Tutankhamun ascended the throne around 1332 B.C. A family portrait, painted in a tomb at the ancient city of Amarna, shows Meritaten nursing her infant brother. As an infant, Tutankhamun was wet-nursed by his half-sister, Meritaten. Tutankhaten's biological mother is unknown but likely was not Akhenaten's principal wife, Queen Nefertiti - although Egyptologists still debate this. He was able to carry out these acts without a widespread violent rebellion but after his death he was condemned. He also built a new capital at what is now Tell el-Amarna. In his fervor, Akhenaten ordered the names and images of other Egyptian deities to be destroyed or defaced. His father, Akhenaten, was a revolutionary pharaoh who tried to focus Egypt's polytheistic religion around the worship of the sun disk, the Aten.
King Tut, called Tutankhaten at birth, was born in ancient Egypt around 1341 B.C. A relief showing King Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti and their children, along with the sun disk, Aten (Image credit: UniversalImagesGroup / Contributor via Getty Images)
