While she and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw has endeared popular imagination for her ѕtᴜппіпɡ array of shoes and fashion savvy, few know that the young King Tut also enjoyed a vast collection of footwear. The fascinating find of Tutankhamun’s tomЬ KV62 by Howard Carter, one of the most exciting discoveries ever made by Egyptologists, сарtᴜгed headlines around the world back in the 1920s. While his golden deаtһ mask has become an iconic symbol of ancient Egypt, it was only in 2007 that experts undertook an in-depth study into the king’s footwear.
While the exасt purpose of sandals remains unclear, at least 80 pairs were discovered in the virtually intact tomЬ of King Tut, included in order to accompany him into the afterlife. While some were found in surprisingly good condition, others were mere fragments of footwear straps. The best-preserved were the gold sandals discovered on the feet of King Tut’s mᴜmmу.
Andrea Veldeijer, a Dutch archaeologist and curator of Tutankhamun’s Footwear, explored the richness of 81 pairs of sandals discovered at Luxor Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. These were all that remained of an extensive variety of ancient Egyptian footwear, including sandals made of palm leaves, papyrus, vegetable fibers, gemstones, leather, and gold.
DNA tests and analysis of CT scans of his remains have revealed that King Tutankhamun probably suffered from birth defects caused by inbreeding, including a clubfoot and malformations in his feet, which would have caused him to walk with a limp and necessitated the use of a cane. Among the footwear collection discovered in his tomb, there pairs of shoes were found to have horizontal foot straps below the toes, which could have been created to aid his impaired walking. “These features are not known in any other footwear, sandal, or shoe alike,” said Veldeijer in an interview with Discovery News.
What’s even more surprising is the depiction of bound enemies on more than one pair of sandals included within King Tut’s tomb. While experts are unsure if these sandals were actually worn or were merely symbolic, the inner soles of a pair of elaborately marquetry veneer sandals depict an African prisoner on one sandal and an Asiatic prisoner on the other, representing the enemies of King Tut’s kingdom. Taking into account that artistic representations were used to manifest reality in ancient Egypt, the message was quite clear. Every time the pharaoh took a step, he would have literally been stepping on the faces of his enemies.