Is there a man or woman alive today who has not heard of our mystery
guest. Methinks not. He was born in an era when he and his kind–when
they rose to a certain position–assumed four new names … aside
from the one he already owned. And to his original name … there
was often added an extension. Re: John (name). Son of Sam
(extension). What’s your name, Mister? My name is John Son of Sam.
How famous was he, you all may well ask? Very, I respond. So Very
in fact … that his original name as well as new adopted names were
often carved on monuments and official documents.
Clue: He was a King in days gone by. Among his four adopted names
… one was a Throne Name …a name he used most often when there
was room on official documents for only one name. And yet … I
would venture to say that very few know our chap by this Throne Name
… but rather by his given name … without extensions.
Clue: His name was written with a drawing. I have a picture of a
pendant of his made of heavy gold plate … finely chased on upper
and lower surfaces … representing his Throne Name.
Clue: His name in this pendant is represented by an oversized
beetle. A disk of the sun–inlaid with Carnelian–is held within the
scarab’s front claws … one of which is broken. This pose
represents the beetle’s action in nature. Beneath the scarab is a
basket made of gold and inlaid with blue glass. This basket in
separated from the beetle itself by three vertical strokes
indicating the plural. I think this might mean that our king
referred to himself in the plural. We are the King and We demand
…
Clue: His Throne Name was Nepkheperura. While I am reasonably sure a
very scant few of you know this name … the geographical origin
might come into focus leading some of you–if you have not already
guessed–to the lifting of the mists that hid his name from view in
your mind’s eye.
Clue: The source of the gold used to make the jewelry was Nubia …
then under this Kingdom’s rule. The purity range of Nubian gold was
from 17 to 23.5 karats. It was said that gold in this king’s country
was “as plentiful as dust.”
As to the identity of our most famous of them all … the identity
of our many named king who had jewels in abundance was none other
than Tut … King Tut if you please … Tutankhamun if you don’t
please. So there it is … another dash of useless minutiae to store
away and let clog your synapses to the point that you can consider
yourselves lucky if you remember own your name.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits Graphics … and then click on the link that says: Tut …
where you’ll see an image of his name in gold.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
-- http://www.tyler-adam.com --