The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

During my absence, Pharaoh’s headaches had returned, and anxiety gnawed at his heart because he felt that everything he touched miscarried, and his body flamed and burned in the fire of his visions so that he withered and paled in his anxiety. To calm him, priest Ay had decided to arrange the thirty-year’s festival for him that autumn, after the harvest when the waters had begun to rise. It mattered not at all that Pharaoh Akhenaten had reigned for very much less than thirty years since it had long been the custom for Pharaohs to celebrate their thirty-year anniversary whenever they wished. His father had held his thirty-year anniversary several times, and so celebrating this festival did not harm Pharaoh’s truth.

All omens were favourable for this festival since the harvest had been decent, though grains remained spotted, and the poor had gotten their measures in full. I returned bringing the peace with me, and all merchants rejoiced when trade with Syria restarted again. But most important for the future was that the Babylonian ambassador arrived bringing one of King Burnaburiash’s numerous half-sisters as Pharaoh Akhenaten’s wife, simultaneously asking one of Pharaoh’s daughter’s as his King’s wife. This meant that, greatly fearing the Hittites, Babylon strived to make a permanent alliance with Egypt.

Many thought that sending Pharaoh’s daughter to Babylon to King Burnaburiash’s women’s house was an affront to Egypt since the holy blood of Pharaoh was not allowed to mix with foreign blood. But Pharaoh Akhenaten did not see anything harmful there. However, he grieved for his daughters, and his heart quaked when he thought of his little daughter alone in a foreign land amongst countless wives and remembered the princesses of Mitanni who had died in Pharaoh’s golden house. But the friendship of Burnaburiash was so valuable to him that he agreed to give his youngest daughter as wife to

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Burnaburiash. The daughter was only few years old, and therefore Pharaoh promised to have her marry the King of Babylon in the name of his ambassador and send her to Babylon when the child had grown up to be a woman. The ambassador was content with this arrangement, and he would doubtless have been content also if any distinguished Egyptian girl had been presented to him as a princess. But trying to explain this to Pharaoh, he wouldn’t hear any of it since it was not according to his truth.

Revived by all these good news, Pharaoh forgot his headache and held his thirty-year’s festival in Akhetaten, and Ay had arranged the festival as majestic as he possibly could. Envoys from the land of Kush arrived before Pharaoh, bringing striped donkeys and spotty giraffes with them and carrying little monkeys in their arms and raising colourful parrots in their hands so that he could see them. Slaves carried ivory and golden sand, ostrich feathers and boxes of black wood to Pharaoh as gifts, and the gifts did not lack anything that the land of Kush had sent to Pharaoh as gifts in any previous time. And only few knew that Ay had taken the gifts from Pharaoh’s own storehouses and that plaited baskets carrying golden sand were hollow inside. At least Pharaoh did not know it, for he rejoiced greatly seeing all the generous gifts and praised the loyalty of Kush. The gifts from the King of Babylon were also carried before him, and the Cretan envoy had wonderful cups and many jars full of the finest oil carried before him — and even Aziru sent him gifts since he had been promised further gifts in return if only he sent gifts and also since his envoy had the opportunity to spy on Egypt and Pharaoh’s will at the same time.

Thus, during those autumn days after the harvest, all the ancient glory and wealth of Egypt gathered in the city of Akhenaten; and the City of the Heavens was like a glowing dream in all its lights and colours, framed by this splendour and wealth. Pharaoh Akhenaten praised everything that was noble in Egypt during those days, and everyone competed coming up with ways to praise his honour. The guards of the city were also a handsome and frightening sight, marching accurately, left foot first, with their spearheads glowing red in the light, and their shafts gleaming blue — and from afar no one could tell the spearheads were painted wood although foreigners thought they were copper, and marvelled greatly at Pharaoh’s power.

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