Skip to main content

Primary sourceSculpturec. 1336-1327 BCE

Statue Head of Amun, Thought to be Tutankhamun

c. 1336-1327 BCE

An 18th Dynasty stone statue head of the god Amun, believed by some to be a portrait likeness of Tutankhamun.

This statue head of the god Amun is thought by some scholars to be a portrait likeness of Tutankhamun.

Ask Tutankhamun about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Dark grey stone statue head with a tall flat-topped crown, carved face with heavy-lidded eyes, a broken nose, a full mouth, and a small chin beard. The ears are visible on the left side, and the neck is partly broken away at the base.
Statue head of Amun, possibly depicting Tutankhamun, 18th Dynasty, c. 1336-1327 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Keith Schengili-Roberts, 2007.

About this source

What it is

This stone statue head depicts the god Amun wearing a tall flat-topped crown. It dates to the 18th Dynasty, around the time of Tutankhamun's reign, and some scholars believe its face is a likeness of the young king himself. It is held by the Metropolitan Museum.

Why it matters

Egyptian pharaohs were often shown with the features of gods to link royal and divine power. If this head really does show Tutankhamun's face, it is a rare type of evidence for what he may have looked like, beyond the famous golden mask.

Look closer

  • Why might an artist give a god the face of a living king?
  • What features of the head make scholars think it could be Tutankhamun?
  • How reliable do you think a statue is as evidence of what someone really looked like?

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.

More Tutankhamun sources

Meet the AI Tutankhamun →
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

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Tutankhamun now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions