A Closer Look at King Tut’s Footwear: The Pharaoh Was Buried With Over 80 Pairs of Sandals Made from Gold and PapyrusAncient Egyptian sandals show how King Tut crushed his enemies with every step he took.

In 1922, archaeologists uncovered the intact tomb of Tutankhamun, exposing thousands of artifacts placed around the young Egyptian king for burial. Among the gold ornaments, chariots and ritual items were dozens of pairs of sandals arranged with care.

These pieces of footwear are now the focus of renewed attention. They offer practical clues about royal life, belief and health in ancient Egypt, including evidence that the teenage pharaoh may have had difficulty walking

Footwear for a King

At least 80 pairs of sandals and shoes were buried with Tutankhamun. Craftsmen made them from materials ranging from palm leaves and papyrus to leather, gemstones and gold. Artisans made some as simple sewn sandals, while others required entire teams to emboss gold, dye leather and inlay stones

Research has shown that specifically these sandals were important status markers: they were worn by the royal family and those officials that were rewarded by the king himself,” said archaeologist André J. Veldmeijer, according to WWD. “We don’t know yet why specifically these seemingly simple sandals, made of not too expensive materials, were held in such high regard

Even the golden sandals placed directly on the mummy had simpler designs. Veldmeijer noted that they were detailed remakes of sewn sandals, with stitching patterns reproduced in embossed gold

Sandals first appeared in the Nile Valley at least 4,000 years ago and were often made from woven plant fibers. While today you may be inclined to quickly dismiss someone wearing flip-flops in a gas station, back then, this footwear was a mark of high status. Ordinary people frequently went barefoot, while sandals became closely tied to wealth and authority.

Decoration could also signal ritual meaning or social rank. Egyptologist Salima Ikram observed, “With some of Tutankhamun’s shoes, they used bits of gold, birch bark, bone and maybe even glass inlays to decorate and create luxurious and glamorous footwear.”

Seen today, the collection feels less like burial equipment and more like a royal wardrobe. Yet in ancient Egypt, shoes carried political and spiritual weight as well

Crushing the Enemies

One striking pair of sandals shows bound captives on the inner soles. Each step would symbolically crush Egypt’s enemies, represented by the traditional Nine Bows motif. Museum descriptions explain that the imagery was “situated so that the king’s feet step on them, reifying the trampling of Egypt’s enemies by the monarch.”

But the sandals from the tomb may also hint at a vulnerability of King Tut. Modern CT scans of the mummy suggest Tutankhamun had a clubfoot and other skeletal problems, while DNA studies point to additional health stresses such as malaria. Some shoes in the tomb feature unusual strap configurations not seen in other Egyptian footwear.

These features are not known in any other footwear, sandal or shoe alike,” Veldmeijer told Discovery News.

However, Veldmeijer has also noted that there is no clear evidence in the wear patterns to prove the king walked differently, and similar fastening systems appear in regions beyond Egypt. The unusual design could reflect foreign influence, adaptation, or just a lost variation in royal fashion.

Uncertainty extends to whether Tutankhamun wore these sandals in life at all. Some may have been created solely for burial, intended to equip the king for the afterlife just as food, weapons and clothing did.

Today, thousands of objects from the tomb, including the sandals, are displayed together at Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum.