by Daniel Caet
“You will pose as a Hebrew slave to my service and obey me at all times. We cannot risk that our secret is discovered, and you do not know the ways of the palace. This way I can have you by my side and make sure you do not get us in trouble.”
“I see that your confidence in me has not grown one iota in all this time” I said with a smile.
“Call me cautious, but that is the condition. Do you accept?”
“I do not think I have much choice, right?”
“Alright, then. Najesat is one of my servants,” she said pointing to a young man who was waiting by the awning where we were sheltering. “He will show you where you can sleep, he will give you the clothes you must wear, and he will shave your head so that you look like a true slave. Now, you can leave,” she concluded, turning her back on me again.
“Sadith…”
“For you I am Lady Tyri, do not forget it.” she turned again to look at me with the coldness of a sphinx.
“What does this symbol on the doll mean?”
“What symbol? There is no symbol,” she said, taking the doll from my hands again.
“Yes, there is, in the belly, it is very small, barely visible, but someone has engraved something."
Sadith put the doll closer to her eyes to look at the engraving that I indicated, and her face changed color.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“I'm afraid all this is getting very complicated.”
“Why? What is that symbol?”
“It is not a symbol, but a name. Seth. The protective god of the house of the current pharaoh.”
I spent that night in what was possibly the most uncomfortable bed ever created, but it did not matter too much because everything told by Sadith kept spinning in my head preventing me from falling asleep. At dawn the next day, Najesat and another slave a little older were responsible for making me bathe by throwing buckets of water over me without mercy, and then shaved me from head to toe. Nasejat handed me some long linen skirt that reached up to my knees and sandals of something similar to esparto, and as soon as I had put on my new clothes, he instructed me to accompany him. I followed him through a labyrinth of buildings until we came to a small pavilion completely open to the outside that was attached to another larger building. In that kind of terrace, Sadith was waiting for me surrounded by a couple of girls who moved around her like a swarm attending to all her needs. Seeing me arrive, Sadith asked Najesat and the two girls to leave us and we were alone.
“I trust you have been able to rest, you will need all your energy during the next days.”
“Let's say that the conditions in which I have spent the night were trying.”
“Consider yourself fortunate, the conditions of the slaves used in the construction of the temples and tombs or those who work in the fields are much worse.”
“The truth is that I do not know anything about this new world in which I find myself. I am sure that everything has changed a lot in the time I spent in my prison although, from what I saw in the streets of Thebes, men are still the same, cruel, ambitious, violent and incapable of assuming that their passage through this world is temporary. Have I forgotten something?”
“Certainly not,” she said, smiling, “but I am afraid you will discover that some of our faults have become much greater. Luckily, some of our virtues too. Let me explain what the aspect of the world around us is.”
Sadith told me about the greatness of Egypt, how over the past thousand years it had gone from being a small fragmented kingdom to becoming a great unified empire under the power of a single man who was treated as a god, the Pharaoh. In Sadith's words there were only three things that deserved absolute devotion for the Egyptians, their gods, of which they had hundreds, the Pharaoh and the Nile, the river to which they owed absolutely all their prosperity and, for that very reason, was considered another god in itself. Egypt was also a creature hungry for conquest and expansion and all the pharaohs since the unification had tried to obtain glory in battles against other empires which they could annex or subjugate, a glory that they would be responsible for translating in their steles by exaggerating it conveniently, of course. But it had been precisely one of these pharaohs a few years earlier that had been about to collapse the entire empire shaking the foundations of the most sacred among the sacred, its faith. Pharaoh Amenhotep, fourth of his name, had done something unthinkable, suppress the worship of the ancient gods and among them the greatest of all, Amun, and replace it with the worship of a single god, Aton, the solar disk. That, which for me was nothing more than giving a different name to the same expression of my father, for the Egyptian people had been an act of treachery impossible to understand, even more when it had come accompanied by a complete shake of everything that until then had been immovable. The Pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of his new god and built a new capital in his name, Amarna, where he moved the entire central government leaving Thebes to become little more than a ghost town. All this generated a feeling of insecurity and instability that, fuelled by the hatred and anger of the priestly caste of Amun who had seen its power diminished to near extinction due to the acts of Amenhotep, made the change last very little. At the Pharaoh's death, the priestly machinery was set in motion to return Egypt to the state that, according to them, it should have never abandoned. The name of Akhenaten and his family was erased from history and it was forbidden to be pronounced again. But if the priests thought that the return to their desired stability would be quick and simple, they were wrong. Egypt entered an even more unstable period if that was possible where puppet Pharaohs succeeded each other for brief periods of time, each of them governing the ramshackle cart in which the country had become in a different way from their predecessors, each of them wanting to leave their footprint erasing those of the ones that came before them. And that's where the current royal house came into play.
It all started with an archer of the royal army called Shuta. Coming from a not-so-prominent family in the city of Avaris, Shuta had managed to achieve middle command in the royal army but was far from being a prominent man or a particularly skilled soldier until everything changed after the battle with the Mitanni. What must have been a successful and brief military campaign became, thanks to the incompetence of its generals, a massacre that would end the life of fifteen hundred men of the Egyptian army. Shuta disappeared in the battle and his family gave him up for dead, but to everyone's surprise, Shuta returned home two weeks later, not only alive but different. That soldier returned completely changed alleging that he had been mortally wounded in the battle, but that he had received the help of the god Seth who had taken care of him and had promised that, under his protection, his family would come to sit on the throne of Egypt. In gratitude Shuta changed his name to Seti, which means one who is from Seth, and devoted his family to the service of the god.
If Shuta’s family initially thought that the desert sun had affected him and that a strange form of madness had seized him, it did not matter when the supposed sponsorship of the god began to give its results. Soon Seti began an ascent in the military scale that few could explain. His talents as strategist began to be evident which allowed him to ascend to the rank of general, his triumphs on the battlefield made him an essential element of the Pharaoh's army. But not only did he benefit from that supposed divine help, but his family began to ascend the social ladder just as he did in the military. His brother turned vizier of Kush, in southern Egypt; his sister-in-law chosen as part of the harem of Amun; and his son, the young Paramesu, or Rameses as the family had always known him, promoted from private to adviser of no other than Pharaoh Horemheb. But the road to glory had not ended there for Seti's family.
At the death of Horemheb, and to everyone's surprise, the counsellor from the humble Avaris family became Pharaoh Rameses, first of his name and the promise made to Seti in the desert came true, a servant of Seth occupied the throne of Egypt. Rameses' reign lasted only a year, but this time it would not be a stranger who
would succeed the Pharaoh as had happened with his recent predecessors, but his son Seti, a young man, in the prime of his life, strong, athletic and hard as desert rocks that had inherited from his grandfather not only the name but the determination and ambition to guarantee the status of his family.
“Seti has been a good ruler for Egypt, do not get me wrong,” Sadith continued. “He comes from a military caste and that has helped him secure and expand the borders of the empire. He remains a devotee of Seth and has built many temples in his name, but has managed to balance his devotion with that due to the other gods, especially Amun, securing the support of the priests. The rest of his family is another matter. But I think that for you to understand what I mean it's better to see them in action. Take that and follow me,” she said, pointing to a fan of feathers leaning against the wall.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“You are a slave, remember? Walk two steps behind me and try not to stop fanning me or I will be forced to whip you in public. To keep up appearances, of course,” she replied.
“But, where are we going?”
“To the throne room. Well, to one of them.”
I followed Sadith down a long corridor that ran parallel to a large courtyard surrounded by columns and that led us to a large room with walls decorated with scenes of the harvest in bright colours that filled the eyes telling their story. I was surprised by the number of people we met, both the courtyard and the hall were full of men and women, in many cases surrounded by slaves like me, who spoke in groups or seemed to wait in solitude. I discreetly asked Sadith who those people were, and she explained that they were the pharaoh's subjects waiting to be received to request their arbitration in different matters. Many of them had been waiting for days and some should still wait a little longer. The pharaoh had his administrators of justice in each of the nomos, the provinces of the empire, but when a man or woman was not satisfied with the resolution that these administrators gave them, they could raise their complaint through their minister of justice who evaluated the case and decided if he was worthy of the pharaoh's attention. The reality was that the number of cases brought to the court was so low that this type of hearing hardly took place once every many months, so those who wished pharaonic intervention came to the palace many days in advance to not lose their place and avoid having to wait until the next hearing.
Sadith led me to a door on the side of the courtyard that was guarded by two soldiers armed with spears. To my surprise, the soldiers moved away and bowed their heads as soon as Sadith came to them and let us through without problems. The room we entered was much smaller than anyone would have expected from a throne room. The walls and columns that surrounded the perimeter were painted with hunting scenes that dwarfed the space even more. In the background, a large carved wooden chair painted in gold was the only sign of the use that room had. After us, more people began to arrive, no doubt government officials and scribes. Behind the chair, a large double wooden door opened.
“Here we go!” said Sadith, going to the back of the room and standing behind one of the columns. “The show begins.”
A tall, thin figure, dressed in a long white linen tunic and a large pectoral decorated with jewels, was the first to enter the room to sit on the chair. Immediately everyone in the room knelt on the floor and silence filled the room. Fortunately, Sadith warned me of what I should do just before everything happened, and I could avoid getting a sure death sentence for disrespecting the pharaoh. From my position on the ground I could see that while we were paying the expected homage to the pharaoh god, a group of people, men, women and children entered the room through the same door and placed themselves in different positions around the throne. Once all of them were seated, all the staff present in the room stood up in unison as if that had been the signal to return to normal. The door through which we had entered the room opened again and a middle-aged man, quite fat and with a hideous wig placed on his head came shouting the thousand and one titles of Pharaoh until he came to the throne and prostrated at his feet. Suddenly, all the sobriety and seriousness of the moment broke, and the pharaoh turned to the man at his feet with clear familiarity.
“Let's begin, Sehjuti, it is too hot for so much pomp.”
The man got up quickly and began to tell the background of the first case before bringing the plaintiff. As Sadith had explained to me, all the cases were of the same nature, land deals, inheritances, fines and sales contracts that had not fully satisfied any of the parties. I found it surprising that such banal things had to be addressed by the pharaoh himself, but by now it was clear to me that Egypt's system of government was much more complicated than I could have imagined. But the reason we were there was not to see how pharaonic justice worked, but for my own education and Sadith wasted no time.
“You see the woman who is sitting to the right of Seti surrounded by young girls? That is Queen Tuya. Be careful with her. She married Seti before his father-in-law was elevated to Pharaoh, so this life has fallen on her from heaven, in her own words, like a curse; although I am convinced that this life of luxury and pleasure is what she has always wanted. She is not my best friend, let's say, although curiously she was the one who brought me to court.”
“Are all those girls her daughters?”
“Not at all. They are daughters of the officials and ministers who are here to keep the queen company. Poor creatures!” she said with a cynical smile.
The woman looked in our direction as if somehow, she knew we were talking about her. She was a beautiful woman, although somewhat meaty. The years had been merciful to her and that, accompanied by a composure worthy of a statue, made her inevitably attract the glances around her.
“If you look at the other side of the throne, behind the column you will see the daughters of Seti and Tuya. The older one is called Tia, and, unlike her mother, she despises the life of the court. Fortunately for her, she was married before the family promotion with an official who bears her same name, so she has been able to live out of the palace most of the time. The girl you see next to her is her sister, Henutmire, the only one of Seti's children born in the palace. An adorable little girl condemned to live in the shadow of a suffocating and abusive mother.”
Sadith continued to show me who were the most important individuals in the court and after a while my head would not let me admit a single name more.
“Well, finally!” said Sadith, pulling me out of my mental exhaustion. A man had just entered through a side door of the room and went to Queen Tuya to whisper something in her ear. The queen smiled clearly pleased and caressed the hand of the emissary with delicacy. The man, satisfied, withdrew and placed himself at the back of the room.
“That is Sarureptah, Seti’s prime minister and Ankh’s husband. A viper that I intend to decapitate, sooner or later,” she said with a palpable hatred in her face.
“Why do you hate him so much? What is the problem?”
“I'll explain it to you, but not here, later,” she said without looking at me.
Suddenly a great uproar from the patio caused the whole room to stop paying attention to the case that was being exposed. The patio door suddenly opened, and a tall, stocky young man entered through it with a determined step until he stood before the throne pushing aside the poor widow who was prostrated before Seti. However, that man did not kneel but looked directly at the pharaoh.
“Father, we have to talk about the Hebrews!” he said without contemplations.
“How dare you, Rameses? We're in the middle of an audience, get out of my sight, we'll talk later!” Seti answered with fire in his eyes.
“Father, this is more urgent, the Hebrews …”
“Enough!” shouted the pharaoh, rising from his seat. “Do you dare to disobey me? Soldiers, remove Prince Rameses from my presence and if he tries to interrupt this audience again, I order you to stop him and confine him in his apartments!”
That reaction made the young Rameses not say another word, but
his eyes said everything. With the pride of a wounded lion he turned around and left the room through the door he had used to access it.
“As you see, the love between father and son is felt in the air,” said Sadith turning. “It’s time for us to leave.”
We left through one of the side doors that led to a long corridor that opened at intervals to another of the inner courtyards of the palace. Sadith walked without saying anything to me until suddenly she stopped short.
“Something wrong?”
“Someone wants to see us,” she said without turning.
Suddenly, a slave came running up to us down the same corridor.
“My lady Tyri …” she said, bowing her head in front of Sadith.
“Yes?”
“Queen Tuya requests a few words with you.”
“No doubt you mean that she demands my presence, the queen is not a woman to ask or request,” said Sadith, leaving both the slave and me speechless for the directness of her response. “I guess in that case it's better that we do not make her wait.”
We followed the slave through courtyards and corridors to a large double door that the girl opened to let us through. The room we entered was immense and magnificent. In the background, a balustrade opened to the outside to make way for a terrace covered by awnings where Queen Tuya was waiting for us surrounded by her ladies. The view of Thebes from the terrace was imposing.
“Ah, finally, Lady Tyri! I'm glad you were able to join us, I've been trying to see you for several days, but it seems you've been too busy to attend to my requests,” she said, accompanying the sentence with an absolutely frozen look.
“Nothing further from my intention my queen, you know that I am always at your service. I have changed slaves lately and I guess the message was lost in the change.”
“I see, this one is new too, right? Is ihe Hebrew?” The queen asked, looking me up and down.
“He is.”
“Curious, ihe does not look like one. Although I suppose that this garbage is so crossed that even they cannot recognise the features of their own race.” I noticed how Sadith's body tensed and bit her tongue to avoid answering that woman. “In any case, the reason why I have called you is much more important. We urgently need your skills to predict the future.” I had to control myself so as not to fall on my back. At no time had Sadith told me that any one at the court knew of her powers and the relaxed manner in which the queen spoke of it among her ladies made me think that it was in the public domain. “One of my ladies, Nasutferire, has been promised in marriage by her father to a linen merchant of Abydos. Obviously, I do not want more than her happiness, so I want you to tell me if that marriage will be happy and she will have many children or if you should run away from the promise made by her father.”