The Golden Falcon

by David C. Clark

  The Hittites lived in a much colder climate than us so Hattusilis had difficulty explaining ice and snow, manifestations of celestial phenomena unknown in our land. Much effort was expended on building defensive fortifications because his eastern neighbours were untouched by culture and appeared to thrive in a state of almost constant warfare. Their lands were poor, life harsh and, he acknowledged, not having to worry about incursions from Egypt, gave him liberty to defend his kingdom against Mittanians and Assyrians who increasingly savaged his frontiers. In times past, they were ill organised desert dwellers, like the Libyans. There had been a dynastic change and now they mimicked Hittite military tactics, copied their equipment and grew in ferocity by the year, striking when opportunity arose and vigilance not scrupulously maintained.

  We spoke of the sea faring people against whom Ramesses was arming in preparation of what he saw as their inevitable assault on Egypt. Hattusilis knew of great upheavals far to the north-west of his country and refugees from this troubled region trickled into his kingdom bringing tales of wanton destruction, rapine and massacre. The number and severity of hostile forays along his northern coast line by the Sea People had spiralled and he drew increasingly on our war fleet to patrol and protect the shoreline. He admitted his kingdom was unversed in naval combat and our command of the sea lanes allowed him to concentrate on strengthening his army and raising greater fortifications along his frontiers. In common with Ramesses, he kept a very close watch on these unwelcome developments but, so far, the two countries had been able to contain the menace.

  I asked him from whence the Sea Peoples came. He replied “I actually have little idea. They come like thieves in the night and we have no accurate information as to their homeland. If one of their raiding parties suffers injury, he is slain so no prisoners can be taken. They carry weapons of both iron and bronze and it is thought they come from Phrygia far to our west. Personally, I believe they will ultimately cause greater consternation to Egypt than to us but, nonetheless, I am thankful your king so faithfully honours his treaty.”

  I was extending quays and storage magazines at our fleet ports around the Delta as Ramesses increased the number of warships at his disposal whilst quietly strengthening our western fortifications after his border guards captured a band of Libyan raiders and found, amongst their equipment, items known to be from the Sea People. Two hundred kilometres out into the Western Desert, we established an impressive fortress and built a chain of lesser garrisons within a day’s march from each other. Periodically, the fortress commander forayed into the desert wastes to pillage encampments of the nomadic people allied to the Libyans. Ramesses hoped the stinking corpses left after our raids reminded them of our ability to ruthlessly crush them, as we had done with the Nubians.

  Largely untroubled by these far distant war clouds, Ramesses continued to build, though with less fervour than in the past. At Heliopolis, since ancient times Re’s cult centre, he raised up his most refined tabernacle, one close to the style exhibited at Akhet-Aten.

  Design traditions for places of worship decreed a pylon behind which lay a courtyard flanked by a colonnade leading to a pillared hall and a succession of multi-purpose rooms, culminating in a small chamber where the shrine of the god reposes in near total darkness. Depending on the primacy of a temple, the architect elaborates the plan as required. Akhenaten broke from this tradition and built his temple open to the sky. No darkened shrine rooms and no other deity save Aten whose representation, the solar disc, radiated sunbeams tipped with small hands caressing the royal family.

  The uncluttered lines of the Aten temple appealed to my inner feelings, but it would cost me dearly if I spoken publicly of my delight in the openness and simplicity of the style developed by Akhenaten. Why we hide our gods in dark chambers of modest dimensions when we live in a country that worships the sun and its life sustaining energy is not readily comprehensible. When Ramesses spoke of his intentions, I verged on heresy by suggesting the new structure should celebrate the brilliant light Re bought to the world with the passage of his golden barque across our sky.

  Surprised, he queried, “You have been to Akhet-Aten?” I dissembled “Yes, drawn by an architect’s natural curiosity, I visited the ruins. Akhenaten’s use of small blocks to build the city’s monuments is interesting as the technique can be employed to hasten some stages of a building project.”

  “It did. It also allowed his successors to easily tear down what he built, a lesson I learnt well. It is all too easy for an army of labourers to carry away small blocks but it is another matter to displace the massive blocks you employ in building. Other than that, what did you think about his style?” This was potentially dangerous ground and Ramesses sensed my hesitancy.

  “Sennefer, I am not asking you for a theological opinion. The man was a grotesque fool. Egypt is a land of deeply rooted traditions and he forgot, in his vanity, a ruler must honour those traditions. Even if I desired overthrowing centuries of embedded belief, I would doom myself to failure and mockery. Amun-Re is the true god of light and Aten only a minor and ancient depiction of Re. However, I think the way the sun’s rays are illustrated is particularly effective but do not take my opinion as an instruction to replicate the fool’s ways. I ask about the design of the temple itself.”

  “Without committing a heresy, I think it an almost perfect way of worshipping the Sun God. Sunlight floods the open courtyards and it is the light and warmth from the solar barque that allows our country to thrive and prosper. If we incorporate the sense of openness within the prescribed tradition of venerating Re, you will produce another temple of significance. It does not seem logical to me that the Sun God’s icon should hide in a darken chamber, the antithesis of all he represents.”

  “Does that mean you think all the images of the gods should be sited in a more open fashion?”

  Now I was on very slippery ground. “You asked my opinion about the architectural merits of the Aten temple. On any other subject related to our beliefs, I am still but an apprentice in my understanding of the wisdom entailed in the worship of our gods.”

  He smiled at my obvious discomfort. “A wise answer. Perhaps you should join Merenptah on his diplomatics missions. I suspect if you had been advising the heretic on temple design, Akhet-Aten would have seen some very spectacular buildings. Produce some drawings for me of what you think the Heliopolis temple should look like. Drawings on papyrus are easily destroyed, so if you veer too much towards error the evidence of your naivety can be torn up. Remember, I value your honesty and you need have no fear of me for the greatest virtue of a just ruler is his ability to forgive the reckless mistakes of those around him, even those made by an overpaid and irreligious royal builder.” He chuckled.

  The final design was a compromise between the Akhenaton style and our more orthodox temples. Behind a double pylon, which offered Ramesses a further opportunity to show him engraved on expansive walls, stands a pillared hall running parallel to the pylon walls rather than built off them at ninety degrees. In front of the hall, I opened a wide courtyard flanked with pillars topped with the innovative open lintels Akhenaten’s builder had conceived. Driven by the need to reproduce the accepted style, I designed a single long devotional chamber that mirrored the front pillared hall and created therein, a darkened shrine room.

  To ensure I would not be impaled upon a stake by a vexed king, the panorama on the pylon’s rear wall combined the worship of Re and Amum-Re, with multiple depictions of Ramesses making offertories to both. The courtyard is lined with statues of Ramesses and Re-Harakhty. Ramesses pronounced his satisfaction with the result and the temple is much celebrated.

  In the early years of his reign, when his imagination ran hot, he commissioned a number of small temples in Nubia. These temples, cut into rocky outcrops, were designed to impress upon the Nubians that the king, though far away to the north and distant from their daily life, was their conqueror and, should the Nubians consider rising up in rebellion, they would face a
wrathful pharaoh supported by the awesome power of Egypt’s gods. He built five temples in remote parts of the Nubian Desert to demonstrate he was ever watchful, even into the corners of their land. To remind the Nubians of past imperial wrath, all have graphic depictions of the king dealing harshly with prostrate Kushites.

  There are those amongst us who believe the message delivered by the minor temples and the mighty edifice at Abu Simbel combined to keep the Nubians placid during Ramesses’s rule. I am of the opinion the fortresses at Elephantine and many smaller garrisons scattered throughout Kush, instilled more fear than any number of temples but I am but a humble architect and know little of statecraft. Still, I am the first to admit that anyone not impressed by the subtle menace radiating from the four gigantic stone images of Ramesses at Abu Simbel is a man without his wits.

  If the Kushites were made to feel they lived with the Pharaoh’s foot upon their neck, Egyptians saw a more benevolent image. His subjects beheld their king as a warrior of heroic proportions, a prolific father and their protector. It was impossible to travel from our most southern area of influence at the Fourth Cataract, along the length of the river and across the width of the Delta, without seeing images of Ramesses. Wherever one looks, a representation of the king was to be found and, for those who are unlettered, a scribe or priest can always be found to read either of his royal names, User maat-ra setep-en-ra, or Usimare-Setpenre-Ramessu-Miamun or his illustrious titles whilst reciting the deeds graven near his image.

  It mattered little to Ramesses when he avariciously usurped statues and obelisks of earlier rulers. When Amenhotep II died, he left, incomplete, many statues of himself which Ramesses quickly acquired, had finished and inscribed with his titles. One collection of colossi gracing the temple at Memphis originally sculpted for Amenemhat I, a king who ruled some six hundred years ago and now forgotten in the mists of time, were re-born under a new identity. More than once, I caught him eyeing the four huge statues at Amenhotep’s mortuary temple with the look of acquisition brightening his eyes. Only once did he discuss the possibility of moving the colossi to the Ramesseum until Khaemwaset gave his father a particular look and Ramesses, slightly abashed, was forced to admit such an acquisition might be excessive, even by his standards.

  Ramesses made a subtle, though significant difference, in the way he presented himself to his people. Amenhotep III inscribed, on the pedestal of one of his mortuary temple statues, the title Amenhotep, Ruler of Rulers, and earlier rulers made similar statements which are the normal prerogative of kings who claim to be the earthly manifestation of Horus. Tuthmosis II stressed his courage, Amenhotep II his strength and Amenhotep III exalted his power.

  Ramesses went further. As his reign matured, his images portrayed him as a god. Possibly the most telling is an image on a stela at Pi-Ramess depicting him offering wine and incense to a figure of himself on which is inscribed the legend, Ramessu-Miamun, the Great God, Lord of Heaven Forever. Behind the king, are four carved ears to hear petitions and the further inscription, Ramessu-Miamun, the Great God who listens to the petitions of the whole of Mankind. This portrayal embodies the pharaoh he became in life, the god to whom all could turn. With my well researched knowledge of imagery, I could not fail to discuss this uncommon portrayal of a king with Nebwenenef early in my relationship with the Ramesses.

  “It is unwise to ask of this matter and I caution you not to query pharaoh, lest he takes offence at your effrontery. However, let me say the king may be divine. If this is so, the kingdom is blessed more greatly than at any time in our history. If he commits a blasphemy in falsely declaring himself a god he must, upon his death, answer to Amun himself. We are but servitors to the king, not his interrogators.”

  “But, Nebwenenef, you are the high priest and keeper of the truth. If the king errs in ignorance, surely you have a duty to correct such error?”

  “You think so? I hear not the voice of Amun whispering in my ear to counsel Ramesses and I must take this silence for divine approval. You are young and gifted, royal architect, but not as yet learned in the ways of kings. Remember Akhenaten. Ramesses, with a flick of the royal flail, can close the temples and despatch the entire priesthood to the copper mines in the Sinai as easily as he swats flies troubling him. Do not think he errs in ignorance on any matter. To believe that is folly. Let us not talk of this matter again.” Suitably cautioned, I obeyed his stricture scrupulously unto this day.

  The king’s divine presence was magnified by the placement of his statues where subjects could offer up devotions. It is now common practice that his statues are part of the cult of the deified pharaoh and I found it not unusual, in my travels, to see people praying before his images. The god’s shrines are deep inside temples and forbidden to common people whereas statues of Ramesses can always be found close at hand to receive the petitions and prayers of his subjects. Ramesses was a master of self-promotion and not ashamed to describe himself as such to me in veiled language, though his intent was clear to my ears.

  In the forty-sixth year of his rule, tragedy struck when Osiris called Ipi to his throne. My beloved and devoted wife of some many years suddenly took ill and died in my arms. I was crushed with grief, for my world revolved around this little creature who had shared my hearth and bed. Ipi held my heart in her hands where she nurtured it with her generosity of spirit and unbounded love. When her body was removed and taken to the place of embalming, I despaired of life itself. So concerned for my welfare was Bakenkhons, he sent word to Khaemwaset in Memphis, who in turn sent an urgent messenger to his father in Pi-Ramess.

  I had long ago finished our family tomb in the Theban necropolis and there came the day I would see Ipi placed in the chill of our crypt. I attended the service at the temple, standing as a dead man beside her coffins as the rituals proceeded. At the conclusion of the service and before her coffins were lifted to the shoulders of the priests who would bear it to the tomb, an arm fell across my shoulders. I turned, my eyes blinded by tears, to find Ramesses and Queen Meryetamun at my side, their eyes also moist. With my children, we boarded the funeral barque, crossed the river and walked in silence behind the sled carrying my beloved to the grave, a silence broken only by the tinkling of sistra shaken by the female attendants of Hathor and the muted lamentations of priests.

  At the closing of the cedar doors, I wept as a child and Ramesses gentled me with words of comfort until I could control my emotions. That night, and many further nights, he and Meryetamun stayed with me. The king walked with me on the river banks where we reminisced about the lives of our wives and the moments we had shared with these precious women. One evening, we sat watching the waters flowing by.

  “Ramesses, I thank you deeply for attending the funeral. It is an honour beyond measure that you came from the Delta to be with me. You have your duties and your family and, surely, these must come first.”

  “Yes, I have many duties and a vast family, though I have but one friend and when my friend of these many years is in such grief, I have only one responsibility and that is to be with him in his darkest hours. I could do no less. We have lived a long life and I have suffered as you now do, so I know well your pain. It is as I felt when Nefertari passed away and you comforted me then. What must I do with you now? The best cure for your grief is work. I must conceive some new and difficult project to keep your mind and hands employed. Surely, somewhere in my kingdom, there is room for another temple. Possibly building a small pyramid will occupy your time.”

  I exclaimed. “Enough. I am sufficiently busy here in Thebes, thank you. I must exchange our house for another residence because I can no longer stay in our home by myself. My table is thickly covered in scrolls and you promised there would be no pyramids and I will hold you to your word.”

  “Still you continue to defy your king. There is no salvation for you, you old rogue. Unfortunately, those duties your mentioned call me back to the Delta and I must leave tomorrow. Until you have made arrangements for new accommodation, I invite
you stay in the palace here. Can you join us for breakfast before we leave as Meryetamun would like to assure herself of your welfare and make her farewells? Once you have settled your affairs in Thebes, you may wish to come to Pi-Ramess for a while and stay with us in the palace. Your own home there may hold too many bitter-sweet memories for the present.”

  “Thank you for the offer of hospitality but I think coming to Pi-Ramess would be too grievous to my heart. Ipi and I loved our home there and she hoped we would retire to it in our dotage. Your commissions will keep me engaged in Thebes for a while and I will gladly accept the use of your quarters here. The queen has been most solicitous and, without you both, these last days would have been too painful to suffer alone. I know Ipi and I will be re-united after my death but since she died, I have beseeched the gods to allow me to join her now.”

  “I have tasted your despair so the gods urged me to your side. They answer our prayers in ways we do not understand but their wisdom is not for us to question. Take good care, my friend, the gods will call us both when they are ready. Until the morning, I bid you good night. Promise me if you should dream of a method of quickly raising a pyramid, you will discuss the matter with me?”

  After their departure, it was some weeks before I could bring my mind to concentrate on work. I moved to the palace after closing our home, storing Ipi’s many treasures and mementoes of our life together until such time as I could face starting a new and solitary life in Thebes. I oft visited her tomb just to be at her side and there were moments when I felt her ba fluttering near as it made its passage between the kingdom of Osiris and her crypt. Finally, the waves of grief washing over me lessened and I found the familiar demands of work drawing me back into my daily routine.