The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

sufficiently, they began to argue amongst themselves and quarrelled, and at last, a man from Joppa drew his knife and stabbed a man from Amurru in the neck. No great harm was done, for the artery was not severed, and I was able to treat the wound effectively, in acknowledgment of which he gave me many presents. For this act also, I was held by all to be a fool.

I could just as well have let him die for while I still stayed in the camp, the same Amorite man had his servant put to death the man from Joppe who had struck him with a knife, and then Aziru had him hanged on the wall head downward to keep discipline amongst his troops before his throat had even healed. Aziru treated his own men more cruelly and more severely than any other Syrian man, for more than anyone they envied his power and plotted against him, so that his power was like endless sitting on an anthill.

When the meal was over, Aziru dismissed his nobles and the Hittite officers, so that they might pursue their quarrels in their own tents. He showed me his son, who accompanied him on his campaigns, although he was but seven years old. He had grown into a fine boy with cheeks like downy peaches and shiny black eyes. His hair was as curly and pitch black as his father’s beard, and he had inherited his fair complexion from his mother. Aziru stroked his hair and said to me:

“Have you ever seen a finer boy? I have collected many crowns for him, and he shall be a great ruler, and so far shall his sovereignty extend that I hardly dare think of it, for already with his little sword he has slit the belly of a slave who insulted him, and he can read and write and has no fear of battle, for I have taken him into battle also — though only when quelling rebellion in the villages where his little life was not in danger.”

Keftiu ruled in Amurru while Aziru waged war, and Aziru longed for her sorely and told me that he had tried in vain to still his longing with female prisoners and with the temple virgins who followed the army, but whoever had once tasted Keftiu’s love could never forget her, and with the years she had bloomed yet more voluptuous and luxuriant so that were I to see her now, I should not believe my eyes. But Aziru carried his son with him, not daring to leave him in Amurru because one day the boy would bear the united crowns of Syria.

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During our conversation, there came to our ears the sound of women shrieking in terror, and Aziru became exceedingly angry and said, “The Hittite officers are torturing the prisoners again, even if I have forbidden them from doing so, but I can do nothing to stop them, for I depend on their prowess in the field. You see, they get their fun by making women scream and torturing them, and I just don’t understand them for it certainly is a greater pleasure to make woman yell from heat than from pain. But each people have their own customs, and I cannot reproach them for having different customs than the Syrian customs. Nevertheless, I am unwilling that they should teach my men their bad practices, for the war has indeed already turned my men into wolves and mauling lions.”

His words terrified me though I knew the Hittites and what one might expect of them. Grasping the opportunity, I said, “Aziru, King of Kings, break with these Hittites in time, before they crush the crowns on your head along with your head under the crowns, for there is no trusting them. Make peace with Pharaoh while the Hittites are yet bound by their campaign in Mitanni. Also, Babylon is arming against them as you should know, and you will get no more grains from Babylon if you remain a friend of the Hittites. When winter comes, famine will sneak in to Syria like a gaunt wolf unless you make peace with Pharaoh so that he may send grain to your cities as before.”

But Aziru objected and said, “Your talk is fairly foolish, for the Hittites are good to their friends, but to their foes they are terrible. Yet I am not bound to them by any treaty — although they send me beautiful gifts and shining breastplates with their crowned walls — so I am always free to consider peace regardless of the Hittites. The Hittites have also, against a clear treaty, taken over Kadesh and use the harbour of Byblos as their own. On the other hand, they have sent me a shipload of weapons forged from the new metal that make my men invincible in battle. In any case, I love peace, and I love peace better than war and fight only to gain an honourable peace. Therefore I am glad to make peace if Pharaoh will cede Gaza back to me, which he took from me by treachery, and if he will disarm the robber hordes of the desert and make reparation with grain and oil and gold for all the devastation the Syrian cities have suffered during the conflict, for Egypt alone is to blame for this war, as you well know.”

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