THEN

A slight young man who was considered a god king 3329 years ago when he died. With a long narrow skull which some people make out to be part of an ancient alien-worship cult, but that’s another story. He lies in his box for those thirty centuries while the world slowly turns into airplanes, nuclear weapons and the idiocies of television. Three thousand two hundred and forty-four years after his death, English colonials raid the tomb and use hot knives to remove the famous golden mask, glued to his face. Media frenzy ensues. A boy-king legend in born. King Tut enters the vernacular.

NOW

A shriveled leather prop for Egyptian tourist revenue.