Soon he was able to sit for a while beside his couch and then to walk unsteadily about the room. His appetite had returned, and on the morning when he cleared his plate and asked for more Aahmes-nefertari clapped her hands delightedly. “You will soon be out on the river, fishing again,” she said, but his face darkened.
“I do not think that I will either catch or eat fish any more,” he replied sadly. “I could not do so without missing Kamose. Besides, when we lay him in his tomb I will be King, and Kings are forbidden to eat fish. It is an offence against Hapi.”
“I think that while you are still only a Prince, the God of the Nile would be pleased that you so loved his domain,” she objected. “And surely Kamose would be saddened if you abandoned something that always brought you so much joy.” But he shook his head and did not respond.
At last he was strong enough to be dressed and venture out into the garden, followed by an excited crowd of servants bearing cushions, a sunshade, fly whisk, pastries and his sandal box. He stood outside the main entrance for a while, blinking in the bright sunlight, then he moved slowly over the grass towards the pond. Crossing the path to the watersteps, he paused and glanced down. “This is where I cradled him, and this is where he died,” he said quietly. “I have remembered, Aahmes-nefertari. Remembered all of it. May I never forget.” Then he lifted his face to the sky, inhaled the perfume from the banks of spring flowers in bloom, and continued on.
They had only been settled a short time by the pool when Aahotep came hurrying towards them, two scrolls in her hand. “Messages from Hor-Aha and Ramose!” she exclaimed. “It is over, all of it! The rebellion is utterly finished. Hor-Aha tells us that although he was forced to execute the officers who betrayed us a second time, he is bringing the soldiers back. There is no fight left in them. Ramose, Mesehti and Makhu will arrive together and together they have been hunting the remnants of the deserters from Intef and Iasen’s nomes. Will you pardon their cowardice, Ahmose?” He held out a hand on which his rings once again glinted.
“That depends on how they seem when they stand before me,” he replied. “We have learned a hard lesson, Aahotep. Perhaps it is time for reorganization and I think I will begin with the army. I intend to march north as soon as the period of mourning is over, but I will not make the mistakes that drove Kamose to his ruin.”
His glance strayed to the pond where a naked Ahmoseonkh sat on the verge kicking up sheets of spray and gurgling with laughter. “It is now the middle of Mekhir. The fields are being sown and I have seeds of my own to strew all over the Delta.” He looked speculatively from his mother to his wife. “I have no qualms in leaving Weset to my two warriors,” he smiled. “And I swear to both of you that in return for what you have done I will lay a united Egypt at your feet. Give the scrolls to Ipi, Mother, and come in under the sunshade. Today we will talk of nothing but the dragonflies hunting the mosquitoes and the sun on the water.”
Aahmes-nefertari found herself studying him curiously. He was the same and yet not the same, her beloved husband, still mild and deliberate in his words and gestures, but the air of vague simplicity that had caused so many to misread him had gone. He has been transmuted like the rest of us, she thought rather sadly. He was struck down a Prince, and he has risen up a King.
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.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
HEARTFELT THANKS to my researcher, Bernard Ramanauskas, without whose organizational skill and meticulous attention to detail these books could not have been written.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
The Oasis Page 53