Ramesses emerged from the sanctum, face upturned and arms outstretched. He held the hequat or crook in his right hand and the nekhakha, the flail in the other. On his head the blue kepresh crown, round his neck, a Horus collar in gold, red jasper, turquoise and lapis-lazuli, a pectoral of gold cloisonné inlaid with glass and semi-precious stones in the form of a falcon with sun disc adorned his chest, on his arms golden bracelets, his fingers encrusted with golden rings and his feet shod in gilded sandals. At his waist, suspended from a belt of finely worked gold filigree, hung a dagger with jewelled handle and sheath and his lower body was robed in a dazzling white pleated kilt. He held the pose for some minutes, moving only to allow the sun’s rays to strike his ornaments. His audience, overwhelmed by the grandeur of his finery and bearing, fell to their knees in adulation, foreheads touching the ground.
Here, in the magnificence of the pharaoh, was the embodiment of our empire, our culture and Egypt’s power. He radiated all we valued as sacred and standing there, framed by the pillars of the temple, none could doubt his divinity. The rays from the solar barque blazed on his jewellery and were reflected towards the heavens. He broke the silence with a command.
“Arise, my people.”
We stood, cheering with a mighty uplifting of voices. Setting aside the emblems of kingship, he strolled amongst those who attended him offering greetings and thanks. The princes followed as he made his progress towards the passage through the pylon fronting the temple as we made our way to an enclosure reserved for the nobility. Ramesses, a master of presentation, held back momentarily before making his appearance. A throne of gilded and jewelled wood, flanked by Royal Guards, was set upon a dais on the terrace. When we were settled, the procession of royal children emerged from the inner courtyard. Heralded by a fanfare of trumpets, the king strode through the pylon, mounted the terrace, stood again with out-swept arms and accepted the thunderous adulation of his subjects who cheered and wept as they beheld their pharaoh. He took his throne and indicated silence with his hand.
“People of Egypt. I am fresh from the shrines of Ptah, Amun, Re, Horus, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Thoth, Hathor, Maat and their brother and sisters. Together we spoke of my thirty years as your pharaoh. To each god and goddess, I offered my thanks and adoration and they in their turn offered me, as their son on earth, their thanks and blessings. We spoke not as master and servant but as equals as I am as one with the gods. You see about you a land at peace, a land of prosperity, a land where no part has failed to receive the benediction of my intercession with the gods on behalf of those I rule.” He rose from his throne, arms outspread, adornments ablaze, and thundered.
“I, Ramesses, am the ruler of the world and beholden to none. I have crushed under the wheels of my chariot those who sought to threaten my power. The deserts sands ran red with their blood and vultures feasted upon their stinking corpses. Nations tremble at a whisper of my name. To honour my brothers and sisters in the heavens, I have caused the mightiest of monuments to be raised up from the Great Sea to the end of the known world in the south. Through me, the gods have blessed my kingdom with justice, harmony and peace.”
Lowering his voice, he bestowed a smile upon his people. “Today is a day of great celebration. Today, we rejoice in the bounty of the gods. Go forth and enjoy the fruits of my rule.”
The crowd roared its approval and moved to feast upon tables laden with food and emmer beer from the royal kitchens. The king and princes left the terrace and returned to the inner courtyard, where tables had been set up for noblemen, foreign dignitaries and their wives. Ramesses and Khaemwaset moved amongst the diners, accepting their personal endearments. Late in the afternoon, Ipi and I took our leave and returned to our quarters. In company with many of the nobility, we would soon leave for the voyage to Pi-Ramess. The king would be involved in another week of liturgical and State affairs before he departed to the north.
Next morning, Ipi and I sat savouring a leisurely breakfast on our suite’s terrace when Prince Merenptah arrived bearing an invitation to remain in Memphis as his father wished to spend some time visiting the pyramids along the Nile so the king enjoined us to accompany him and his sons. We would then take passage to Pi-Ramess with the royal fleet.
“My father asks if you would be so gracious as to accept an invitation to join him and my mother, Queen Isetnofret, as their guests at the palace for an extended vacation?” I replied we would be delighted to honour his father’s most gracious offer.
“Merenptah, will you stay a while and breakfast with us?” Ipi enquired.
“I am sorry but I must take my leave. The king has religious duties to undertake and tomorrow his time will be taken in official matters. I must join him in these affairs.”
He said the royal progress would stop at Heliopolis before branching off to the eastern arm of the Nile that led to Pi-Ramess, after our inspection of the pyramids and great sphinx at Giza and the lesser pyramids at Dashur and Saqqara, just south of Memphis.
Merenptah enquired “Ipi, have you seen the sun rising and casting its light over the great pyramids?”
“No, but it is something I have longed to see. My father commented on the spectacle a number of times but I was never fortunate enough to travel north of Memphis.”
“It is a dramatic vision everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. Sennefer, can I offer you the hospitality of the palace in Heliopolis for an evening? You have some days before the king is free to tour the royal necropolis. If you are uncommitted this afternoon I will make arrangements to have a vessel take you up river. Ipi, I assure you it is an experience you will long treasure.”
There was no possibility of refusing the invitation. If I had demurred, domestic bliss would have been dispelled for many months. We arrived at the palace just as the sun slipped below the horizon, silhouetting the three monoliths in the afterglow of the solar barque’s descent. The Heliopolis palace stood on a rise overlooking the city and our suite presented a vista over the river and desert to where the pyramids stood, now lost in the thickening darkness.
Next morning, my man servant woke us early, prepared a light breakfast and served us on our veranda as I wanted Ipi to see the pyramids bathed in the first rays of the sun. The river was still clothed in a swirling, chill mist that eddied up onto the fringes of its banks in soft white clouds. At first nothing could be seen to the west save the sharp points of star light surrounding Nun’s arched body yielding to the fire of the ascending orb behind us.
From the darkness three brooding shapes emerged, subtly becoming more distinct as the soft glow of dawn drove the ebony from the sky. On the plateau, the pyramids changed from a vague greyness, then pearly white and finally unburnished gold as Re banished the last vestiges of night from the heavens. The electrum coated pyramidions crowning the apex of each pyramid blazed like beacons when the full force of the sun’s rays struck them. Clearly etched against an azure sky, they stood in solitary magnificence. The massive great pyramid of Khufu, the slightly smaller pyramid of Khafre and, just to the south, the pyramid of Menkaure, were, with their mortuary temples, queens pyramids and nobles tombs attendant at their feet, mirrored in the floodwaters spread out almost to the foot of the high ridge that bore their grandeur.
“They are unbelievably beautiful.” breathed Ipi “I had no idea just how truly spectacular they are.”
“Wait until we cross the river and approach them, my love. Our king builds on a mighty scale but nothing, absolutely nothing in the kingdom comes near their overwhelming might. Khufu’s pyramid is over 146 metres high and its base measures 215 metres along each side. By comparison, the granite statues at the Ramesseum mortuary temple stand nineteen metres tall and weigh 1,000 tonnes each. I estimate the weight of stone in Khufu’s pyramid at five million tonnes - a figure verging on the unimaginable. The kings who envisaged these structures and built them were the greatest builders the world has seen, not that would I ever say that in front of the King.”
“I stood one mor
ning with the king, as we now stand, watching this scene unfolding in the dawning sky. He wept openly and without shame. When he calmed himself, I asked why he wept. This was at the time work had begun on his mortuary temple and the temple at Luxor. His monument at Abu Simbel was well advanced and he was expanding his vast building plans. The king’s reply was enigmatic. He said the gods had not given him the determination to build such a temple of devotion to them. He has surpassed any previous pharaoh in the number of monuments dedicated to the gods but in his heart, when he looks upon this vista, Ramesses believes he will never equal what these three little known kings achieved in their lifetimes.”
“He was slightly mollified by the knowledge the pyramids are nothing more than tombs, very large tombs but they were not temples to the gods. Buried within those millions of tonnes of stone are the bodies of three kings which will remain untouched by human hands and this knowledge now irks him. It is only recently he discovered that the tombs of many rulers of the past have crumbled into dust and the bodies they held are lost or destroyed. With this knowledge in mind, he commanded me to build a fortress for his and Queen Nefertari’s remains. Now he strives for the immortality of his body to the same extent Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure achieved in their great stone mausoleums.”
“My husband, the king could not have entrusted this matter to a better man. You are more gifted than the architects who designed the pyramids. Yes, they are imposing statements in stone and impressive, almost overpowering but what you build has dignity and grace. My father told me, before you asked for my hand, that you would rise to be the greatest architect in the history of the kingdom. Your monuments will be spoken off and admired until the end of time.”
“Enough of this praise, my little beauty. My head will swell more than is seemly in a mere mortal. The day is before us and I will show you the sights of Heliopolis. When you see the temple here that bears my signature, perhaps I will allow you to offer up more fulsome praise of your husband - as a good wife should.”
The look I received caused me to think we should not waste the luxurious bed gracing our apartment. It seemed that there are some small rewards for knowing how to put one stone on another.
Chapter 29 -VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY
Egypt – 1249 BC
Ipi and I returned to Memphis and had just resumed our apartment for the evening, when Merenptah called in to tell us the grand tour of the pyramids would start early on the morrow. As the pyramids lay in a long chain along the western bank of the river, we would travel by chariot with the royal barques keeping abreast of us on the river.
“Lady Ipi, would you like to join us in the adventure? On previous visits, the priests who accompanied me were incapable of explaining how these monuments were built. Your husband may enlighten us but your presence will bring grace to our party. The palace stables offer you the choice of either chariot or palanquin, although you may find travelling by chariot a little rough as much of the ground is broken until we get within walking distance of our destination. Perhaps a palanquin would be more comfortable?”
“It would be a delight to accompany you and a chariot will suit me well enough.” Ipi travelled by chariot on her trips around Thebes and my building sites. “It has been some time since I felt the rush of air through my hair in a well drawn chariot, so the day may bring a touch of spice to my life.” Pointing to me, she said “When he was a younger man many moons ago, the royal builder would sometimes come racing up to our house in his chariot and carry me off into the desert like a warrior snatching a maiden from the clutches of some foul barbarian. Now he drives his chariot with the demeanour of a high priest on his way to a funeral.” She winked impudently at me.
I gave her smile and a hug, thanking the gods for their mercy. If left to her own devices, my wife and our son’s wife, Nofret, would happily pass their time exploring the city’s emporia and leave many merchants in reverence of her name. A few days engaged in exploring pyramids would not lighten my purse by one sliver of gold whilst a pilgrimage by Ipi and Nofret to the markets would leave me looking to see if a hole had worked itself into the fabric of the same purse.
“It is settled. One swift conveyance for the lady and one sedate vehicle for the gentleman. I am sure the royal stables can find some slow horses for your husband. I bid you good evening. Tomorrow morning, as the sun rises, we will leave.”
Just as dawn broke, we joined Ramesses and his sons at the palace gates where they had assembled a fleet of vehicles. Ipi mounted a chariot manned by a young muscular driver and, as she boarded, she gave me another naughty wink. Insufferable woman.
We left Memphis, driving inland to Darshur to see the three pyramids built by King Sneferu. He had attempted a first pyramid at Saqqara but its foundation collapsed in mid-construction and was abandoned. The move to Darshur was slightly more successful, though the second attempt proved to be another failure as it grew in height. The builders attempted to overcome its instability by tapering the top, which gave the pyramid its distinctive appearance. The third attempt, the red pyramid, under which he is thought to be buried, was ultimately successful. In a reign of thirty years, Sneferu consumed over ten million tonnes of stone building three pyramids. Further south, at Meidum, there is an incomplete structure which may be another of his abortive works. Before returning to Memphis, we spent half a day exploring these massive structures, commenting on the dedication of not only the pharaoh but the people who laboured so long and hard in the service of their king.
Ramesses and his sons had many questions about building such huge monuments. In much smaller executions, this type of tomb is still popular with the Memphite nobility so I could explain the basic principles whilst admitting there were aspects of the internal construction of great pyramids unknown to anyone in my profession.
Khaemwaset acted as tour guide and raconteur, keeping us enlivened with stories and humorous tales. The prince was a man of subtle humour, great erudition and the acknowledged authority on our land’s heritage. He told us a little of the history of Memphis, a city established at the dawn of our civilisation. Surrounding the modern metropolis were slight remnants of the ancient town, though evidence of the earliest burial ground, consecrated one and a half millennia ago, was more readily identifiable.
“About one thousand years ago, it was the royal city of King Pepi and his successors but, unfortunately, the ensuing history of the region, after the collapse of the Memphite kings, is a scroll with many blank spaces. The dynasty’s inability to control a unified kingdom saw the capital of Lower Egypt moved to Herakleopolis, yet the culture and religious traditions established by the Memphite kings continued to the time of the Hyksos conquest. Most Lower Egyptian rulers used the cemeteries around the holy city as their burial ground, so this necropolis holds the graves of more kings, queens and nobles than all the others in the kingdom.”
“The kings of Upper Egypt, ruling from Thebes, were buried in the slopes of the western hills across from the city until the kingdom’s re-unification under Pharaoh Ahmosis, after which our immediate ancestors chose to be interred in the Great Palace. Memphis has never re-captured its former imminence.”
Ramesses took up the story. “The first Hyksos king, Salitis, realising he could not effectively rule the kingdom from Avaris in the Delta, moved to Memphis. The move was to no avail as he and his inheritors failed to extend their influence any further south where they met hostile resistance from the Theban kings. Little evidence of their dominion remains as Ahmose and his immediate successors ruthlessly tore down any building associated with the Hyksos. What the invaders could not extinguish was the city’s pre-eminence as the centre of learning and the worship of Ptah which Khaemwaset does much to embellish.”
The king overlooked a small detail. The ruler he so greatly admired, Amenhotep III, had built an impressive temple dedicated to Ptah in Memphis. Within the temple stood two colossal quartzite statues of Amenhotep which Ramesses re-engraved with his name and cartouche. The practice of usurping a prev
ious monarch’s statues and monuments, removing their name and replacing it with the usurper’s identity, was not unusual but Ramesses was a most assiduous practitioner. I thought it would lead to some interesting discussions on the oar benches of the solar barque between various kings rightfully accusing others of stealing their glory.
Khaemwaset resumed his narrative “Even during the rule of the heretical Akhenaton, the city remained the country’s administrative capital. Today, under the enlightened rule of the Ramessu kings, Memphis flourishes as the seat of imperial governance.
Early in his reign, Ramesses commissioned a palace overlooking the Nile and I had to modify my designs somewhat as Memphite buildings were more elegant in aspect, and less ponderous, than the style favoured by the king and his forebears. Memphis rose as the seat of the Ptah cult at the time of the pyramid building rulers and it was the first city to benefit from the widespread use of stone, instead of mud brick. Another dynamic early builder, Amenemhat III of the Twelfth era, greatly extended the Temple of Ptah 500 years ago and subsequent rulers increased its estates making it, after Thebes, the second richest religious house in the realm.
Next morning, we resumed our tour in the immense cemetery at Saqqara where I pointed out a selfevident problem in maintaining our heritage. Literally hundreds of ancient tombs had lost all their distinguishing features and many had collapsed or were badly eroded by the passage of time and the effects of the elements. A particular style of tomb had developed from the first, simple underground burials. A rectangular pit was dug into the ground, lined with mud bricks and roofed in timber. External walls were laid above ground, faced with plastered bricks and a second timber roof covered with packed clay.
Late in the Second era, King Khasekhemui departed from the practice of using brick and, for the first time, employed limestone set in muddy plaster. Though his crypt was stone built, the brick complex had been badly eroded and the burial chamber lay open. Our inspection showed nothing remained within the crypt save a battered sarcophagus. There is no record of why Khasekhemui’s builder changed from brick to stone. Possibly, if he foresaw the deterioration we now looked upon and conceived the need for a permanent crypt for his Master, his decision was immediately comprehensible yet he, too, had failed to protect the king’s remains. Ramesses appeared dismayed by what he observed. Merenptah queried “What prompted the change to stone?”
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