The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

He then began to gather our things together and make ready for our departure, and I left all to his care, for in these matters he was handier than myself.

I have already told what was said about the Hittites in the land of Mitanni, but after this I only speak of what I saw with my own eyes and know to be true. Yet I do not know if anyone will believe me, for the power of the Hittites has spread such terror across the world and so much has been told of their evil deeds. Nevertheless, there is something good in them and worth learning from, but they are a dangerous people whose customs differ from the customs of the rest of the world. Unlike what has been told, there is no chaos in their country, but it has strict order and discipline so that a traveller with permission can travel on their mountains more safely than in any other country — to such an extent that if a traveller with permission gets lost or robbed during his journey, their King will give double compensation for his loss; and if a traveller dies in the hands of the Hittites, the King will pay to his family a price for his life according to a special scale that is based on the rank that the deceased had when he was alive.

Therefore the journey with the Mitannian envoy was also uneventful, and there is little to say about it, for the Hittites escorted us the whole way in their chariots and saw to it that we had food and drink at every stopping place. The Hittites are hardy, caring for neither cold nor heat, for they live among barren hills and are trained to the hardship of the mountains from their childhood. They are fearless in battle and do not pity themselves and scorn the weaker nations and subdue them, while they honour the valorous and brave and seek their friendship.

Their nation is divided into many clans and villages ruled by princes whose power over them is absolute, but who in turn are subjects to the great King who dwells in his city of Hattusa amongst the mountains. He is their high priest and their commander-in- chief and their supreme judge so that in him is united all the authority by which men are ruled, divine as well as temporal; and I know of no King in whom is vested such equal power, absolute though all royal authority is held to be. In other countries, Egypt included, the priests and judges have more control over the Kings’ actions than is generally supposed.

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I will tell how the city of their great King amongst the mountains is although I doubt many will believe me even if they read my words.

Travelling through burned borderlands, ruled by troops who earn their pay by robbing neighbouring countries and moving the border stones to their liking without anyone preventing them from doing so, and seeing their barren mountains, scorched by the sun during summer and covered by light feathers during winter, as I was told even if I did not witness it myself, there was little to see of the wealth of the Hittite realm. About the feathers, they fall from the sky and cover the earth, turning to water when the summer comes. So many miracles I saw in the land of the Hittites that I believe this to be true, even though I do not understand how feathers can turn to water. But I saw a few mountain tops white from feathers with my own eyes.

Their border fortress Carchemish lies on a burned plateau bordering Syria, its walls built from enormous stones, carved full of frightening images. From the fortress, they tax all caravans and merchants who need to pass through their country and so gather wealth, for their taxes are high, and Carchemish lies on the crossroads of several caravan routes. Whoever has seen this terrifying fortress rising on its mountain in the middle of the burned plateau, where ravens land to peck whitened skulls and human bones, he believes what I say of the Hittites and does not doubt my words. They only allow caravans and merchants to pass through their country along specified routes, and along these roads the villages are poor and simple, and the merchants see only little cultivated land, and if someone deviates from the permissible road, he will be arrested and his items confiscated, and he will be taken to the mines as a slave.

I assume that the wealth of the Hittites is based on the mines where their prisoners and slaves quarry not only for gold and copper but also for unknown metal that glitters grey and blue and is harder than all other metals; and is so expensive that it is used to make jewels in Babylon, but the Hittites use it to make their own weapons. But how they can forge and shape this metal, I do not know, for it cannot be forged in any other country, and it does not melt in the heat that melts copper. This I

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