At last Kamose found himself in the throne room, standing before the dais on which the Horus Throne had once rested, that holy seat against whose gold and electrum back the spine of a usurper curved. He turned and faced the dusky vastness of the pillared chamber. “Hear all of you,” he said in a low voice. “I swear that, if Amun wills it, I will return victorious and I will set the Holy Throne once more upon this dais and I will rebuild this place so that once more the glory of Egypt will reside here. I swear it!” The echoes woke and murmured the words back at him, but with them came a long sigh and the flame of his lamp guttered suddenly as though a draught had found it. Controlling an urge to flee, he walked slowly towards the women’s quarters.
He emerged onto the roof and lowered himself beside the remains of the old windcatcher, blowing out the lamp and wrapping himself tightly in the cloak. It was here that Father used to come when he wanted to be alone, he thought, and it was here that Mersu attacked him. It is fitting that my last night of certitude and peace should be spent in this spot. Below him the halls of the palace dreamed on in stillness, but up here the stars and a moon almost at the full showed Kamose the vague outlines of the garden and part of the sleeping house.
His glance moved from there to the vine trellises and the dark palms clustered before the watersteps. Torches lit the night with their orange flares, some on the river, their reflections wavering on the water, some on either bank, both clustered and strung out along the river path. Shouts and the murmur of many voices came to him. His army was massing in obedience to his command, in faith that he would lead the soldiers well. Watching it all from his high vantage point, he had a moment of despair coupled with deep inadequacy. I have done all this, he thought. I, Kamose, Prince of Weset. And who am I to accomplish what my father could not? They trust me, my mother and grandmother, my brother and sister, the officers below, the Princes even now gathering themselves for the gamble. They believe that I can perform that which I have promised. Oh, Amun, I need you now! And you, Osiris Seqenenra, my dear father, be here with me tonight!
He drew up his knees and closed his eyes against the ordered chaos. Through the hours while Ra was passing through the body of Nut, he alternately dozed and prayed until the sky in the east began to pale and the time for prayer was over. Then, rising and massaging his cramped limbs, he picked up the lamp and made his way down the stairs, through the now mute precincts of the palace, and out to where his fate awaited him.
END OF BOOK ONE
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.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
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