor because it was later usurped by Horemheb, who had his own name carved over the king's. This erasure shows how later rulers tried to remove Tutankhamun's memory from public monuments, likely because of his family's association with the Amarna period.

Look closer

  • What signs can you see that the relief has been altered or reused?
  • Why might a later pharaoh want to erase or replace another king's name on a monument?
  • What does this tell us about how history can be rewritten by those in power?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tutankhamun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Photograph of the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun against a black background. The mask shows a stylized face with inlaid blue eyes and eyebrows, a striped blue and gold headdress, a vulture and cobra emblem on the brow, a blue false beard, and a collar of colored inlays.Artifact

Primary source

Mask of Tutankhamun

c. 1333 BCE

Black and white photograph of a wooden figure wearing a striped royal headdress with a uraeus cobra, crossed arms holding ceremonial objects, and hieroglyphic inscriptions in columns on the lower body.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Tutankhamun's Shawabti Figure

Harry Burton · 1920s

Interior wall of an Egyptian tomb painted gold, with rows of painted baboon figures and hieroglyphs in boxed panels, a boat scene at top left, and a painted standing figure of a pharaoh at right. A glass display case is visible at the bottom.Artifact

Primary source

Tomb of Tutankhamun

14th century BCE

Black and white photograph of two men inside a tomb opening the carved, hieroglyph-covered gilded doors of a shrine. One man in a light cap kneels and reaches toward the doors, while another man in a jacket leans over from the right. Carved relief figures and inscriptions cover the panels.Photograph

Primary source

Opening the Doors of the Fourth Shrine in Tutankhamun's Tomb

Harry Burton · 1920s

Photo of the Restoration Stela, a tall round-topped reddish stone stele in a museum with carved relief figures at the top and rows of hieroglyphic text below, with a diagonal crack running through it.Document

Primary source

Restoration Stela

Tutankhamun · c. 1326 BCE

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