They sat in the shade of the great beast’s feet and read the stone stela erected by Thutmose’s namesake and grandfather, Thutmose IV. They talked seriously for several hours. A conversation which would remain with Thutmose all of his life, but which would always remain private to him. The words spoken to him, in this most holy of places, on this day would come into his mind in future days of difficulties and hardship, when decisions would have to be made, not only for himself, but for a nation of people.
Haqwaset too would always remember this day and this conversation. This was a day Haqwaset realised, and accepted, his son was no longer a child. A day when the relationship between father and son changed and the two became friends as men, each respecting the other. The bond of father and son would be present always, but from today it would be different.
They returned in the evening to the farewell feast, hosted by Aperel and Tawy. The whole family was present, the King and Tiye, the King’s mother Mutemwiya, his wife’s parents, Yuya and Tjuya, the Royal children, Thutmose, Teppy, Sitamun, Iset, Nebetah, Beketaten and Henuttane. Kirgipa was there with her Royal son Smenkhare. Tiye’s brother Ay was there with his daughter Nefertiti and his brother, Anen, the newly promoted temporary High Priest of Ptah.
No one present that evening could have known this would be the last occasion when all of them would be together. Had they known, the conversations would have been different, the music, provided by Djoser’s three daughters, would have been more sombre and perhaps they would have all lingered together longer. The future would bring regrets that more hadn’t been said on this night, but it was perhaps for the best. The feast had been as it was; full of uncomplicated, amiable familial love and friendship, all enjoying the occasion and each other’s company.
*
In Waset, the months passed by quickly. The preparations for the Sed Festival were growing more frantic. The Beautiful Feast of the Valley, the inundation and the Opet festival came and went without major incident or tragedy. Haqwaset had enjoyed taking guests on his boat to the Funerary Temple and the Ark, which sat atop, floating on the water and, other than the colossal statues facing east towards the rising sun, the only part of the Temple visible during the great flooding.
The Sed Festival preparations kept everyone busy on the west bank of the river. Teppy and Nefertiti were constantly at the King’s side. The royal barge, Aten-tjehen, (‘the Dazzling Sun Disk’) was brought from its usual berth in Khent-min to Waset and completely refurbished. The Festival wouldn’t only be a celebration of Haqwaset’s reign but would also be a celebration of the Aten. In this period the name Aten-tjehen became well used and well known. In the Temple at Ipet-Ryst, on the east bank, new hieroglyphs had been added celebrating the King, using his throne name Nebmaatre and adding the epithet ‘Aten-tjehen.’ A new Royal Seal was commissioned and it too reflected the importance of the Aten. Haqwaset was creating an image of himself as the living Aten, alongside his being the son of Amun. In addition to this, Haqwaset brought the army Captain, who had served him well in his dealings with the High Priest of Ptah and the mercenaries, to Waset and promoted him to General of a new company of elite soldiers and bowmen. He named the new Company Aten-tjehen.
These actions taken together, made the Priests of Amun more suspicious and angry. Haqwaset himself was untouchable. The Two Lands were the most powerful and prosperous they had ever been. Through diplomatic ties and marriages Haqwaset had secured the country’s borders. With a strong presence in Nubia, gold was in unlimited supply. Even with their reduced powers the Priests of Amun were wealthy beyond the dreams of most people.
However, they felt power was being taken from them and this created fear. They were constantly on the lookout for signs of weakness in the King, but they could find none. His army and guards were fiercely loyal and all attempts at bribery had failed. The King’s family was tight knit and there were no jealousies to exploit.
The priests were a patient breed. They would wait, keeping a careful watch. They made sacrifices to Amun asking for the strength and endurance to wait and watch. When the time was right, they would strike. It might not be this year or even this decade or generation, but one day they would get their chance. They needed to be philosophical and composed but, above all, they needed to be ready, always ready. Amun was infinite; their opportunity would come.
The myriad of new statues of the King were positioned in all of the sepats and towns of the Kingdom. Teppy, Nefertiti and Tiye organised the creation of special statues of the major gods, to be placed in the Royal barge. The King would travel along the river, on his sun barge, accompanied by the gods, in homage to the journey of the Aten through the day and Ra at night, arriving at dawn, renewed and refreshed.
A traditional part of the festival was to show the physical prowess of the King and thus his ability to continue to rule. Haqwaset hadn’t been too sure about this aspect but wanted to make this festival the greatest in history. He had, however, blocked one tradition – racing against the Apis Bull. Previous Sed Festivals had been held at or near the palace complexes in Ineb-Hedj, close to the pyramids. Ancient reliefs had shown the King racing against the bull as part of the festival.
‘The young bull shall be left in his home and not brought south for this festival,’ he had declared. ‘The Temple would be empty of its symbol for far too long.’
‘A good excuse,’ Tiye had responded.
‘It is not an excuse,’ retorted Haqwaset. ‘I will run but I won’t be seen being chased by a bull.’
Tiye laughed.
‘You’re assuming you would be faster than the bull. I’m not so sure.’
‘The King has always finished the course before the bull; the ancient writings make it abundantly clear. However, I suspect the starting times for King and bull might have been staggered. It wouldn’t do for the King to be out run by the animal, even if that animal is the spirit of Ptah.’
Haqwaset was delighted with the preparations. Now, still a matter of months away, everything was almost ready. The army practiced their manoeuvres and their parts in the celebrations. Haqwaset was honing his shooting skills; he would kill a lion to show his bravery, as well as several bulls, which would be butchered for the feasts. Animals and birds of every description had been brought from all over the Two Lands and were being farmed and cared for so they would produce the best meats.
Caravans of fruit and vegetables had been ordered and would arrive daily during the festivities to ensure they were at their freshest. Wine was delivered from Yuya’s estate and beer from Perneb in Iunet There would be no shortage of food or drink for anyone, royal or commoner. Gold had been provided to the Governors of all sepats to organise great public feasts. Scribes had been sent with instructions on how these local festivities were to be organised and the kinds of food to be served. At least for one day the whole nation would be invited to eat and drink like kings.
Everything seemed right with Haqwaset’s world. All was in place. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Then the messenger came.
The herald arrived, with great haste, to deliver his sealed report to the King personally. Mahu received the herald, then went to the King, who was relaxing in the garden with Tiye and Teppy.
‘Majesty, there is an urgent message from the north. I have sent the herald to bathe. He will be ready to present his sealed letter to you shortly my King.’
‘Very well, let’s go and see what is so urgent,’ Haqwaset said, a little annoyed at being disturbed.
He went to the small audience chamber, Tiye and Teppy followed and took seats beside the King. A few minutes later the messenger arrived, accompanied by two of the King’s personal guards. He prostrated himself before the King, then stood and handed the document to a steward who passed it to Mahu who, in turn, gave it to the King.
Haqwaset took the papyrus roll in his hand and looked at the seal.
‘It’s from your father,’
he said to Tiye.
‘It is not like him to send a message with such haste,’ she replied. ‘I hope there’s nothing wrong with his health or my mother’s.’
Haqwaset opened the scroll and read it. He appeared to be shocked by the contents and brought the letter closer to his eyes to be sure he hadn’t misread it. He looked at the messenger.
‘Thank you, your duty is done. Go now to the kitchens and eat. I’ll prepare my response and you can start the journey back within the hour.’
Haqwaset knew this herald had not personally come all the way from Djanet. The messenger was wearing an amulet with the symbol of the goddess Wenet, the desert hare. This marked him out as one of a special group of high speed couriers, equipped with the finest horses, bred for speed and stamina. The system for passing dispatches, at high speed, from one end of the Kingdom to the other, was well established. Heralds travelled a set distance using the fastest possible means. Sometimes this would be by chariot, sometimes, depending on terrain, by horse or even by foot. Whatever the mode of transport, the information travelled twenty-four hours a day until it reached its destination. This report had managed five hundred miles in just five days, it was indeed very urgent.
As the messenger left, Haqwaset, the blood drained from his face, handed the scroll to his wife. She let out an involuntary scream as she read it and dropped the papyrus. Teppy jumped up, picked the letter from the ground and stood horrified by what he read.
‘THUTMOSE HAS KILLED A PRIEST OF AMUN IN PER-BAST.’
To be continued…
HISTORICAL NOTES
‘The Awakening Aten’ is an historical novel and a work of fiction. Although based on a different historicity of Biblical and Qur’anic events, it does not pretend to be a work of academic study. I have, however, tried to be faithful to the history of the time, as far as we know it. Less than 50 years after the final events in this book, Pharaoh Horemeb set about rewriting history and destroyed almost all evidence of the existence of the pharaohs after Haqwaset, until his own reign. It was only after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, at the beginning of the 20th century, that Egyptologists were finally able to prove the existence of Ay, Tutankhamun, Smenkhare and the heretic himself, Akhenaten. The lives of the characters have been shaped by me, entirely from the artefacts found in their tombs, which are spread across different countries and continents. I have been fortunate to see most of them personally as well as spending a lot of time in Luxor studying the temples, tombs and the workers’ village, now known as Deir-el-Medina. With regard to the main characters, below are some notes which I hope you find interesting.
Yuya
Is Yuya really the biblical Joseph?
The answer is I don’t know, and no-one can ever know.
Did Joseph actually exist as described in the Torah, Bible and Qur’an, or is this narrative perhaps based on a real person, whose basic story is a way for the holy keepers of the religions to teach about ‘good’ overcoming ‘evil’ and honesty always bringing its rewards? I believe that there are too many coincidences, in the historical facts we know of Yuya and the story of Joseph, to completely disregard it, or pooh-pooh the possibility of his being the person who the story tellers used as a shining example of good.
When I first saw the mummy of Yuya in Cairo museum and the chairs and chariot buried beside him, I became intrigued. I searched the internet and libraries for more information about this commoner of Asiatic origin who, from apparent obscurity, became the most powerful man in Egypt, as Regent for the infant Amenhotep III. He went on to create a dynasty. His daughter married the Pharaoh, his grandson Akhenaten, his great-grandson Tutankhamun, and his son Ay, all became Pharaohs after Amenhotep III.
The more I discovered about his life, the more I noticed similarities between his story and that of the man portrayed in the Bible and Qur’an. ‘The Awakening Aten’ interweaves the life of Yuya with the stories contained in the three holy books. Joseph’s wife is a mystery and a complete book could be written on the innumerable theories which abound amongst Biblical and Qur’anic scholars, ancient and modern. Was her name Asenath or Zulaikha? Was she Potiphar’s (Al Aziz’s) wife or daughter? Is Asenath’s father, the priest of On, one and the same person as Potiphar? Did Joseph marry Potiphar’s wife or daughter?
These are questions, along with a myriad of others which, after months of study, I resolved by having Yuya marry twice, once to Asenath and then, following her death, to Tjuya. There is no academic reasoning or justification for this, other than Tjuya is the wife buried with Yuya in the Valley of the Kings and I struggled to reconcile the two holy books on this point.
Their tomb, KV 46, is as described in this novel. Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall, who was present at the opening of the tomb, wrote:
‘Imagine entering a town house which had been closed for the summer: imagine the stuffy room, the stiff, silent appearance of the furniture, the feeling that some ghostly occupants of the vacant chairs have just been disturbed, the desire to throw open the windows to let life into the room once more. That was perhaps the first sensation as we stood, really dumbfounded, and stared around at the relics of the life of over three thousand years ago…’
Very late into my research, I discovered that I was not the first to recognise the similarities in the stories of Yuya and Joseph. I chanced to see an interview on the internet with Ahmed Osman. This led me to read his book Stranger in the Valley of the Kings. I read so many things in his work which my own research had already led me to believe, that there was a relationship between the two. Of course, there are many aspects of the story of Joseph which do not coincide with those of Yuya, and Osman’s work has been severely criticised in some quarters by eminent Egyptologists such as Donald Bruce Redford. Some of the other conflicts I will deal with later in the Aten series, as we reach times in Yuya’s life (and death) which are different from the biblical texts and where the Qur’an differs or is silent on certain aspects.
It is, like religion, a question of faith and belief. The biblical story of Joseph is taken from the Torah, the first five books of the Jewish bible. Traditionally it was believed that these books were written by Moses, writing down the words of God, given to him either on his forty day sojourn on Mount Sinai, or over many years during the wandering of the Jewish people in the wilderness. This theory has been questioned by some modern academics who point out that there are many historical inconsistencies in the books, which indicate they were written by different people over the course of many centuries. The earliest copy of the Torah to be found, dates from around 200 CE, however, it is clear that the written scrolls were in existence for several hundreds of years before that. My research indicates that most academics believe that the Torah was written down around 540 BCE during the ‘Babylonian Exile.’ Almost a thousand years after Yuya’s death.
The story of Joseph in the Qur’an takes up an entire surah (Chapter 12) and is longer than that contained in the bible but contains fewer details of Joseph himself.
My personal view is expressed in the novel through the thoughts Djoser has whilst listening to old Bebi. The story is one ‘passed from generation to generation. From scribe father to scribe son, from teacher to student, part of the secrets of being a scribe. Each putting their own interpretation on the words.’
I leave it to you, the reader, to make up your own minds on that point, or ignore it and enjoy the story.
The interpretation which Yuya gives to dreams is based on the ‘Hieratic Papyri’ in the British Museum. This is the oldest known record of the meaning of dreams.
Kha (and Merit)
Probably my favourite characters in the novel. Turin Museum contains a room dedicated to the items discovered in their tomb (TT8). The items include the senet board described in the novel as well as approximately 500 other items (not all on display at any one time), amongst which are about 50 loincloths, the golden cubit, Merit’s wig, a protractor and f
ruit and vegetables of all kinds. I thoroughly recommend visiting this exhibition and also read the books of Arthur Weigall who, as Egyptian Antiquities Service Inspector in the early 1900’s, was present at the opening, not only of this tomb by Ernesto Schiaparelli, the famed Italian archaeologist, but also that of Yuya and Tjuya (see above). Weigall’s words are as fresh today as when they were written over a hundred years ago.
He famously wrote:
‘The wood retained the light colour of fresh deal, and looked for all the world as though it had been set up but yesterday. A heavy wooden lock held the door fast. A neat bronze handle on the side of the door was connected by a spring to a wooden knob set in the masonry door post; and this spring was carefully sealed with a small dab of stamped clay. The whole contrivance seemed so modern that professor Schiaparelli called to his servant for the key, who quite seriously replied,
“I don’t know where it is, sir”.’
It is impossible to say if Kha and Yuya ever actually met, however, the fact that Kha was overseer of the workers at the time Yuya lived, means Kha was probably involved in the digging of Yuya’s tomb.
Inscriptions in the funerary chapel in the worker’s village tell that Kha worked on the tombs of three pharaohs, Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III (Haqwaset) so I am certain he was present in Yuya’s tomb at some point.
Maiherpri
Another favourite character who is something of an enigma. Buried in the Valley of Kings his tomb, designated KV 36 by the Theban Mapping Project, was found intact. Its contents included all the items referred to in the novel, along with many others. Djoser’s fabulous papyrus Book of the Dead, showing Maiherpri in his wig, the Osiris bed made by the young Princes, the two dog collars, the arrows and game box, and the canopic jars are all there, although their provenance is my own invention. There was also the unused third coffin.
The Awakening Aten Page 43