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Primary sourceSculpture14th century BCE

Statue of Tutankhamun on a Reed Float

14th century BCE

A gilded statue from the tomb showing Tutankhamun as a harpooner on a papyrus raft, a ritual image of the king defeating chaos.

This statue, buried with Tutankhamun, depicts him in a ritual pose symbolising his power over chaos.

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Gold-covered wooden statue of a standing figure in a striding pose, raising a harpoon overhead in one hand and holding a looped object in the other, on a dark curved base resembling a reed float. Displayed in a dark museum gallery.
Statue of Tutankhamun on a reed float, 18th Dynasty. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

About this source

What it is

This gold-covered wooden statue, found among Tutankhamun's tomb goods, shows the king striding forward and raising a harpoon, standing on a float meant to represent a papyrus raft. It is now held at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Why it matters

The image of the king as harpooner was a ritual pose connected to myths of overcoming chaos and enemies, linking the pharaoh to divine power. It shows how Egyptian royal art combined everyday imagery, like hunting on the Nile, with deep religious meaning about kingship and order.

Look closer

  • Why might a king want to be shown hunting rather than seated on a throne?
  • What does the raised harpoon suggest about the pose's symbolic meaning?
  • What is missing from the statue that would tell us more about the actual event it may represent, if any?

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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