The most famous Egyptian pharaoh today is, without doubt, Tutankhamun. The boy king died in his late teens and remained at rest in Egypt's Valley of the Kings for over 3,300 years.

He was only about 18 years old when he died, and as a pharaoh of Egypt he had no great claim to fame. Tutankhamun (originally Tutankhaten) owes his place in history mostly to the discovery of his tomb completely intact and not violated by grave robbers in 1922. The remarkable artifacts from the tomb, including the beautiful golden mask, are on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Tutankhamun was possibly the son of Amenhotep III, an earlier 18th-dynasty king, and his wife Tiy. Tutankhamun became king after the death of Akhenaton the religious reformer who died in 1362 BC. He married Akhenaton's third daughter to solidify his claim to the throne. During most of his rule he resided at ancient Memphis, near present-day Cairo. The religious reforms of Akhenaton were reversed, though there was no persecution of followers of Aton, Akhenaton's god. During a war with the Hittite people, Tutankhamun suddenly died, leaving no heirs. He was buried in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in southern Egypt north of Luxor. All tombs were meant to be secret, but of the 60 known tombs in the valley only that of Tutankhamun was not discovered and its treasures stolen. It was not discovered earlier in part because his name, along with that of other pharaohs of his dynasty, was removed from the royal lists during the 19th dynasty. In the 20th dynasty, when the tomb of Ramses VI was carved immediately above his, rubble covered his burial place. The burial chamber was not entered until found in 1922 by British Egyptologist Howard Carter after several years of searching.

Carter had been searching for the tomb for a number of years and Carnarvon had decided that enough time and money had been expended with little return. However, Carter managed to persaude his patron to fund one more season and within days of resuming the tomb was found.

Today, the tomb still contains the pharaoh's remains, hidden from view inside the outermost of three coffins. He is the only pharaoh still residing in the Valley of the Kings - as far as we know!

The tomb itself is very small and appears to have been destined for someone of lesser importance. Tutankhamun's unexpected early demise saw the tomb's rushed modification to accommodate the pharaoh