The book King Tut-Ankh-Ámen: His Romantic History, published in 1923, represents one of the very first expressions of Tutmania – the facet of Egyptomania, strictly connected to Tutankhamun, which exploded after the discovery of the tomb of the young pharaoh in 1922. The title of the novel is clearly intended to ride this wave of interest and curiosity for Tutankhamun – whose name is often spelled in different ways even within the book – and the allusion to a love story is meant to meet the desire of the wider public to learn more about the private life of the ancient Egyptian sovereign.
The book has a quite peculiar subtitle, which refers to Tutankhamun as the “Prince of Hermonthis”, and reads: “Relating how, as Prince of Hermonthis, he won the love of Senpa Priestess of the Temple of Karnak and through her interest achieved the throne of the pharaohs.” The subtitle not only aims to sum up the plot of the story but also create a strict link to the very first part of the volume, which might be considered a “historical section” to present to readers the social and political context where the romance is set. Moreover, in this part of the book it is clearly pointed out that Akhenaten’s religion is fully comparable to Jewish monotheism (from the introduction: “This tradition has been used to construct the hypothesis that Moses [Mesu] entered the household of the Pharaoh, and that he converted him to the Hebrew religion, which was in reality the Aton heresy, Jehovah worship being rudely adapted to Egyptian solar worship. It is therefore possible, on this hypothesis, to assume that the persecution of the Hebrews in Egypt may have begun during the brief reign of Tut-Ankh-Amen, the blame, in the popular mind, resting upon Moses and his people for the detested Aton heresy, which came at a time when the empire was beginning to decay”, pp. XI-XII). In fact, this alleged relationship between Hebrews and the Egyptian court serves as a backdrop to the whole story.
Despite the fact that the novel is a product of entertainment and its plot – as well as many of the characters in the story – is entirely fictionalised, this historical introduction (even if not entirely accurate, of course) has the great merit of giving proper information on the Eighteenth Dynasty and the period during which Tutankhamun lived. Also, the final section of the book has some explanatory notes, which contain pieces of information concerning terminology, deities, festivals, and geographical locations, as well as pictures that, occasionally, accompany the text– which are extremely useful for readers who do not have an Egyptological background.
Regardless of all these efforts for offering a fictionalised – but plausible – story, errors and inaccuracies are present in the whole plot (for instance, the confused family trees of the main characters and the mention of buildings not yet erected during the time of Tutankhamun – such as the Ramesseum).
Altogether, King Tut-Ankh-Ámen: His Romantic History is a perfect example of the first facets of Tutmania: starting from its title, the novel aims to take advantage of the growing interest in Tutankhamun, and portrays heroic figures, murders, and scandals to offer a pleasant – despite historically inaccurate – reading.

Author: Valentina Santini