Tutankhamun The Golden King and the Great Pharoahs

When I quit my last job, one disappointment for me was that I didn't make it to Melbourne one last time to visit the aforementioned exhibition.

Thankfully, however, I did make it there in the end, with an unexpected business trip to Victoria in my new role.

So, yesterday, after a lot of anticipation, I visited the Melbourne Museum, and the exhibit.

Tickets are limited to a set number each day, with entry every fifteen minutes. To be honest, I think they still sell too many tickets, and the batching of people to come in makes the crowding worse.

Moreover when you get to the end of the wait, and you think they're letting you in, that's not quite what's actually happening. You get marshalled into a room, the door is closed behind you, and you get told about the rules of exhibit and are forced to watch an introductory video.

Thankfully, that only lasts ten minutes or so, and then you get to go in.

The first few galleries focus on the time leading up to Tutankhamun, in particular the religious changes brought about by Tut's father, Akhanaten, who moved from the traditional gods, to one singular god (a move which Tutankhamun would reverse during his short reign).

Those galleries feature an interesting mix of items, including model wooden boats, models of animals and people, shabti (statuettes which would act as slaves in the afterlife) and religious iconography.

The latter half of the exhibition focuses on King Tut - with many items from his tomb - a childhood chair inlaid with the tiny pieces of ebony and ivory, a jewellery box with copper hinges (some of the earliest metal hinges found), and many other posessions.

The climax of the show of course are the more intricate posessions - the amulets with the tinest of inlays (some at a guess maybe 0.25mm accross), ceremonial weapons and tools, the lid to a canopic jar, and one of the coffinettes which contained his mummified stomach, and his golden slippers.

The one thing I did (wrongly) expect, was his iconic mask. I thought this because I thought that was what was on the posters - as it turns out, that was the coffinette mentioned earlier. I guess I'll have to visit egypt one of these days.

Having said that, there where some positive surpises too - I didn't even know that Egyptians kept dogs, let alone considered them highly, and some of the animal statues where remarkable.