The Amarnan Kings, Book 5: Scarab - Horemheb Read online

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  The Amarnan Kings, Book 5: Scarab - Horemheb

  By Max Overton

  Writers Exchange E-Publishing

  http://www.writers-exchange.com

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  The Amarnan Kings, Book 5: Scarab - Horemheb

  Copyright 2012, 2016 Max Overton

  Writers Exchange E-Publishing

  PO Box 372

  ATHERTON QLD 4883

  AUSTRALIA

  Cover design by: Julie Napier

  Published by Writers Exchange E-Publishing

  http://www.writers-exchange.com

  ISBN 978-1-922066-09-1

  Publisher Disclaimer : This is a work of fiction and is in no way meant to imply that Biblical events actually happened as depicted in this book.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

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  Contents

  Who's Who and What's What in Scarab-Horemheb

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Epilogue

  The Main Characters & Places in Scarab-Horemheb

  Gods of the Scarab Books

  About The Author

  Books By This Author

  Other Historical Books By This Publisher

  Back Cover

  Return to Contents

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  Who's Who and What's What in Scarab-Horemheb

  In any novel about ancient cultures and races, some of the hardest things to get used to are the names of people and places. Often these names are unfamiliar in spelling and pronunciation. It does not help that for reasons dealt with below, the spelling, and hence the pronunciation is sometimes arbitrary. To help readers keep track of the characters in this book I have included some notes on names in the ancient Egyptian language. I hope they will be useful.

  In Ancient Egypt a person's name was much more than just an identifying label. A name meant something, it was descriptive, and a part of a person's being. For instance, Amenhotep means 'Amen is at peace', and Nefertiti means 'the beautiful one has come'. Knowledge of the true name of something gave one power over it, and in primitive societies, a person's real name is not revealed to any save the chief or immediate family. A myth tells of the creator god Atum speaking the name of a thing and it would spring fully formed into existence. Another myth says the god Re had a secret name and went to extraordinary lengths to keep it secret.

  The Egyptian language, like written Arabic and Hebrew, was without vowels. This produces some confusion when ancient Egyptian words are transliterated. The god of Thebes in Egyptian reads mn , but in English this can be represented as Amen, Amon, Ammon or Amun. The form one chooses for proper names is largely arbitrary, but I have tried to keep to accepted forms where possible. King Akhenaten's birth name was Amenhotep, though this name can have various spellings depending on the author's choice. It is also sometimes seen as Amenhotpe, Amenophis, Amunhotep and Amonhotep. I have used the first of these spellings (Amenhotep) in the Scarab books, and every name that includes that of the same god is spelled Amen- or -amen. The god himself I have chosen to call Amun, largely because the word Amen can have an alternate meaning in Western religious thought. The god of the sun's disk I have called Aten, though Aton is an alternative spelling. The City of Aten I have called Akhet-Aten (the Horizon of the Aten), rather than Akhetaten as it is normally written, to distinguish it easily for readers from the similar name of its king, Akhenaten.

  The names of the kings themselves have been simplified. Egyptian pharaohs had five names, known as the Heru (or Horus) name, the Nebti name, the Golden Falcon name, the Prenomen and the Nomen. Only the Nomen was given at birth, the other names being coronation names. The Heru name dates from pre-dynastic times and was given to a king upon his coronation. All kings had a Heru name, but by the eighteenth dynasty it was seldom used. The Nebti name dates from the time of the unification of Egypt and shows the special relationship the king had to the vulture-goddess Nekhbet of Upper Egypt and the cobra-goddess Wadjet of Lower Egypt. The Golden Falcon name conveys the idea of eternity, as gold neither rusts nor tarnishes, and dates from the Old Kingdom. It perhaps symbolizes the reconciliation of Heru and Seth, rather than the victory of Heru over Seth as the titles are usually non-aggressive in nature.

  By the time of the eighteenth dynasty, the prenomen had become the most important coronation name, replacing the Heru name in many inscriptions. Since the eleventh dynasty, the prenomen has always contained the name of Re.

  The nomen was the birth name, and this is the name by which the kings in this book are commonly known. The birth names most common in the eighteenth dynasty were Tuthmosis and Amenhotep. Successive kings with the same birth name did not use the method we use to distinguish between them--namely numbers (Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV). In fact, the birth name ceased to be used once they became king and the coronation prenomen distinguished them. Amenhotep (III) became Nebmaetre, and Amenhotep (IV) became Waenre. I have tried to keep both nomen and prenomen to the fore in my books. Generally, in formal occasions, the prenomen is used, sometimes with the nomen; in casual talk or narrative, the more familiar nomen predominates.

  Another simplification has occurred with place names and titles. In the fourteenth century B.C., Egypt as a name for the country did not exist. The land around the Nile Valley and Delta was called Kemet or The Black Land by its inh
abitants. Much later, Greeks called it Aigyptos from which we get Egypt. Other common terms for the country were The Two Lands or Ta Mehu and Ta Shemau (Lower and Upper Egypt), and the Land of Nine Bows (the nine traditional enemies).

  Similarly, the king of Kemet or Egypt was later known as Pharaoh, but this term derives from the phrase Per-Aa which originally meant the Great House or royal palace. Over the years the meaning changed to encompass the idea of the central government, and later the person of the king himself. The Greeks changed Per-Aa to Pharaoh. I have kept with the generic term 'King'.

  During the eighteenth dynasty, the kings ruled from a city known variously as Apet, No-Amun or Waset in the Fourth province, nome or sepat of Upper Egypt, which itself was also called Waset. This capital city the Greeks called Thebes. The worship of Amun was centered here and the city was sometimes referred to as the City of Amun. I have used the name Waset.

  I have endeavored to be accurate as far as possible, and have retained the original Egyptian names for people and places. The gods of Egypt are largely known to modern readers by their Greek names; for instance, Osiris, Thoth and Horus. I have decided to keep the names as they were originally known to the inhabitants of Kemet--Asar, Djehuti and Heru. The Greek names for some unfamiliar gods can be found in the section Gods of the Scarab books .

  Return to Contents

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  Prologue

  Syria-1960

  Rain gave way to sullen overcast and after a protracted struggle the clouds reluctantly allowed the sun to break through onto the camp of the British Midland University dig in the little side valley of the Orontes River in southern Syria. The only people to take advantage of the break in the weather were half-a-dozen local workers and more than twenty soldiers of the Syrian Army. The swollen stream that ran through the valley ran muddy, but the cave that pierced the towering sandstone cliffs remained dry. Within it, a breached wall of mud-brick and dressed stone half-hid the chambers that lay beyond and the white-washed walls covered in paintings and finely drawn hieroglyphs. Discovered the previous year, one chamber had become three, and slowly the writing was translated to reveal an account of the Amarnan sun-kings of Egypt that was not written in the history books. Three days before, the principal translator, Dr Dani Hanser had retired to her tent in exhaustion, leaving the other members of the team to their own devices.

  For two days they had frequented the main tent where they took their meals and spread out on the narrow trestle tables transcribing the tapes and the notes taken during Dani's steady vocal translation, but on the third day the tent was almost empty at breakfast. There was some desultory conversation as they ate some fairly ordinary toast and marmalade and drank their tea, until Marc looked at his watch.

  "Where's Al?" he asked. "Has anyone seen him this morning?"

  Daffyd shook his head, engrossed in a text book, and Doris said she had not seen anyone from his tent since the previous night.

  "That's a point, Bob and Will aren't here either." Marc got up with a groan. "I'd better go find him."

  "Have your breakfast," Daffyd instructed. "They'll turn up."

  "Now I'm up, I'll have a look in his tent at least." Marc left and Daffyd watched him go, frowning slightly, before turning back to his book.

  Angela came in and helped herself to a boiled egg and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Hi Dor, you were up early. Couldn't sleep?"

  Doris swallowed her mouthful of toast. "The sun was shining when I woke up. I'm so tired of the rain I just had to get up and enjoy a few minutes of it."

  "He's not there." Marc stood in the entrance to the tent, a puzzled look on his face. "None of them are, and their cots don't seem to have been slept in."

  "They've probably just gone for a walk," Angela said.

  "Or up to the cave," Doris added.

  "Yeah, that's probably it." Marc looked out at the camp site. "There's Bashir. Maybe he's seen them." He let the tent flap fall behind him.

  "Damn," Daffyd muttered. "Marc! Come back!" he called out.

  "What?" Marc's reply was muffled. He poked his head in the door. "What?"

  "Come in and sit down. I don't want you asking Bashir about Al and the others."

  "Why not?"

  "Because they've gone."

  "Gone? Gone where?"

  "They decided to try and get out of Syria."

  "Why?" Doris asked.

  Angela looked scornful. "Use your head, Dor. We're prisoners of Bashir and his army buddies and we know too much. I think it's a damn good thing they've escaped. If I'd known they were going to try, I'd have gone with them."

  "They haven't got a hope," Marc said gloomily. "If I'd known, I would have stopped them."

  "You still can," Daffyd said. "Just tell Bashir. I'm sure his soldiers can round them up in no time."

  "That's not what I want, and you know it. I just think it's stupid to get Bashir angry when...damn it, when our lives are in the balance. How is he going to react when he finds out?"

  "I imagine, as you say, he'll be extremely angry and may very well be tempted to shut us up and close down the site," Daffyd said, rolling himself another one of his perpetual cigarettes. "Then he'll start to think just what that means."

  Marc stared at the smiling Welshman. "Alright, I'll bite. Just what does that mean?"

  "It means that with Al, Bob and Will at large, he cannot do away with the rest of us. That was always the danger. Bashir believes there is a fabulous treasure buried somewhere in Egypt and he hopes the Scarab account will lead him to it. When the account in these chambers ends, we all meet with an unfortunate accident and he goes off to look for his treasure. With Al et al at large, he can't do that."

  "Where have they gone?"

  Daffyd shrugged. "How would I know?"

  "Well, you knew they were gone, so I thought you might."

  "If I don't know, I can't be forced to tell."

  Marc considered this for a few minutes. "Bashir's going to hit the roof when he finds out."

  Daffyd nodded and stubbed out the butt of his cigarette. "It is important we give them as much time as possible to get away, so behave normally and act dumb."

  "Are you saying we normally act dumb?" Doris asked indignantly.

  "Your dumbness will be purely an act, Doris Smith," Daffyd said, suppressing a smile. "To mislead Bashir." He started rolling another cigarette.

  "Mislead Bashir about what?"

  Everyone looked at the tent entrance where a slightly-built woman stood.

  "Dani," Marc said with a warm smile. "Good to see you. How are you feeling?"

  "Come in and take a pew, old girl," Daffyd said, expelling a cloud of pungent cigarette smoke. "How about a cuppa?"

  "Less of the 'old girl' if you don't mind, though I do feel a bit ragged still. A cup of tea would be nice." Dr Danielle Hanser sat down opposite Daffyd while Angela hurried to pour her a cup of tea. "What's this about misleading Bashir?"

  "Well, it's..." Doris started.

  "Nothing at all," Daffyd cut in. "That's to say, nothing more than usual. Just our standard obfuscation."

  "Our what? Oh, yes, that's right..." Doris lapsed into silence.

  "Where is everyone?" Dani asked. "I suppose we'll be back in the chambers later today, so we need to go over our notes. Ah, thanks Angela." She sipped her tea.

  "We've been working on the transcribing, Dani," Marc said. "We're pretty much up to date. We just have to decide how much, if any, we are going to keep secret."

  "I'm not going to try hiding things as I translate," Dani said. "It's all I can do to wrap my head around those phrases. Ancient Egyptian writing is supposed to be formal and staid, not lively and personal like these inscriptions."

  "It's beautiful."

  "Sure it is, Dor," Angela agreed, "But it must be a real bitch to translate as you read it. Are you really ready to start again, Dani?"

  "I think so." Dani smiled. "I'm eager to see what happens."

  "What about the other agenda?" Marc asked
. "Do we transcribe exactly what we hear or do we try and hide any description of the treasure chamber or tomb? You know Bashir's going to go down to Egypt and loot it as soon as he's sure of its location."

  "Feed him false information and he might go down and look for it anyway. Either way, we're screwed," Angela said gloomily.

  "Angie! Language!" Doris said, shocked.

  "Exactly as Angela says," Marc said. "So do we hide it or not?"

  "Hide what, Dr Andrews?"

  Marc whirled and stared at the man in the doorway. "Jesus, I wish you wouldn't sneak around like that. You damn near gave me a heart attack."

  Ahmed Bashir, Under Minister of the Syrian Ministry of National History, eased into the tent. "I ask again, Dr Andrews, what is it you want to hide from me?"

  Marc flushed red beneath his bushy beard. "Nothing. We were just talking."

  "I'm well aware of that. What were you talking about?" He stared at the small group of archaeologists, waiting for one of them to say something. "Is it to do with trying to hide the location of the king's treasure by obscuring the description?" He saw the stricken look on Doris' face and nodded. "I see that it is. Admit it Dr Hanser; Dr Andrews; Dr Rhys-Williams."