Before the Throne

by Naguib Mahfouz

  “Your debate is pointless,” Akhenaten replied dismissively. “The matter, pure and simple, is that I heard the voice of the God. And that this heavenly blessing did not descend on you.”

  “Always we were pursued by these same views, both from our enemies and our friends,” remarked Nefertiti. “The world shattered us with its brutality, but today we stand here before a just divinity.”

  “Then why did you abandon your husband when the crisis reached its climax?” Hatshepsut confronted her.

  “I never doubted him,” Nefertiti answered defiantly. “But I was deluded to think that if I left him, I could save him from being killed.”

  “This son was entrusted with a message by which he strove to save mankind,” Isis said to them. “Yet no one was ready either to understand him, or to reach an accord with him—and this was the tragedy. I shall remain proud of him for all eternity.”

  “Take your seat, with your wife, among the Immortals,” Osiris told him.

  22

  HORUS HAILED the court, “King Smenkhkara, King Tutankhamun, and King Aya.”

  Thoth, the Sacred Recorder, read aloud, “Smenkhkara ruled for four years, Tutankhamun for six years, and Aya for four years. Their reigns were times of disturbance and corruption. None of them was capable of confronting the crisis.”

  Osiris asked them to speak.

  “I began my rule as coregent with Tutankhamun,” responded Smenkhkara, “but I was not able to restore the throne’s prestige.”

  “Real authority lay with the priests of Amun,” said Tutankhamun.

  “And the influence of the priests increased in my time,” admitted Aya. “I was weakened by age, and failed to achieve reform.”

  “How could you repudiate me,” Akhenaten grilled Aya, “when you were the closest person to me, and I was your wife’s father?”

  “I renounced you to avoid civil war in our country,” answered Aya.

  “You were unfaithful to the One True God after you had proclaimed your belief in Him right in front of me.”

  “My three sons were not suited for the throne,” Isis asserted. “Without the blind law of hereditary succession, not one of them would have sat on it, yet they deserve mercy, just the same.”

  Osiris turned to them.

  “Go to the Northern Gate,” he bid them, “which leads to the Realm of Purgatory.”

  23

  HORUS CALLED OUT, “King Horemheb!”

  A brawny, stern-faced man of middling stature came in, walking in his winding sheet until he stood before the throne.

  Thoth, Scribe of the Gods, then read aloud, “He came to power though not from the royal line. So, despite her advanced age, he married Mutnodjmet in order to legitimize his rule. By main force he ended the chaos, corruption, and neglect, while repairing the damage to the temples after Akhenaten. Thanks to him, security and order were established inside the country. As for the empire, by that time it already—except for a small portion—belonged to the past.”

  Osiris then invited Horemheb to speak.

  “True, I was not of royal blood, yet I came from a venerable old family in the north of Egypt. My upbringing was military, and I rendered many successful services to Pharaoh Amenhotep III. When Akhenaten took the throne, he brought me close to him, bestowing his confidence upon me. Yet to my great regret, he did not take my advice and impose the necessary punishments for corruption within the country and dispatch expeditions to put down the rebels throughout the empire. When the crisis worsened, and the first warnings of civil war loomed on the horizon, I reached an understanding with the priests of Amun to put an end completely to Akhenaten’s rule. Everyone agreed that I had the competence to confront the anarchy that then prevailed all over Egypt. Yet it was also necessary to uphold legality, so first Smenkhkara, then Tutankhamun, and finally Aya became kings in succession. When Aya passed away, a revolution erupted—the tombs were plundered, and I found no escape from the obligations of loyalty. So I married Mutnodjmet, the sister of Nefertiti, for she was among the first to repent of Akhenaten’s heresy, and who agreed to join with the priests of Amun in order to save the country. I found before me a heavy and many-sided mission, but I lacked neither in strength nor determination. I smothered the revolt, and organized anew the army, police, and administration. I kept an eye on the civil servants, and showed no mercy to the corrupt among them. Next I restored the places of worship and the religious estates, defending the weak against the strong. And if I had been granted a longer life, I would have regained what had been lost of the magnificent empire of Thutmose III.”

  “You did a glorious job, O king!” Khufu praised him.

  “A glorious job indeed,” Abnum snapped sarcastically. “No one can blame you for not returning the power to the people, since you are from such a well-rooted family. My frank translation of that is a family well-rooted in looting and plunder!”

  “I do not approve of your manner of speaking—apologize!” said Osiris imperiously.

  “I apologize,” mumbled Abnum.

  “You were the right man to return the empire to its glory of old,” said Thutmose III.

  “The land was torn apart and in a state of moral ruin,” Horemheb answered him. “The chaos was beyond anyone’s imagining.”

  “I loved none of my followers more than you, Horemheb,” Akhenaten reproached him. “Nor was I as generous with anyone as much as I was with you. My reward was that you betrayed me, making alliance with the enemies of the people as well as my own. Then you tore down my temple as well as my city. You scratched out my name and poured out curses upon me.”

  “I deny nothing you have said,” replied Horemheb. “I loved you more than any man I’d ever known—but I loved Egypt more.”

  “You helped blot out the adoration of the One and Only God,” seethed Nefertiti, “to hoist the host of imposters back on their thrones.”

  “I say to the queen in this hall, in which no lie is permitted, that no woman ever occupied my heart except to the smallest extent possible,” declared Horemheb. “My battle with you both was purely a patriotic one, not at all one of romantic intrigue!”

  “This son is too powerful to need any defense!” exclaimed the goddess Isis.

  “Take your seat among the Immortals,” Osiris commanded him.

  24

  HORUS HERALDED, “King Ramesses the First!”

  A tall, elderly man entered, advancing in his shroud until he stopped before the throne.

  Thoth, Recorder of the Divine Court, recited to those present, “He was already old when he began his rule. He started to build a many-pillared hall in the temple of Karnak, but expired before he could finish it.”

  Osiris called upon Ramesses I to speak.

  “When Horemheb died, he left no legitimate heir to the throne of Egypt,” commenced Ramesses I. “At that time, I was a lector-priest in the temple of Amun, known for my wisdom and correctness of opinion, as well as for my piety. Hence the God chose me to sit on the throne. The empire was never out of my thoughts, but the condition of the country did not allow me to embark on a lengthy war. So I ordered the proper care for the land and for the means of irrigation in order to boost the wealth of the nation. And I launched the construction of the hypostyle hall—yet I did not have enough time to see it completed.”

  “Perhaps the selection of this king was not propitious,” cautioned Isis, “but at that moment, Egypt did not have the right man at hand. As for this man, he tried as hard as he possibly could, and he bears no blame for his situation.”

  Osiris turned to him, “Go to your place among the Immortals.”

  25

  NEXT HORUS CALLED OUT, “King Seti the First!”

  In came a man tall of stature and powerfully built. He walked, wrapped in his winding sheet, until he stood before the throne.

  Then Thoth, Scribe of the Gods, read aloud, “He assumed the throne upon the death of his father. He subdued Nubia, returned Palestine to Egypt, then focused his energies on building and
construction.”

  Following this, Osiris invited Seti I to speak.

  “From the first day I strove to follow a well-laid plan,” Seti I said. “This was to shore up authority at home, while marching southward to our furthest borders, then taking Palestine back by victory over the Hittites, sealed by a pact of peace. This done, I completed the many-pillared hall at Karnak and restored the temples that had not before known a repairing hand. Throughout my reign security, order, and justice fared well, while ease and opulence overspread the land. The arts and literature flourished. The good life ruled, though near the end a conflict arose between my heir apparent and his brother.”

  Thutmose III asked him, “Why didn’t you continue to combat the Hittites?”

  “I felt that my army was exhausted,” Seti I replied, “while at the same time the Hittites as a nation were extremely tough in battle.”

  “The only glorious way to deal with an enemy,” Thutmose III retorted, “is to fight against him, not to make a treaty of peace with him!”

  “A treaty of peace is preferable to a war without glory,” Seti I answered.

  At this, Akhenaten inquired, “Why did you not apply the Divine Law, the law of love and peace?”

  Horemheb cut in sharply, “That which led to the empire’s ruin and left it defenseless?”

  “Did you join yourself to the Divine Lineage,” Khufu queried, “in order to rule as a son of the gods?”

  “I did this with my wife at the temple of Amun, in accordance with the observed rituals,” Seti I told him.

  “I am pleased with this son, so lofty of purpose!” Isis exclaimed.

  And so Osiris pronounced judgment, “Come take your place among the Immortals.”

  26

  AGAIN, HORUS HERALDED, “King Ramesses the Second!”

  Then entered a tall, fit-looking man who advanced in his shroud until he loomed before the throne.

  Thoth, Recorder of the Divine Court, declaimed, “He came to the throne at his father’s demise. He buttressed Egypt’s rule over Nubia and Asia. He waged war against the Hittites, then concluded with them a treaty of peace. Thenceforth he devoted the rest of his long life to a campaign of construction of a kind never before seen in the history of his country. It was an age of building and of a blossoming of the arts, and of luxury. His life stretched to nearly a century, and he enjoyed it to the full, siring nearly three hundred children.”

  Then Osiris asked him to speak.

  “In truth, I usurped the throne from my brother, the heir apparent,” Ramesses II replied. “I was certain that the hour demanded a man of power, while my brother’s weakness, despite his legitimate claim to rule, would bring disaster to Egypt. I was boldly ambitious, determined to provide the greatest degree of security, order, justice, and prosperity to my country at home, while bringing back to our empire its splendor of old. I deepened our dominion over Nubia, then did the same in Palestine, Syria, and the Lebanon, whose rulers and princes rushed forward to swear their oath of submission.

  “Next I turned toward Qadesh to deliver the decisive blow to my strongest adversary, the king of the Hittites. But to my bad luck I found myself encircled by the foe, while the rest of my forces were quite far from me, in the south. I felt a rage rising within me, out of fear for Egypt’s honor, which I held within my own hands. I prayed a long time to my God, reminding Him that I had only left my country to raise up His name and to impose His majesty. Then I fell upon the enemy, with the pick of my personal guard around me. I smote them like a thunderbolt. As the light of my glory shattered their hearts and their doom came inexorably under my blows, I drove a gap between them and passed through it to reach my army. Then we wheeled back around at them and beat them down until they threw themselves into the river, and our victory was complete.

  “Following this I laid siege to Qadesh, suggesting an armistice to the king. I did not find this shameful, as I had regained territories for the empire that had not previously been restored. Afterward I dedicated my life to construction, marrying the daughter of the Hittite monarch as a way of cementing our peace. I erected structures of sorts never before built by any pharaoh. I brought forth happiness to the people of Egypt such as they had not known until then, and which I doubt they have known since.”

  “Yet you began your career by usurping your brother’s right to the throne,” his father, Seti I, scolded him.

  “I cannot respect a law which would grant the throne to a feeble man who does not deserve it.”

  “Where did you get your power to know the Divine Will?” Akhenaten taunted him. “What you have said about your brother was said about me, yet I was the first ruler to create a kingdom for the One True God on earth.”

  “But that was a catastrophe for both the nation and the empire.…” Ramesses II rejoined.

  Thutmose III then asked, “Pray tell me how it behooved a triumphant leader like yourself not only to make a treaty of peace with your enemy, but to marry his daughter, as well?”

  “He was the one who asked for it,” said Ramesses II, “and I found it beneficial to both parties.”

  “And how, O King, did you find yourself surrounded in battle?” continued Thutmose III.

  “Two of the enemy’s spies fell into our hands. They falsely informed us that the Hittite army was to the north of Qadesh,” answered Ramesses II. “I thus hurried with the vanguard of my troops to take the land south of the city. However, the enemy was actually lying in wait to the east, from which he struck to encircle me.”

  “You set off in haste when you should have waited for your army to reach you from the south,” said Thutmose III. “You are courageous—there is no doubt about that—but you are not a prudent commander.”

  “Yet I broke through the siege, then turned the attack back on the enemy with the rest of my army,” Ramesses II protested. “They then fell into the trap which they themselves had set for me—I tore them to pieces and scored a decisive victory.”

  “Your objective was not merely to win a battle,” Thutmose III said, moving to the point of his discourse. “Rather, you clearly wanted to conquer Qadesh, as I had done, because it controls the roads in every direction. Therefore, you have no right to claim victory when you did not achieve the purpose of your expedition.”

  “What do you say about my routing the enemy’s army?” Ramesses II asked.

  “I say that you won a battle but you lost the war,” Thutmose III riposted, “while your enemy lost a battle but won the war. He enticed you to make peace in order to reorganize his ranks. He welcomed your relationship by marriage in order to fix your friendly attitude before making good his losses. He was content to keep Qadesh as a place from which to threaten any point in your empire in future.”

  “During all of my long reign, the security of my homeland was not disturbed for even one hour,” Ramesses II responded. “Nor was there a single violent rebellion anywhere in our vast empire, while no enemy dared cast an aggressive glance at our borders.”

  “I cannot dismiss your merit,” Thutmose III conceded. “You restored to Egypt the greatest part of her empire, and were marked by your overwhelming personal valor, which put fear into the hearts of your enemies.”

  “And do not forget that my era was the greatest age of construction in the country,” said Ramesses II.

  “Did you build a pyramid?” Khufu asked him.

  “No, but man does not build pyramids alone,” said Ramesses II. “There is not one province in Egypt without a temple or an obelisk or a statue of mine.”

  “But you appropriated my ruined temple and turned it into your own funerary complex,” Akhenaten intervened. “You repeated this assault on your other predecessors’ monuments, engraving your name where it did not rightfully belong. You minimized the accomplishments of all the great ones who came before you, as if the One God had created only you alone.”

  “In this sacred hall I will not deny any error or defend any impetuous act,” Ramesses II retorted, “but I would prefer that
someone innocent of heresy and licentiousness accuse me.”

  Osiris broke in, “Don’t forget, O King, that you are addressing someone who has endured this same trial and emerged from it as an Immortal. Apologize.”

  Ramesses II muttered, “I apologize.”

  “What of your experience with women?” Queen Hatshepsut queried him. “And did you find time to treat kindly with your three hundred children?”

  “No man has savored happiness such as I did,” Ramesses II replied. “The gods endowed me with long life, perfect health, and limitless powers for love. These remained undiminished until the end, despite all the affection that my wife, Queen Nefertari lavished upon me. As for my children, I never knew more than a few of them.”

  “Did you use magic to preserve your marvelous manly vigor?” Amenhotep III inquired.

  “I performed my own magic myself,” Ramesses II explained. “At the age of ninety, I would stand in the Great Hall while rows of chariots entered. In each rode one of my wives, naked, accompanied by a naked slave girl. They would keep rolling past me until there flowed in my aged veins the fresh blood of youth!”

  “Were these the same chariots with which you scored your military victories?” the Sage Ptahhotep wondered.

  “No,” Ramesses II said. “These were the chariots of love, clad with pure gold, exuding the sumptuous aromas of women.”

  “Your life, O King, mixed both seriousness in all its senses, and play with all its caprices,” jibed Abnum. “Perhaps the final judgment upon you should combine both indulgence and restraint!”

  Osiris stared at Abnum sternly. “This proceeding has no need either for your guidance or your opinions, except to ignite a new revolution in the world of Eternity,” he berated him. “Do not exceed your proper place—apologize!”