Ancient mystery solved: Why was Tutankhamun buried with an erect penis?

The Pharaoh was buried with an erect penis, no heart and covered in black oils to make him appear as the god Osiris, says a new study.

The world’s most famous mummy was buried with an erect penis at an angle of 90 degrees, in order to quell a religious revolution started by his father, new research suggests.

Professor Salima Ikram from the American University in Cairo argued that the unusual burial of Tutankhamun was an attempt made ​​to resemble Osiris, god of the afterlife, in order to thwart the attempts of King Akhenaton move to a monotheistic religion.

It is widely accepted that Akhenaten had begun to install the worshiping of the cult Aten or sun disc during his reign.

However, his son, Tutankhamun, was against monotheism, so that when he came to power, he sought to restore traditional religion that involved the worship of many gods.

Therefore, after the death of the young pharaoh, the priests chose to bury the erect penis to resemble as much as Osiris. This part of the body, which was broken when the tomb was discovered, some even speculating that it was stolen.

“In this position, the penis evokes Osiris at the highest point of regeneration. To my knowledge, no other mummy was discovered so”, said the study author.

Besides genital organ position, it seems that Tutankhamun had other unusual features. First, the body and the coffin was covered with a thick layer of resins and oils, just to make the Pharaoh to resemble more and more with Osiris, whose color was black.

Then Tutankhamun was buried heartless. Although the practice was common, there was no scarab beetle placed there to replace it as was standard practice. Prof. Ikram argue that it could be an allusion to the death of Osiris, for when the god was a man, his brother Seth, cut him into pieces and buried the head.

“Tutankhamun is shown as a full Osiris. This representation is unique in the Valley of the Kings. Other kings tombs show them being embraced by Osiris or offered to him” explained Ikram.

Source: Independent