While sex and the Carrie Bradshaw character has entered popular imagination for her stunning array of shoes and fashion savvy, few know that the young King Tut also enjoyed a vast collection of footwear. The finding of Tutankhamun’s tomb KV62 by Howard Carter, one of the most exciting discoveries made by Egyptologists, captured headlines around the world back in the 1920s. While his golden death 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.

Although the exact number of sandals is unclear, at least 80 pairs were discovered in the virtually intact tomb of King Tut, accompanying him into the afterlife. While some were found in surprisingly good condition, all that remained of others were small fragments of foot straps. The best-preserved were the gold sandals discovered on the feet of King Tut’s mummy.

André Veldmeijer, a Dutch archaeologist and curator of Tutankhamun’s Footwear: Studies of Ancient Egyptian Footwear, undertook the study of 81 sandals housed at Luxor Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. These were all that remained of a wide variety of footwear entombed with Tutankhamun, a collection that included sewn sandals and bead sandals. At the time, these would have been a feast for the eyes, made with gold, birch bark, vegetable fibers, gemstones, leather, and gold.

DNA examinations and analysis of CT scans of his remains revealed that King Tutankhamun probably suffered from a bone disorder 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. Amongst the shoe collection discovered in his tomb, there were pairs of shoes designed 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 Veldmeijer 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 elaborate footwear feature a pair of elephants on 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 royalty 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.