The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

I have to tell how the city of Akhetaten shut itself away within itself and within the dreams and visions of Pharaoh Akhenaten and was unconcerned with the outside world — but all that happened beyond Aten’s boundary stones was as remote and unreal as moonlight upon water, and the only reality was what took place within the city of Akhetaten. Yet in looking back upon it now, one sees that the opposite may have been true, and maybe Akhetaten and everything that took place there were but shadow and fair surface, while reality lay only in the hunger, suffering and death beyond its border stones. For all that was unpleasing to Pharaoh Akhenaten was hidden from him, and when any matter arose in which a decision from him was necessary, it was wrapped in soft veils and sweetened with honey and fragrant spices and served to him gently, lest his head became sore.

This happened often, for man is weak, and no one wanted to lose Pharaoh’s favour by telling him unpleasant things too often. But I believe and know that this also happened because of the love for him, since everyone who loved him wanted to save him from as much pain and sorrow as they could. Even the smallest things and setbacks had a greater effect on him than normal people, so that he lost his peace and became uneasy, and his sickness recurred, and many who loved him, feared for his life if he openly knew everything that happened outside his city’s boundary stones. I believe and know that Pharaoh Akhetaten only wanted to live by truth and would have been the first to reproach those who wanted to hide the truth from him for the sake of love, but staring into eternity made him blind, and everything was like shadows to him, and everything that happened outside his city was even thinner than shadow to him. Truth can be told in many ways: so gently and carefully that one does not recognise it as truth any more.

During this time, priest Ay ruled in Thebes as bearer of the crook on the King’s right hand, and in practise Thebes remained the capital of both Kingdoms since Pharaoh had left behind him all such administrative duties as were tedious or unpleasant, such as collecting taxes, trade and dispensing justice according to laws, and he wanted to hear nothing of the sort, placing full trust in Ay, who was his father -in-law and Nefertiti’s father and a man greedy for power. Thus Ay was the true ruler of the Two Kingdoms, since all that touched on the life of the common people, whether farmers or townsmen, lay in his hands. Once Amun had been overthrown, no power was left to rival that of Pharaoh, which in reality was Ay’s power, and Ay was content with this, for he

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hoped that the disturbances for Amun’s sake would soon subside. Nothing could have been more in his mind than the city of Akhetaten, which kept Pharaoh far away from Thebes, and he did what he could to collect funds for the building of it and for its adornment and was continually sending new lavish gifts to render Akhetaten still more pleasing to Pharaoh. This way, peace might have come again and all might have been as before, save for Amun only, but Pharaoh Akhenaten was a stumbling block and a stone in Ay’s wheels, overturning his cart.

In Memphis by the border of both Kingdoms, priest Ay’s government was shared by Horemheb, who was answerable for security and good order throughout the country so that ultimately he was the power behind the rods of the tax gatherers as well as the hammers that hewed away the name of Amun from all inscriptions and images — even penetrating the very tombs to dispose of the name. Pharaoh Akhenaton permitted also the tomb of his own father to be opened so that the name of Amun might be effaced from its inscriptions. Nor did Ay oppose him so long as he remained content with such innocent pastimes and preferred the thoughts of Pharaoh to be engaged in religious matters which did not affect the everyday life of the people.

For some time after the days of terror in Thebes, Egypt was like the surface of a calm lake, undisturbed by any storm. Ay delegated the collection of revenues to district heads, which saved him much trouble; and the district heads leased taxation rights to the tax gatherers of cities and villages, substantially enriching themselves; and the tax gatherers of cities and villages leased these taxation rights to their many assistants and deputies, substantially enriching themselves; and the deputies of tax gatherers did not become poor while collecting the taxes, which they ensured were paid by means of their sticks. This way, everything appeared normal for a while — and if the poor bewailed their lot and bestrewed their heads with ashes when the tax gatherers visited them, it was no more than the poor have always done in every age.

In Akhetaten, the birth of a fourth daughter was a greater misfortune than the fall of Zemar. Queen Nefertiti began to suspect that she was under a spell to give birth to daughters only and went to Thebes to seek help from her mother’s black sorcerers. It was indeed strange for a woman to give birth to four girls and not a single boy, and that was also Pharaoh Akhenaten’s fate.

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