“Am I to believe Ramesses commissioned these temples whilst his father was still on the throne, when he was not married and children would have been no more than a gleam in his eye? They show him as pharaoh and as a deified god.” I said, disbelief evident in my voice.
The builder responded, still smiling “It is well recorded Seti loved Ramesses deeply and expected him to be a mighty ruler. Who are we to understand the feelings of a father to a son, especially when the father is pharaoh and the son the heir apparent?”
We were alone in the room and I detected no mockery or censure in Ashahebsed’s voice. “Lord Sennefer, my family and I are secure for life and Pharaoh Seti promised me a tomb in the Theban necropolis as a reward for my service. I am content and this job daily tests my skills. Is there something more I need to know about what passes through the minds of our rulers?”
“A wise observation and I respect your dedication to the king. We are both employed by a truly unique man. May he rule forever.” I acknowledged with traditional etiquette.
I reviewed the drawings of the smaller temple. The façade of the more diminutive temple has Ramesses and Nefertari sculpted in a row of upright statutes recessed in alternating bays hewn into the hillside. Some portions of the interior walls in both temples were left blank on the drawings and Ashahebsed confided that these areas would later be inscribed in celebration of the epic events in the king’s life as they unfolded. It was on these blank panels I would later cause a spectacular rendition of the Battle of Qadesh be incised.
We spent the day inspecting the sites and I commended the builder on his command of the project. That evening at the banquet I saw, with approval, that Ashahebsed was popular and held in high regard by his community. He radiated good humour, was generous in his praise of all those working with him and related interesting tales of life in Upper Egypt and Nubia. Unhappily, as much as I was enjoying my sojourn and thought to stay a while longer, my duties in Thebes beckoned. I bade him thanks and farewell with a promise to visit him yearly and assured him of a welcome in Thebes.
I reported favourably and warmly to the king upon my return. Naturally, my own thoughts about the unsubtle self-importance of the king manifested at Abu Simbel were kept to myself when I told the high priest and Meketre about the new monument. It is wise never to offer disparaging remarks about a king as palace intrigues were part of our land’s history and many monuments show the image of a royal favourite defaced after his fall from grace.
Thinking back on this whole exercise in self-promotion as I sailed down to Thebes, I recalled one feature on the facial models of the king. In each, he had his familiar slight smile clearly engraved on the figures. What attitude was Ramesses trying to convey by means of this enigmatic characteristic? Benevolence, humour, irony or self-deprecation? During my meeting with Ramesses after my return, he made no attempt to question me about my opinions on the scale of the project or the proclamation of his divinity so clearly evident. Matching this unusual display of humility, I chose to confine my observations to the quality of management amply demonstrated by Ashahebsed. At the conclusion of my report, Ramesses looked at me closely, the same smile playing on his lips.
“I suspect you understand me well and this is good. My father chose wisely and his hand was guided by Thoth when he appointed you royal architect. Our work together will bring great satisfaction to us both.” As I turned to leave he said, the slightest touch of embarrassment in his voice “Do you think the images overly large?”I paused, as his simple question was replete with complex nuances. Considering my reply with the care it demanded I replied, “Those who would think so do not understand you and are of no consequence. I believe the statues capture your essence precisely.” At that moment, the bond between us strengthened immeasurably.
My reverie and the luncheon finished, I sent my manservant to call the artisans from their repast and we reconvened to resume our discussion. When the scribe indicated he was ready, the high priest took up his subject. The model had been worked upon and now looked quite impressive. The priest now waxed lyrical, the flow of his discourse eased by yet another beaker of wine.
“The burial chamber is the summation of the king’s life. Not only is it the perpetual dwelling for the king’s remains, it is the place from whence his spiritual presence, borne by the gilded ba bird, travels between the transience of our ephemeral world and its abode on the oar banks of the celestial barque where the king rows, perpetually ablaze in the glorious luminescence of Amun-Re.” I could easily imagine Nebwenenef presiding over temple services so orotund were his utterances.
“Let us briefly consider the king’s body. After the seventy days required to preserve his earthly husk, the body, now swathed in the finest linen and anointed in fragrant oils, is placed within several golden coffins. At the entombment, the coffins are laid within the sarcophagus which is itself enshrined in gilded and inlaid timber. The visceral vessels, holding his organs, are placed into a stone chest and also enshrined. The coffins, sarcophagus and shrines are each graven with images of the king in unity with Osiris and Isis. The ritual incantations on the shrines interrelate with the inscriptions throughout the tomb. The wings of the protecting goddesses, Selket, Neith, Isis and Nephthys, enfold the corners of his sarcophagus, coffins, viscera chest and the shrines in their vigilant embrace.”
Perhaps realising he was becoming oratorical, his manner changed.
“Architect, you may wish to discuss with the king the creation of an additional room dedicated to the visceral shrine. It was the command of the last three kings to have a separate chamber for their sacred organs.” The scribe made another notation on his papyrus. Then the priest stopped, drained by the effort of conveying the significance of a royal tomb and the fog induced by too much wine.
We were all mentally dulled as Nebwenenef had given us much dry information to digest. The scribe massaged his wrists, his white kilt marred by blotches of black ink and the floor around him littered with spent styli. Wahibre, who had early shown signs of boredom as much of the exposition was of no special importance to a simple man, bestirred himself. I had followed the priest’s discourse with close interest as all I learnt sharpened my understanding of the structure on which we would labour.
“I know Re will soon sail behind the western mountains but can you explain the corridor at the back of Seti’s burial crypt?” I asked of the priest. A look passed between Meketre and the priest, one I could not interpret.
“Sennefer, can I delay my answer to another time? I must return to the temple before night fall as the morrow marks the celebration of the Festival of Nut and there are some preparatory matters to attend to tonight before I retire.”
“It is of small importance and I thank you for bringing to us your wisdom and guidance to these very intricate matters. Meketre and I will meet again to finalise the drawings of the tomb though I am sure we will return again and again to you for further advice. Your chariot will be brought to the entrance portico. May I wish you a safe journey back to your temple and again, my deepest thanks.” We made our farewells to the priest and he left us. The scribe, model maker and foreman withdrew, leaving Meketre and me alone. “Perhaps you will dine with me tonight?” I asked.
He apologised “Sennefer, I am also fatigued. These aging bones ache from the evening chill and I look forward to the comfort of my wife and the warmth of our hearth as the nights lengthen. As you know, I live several leagues inland from the eastern river bank and must take my leave before darkness engulfs the city. Shall we meet tomorrow morning two hours after Re’s barque begins its ascent into the sky?”
“My friend, my wife would also like to see my face whilst the sun is still upon the face of the earth. She complains I leave our private quarters whilst Atum still rules the night and only return when Nut has swallowed the sun. I bid you a safe journey back to the bosom of your family.”
I saw Meketre to his chariot and watched as he and his driver headed towards the barque awaiting them at the riv
er’s edge. The heavens were darkening and the first stars glimmered in the eastern sky. I too looked forward to an early evening with my wife. Tomorrow, Meketre and I would need to be fresh of mind and body.
Chapter 12 - QADESH AND THE AFTERMATH
Egypt 1272 BC
A report reached me that the king was returning to Thebes after the epic clash between the Hittite and Egyptian armies at Qadesh. The battle was no accidental meeting of two combatants nor had there been a particular incident that sparked the conflict. In the way of young lions, both Ramesses and Muwatallis, the Hittite king, decided to unsheathe their claws and determine the threat of a territorial encroachment with armed might.
Egypt’s northern border was a flexible line defined more by influence than geography. Hatti’s southern border enjoyed the same elasticity, with the loyalty of the communities between the two empires a confusion of alliances, well nourished jealousies and discontent, amidst the perpetually uncomfortable need of those caught between the Egyptian anvil and the Hittite hammer to periodically look to the north and then to the south to see to whom they would show loyalty.
Seti had re-established Egyptian influence well into Canaan and Lebanon by main force, leaving many festering wounds in his wake. Ramesses own foray into central Syria in the fourth year of his reign returned limited territorial gains. Nonetheless, the campaign alerted Muwatallis that the new king in Egypt was not averse to flexing his military muscles but an Egyptian flea bite on the tail of the Hittite lion was not enough for him to strike out until the Amurrans, who occupied the coastal areas of Lebanon, switched their allegiance to Egypt. This defection cost Hatti tribute from one of her most wealthy allies and brought the Egyptian front line too close for comfort. The flea was now biting more frequently. Ramesses had become an irritant who needed to be squashed.
Muwatallis augmented his own well equipped army by calling up additional troops under the terms of his regional alliances. Without doubt, the petty rulers of these pustular blemishes on the hindquarters of the Hittite lion believed they could pick over the carcase of a broken kingdom and return to their foetid dung heaps laden with Egyptian booty.
Ramesses, aware of these developments through his network of well rewarded agents, moved more soldiers up to the Delta garrisons. Suitably fortified, he girded up his loins and began the long march north from the frontier fort at Tjel. At the core of his army, were the four heavily armed and finely trained divisions named after the gods Seth, Ptah, Amun and Re, reinforced by mercenaries drawn from the ranks of pirates who had settled in the islands off the Delta. A considerable baggage train, carrying military and domestic supplies, would be supplemented by friendly allies as the army advanced towards the enemy. The Egyptians progress was leisurely as they marched through convivial territory.
Badly off-guard and overly optimistic, Ramesses, having acquired a deceptive picture of the military situation from agents sent by the Hittite king, failed to verify what he had learned. Buoyed up by this misleading information, he impetuously crossed the Orontes River ,to the north of Qadesh, with only the Amun division in hand. Foolishly, he left the other three divisions well to the rear. The king, supremely confident and lulled into a naive sense of security, prepared to encamp when he received the alarming news that the Hittite army was to his immediate left and not, as he had been falsely advised, near Aleppo, some distance from his present position. Just as Ramesses began to appreciate the truly parlous nature of his situation, Muwatallis seized his chance and sent a striking force of chariots and infantry to attack the poorly protected king.
With the soldiers in the Amum division in a state of near panic, the king found himself heavily engaged. As his troops bent under a determined Hittite assault he and his personal bodyguard found themselves close pressed by the enemy. In graphic depictions inscribed on walls throughout the kingdom, it was later recorded, ‘The king found himself surrounded by 2,500 pairs of horse.’ His retreat was barred by the most fearsome of the enemy forces. In this precarious situation, Ramesses beseeched Amun,
‘Have I for nought dedicated to thee temples, and filled them with prisoners, and given thee all my substance and made the whole country pay tribute unto thee. I never stayed my hand from doing that which thou wished. I have built pylons and other edifices in stone, I have raised up to thee pillars which will last forever and I have brought obelisks for thee from Elephantine. I have bought stone for thee and I have made ships to sail on the seas and bring back the produce of foreign lands. Behold, Amun, I am in the midst of multitudes of men who have banded themselves together against me and I am alone and none is with me, for all my soldiers and charioteers have forsaken me. I cried out to them but no-one harkened to me. But thou, Amun are more to me than millions of warriors and hundreds of thousand of horse, the acts of hosts of men are as nothing and Amun is better than them all’.
Then, Amun stretched out his hand to the king and the god spoke thus,
‘Face to face with you, Ramesses, beloved of men, I am with you. It is I, your Father. My hand is in your own. I am with thee and I am better than hundreds of thousands of men united. I am the master of victory.’
Ramesses, in embrace with Amun, charged alone in his war chariot save for his charioteer. He raged at them like his father Montu, the Lord of Thebes, and having girded on his panoply of war, he mounted his chariot and engaged the enemy aggressively. He dashed into the midst of the enemy mass and, like the mighty god Seth, he hewed them down and slew them and cast their dead bodies headlong into the waters of the Orontes. ‘I was by myself for my soldiers and my horsemen had forsaken me and not one of them had been sufficiently bold to come to my assistance.’ Five thousand horses of the enemy were crushed before his horses and no man lifted his hand to oppose his onset, the enemy fell dead beneath his blows and when they had once fallen they never moved again.’
Eventually, allied soldiers from Amurra ‘smashed into the hosts of the vile fallen.’ The Hittites, just as they were on the point of entering pharaoh’s camp, were killed by the king’s entourage, and, not allowing any to escape, for their hearts were sure in the great strength of the pharaoh, for he was behind them like a mountain of copper and a wall of iron forever and ever.’
Struggling to their imperilled king, the other divisions finally joined the bloody affray. The advantage passed to the Egyptians, who forced the foe back across the Orontes. There was no victory for either side and losses to the combatants on both sides were heavy, with hundreds of dead and wounded littering the battlefield. It was a very near thing. Though his army remained largely intact, Muwatallis withdrew to lick his wounds as he had lost several family members and many allied leaders in the engagement. Night fell on an indecisive day of combat. Next morning, Ramesses lunged forward and attacked the Hittites in force but could not deal the enemy a final devastating blow.
A stalemate had been reached. Neither ruler was strong enough to beat the other and the allies of both were alarmed at the prospect of greater slaughter. Muwatallis saw the advantage in making an overture of peace, as he had lost two brothers in battle and was concerned about his hold on the Hittite throne, if defeated. Ramesses held a council of war with his generals, who urged him to pay heed to the Hittite proposal. Brief formalities were entered into and a cessation of hostilities rapidly agreed. The Egyptian army stood down and then retired to Pi-Ramess. The Hittite army remained at Qadesh for a short period before breaking camp and marching back to Hatti.
There was no booty or tribute. The supply wagons returned empty. The outcome was inconclusive and Ramesses was compelled to send his army back into Canaan, Lebanon and Syria time and again to put down uprisings by cities allied to the Hittites, until finally a treaty was drawn up between the kingdoms in the twenty-first year of his reign. As part of the agreement, the Hittite king offered the hand of his daughter, Ur-Maa-neferu-Ra, in marriage to Ramesses. In the fortieth year of his reign, Ramesses was to take yet another Hittite princess as his wife.
But I am getting ah
ead of myself again. Whilst Ramesses faced the perils of the battle field, his commissions kept me keenly engaged. Periodically, I travelled north to meet my regional overseers, and the annual voyage to Abu Simbel took on all the aspects of a vacation. I brought Ipi and our young children with me and Ashahebsed, his wife and children became warm friends. There, we could safely swim in the soothing river waters, free from the worry of attacks by crocodiles and hippopotami, eat informally and relax from the cares of my office. Ashahebsed and I were devoted to hunting gazelle, oryx and antelope, spending many happy hours ranging the desert dunes in pursuit of these worthy quarry.
I returned from one such trip in time to greet the king after he had re-garrisoned the army in the Delta forts following the campaign at Qadesh just before he returned to Thebes. Hearing heralds announcing his impending arrival, I left my office, crossed the river and found a vantage point atop some sandstone blocks destined for the Karnak temple.
The weather was perfect. The cobalt blue of the sky was reflected in the river which flowed sluggishly at that time of the year, its surface gleaming like oiled skin. The inundation was some months away and the land waxed lush with summer growth. Papyrus clumps, clustered thickly along the river banks, provided tranquil sanctuaries for wild fowl whilst sacred ibises waded in the shallow waters, intent on catching prey. Palm trees, burdened with clusters of fat ripening dates, complimented fruit trees hanging heavy with tangerines, pomegranates and stone fruit. To the west, the hills, golden in the rays of the morning sun, stood clearly etched in the clear morning air.
The Golden Falcon Page 17
