Ancient Life: Pharaonic Fanfare

Among the spectacular funerary goods recovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 from the tomb of King Tutankhamun (1336–1327 B.C.) were two ancient trumpets.

The 20-inch-long bronze trumpet shown here—found with a painted wooden stopper used to preserve the shape of the thin-walled instrument—was likely entombed with the king to ensure his military victories in the afterlife.

Although some scholars believe that Egyptian trumpets were sounded on ceremonial and religious occasions, the surviving tomb and temple reliefs show trumpeters participating in battle scenes. The figures inscribed on the bell of the trumpet shown at right suggest that the instrument was used for military purposes. Three gods are depicted with the king, who stands at center holding an ankh symbol in his left hand: the mummiform figure Ptah, the creator god of Memphis (on the far right); Amun-Re, the head of the Egyptian pantheon (to the immediate left of the king); and Re-Herakhty, a falcon-headed god depicted here with solar-disk headdress. In ancient Egypt, each of these three gods was associated with the military; for example, they served as the tutelary deities of three divisions of the army of Ramesses II (1279–1213 B.C.).

In 1939 this trumpet and a slightly larger silver one found in another part of the tomb were played by a British army bandsman. The fragile horns were damaged in the playing and repaired soon afterward. When they were blown once again, their sounds were recorded for all posterity in a BBC radio program broadcast from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum.