Riddles about Tutankhamen that date back about 3,300 years may be unraveled before long. Researchers are set to scrutinize the mummy of the ancient king of Egypt famous for his golden mask.

Many people are charmed by Tutankhamen's story of riddle and accident. Despite being the king, his name was somehow deleted from various official documents. But the deletions helped to keep his grave from the attention of treasure hunters. When it was discovered in 1922, the excavation turned up an amazing number of ancient artifacts that had been buried with the mummified body of the king.

Tutankhamen's reign almost coincided with an ``incident'' that should have gone down in the history of the world. He ascended the throne just after his predecessor, Akhnaten, carried out religious reform to make Egyptians adopt the Sun God as their only god. It is said to have been the oldest monotheistic religion in the world. Tutankhamen, said to have been Akhanaten's son, died when he was about 18 years old.

Bob Brier, an American Egyptologist, offers an account of the young king's tragic life in ``The Murder of Tutankhamen.'' The story rests on conjecture, and imagination is necessary to fill the gaps. There is a passage that goes to this effect: ``It has taken me a long time to notice the king's attractive personal character. This is because Tutankhamen was synonymous with treasure in my head. But the present investigation has changed me. In time, I have come to feel a strong affinity toward this young man.'' (A Japanese translation has been published by Hara Shobo under the title ``Dare-ga Tutankhamen-wo Koroshita-ka,'' or ``Who killed Tutankhamen?'')

Akhnaten's death touched off a strong backlash against his religious reform. His opponents did not allow the monotheistic religion to linger and it was abolished with the king's death. The succession to the throne was marred by confusion and a power struggle, and Tutankhamen found himself in the middle of it. Brier thinks the young king's involvement in the power struggle cost his life by provoking someone to send assassins.

A joint research team from Egypt and the United States reportedly plans to conduct X-ray and DNA checks in its scrutiny of the Tutankhamen mummy. People are waiting to see how far the team will go in ferreting out stories and historical facts concealed behind the king's golden mask.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 22(IHT/Asahi: November 29,2004)