Beauty of Re

by Mark Gajewski

  The king nodded. That had been inevitable.

  “We’ll take the soldiers we captured outside the walls of Megiddo back to Kemet. Some will be sacrificed on the altar of Amun at his great temple in Ipet–Isut, in honor of the victory he has given us. The rest will be enslaved.”

  The king blanched.

  “All your mares, foals, stallions, cattle and sheep are forfeit.”

  “How are we to live?” the king objected.

  “Send to your ally, Durusha, the King of Kadesh,” I spat. “Perhaps that coward will have mercy on you.”

  The king was silent.

  “When you fled inside your city you left behind your royal armor, your chariot, your tent poles chased with silver. His Majesty will take them back to Kemet.”

  The king nodded.

  I swept my eyes over the chieftains. “All of you will acknowledge you are vassals of His Majesty, or he’ll unleash his might against each of your towns in turn. You have seen the plumes of smoke rising from those he’s raided in this district. So will His Majesty treat your towns if you rise against him again.”

  All nodded.

  “You will recite the following oath of allegiance: ‘I will not again do evil against Menkheperre my good Lord, in my lifetime, for I have seen his might, and he has deigned to give me breath.’ You will recite this oath individually. You will do it now.”

  One by one the chieftains in the audience hall came forward to the foot of Thut’s throne and made their pledge and the scribes recorded it – the rulers of Berothah and Kumidi and Damascus and Bezer and Yanoam and Shemesh–Edom and Mahaz and Lebo and Laish and Helkath and the hundreds of others who had risen against Thut. It took almost two hours for all of them to pledge their fealty.

  “You’ll grant the traders of Kemet full access to the trade routes passing through Megiddo and Retenu and Setjet,” I continued when the pledges were done. “You’ll provide protection for them as they pass through your land.”

  “Agreed.”

  “You’ll deliver your eldest sons and daughters to us as hostages – today. We’ll take them to Kemet, raise and educate them. If any of you ever challenge the authority of King Menkheperre – ever – they’ll be executed.”

  There was a collective gasp from the enemy leaders.

  “If you remain loyal to His Majesty, when each of you grows old your son will be sent back to your town to rule in your stead. But rest assured – their loyalty will lie with Kemet, not the lands of their birth. As for your daughters, His Majesty will arrange suitable marriages for them.”

  The king and chieftains nodded once more.

  Thut touched my arm and I bent low so he could whisper in my ear. I straightened. “While you who led this rebellion must suffer, His Majesty grants clemency to those soldiers who followed you. Your error is not theirs. We will keep the horses of your mounted men, but they and your foot soldiers may take any donkeys not already appropriated by His Majesty and use them to return to their homes.”

  And so the common people of the towns that had risen in rebellion would have no reason to resent Thut. I suspected if the situation was reversed – if we had lost the battle – every one of our soldiers would already be enslaved.

  Another whispered conversation with Thut. He’d already decided on a strategy for holding Retenu and Setjet, after his earlier conversation with Djehuty. I was impressed at how quickly his mind worked.

  “It is His Majesty’s intention to hold this land permanently,” I informed the leaders. “To keep the King of Kadesh from stirring up more trouble, His Majesty will advance northward on the main road from Megiddo and build a fortress to control it. The fortress shall be called ‘Thutmose is the Binder of the Wretches’ and will be garrisoned with His Majesty’s troops. Other than that, he will let each of you continue to oversee the territory he has just conquered. As long as you remain loyal to him, and look out for his interests, His Majesty will allow you to govern your towns as you see fit. But be warned – any chieftain in this room who is found to be disloyal to His Majesty will be executed and replaced.” I paused to let that sink in, then continued. “All of you will be required to send tribute to His Majesty annually. The amount and type of tribute will be established by the king. If you fail to meet your obligation, you and your towns will suffer, and your children who are being held hostage.”

  With that declaration Thut had just seized control of the whole country bordering the Great Green, I realized, and would have to tie down only a handful of his own men to occupy it. Anyone who still harbored doubts about Thut’s ability to rule Kemet or build an empire was a fool.

  Now came the part of the surrender that I’d dreaded. Thut had placed me in an awkward and uncomfortable position. He had no idea how much it hurt me to state his final demand, not on account of myself, but because of how it impacted Nefer’s status. She did not know this demand was forthcoming. I averted my eyes from her. “Do you have daughters?” I asked the king.

  “Three,” he answered.

  “Tell them to step forward.”

  The three fearfully moved out of the crowd to stand beside their father. One was at most ten years old, one about twenty, the third probably eighteen.

  I turned to Thut. “Which one, Majesty?”

  He scanned them quickly. “The girl in the middle – her name?”

  I asked.

  “Menwi, My Lady,” she said nervously. She was comely, relatively tall, thin, skin light, her dark hair short, eyes afraid.

  Thut nodded.

  I addressed the King of Megiddo. “To ensure the alliance between Kemet and Megiddo is permanent, King Menkheperre will take Menwi as his bride. She’ll return with us to Kemet. You will supply the appropriate amount of goods and number of retainers to accompany her.”

  Menwi began to sob as her father nodded.

  I stole a glance at Nefer. She was looking straight ahead, disinterested, as if such a marriage was the most natural thing in the world, as, I supposed, it was, if one was to build an empire. It struck me that this was probably only the first of many marriages Thut would make with wretches to cement alliances and ensure the loyalty of his vassal states as he pushed Kemet’s borders farther north and east. What those marriages would mean for Nefer I had no clue. I couldn’t conceive of any foreign wife ever outranking her. But their presence would diminish her time with Thut. I vowed I would not let Nefer simply disappear into a large harem and be driven from Thut’s mind. I was determined that she would serve at his side and be allowed to utilize all of her talents and abilities. But that was going to be more difficult now, with a new young wife in the mix. The rest of the campaign – time that should have been Thut’s and Nefer’s alone – was now going to have to be shared with Menwi.

  “We have an understanding, then,” I told the king. “And so King Menkheperre – life, prosperity, health – spares the lives of all who live in Megiddo, and your city itself.”

  “Thank you, Majesty,” the king said humbly.

  Thut rose. He addressed Djehuty. “Take the hostages to our camp. Gather the tribute. Pack our supplies. We move north in two days time.” Then he looked at me. “Prepare Menwi. When she’s ready, send her to me in my tent.”

  I felt my face flame as red as my hair. It was already bad enough for me, knowing that four other wives slept with Thut, and I couldn’t. Now there was to be a fifth. I knew Thut hadn’t chosen me to prepare Menwi out of a desire to hurt me. Quite the opposite – I was the only woman in camp who spoke her language. Thut wanted me to tell Menwi about him, about what to expect, so that she wouldn’t be afraid. He was trying to be kind to her. I had long ago accepted he’d take many wives. He couldn’t build an empire without them. And it didn’t really matter anyway, whether he took one or a thousand – he’d never love any of them like he loved me. Still, it was hard for me not to be jealous of a girl he didn’t even know who was going to get to share his bed.

  I nodded obediently to my king.

  ***

&n
bsp; I spotted the sun glinting off the distant tips of Hatshepsut’s obelisks from my seat beside Nefer under a canopy on the deck of Thut’s royal boat. He and his advisors were meeting inside the cabin. After a leisurely overland march from the conquered North, we had taken to the river several weeks ago upon reaching its easternmost branch. We’d made numerous stops as we moved south up the river so that Thut could receive the acclaim of the people and give thanks to various gods for his victory at their shrines, in Mennefer and Iunu and Abdju most notably. I turned my head, saw the seemingly endless line of boats with raised sails that stretched behind us on the river, all crowded with soldiers and treasure and hostages and captives.

  Nefer gazed at the fleet. “His Majesty says most of the treasure will be given to Amun. If he wasn’t already the wealthiest god in the land, he surely will be now.”

  When Nefer spoke of Thut these days, which was rare, she referred to him formally. Their relationship had spiraled downhill after his marriage to Menwi. Thut had practically ignored her thereafter, caught up in the delight of having a pretty young wife who had enthusiastically embraced her role. The two women couldn’t have reacted to the king more differently. In fact, the day Thut took Menwi to wife, Nefer moved her things to my tent and slept there the rest of the campaign. That was, for me, a crushing disappointment, a setback from which I had no idea how to recover. I was forced to accept that Nefer was not going to reconcile with Thut any time soon. I also couldn’t put the nagging thought from my mind that, after spending so many nights in Thut’s bed without getting pregnant, Nefer was barren. I didn’t want to consider the implication of that for me and Thut. Aboard the royal boat, once we reached the river, Nefer had remained silent and apart, brooding, watching the familiar landscape pass by, having little to do with Thut.

  “How will Menwi and her retainers be housed, do you suppose?” I asked Nefer. “Three of our boats are filled with her slaves and livestock and goods and retinue of ladies. The per’aa at Waset is much too small.”

  “No per’aa in the land will hold so many,” Nefer agreed. “The king told me that as he wages more campaigns he’ll accumulate even more wives and retainers.”

  I put my hand on hers sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Nefer.”

  “No king would do less,” she said. “It is no concern of mine.”

  It should be, I thought. Every additional wife makes your road harder. You’ve got to ease up on your hatred if you want to rise in Thut’s estimation and eventually help him rule. But I kept my thoughts to myself. I’d already made that point too many times since Nefer’s marriage, and I didn’t want to risk alienating her myself. “So what about Menwi?”

  “His Majesty has decided to build a new harem, in the Faiyum. Once he’s displayed Menwi in his triumphal parade here in Waset and it’s constructed, he’ll send her there.”

  “To sit around at leisure with her ladies?”

  “Hardly,” Nefer said. “They’ll make linen for the royal household. He’ll endow the harem with land enough to support it, and use it as a retreat where he can rest from time to time as well.”

  “Only the foreign wives?” I asked.

  “No. All wives except His Majesty’s Great Wife. She, and Iset, will continue to travel the river with him. Amenemhat too. The rest of his children will live in the Faiyum. So will you.”

  I gripped Nefer’s hand. My heart ached for her, that she would be physically separated from the seat of power. And for me. After being with Thut every day for most of a year I didn’t know how I was going to stand it, not seeing him. And, if he wasn’t with Nefer, how could she give him a son, and position me to marry him? “Will Thut keep his promise, Nefer, to use your talents? After how you demonstrated your worth at Megiddo?”

  “He has tasked me with constructing the harem and establishing the estates that will support it and overseeing everything – at least when Iset isn’t in residence,” Nefer replied. “I’ll only be free of her during the months Thut isn’t on campaign.”

  “I’m glad, Nefer. Creating the harem is something important, another step on the path to proving yourself to Thut and those around him. You’ll be able to draw upon the experience you gained as God’s Wife of Amun.”

  Nefer snorted. “It won’t be much of a challenge. I could do it in my sleep.”

  “When do you start?”

  “Once the king finishes celebrating his three ‘Feasts of Victory.’” She shook her head.

  “Do you begrudge him so many, Nefer?”

  “I guess not. Megiddo was a mighty campaign.”

  “I just realized his feasts will overlap the Opet. We’ll have to remain at Waset until it’s over, don’t you think? That festival starts tomorrow.”

  “I’d lost track too,” Nefer admitted. “So that means we’ll be heading north in a week and a half.”

  My remaining time with Thut would be measured in days. Depression settled over me. “Once the harem is built, Nefer, then what? Are you to spend the rest of your days weaving linen instead of helping Thut govern Kemet?”

  “The same question I asked.”

  “And his answer?”

  “His Majesty had none.”

  Menwi shyly approached. She was dressed similarly to Nefer, in the garb of a king’s wife. In fact, anything that remotely connected her to her homeland – clothing, jewelry, head coverings – had been taken from her upon our departure from Megiddo. From now on she was to be of Kemet, not her own land. She and Nefer and I had spent much time together on the journey home. The two of us had done our best to comfort her at her separation from her people, and educate her about Kemet and life at court. I’d begun teaching Menwi our language, though so far she had not applied herself. She desperately missed her family and was terrified of the new life she faced, although she had actually fallen in love with Thut. I understood that completely. Menwi was without guile, sweet, gentle, and had quickly won a place in both our hearts, even though her attributes made her a dangerous rival to Nefer. Particularly since Menwi was already pregnant with Thut’s child. I was certain that even if she gave Thut a son the child would never be considered part of the line of succession, having been born of a foreign mother.

  “Will I live at Waset?” Menwi asked haltingly in our tongue.

  Nefer shook her head no. “You’ll be displayed as a prize of war in the king’s upcoming celebration, I’m afraid. You’ll stay here for awhile, then in a few months you and your retainers will be sent to a harem in the Faiyum south and west of the delta.”

  “Will I live alone?” I saw fright in her eyes.

  “Our husband has appointed me to construct a harem in the Faiyum for all of his wives,” Nefer said. “I’ll live there with you, and Mery.”

  That seemed to ease her mind. She hugged Nefer gratefully.

  I began pointing out the sights to Menwi as we approached the landing place – Mentuhotep’s temple, Hatshepsut’s, the mountain behind which lay the Great Place, the Place of Truth, Ipet–resyt, Waset itself, Ipet–Isut. The boat turned into the channel that led to that temple complex, and the sailors began using their oars as poles to move us towards the per’aa’s quay. It was crowded with Thut’s family and officials. I spotted Iset, and Thut’s wives and children, and his courtiers and staff. Most of the later were unfamiliar to me; in our absence, the new vizier had replaced almost every official that Hatshepsut had ever appointed.

  “You must prepare yourself for our arrival, Menwi,” Nefer said in a low voice. “Once you’re ashore you’ll meet the king’s mother, Iset. It’ll be hard for you at first. She doesn’t like anyone who isn’t from Kemet. She’ll think you’re far below the king’s station, little better than a commoner. She can’t stand commoners.” Nefer glanced at me. “Never dispute anything Iset says, Menwi. Never disobey anything she tells you to do. Be subservient to her in everything. Whatever it takes, stay on her good side. If you don’t she’ll make your life miserable. She holds grudges forever.”

  “She doesn’t lik
e you?” Menwi guessed.

  “Iset wanted Thut to execute Nefer,” I said.

  Menwi gasped.

  “Her mother and my mother didn’t get along,” Nefer said, simplifying their feud. “Ever since my mother’s death she’s been trying to get rid of me.”

  “I’ll obey her, then. I promise.”

  “Good.” Nefer looked off into the distance. “You’ll not have the king to yourself anymore after this, either, Menwi. From now on you’ll share him with his other wives. There are five – you’re ranked last.” She whispered, almost to herself. “Or maybe fourth.”

  “But I didn’t share him with you on our journey,” Menwi protested.

  “The king does not desire me like he does you,” Nefer said. “Our marriage is, for him, a duty. Me too.”

  “But you’re so beautiful, Nefer, and so kind,” Menwi said. “How could he turn from you? How could any man?”

  “I’m his sister more than his wife, Menwi. And Iset has poisoned His Majesty against me, and me against him. Be wary of her, that she doesn’t do the same to you.”

  ***

  The following morning – both the first day of the Opet and the first Feast of Victory – I found myself seated with the royal family beneath a linen pavilion at the east end of Ipet–Isut’s processional way, in the great open area before the temple’s westernmost pylon. We were about a quarter of a mile east of that processional way’s intersection with the one Hatshepsut had constructed that led to Ipet–resyt, the Southern Sanctuary. We’d all be walking that path tomorrow to celebrate the Opet there. Thut was seated on a throne atop a dais, the Double Crown on his head, flanked by General Djehuty on one side and his Great Wife Sitiah on the other. His remaining wives, except for Menwi, were seated to Sitiah’s left. Iset was beside the general. I was directly behind Nefer; she was the farthest wife from Thut. Vizier Useramun was behind the king, a little to his right. Next to him was Mahu, Opener of the Gate of Heaven. Hundreds of high–ranking officials were seated both to the right and left of the pavilion. Fan bearers were keeping the royal family cool.