The figure of Ra stepped out from the sanctuary. In his hands he held a large ewer. His cruel, curved beak brushed Ahmose’s ear as he raised the vessel high, and a cascade of cool water poured over Ahmose’s head, ran down his belly, and pooled between his legs. “This is the cleansing power of Ra,” the god called. “Your purification is complete.” A priest came forward hurriedly with a cloth to dry Ahmose. The chant of the singers changed, swelled, and Amunmose lifted a cloth of gold kilt and a jewelled belt from the arm of one of his waiting priests. Wrapping the kilt around Ahmose’s waist and fixing the belt in place, he said loudly, “Receive the garment of lucidity and the belt of courage.”
“Lucidity and courage belong to the god,” Ahmose responded. “I receive them as his son.” Next a jewelled cape was laid around his shoulders. It was very heavy and Ahmose instinctively straightened his spine in order to bear its weight.
“Receive the mantle of authority,” Amunmose intoned and Ahmose answered obediently,
“Authority belongs to the god. I receive it as his son.” Amunmose indicated the Throne and at last Ahmose sank onto it and laid his hands along the lions. He felt his fingers briefly enclosed. Aahmes-nefertari was looking across at him and smiling tremulously. “Egypt will honour you as her salvation through every age,” she whispered. “I want to cry but my kohl will run if I do. I love you, my King.” Amunmose was kneeling, the sandals in his grasp. Made of gold leaf, set with lapis and jasper, they had once been painted with a likeness of Apepa on each sole so that Ahmose might crush his enemy as he walked, but Ahmose had requested that it be expunged. He had no desire to trumpet his vengeance on this day.
“Receive the sandals of wisdom,” Amunmose pronounced.
“Wisdom belongs to the god,” Ahmose replied. “I receive it as his son.”
He was adorned with a pectoral his mother had commissioned, a great square of gold representing a sacred kiosk inlaid with carnelian, lapis and turquoise depicting the Lake of Heaven on which a solar barque sailed. Falcons flew over it to left and right and in its centre Ahmose stood while Ra and Amun poured streams of libation over him. A gold and turquoise bracelet, also a gift from Aahotep, was fastened around his forearm. It was hinged in two parts. On the right Ahmose was shown being crowned by Geb, God of the Earth, and on the left Seqenenra and Kamose knelt in the jackal masks of the dead, their arms raised in ecstasy. Deeply moved, Ahmose kissed it.
Now Ipi came forward, crouched low. Ahmose had appointed him Overseer of Protocol and Guardian of the Royal Regalia. He was sorry to lose the man’s skill as a scribe, but he felt that Ipi deserved recognition for his trustworthiness. Laying his two charges before the Throne, Ipi opened them, bowed to them and to Ahmose, and retired. The two goddesses who had remained in the sanctuary now came gliding forward and the singers fell silent. A hush fell over the assembly. Out of one chest the goddess Wadjet removed the Red Crown. Setting it solemnly on Ahmose’s head she called, “Receive the deshret and rule the Red Land unto millions of years.” Leaning forward she kissed first the crown and then Ahmose’s forehead. Nekhbet already had the White Crown in her hands. Placing it gently inside the Red Crown she said, “Receive the hedjet and rule the Black Land unto millions of years.” After making her obeisance, both she and Wadjet removed the Uraeus, the cobra and the vulture, from its bed and sank it into its niche in the centre of the Red Crown. “Receive the Lady of Dread and the Lady of Flame,” they chorused together. “Death to your enemies and a shield to Your Majesty.”
The final act was again performed by Amunmose. Placing the Crook and the Flail in Ahmose’s hands, he flung up his arms in triumph. “Behold Uatch-Kheperu Ahmose, Son of the Sun, Horus, the Horus of Gold, He of the Sedge and Bee, He of the Two Ladies, the Mighty Bull of Ma’at, God in Egypt!” he shouted. “Life, Health and Prosperity to him forever!” Ahmose rose, and the Queen with him. At once the temple exploded into a roaring tumult. The singers sang. The dancers swayed. Shouts of acclamation resounded to the roof. Ahmose waited but the noise did not abate. It continued to rise, thrilling and deafening, until he raised the Crook and Flail and held it over the host. Then every knee bent, every forehead touched the ground, and Ahmose and his family walked slowly through the ocean of adoration and out into the blinding sunlight of a summer day.
Ahmose was carried back to the palace on an hysterical tide of enthusiasm, high above the seething, yelling people. Ankhmahor stood beside him as his Fanbearer on the Right Hand and Akhtoy held the ostrich fan on his left. Ahmoseonkh leaned against his calf and waved happily at the crowd. Aahmes-nefertari was following on her own throne behind them, with Tetisheri and Aahotep behind her in uncurtained litters. Harkhuf and the Followers together with Khabekhnet strode imperiously ahead. It would take a long time for the rear of the straggling procession to reach the reception hall where the guests would feast for the rest of the day and far into the night. As the palace hove into view and the gates were swung open, Ahmose glanced up.
Two figures were watching him from the roof of the palace. One was sitting with his back against the opening of the new windcatcher which was, Ahmose thought bewilderedly, impossible. The other was standing with his arms folded, gazing pensively out over the glittering expanse of the Nile to the line of rugged cliffs on the west bank. Ahmose blinked, then looked again. The roof was empty, of course it was, baking in the noon heat.
The bearers set him down, and at once Ipi was issuing orders to his assistants to remove the Horus Throne to its accustomed place inside on the dais and holding out one of the chests so that Ahmose could lay in it the Crook and the Flail. Aahmes-nefertari came close, slipping her arm through his. “Chief Treasurer Neferperet tells me that there are literally mountains of gifts about to be formally presented to you from foreign ambassadors and your grateful nobles,” she said. “I know that this is a very sacred and important day, Majesty, but it is also fun, is it not?” He smiled and kissed her hennaed mouth.
“Indeed it is,” he answered lightly. “Shall we go to the nursery and worship our son before parading into the reception hall for our own share of veneration?” Ahmose-onkh was tugging at his kilt.
“Majesty Father, the frogs have not yet found their way into the new pool,” he complained. “Some of them have, but the big ones, my favourites, are very slow.” Ahmose ran a loving hand over the boy’s brown skull and down the thick youth lock.
“The kerer are symbols of rebirth,” he said. “Be patient with them. They will come when they are ready. There is a perfect time for everything within the omniscience of Ma’at. Now let us go in.” The shade beneath the pillars was inviting. Hand in hand, the three of them left the brilliance of the courtyard and made their way into the coolness of the palace beyond.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Aldred, Cyril. Jewels of the Pharaohs: Egyptian Jewelry of the Dynastic Period. rev. ed. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1978.
Aldred, Cyril. The Egyptians. rev. ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 1987.
Baikie, James. A History of Egypt: From the Earliest Times to the End of the xviii Dynasty. Vol 1 and 2. Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
Baines, John, and Jaromir Malek. Atlas of Ancient Egypt. New York: Facts on File, 1987.
Bietak, Manfred. Avaris, the Capital of the Hyksos: Recent Excavations at Tell el-Daba. London: British Museum Press, 1996.
Breasted, James H. A History of Egypt: From the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905.
Breasted, James H. Ancient Records of Egypt. Vol. 2 and 4. London: Histories & Mysteries of Man Ltd., 1988.
Bryan, Cyril P. Ancient Egyptian Medicine: The Papyrus Ebers. Chicago: Ares Publishers Inc., 1930.
Budge, Wallace E.A. A History of Egypt: from the End of the Neolithic Period to the Death of Cleopatra VII. B.C. 30. Vol. 3, Egypt under the Amenemhats and Hyksos. Oosterhout: Anthropological Publications, 1968.
Budge, Wallace E.A. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary.
Vol 1 and 2. rev. ed. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1978.
Budge, Wallace E.A. Egyptian Magic. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.
Budge, Wallace E.A. Legends of the Egyptian Gods: Hieroglyphic Texts and Translations. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994.
Budge, Wallace E.A. The Mummy: A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1989.
Cottrell, Leonard. The Warrior Pharaohs. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1969.
David, Rosalie. Mysteries of the Mummies: The Story of the Manchester University Investigation. London: Book Club Associates, 1979.
Davidovits, Joseph, and Margie Morris. The Pyramids: an Enigma Solved. New York: Dorset Press, 1988.
Gardiner, Sir Alan. Egypt of the Pharaohs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964.
James, T.G.H. Excavating in Egypt: The Egypt Exploration Society 1882–1982. London: British Museum Publications Limited, 1982.
Mertz, Barbara. Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt. rev. ed. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1990.
Murnane, William J. Guide to Ancient Egypt. New York: Penguin Books, 1983.
Murray, Margaret A. Egyptian Religious Poetry. Westport: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1980.
Murray, Margaret A. The Splendour that was Egypt. rev. ed. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1972.
Nagel’s Encyclopedia-Guide. Egypt. Geneva: Nagel Publishers, 1985.
Newberry, Percy Edward. Ancient Egyptian Scarabs: An Introduction to Egyptian Seals and Signet Rings. Chicago: Ares, 1979.
Newby, Percy Howard. Warrior Pharaohs: The Rise and Fall of the Egyptian Empire. London, Boston: Faber and Faber, 1980.
Porter, Bertha, and Rosalind L.B. Moss. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. Vol. VII, Nubia, The Deserts and Outside Egypt. Oxford: Griffith Institute Ashmolean Museum, 1995.
Richardson, Dan. Egypt: The Rough Guide. London: Penguin Books, 1996.
Shaw, Ian, and Paul Nicholson. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. London: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995.
Spalinger, Anthony J. Aspects of the Military Documents of the Ancient Egyptians. London: Yale University Press, 1982.
Watson, Philip J. Costumes of Ancient Egypt. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Wilson, Ian. The Exodus Enigma. London: Guild Publishing, 1986.
University Museum Handbooks. The Egyptian Mummy Secrets and Science. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 1980.
ATLASES
Oxford Bible Atlas. 2nd ed. London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
The Harper Atlas of the Bible. Edited by James A. Pritchard. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1987.
The Cambridge Atlas of the Middle East and North Africa. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
JOURNALS
K.M.T. a Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt. San Francisco.
Volume 5, number 1, Hyksos Symposium at the Metropolitan Museum.
Volume 5, number 2, Amunhotep I, Last King of the 17th Dynasty?
Volume 5, number 3, Decline of the Royal Pyramid.
Volume 6, number 2, Buhen: Blueprint of an Egyptian Fortress.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
HEARTFELT THANKS to my researcher, Bernard Ramanauskas, without whose organizational skill and meticulous attention to detail these books could not have been written.
Thanks also to Dr. K.F.M. Jackman, M.D., B.F.C., for his timely advice.
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PAULINE GEDGE
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THE HIPPOPOTAMUS MARSH
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THE OASIS
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THE HORUS ROAD
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HOUSE OF DREAMS
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Table of Contents
Cover
Praise for Pauline Gedge
Penguin Canada
Also By Pauline Gedge
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Character List
Introduction
The Horus Road
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
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