THE PERENNIAL CELEBRITIES of Western history are mostly all-conquering generals (Alexander, Julius Caesar, Napoleon), powerfully innovative artists (Michelangelo, Leonardo, Shakespeare, Beethoven), or revolutionary scientists (Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein). The curious exception is an obscure Egyptian king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, who reigned for a bare nine years (c.1336-1327 BCE), accomplished little that we know of, and only acquired his exceptional status some 3,250 after his death, when his tomb was opened in 1922. Now, like the Titanic, Tutankhamen comes round and round, spawning exhibitions, movies, and no end of books.
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