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Book 10: The City of the Heavens
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The summer was at its hottest when Horemheb returned from the land of Kush. The swallows had long vanished and dug themselves into the river mud, the water about the city was rotting in pools, and locusts and flea beetles damaged the crops. But in Thebes the gardens of the wealthy flourished in green and in cool, and on either side of the Avenue of Rams flowers bloomed in all radiant colours — for in Thebes only the poor lacked water, and their food alone was polluted by the dust that fell everywhere like a net, filming the leaves of the acacias and sycamores in their quarter of the city. Southward, on the farther shore, Pharaoh’s golden house with its walls and gardens rose through the haze of heat with the glow of blue and red mist of a dream. Although the hottest season was now upon us, Pharaoh had not left for his pleasure palaces in the Lower Kingdom but remained in Thebes. From this, everyone knew that something was about to happen, and as the heavens darken before a sandstorm, so the hearts of the people were overshadowed with dread.
No one was surprised to see warriors marching into Thebes at dawn on all the southern roads. With dusty shields, gleaming copper spearheads and strung bows, the black troops marched along the streets and stared about them in wonder, the whites of their eyes flashing frighteningly in their sweaty faces. They followed their barbarous standards into the empty barracks, where cooking fires soon began to blaze and stones were heated to put into the great earthenware cauldrons. Meanwhile, ships of the fleets were berthing alongside the quays, and the chariots and plumed horses of the officers were put ashore from the transports, and there were no Egyptians either to be seen amongst these troops, who were for the most part Nubians from the south and Sherdens from the deserts in the northwest. They occupied the city, and watch fires were kindled at the street corners, and the river was closed. Gradually in the course of the day, labour ceased in workshops and mills, in stores and in warehouses. The merchants carried in their
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