The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

before, and there were as many Hittites and Syrians dead upon that field as Egyptians so that these plains were known thereafter as the Field of Human Bones. But as soon as Horemheb entered their encampment, he set fire to their stocks of forage until all was burned — for this forage was poisoned with poisonous herbs, causing the Hittite horses to sicken, although I did not know it then in what manner Horemheb had contrived this.

Thus Horemheb reached the front of Gaza, and while the Hittites and Syrians in the whole of southern Syria took refuge in fortified cities and garrisons, he scattered Gaza’s besiegers. Meanwhile, the Egyptian fleet sailed into Gaza harbour, although much battered, as many vessels were still burning after a sea battle that had raged for two days off the Gaza shore. This battle ended inconclusively as the Egyptian fleet escaped to Gaza harbour, where many ships drifted to barriers enclosing the harbour, before the cautious commander of Gaza believed them and let the barriers be lifted. Yet also the united fleet of Syria and the Hittites escaped to mend their wounds in Tyre and Sidon, ending the battle without a winner as both sides took flight. Now it was nevertheless possible for Horemheb to bring provisions and reinforcements for Gaza by sea and replenish his own equipment while returning to Egypt the wounded and disabled men in ships.

The day that saw the opening of the gates of the impregnable Gaza to admit Horemheb’s troops is still celebrated throughout Egypt as a festival day, and this winter day is now called the Day of Sekhmet — and small boys with wooden clubs and reed spears re-enact the siege of Gaza. No city was ever more valiantly defended, and Gaza’s commander well deserved the praise and acclamation he received by defending Gaza. Therefore I shall give his name despite the fact that he had seen my great shame when I was lifted in a basket on a reed rope to Gaza walls. His name was Roju.

He was called by his own men ‘the Stiff Old Sod,’ which well describes his appearance and his nature, for a more stubborn and suspicious man I have never met. After the victory, the horns of Horemheb had to blow all day long in vain before Roju would believe that it was safe to open the gates. Even then he would admit only Horemheb to enter the gates in order to satisfy himself that the man was what he appeared to be — for he suspected he was a disguised Syrian spy. When it finally dawned on him that

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Horemheb had defeated the Hittites and Gaza was no longer in danger but the siege was lifted, he expressed no particular joy but remained as grim as ever, and he was not at all happy that Horemheb in his capacity as the commander-in-chief outranked and ordered him in Gaza — for the years of siege had made him used to being everyone’s ruler.

Indeed, I need to tell more about this Roju the Stiff Old Sod, since he was a pretty funny man and caused various incidents in Gaza due to his insistence. I think that he was a madman in his insistence and his head was ill, but had that not been the case, the Hittites and Aziru’s men would have conquered Gaza long ago. I don’t think that he would have been successful in any other profession, but in Gaza the gods or favourable fortunes had put him in a position matching his skills. Initially, he had been banished to Gaza because he was constantly arguing and protesting, Gaza being a petty and meaningless town in comparison with other Syrian cities, a true place of penalty, and only later events made it important. In fact, it was Roju who made it important since he did not surrender it to Aziru while other Syrian cities surrendered.

But first, I need to tell about our arrival to Gaza and what Gaza looked like when we arrived. I have already told about the walls of Gaza which are so high that I greatly feared breaking my neck when Roju had me towed to the wall from a rope — having earlier burned my hands and knees with boiling pitch. These walls saved Gaza, since they had been built from gigantic boulders, and their base was of such ancient origin that no one knew who had built it but people said it was giants who made it. There was not much even the Hittites could do to these walls, but as a sign of their great war skills, they had been able to cause some parts of the walls to collapse with their catapults, and by digging away ground under the walls they had managed to bring down a watchtower.

Also the old town which was within the walls was for the most part burned down, and not a single house had a roof intact. Having heard of Aziru’s rebellion, Roju the Stiff Old Sod had had the new town outside of the walls burned and demolished at once, and this he had done by his

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