Jeanne-Claude said “What is slightly puzzling was the total absence of broken statues of gods and goddesses and a lack of gold foil fragments. The pieces of smashed pottery and vases all seem to be poor quality work and there was not a single piece of jewellery anywhere. I would have expected to find beads, pieces of semi-precious stone or faience, bits of gold wire, lapis lazuli, anything but nothing has been found. Rather strange in the tomb of a king of his stature, d’accord?”
Now all his glory was swept away and wherever I looked I saw intrusive evidence of the engineers. Rock bolts had been used to stop further structural failure and several pillars, looking like badly decayed teeth, had been bolted through and plated. I viewed this work from a civil engineering perspective and was suitably impressed by the technical expertise of Jean-Claude’s engineers. We spent several hours inspecting the lower rooms and, when an engineer arrived with a load of rock bolts, there was some discussion on recent developments in rock mechanics and how they might be applied to tombs. The engineer was particularly interested to know how we approached repairing failed pillars and I suggested a more formal meeting with Richard, our expert in this area.
As we turned to leave the crypt Jean-Claude said “Like the Sun King in France the reign of Ramesses II marked the apogee of power, decoration and style in the New Kingdom. Everything he did was overpowering and designed to awe but look at it now. It is a catastrophe. As we would say in French, très tragique, n’est pas?” I nodded in agreement. The mausoleum would never be as attractive as the tombs that hadn’t suffered the colossal degree of damage KV7 had sustained but it would always stand as a sterling example of a Nineteenth Dynasty ruler’s monument. It is also a magnificent tribute to a team of highly dedicated scientists and technicians. As we retraced our steps we came to the boarded over well shaft.
“What have you found down there?” I asked Jean-Claude
“We have not worked in the well shaft as yet. Whatever was there originally is now ruined as the well was the first place to fill with water and it would have taken a long time for the water to either soak away or evaporate. It is not a particularly interesting part of the tomb, though we will get around to clearing it at some time.”
I congratulated him on the outstanding results, thanked him for showing us the tomb and joked about the Valley becoming our own graveyard as we both faced years of work there. His campaign was already several years old and I had just begun our projects. We expressed a hope we would meet again, both professionally and socially and over the next year, the hope was realised but I didn’t venture into KV7 again for months. When necessary, Richard visited the mausoleum for technical meetings and Elizabeth called in frequently for French lessons. I confined my meetings with the Frenchman to restaurants where we developed a close friendship.
Over one dinner, conversation turned to our ideas on tomb vandalism. I explained my theory about children indiscriminately smashing artefacts for the sheer fun of it. He didn’t think much of the idea, pointing out the Valley was a long way from Thebes. He was more interested in my ideas about mob violence. Being a Frenchman, he was well aware of the many instances of his fellow countrymen destroying buildings and objects d’art during the French Revolution and the Commune.
He disagreed. “I know about mob violence but I doubt if mobs attacked the tombs after they were first looted. It is more probable the priests recruited a body of thieves with, how do you say, ‘attitudes’. Desecrators of every persuasion attack the symbols of power of those they feel have oppressed them. Usually it is palaces, the houses of nobility, churches and, in our unique history, the Bastille in Paris. Sorry, Dennis but there was no possibility the priests or soldiers in Thebes would have permitted a mob to attack the city’s many cemeteries as they may have lost control over what they had sanctioned. That could have led to attacks on the temples.”
“It fits with the degree of destruction.”
“Yes, but a few people can do a lot of damage. If the priests recruited the robbers from amongst the ranks of those with grievances, for example, criminals sent to the royal mines, they would have gathered a fine body of desperadoes. Such men, without scruples and with, as you English say, an axe to grind, would not have baulked at the prospect of breaking into tombs, stealing everything and then venting their spleens on the remaining contents. Their reward was freedom and a percentage of the spoils.”
“That, Jean-Claude, is the most plausible explanation I have heard to date. It may have been difficult, in a religious city, to locate a gang of thieves but recruiting them from the mines and quarries would have been easy. It is anyone’s guess how long the looting took but you would need a lot of men to carry the loot out of the tombs and back to wherever it was being processed for conversion to bullion or offered for sale. There would have been furnaces to melt the gold down to bars. Imagine having to convert Tutankhamen’s solid gold coffin into bullion bars. The whole process would have been a semi-industrial venture and who better to man such an operation than a coterie of professional criminals.”
“We will never know. As there is so little evidence, this is all conjecture but the whole episode defies reasonable explanation when set into the context of Egyptian religious beliefs. Possibly, we will never determine the rationale behind a complete breakdown of traditional values but I like to believe that, when everyone involved died, Osiris fed a lot of souls to the Great Devourer.”
Chapter 24 – THE RAFTS AT ASWAN
Egypt – 1250 BC
The thirtieth anniversary of the king’s ascension was only a year away and he wished to be in Thebes for the arrival of the two granite statues, insisting they be in place before the Jubilee celebrations. Ipi and I had recently returned from my annual respite at Abu Simbel and, when stopping at Aswan, I was relieved to see the polishing of the enthroned statues neared completion.
In all, my life was content and my health excellent for a man of my years. I enjoyed considerable wealth for the king was a very generous patron. I still worshipped my wife, who returned my affection measure-for-measure and the flow of royal commissions, though constant, was no longer over-bearing. My staff had dramatically increased so it was no longer necessary to spent endless hours clambering over building sites in the burning sun as I had when a younger man. I even contemplated writing a compendium on monumental work for the benefit of future royal architects.
My son Rekhmire, who lived in Memphis, was employed as the master architect responsible for Lower Egypt. By tradition, membership in our profession was hereditary, so I was proud that he willingly chose to follow in my footsteps. I marked his passage from apprentice to the ranks of qualified artisans with an elaborately crafted set of instruments in carved ebony and iron, nested in a box of acacia wood inlaid with ivory. With more experience and determination, he could become my successor. Ramesses, who sought out good men, commented favourably on his management of the building of new fortifications at Per-Bastet.
Our eldest daughter had contracted a marriage to a commander of the Royal Guard and they lived in comfortable military quarters at Pi-Ramess with their growing family. Our younger daughter, Nefertiti, had been courted by the eldest son of the Theban provincial governor and nuptial negotiations were concluded. Ramesses and Isetnofret graciously offered to attend the betrothal service in the week after the Sed Festival next year.
Nefertiti had identified the man she wished to wed before he even noticed her existence. My wife, aware of her daughter’s sentiments, arranged seemingly chance meetings during which they hoped to ensnare the innocent lamb. I chose to ignore these machinations though it provided a rare insight into the hopeless plight of men skilfully manoeuvred by crafty women. When I casually asked Ipi if I had been subject to a similar ploy, she looked at me innocently and said she had never engaged in wily artifice to win my heart. I was not convinced, though I did not regret succumbing to her charms.
The king’s fervour for building more monuments lessened considerably after the death of Nefertari. His
vitality was still manifest, yet he was a changed man, although the transformation was subtle. One had to know him intimately to discern the differences between the young king and the now mature ruler. Ramesses travelled widely and frequently throughout his kingdom using Pi-Ramess as the royal residence and seat of imperial administration. Every fourth year, he journeyed along the Great Sea coast, visiting vassal states. Periodically, he ventured further north to the capital of the Hittite Kingdom. He relished the hospitality of the royal family with the alliance between the two kingdoms delivering advantages to both. The threat of the combined strength of the Hittite and Egyptian armies made the covetous Mittani wary of attacking either kingdom whilst allowing Ramesses to maintain a lowered level of military preparedness, though he in no way lessened his vigilance of our foreign neighbours. His emissaries paid diligent court to the potentates ruling to the far east of Canaan, an area with a turbulent history riven by military engagements.
He voyaged to the southern limits of the kingdom in Upper Nubia, never tiring of seeing the royal gold mines yield up their treasure. He hunted in the company of his sons and members of the military elite. Wisely, he ensured sensitive political, religious and military offices were held by his sons and, by this device, he subtly tightening his grip on the country and thwarted discord in the spheres of power from whence upheavals in the past germinated. Full well he understood the ambitions of powerful generals!
Ramesses arranged strategic marriages for his daughters with regional governors, high priests in the major temples, military commanders and senior officials within the vizierate and these family alliances established his own informal network of confidants who kept him informed of attitudes in the upper levels of authority.
Apart from the inconclusive excursion against the Hittites at Qadesh, no enemy offered a serious threat to the country after the signing of the treaty. The undisciplined Libyans lacked leadership and our western border forts easily beat off occasional forays by these flea infested desert bandits. The chastened Nubian nobility had learned bitter lessons about aggressive aspirations towards the kingdom and prudently adopted many of our cultural values under the watchful eye of a chain of heavily garrisoned fortresses stretched across the southern desert. There are royal mines on the Sinai Peninsula but this quiet and backward area is sparsely populated by an uncivilised nomadic population who place little demand on the skills of our army. The cordial relationship with the Hittites negated any upheavals in the far north.
Early in his rule Ramesses had expelled a few thousand Ibri, natives of Canaan. Made captive in military adventures, they proved a troublesome people with an insolent rejection of our religion and arrogant complaints about their suffering under pharaoh’s yoke. They worked hard but their whining demands to rest every seventh day to worship their god, Yahweh, proved disruptive. Their strange dietary habits made the provision of food acceptable to them, a burden on the providores in the labour camps. We Egyptians ate everything provided by our gods and were thankful for the bounty of the land and river but the Ibri fussed endlessly about what they could and could not eat. Most people brought to Egypt as war booty, merged into our society effortlessly, as they came from barbarous lands that were harsh, repressive and lacked any vestige of culture, whereas a life in the kingdom made no great demands on them and they were treated justly by their masters.
We long permitted companies of captured Libyans to serve as auxiliary forces in our army. Tuthmosis IV had even built a tomb in the royal necropolis for a companion of the throne, a black Nubian, and today there are many senior servants of the crown, born in uncivilised countries, who have learnt to appreciate the benefits of our way of life.
The Nile rose, spread its bounty and receded as regularly as the ascension of the solar barque, for the gods greatly favoured Ramesses, and his subjects enjoyed abundant harvests. Livestock increased in number, orchards were extended and the people were content. The king reformed the judicial system so his subjects could expect a just resolution of their legal disputes in provincial courts. The few who complained about injustice were readily accommodated in the royal mines.
I met the king whenever he travelled to Thebes and the city was blessed with his presence several times a year. More buildings were added to the Ramesseum and, as its functions widened, he delighted in embellishing his pre-eminent edifice. During one such visit, the king consulted me about changing a part of the mortuary temple into a centre of scholarship. All major temples housed vast repositories of documents in the custody of archival priests and scribes managed large collections of papyri in government offices.
He invited me to dine with him after a lengthy inspection of the mortuary temple. It was in the cooler part of the year, though the nights were still warm. The backdrop of the river flowing past the pavilion erected for our repast was pleasant and allowed the king a moment of tranquillity away from his official obligations. We enjoyed these interludes and, under the influence of many beakers of wine, I observed the changes in my friend.
“What am I to do? You richly embroider my House of a Million Years and it is wondrous. It is as though you have always discerned my innermost thoughts and understand the temple’s significance to me. By means beyond my understanding, you have built the summation of my soul in stone. When I am called to the Second Life, the gods will rejoice that my journey begins from such an auspicious domain.” The moment of satisfaction fled. “Sennefer, I am anguished and my emotions riven every time I return to Thebes, for behind my temple, within the embrace of the brooding hills, she lies, silent and cold in the solitude of her crypt.” He spoke of Nefertari, now in the third year of her immortality.
“Can you not celebrate, within your heart, her joyous re-birth into eternal peace?”
“As always, my dear friend, your counsel is solicitous. I feel my kinship with my heavenly brothers and their blessings are manifold. My children are now more than I can number and many women warm my bed. Queen Isetnofret is dutiful and several of my sons share with me the burdens of ruling. The land is at peace, my people are happy and the country is well managed.”
“You have achieved much in your time and you can take pride in your many accomplishments.”
His mood lifted slightly. “Yes, what you say is correct. I feel a certain satisfaction when sailing past Abu Simbel and see the modest images of myself. The sense of fulfilment is deepened when I look upon the monuments, statutes and stellae you have placed throughout the land and the inscriptions on the walls of buildings in veneration of my name make pleasant reading. I know that when you finally get off your noble behind and move my granite images from Aswan and place them before the pylons in my temple, my gratification will be boundless.”
His lips and eyes carried his smile at the mention of this great project. “I shall be well remembered millennia after my death.” The smile faded and a despondent mask settled upon his face.
“I writhe in loneliness. In the depths of the night, her memory haunts me. I smell her perfume still, feel the caress of her hands upon my body and the sound of her laughter rings in my ears. When I dwell upon her loss, it slows my heart and I struggle to find joy each morning even as the warmth from Re’s great barque falls upon my body. I yearn to be at her side and re-united in eternal love.” His eyes misted over and lines of sadness etched themselves deeply.
“Ramesses, I know not the depth of your sorrow. It grieves me that you are still so heavily burdened with suffering and despair. I did not perceive the intensity of your bereavement as I had hoped your duties, your family and the responsibilities of kingship filled your days and nights. Ipi and I would willingly give more of ourselves if it brought some lessening of your loneliness.”
“Spoken as the true friend you are but your offer, as generous as it is, will not assuage my grief. It is a wound I shall carry to my grave and only then will the barb be withdrawn by her healing hands.” He looked out over the river in contemplation. We sat in silence until his gaze returned to me.
�
�I have been considering a matter that may bring some little surcease to my misery. Nefertari was very learned, more so than me. She oft spoke of establishing a centre of knowledge before she died but the idea remained stillborn. Our nation has enjoyed a long and magnificent past and, to my sure knowledge, our civilisation is not equalled in the world.”
“I wish to establish, within my temple, a House of Life dedicated to Queen Nefertari. My beloved would have drawn great satisfaction from the creation of such a place because she was of the firm opinion that knowledge outlasts the ephemeral efforts of men whilst equipping a nation with the tools to advance and prosper. I remember something she once said – the history of our kingdom was like a rich carpet, the patterns of which can only be shown by spreading them out. When the carpets are folded up, the patterns are obscured and lost. The rich tapestry of our heritage lies hidden within too many archives. Our accumulated wisdom is to be gathered in this great centre for study by gifted men, secular and sacred, and it will serve as a sanctuary housing the writings of the past now scattered throughout my kingdom.” He finished with a question “What do you think?”
“I think this a very worthy and rewarding enterprise, Master.” I had reason to frequent the repository of the archival priest at Karnak in search of information whilst masons and tomb decorators visited the temple seeking inspiration and guidance in their work. My own profession complained about not having access to texts, plans or commentary on buildings. Knowledge was passed on by word of mouth from Master to apprentice and by virtue of the small collection of papyri each of us tried to assemble in our lifetime.
My own papers would pass to my son but, if he had not chosen to become an architect, who would receive the benefit of this valuable material on my death? I was surprised, when appointed royal architect, to find few technical papers in my predecessor’s office. When I queried him on this matter, he said he wanted his papers to accompany him in the Afterlife and they would be amongst his funerary goods. I doubted if Thoth, the Celestial Architect, had need of any human builder’s skills in strengthening the ramparts around the Field of Reeds.
The Golden Falcon Page 32