Mystery of King Tut’s Death Solved? Article Review Example

Summary

Matthew Rosenbaum of ABC News presents the claim that the mystery of King Tut’s death has been solved after centuries of uncertainty in his article, ‘Mystery of King Tut’s Death Solved?’. The journalist reports that the former Egyptian ruler died of temporal lobe epilepsy and presents a bit of evidence from a doctor to support such statement.

Dr. Hutan Ashrafian of the Imperial College London points out that King Tut had feminine features that included large breasts at the time of his death. Such attributes are sometimes found in persons with an advanced condition of epilepsy. The ancient pharaoh also had relatives who died rather young. Dr. Ashrafian states, “For all of them to die sequentially at younger ages is a sign of a genetic inheritance of some sort” (1).  In addition, King Tut’s father was known to use a “walking stick” and suffered a number of broken bones in his lifetime. Ashrafian says these characteristics are indicative of someone battling with epilepsy.

Evaluation

While it may be true that King Tut, and relatives directly related to him, died of epilepsy, such hypothesis has not been proven true in this article. Dr. Ashrafian’s status as a surgeon qualifies him to speak on the subject. He, however, fails to directly link the death of King Tut and his relatives to temporal lobe epilepsy by ruling out any other possibilities. Multiple Sclerosis also leads to high levels of broken bones so it is not fair to assume that King Tut’s father had epilepsy simply because he used a “walking stick” and suffered a few injuries. Ashrafian’s premise that King Tut inherited epilepsy from his father is, therefore, not necessarily true.

The article also states that Tut had feminine features that included enlarged breasts at the time of his death. Ashrafian holds that such characteristics are caused by a condition known as gynecomastia, which brings about hormonal imbalance in men. While it is true that temporal lobe epilepsy is linked to gynecomastia, there is no proof that King Tut’s sole cause of death was epilepsy. I, therefore, find this article’s argument to be weak.

Works Cited

Rosenbaum, Matthew. ‘Mystery of King Tut’s Death Solved?’ ABC News. 2012. Sept. 14, 2012. Print.