Took the Throne During Troubled Times (Thanks to His Father)

Anyone would find it challenging to become king of one of the most powerful countries in the world at the age of nine, but Tutankhamun did so in extremely trying circumstances. It wasn't even because Egypt faced a specific threat of conquest, starvation, or any other external crisis. It was as a result of Akhenaten, his father.

The conversion of Egypt from polytheism to Aten worship under Akhenaten's 17-year rule was one of his most important achievements. Akhenaten took quite drastic steps to achieve this goal, which went against literally thousands of years of religious tradition. He commanded the destruction of Amun statues and the closure of the ancient temples.

In addition, he relocated the capital from Thebes to Amara, despite the fact that doing so required the 20,000 people he brought to the desert wasteland to start over from scratch. By alienating many of the common people of his Kingdom as well as the priests, Akhenaten had become so despised by the time of his death that Tutankhamun had changed his name from the original Tutankhaten in order to separate himself from his father's legacy. It was impossible to tell if he died naturally because his body was so poorly preserved after his death.