Out of the Black Land. Kerry Greenwood
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Название: Out of the Black Land
Автор: Kerry Greenwood
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Историческая литература
isbn: 9780987160317
isbn:
OUT OF THE BLACK LAND
by
KERRY GREENWOOD
BLURB
Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt is peaceful and prosperous under the dual rule of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and IV, until the younger Pharaoh begins to dream new and terrifying dreams.
Ptah-hotep, a young peasant boy studying to be a scribe, wants to live a simple life in a Nile hut with his lover Kheperren and their dog Wolf. But Amenhotep IV appoints him as Great Royal Scribe. Surrounded by bitterly envious rivals and enemies, how long will Ptah-hotep survive?
The child-princess Mutnodjme sees her beautiful sister Nefertiti married off to the impotent young Amenhotep. But Nefertiti must bear royal children, so the ladies of the court devise a shocking plan.
Kheperren, meanwhile, serves as scribe to the daring teenage General Horemheb. But while the Pharaoh's shrinking army guards the Land of the Nile from enemies on every border, a far greater menace impends.
For, not content with his own devotion to one god alone, the newly-renamed Akhnaten plans to suppress the worship of all other gods in the Black Land.
His horrified court soon realise that the Pharaoh is not merely deformed, but irretrievably mad; and that the biggest danger to the Empire is in the royal palace itself.
Dedicated to MARK DEASEY
my dear and remarkable friend.
With thanks to David Greagg,
Richard Revill, Jean Greenwood, Tim Daly
and Dennis Pryor.
THE CAST
SCRIBES
Ptah-hotepGreat Royal ScribeKheperrenArmy ScribeKhetyScribeHanuferScribeBakhenmutSupervisor, married to HenutmireAmmemmesMaster of ScribesMentuSecond ScribeSnefruThe AntiquarianMennaAn old Scribe, Expert in CuneiformHarmoseAn old Scribe, expert in Foreign LanguagesPashedThe Spy
ROYAL HOUSEHOLD OF THEBES
AmenhotepAmenhotep III, the wise PharaohTiyeAmenhotep's Great Royal Wife and QueenSitamenTiye and Amenhotep's daughter and Great Royal WifeSmenkhareSon of Tiye, later KingTutankhatenSon of Tiye, later King TutankhamenBekhetatenDaughter of Tiye, died youngSahteChief maidservant to TiyeHoremhebGeneral, later PharaohTeyGreat Royal Nurse, later Queen, stepmother of NefertitiAyDivine Father, later Pharaoh, father of NefertitiMutnodjmeDaughter of Tey and Ay, wife of Horemheb, later QueenAsenNurse to MutnodjmeMeropeGreat Royal Wife to AmenhotepKhonsTheir teacherDuammersetSinger of IsisUserkhepeshHigh Priest of Amen-Re at Karnak
ROYAL HOUSEHOLD OF AMARNA
AkhnatenPharaoh, formerly Akhnamen/Amenhotep IV, son of Amenhotep IIINefertitiNeferneferuamen, later Neferneferuaten, Nefertiti Akhnaten's wifeMekhetaten1st daughter of Nefertiti, later Great Royal Wife to her 'father' AkhnatenMeritaten2nd daughter, later Great Royal Wife, died youngAnkhesenpaaten3rd daughter of Nefertiti, later wife of Akhnaten, then Tutankhamen, then Ay; renamed AnkhesenamenNeferneferauten4th daughter of Nefertiti, died as an infantNeferneferure5th daughter of Nefertiti, died as an infantSetepenre6th and last daughter of Nefertiti, died as an infantImhotepThe architect of AmarnaHuyAdvisor to AkhnatenPanneferAdvisor to AkhnatenAapahteChief of the Sekmet Guard of Queen Tiye
PTAH-HOTEP'S HOUSEHOLD
MerytPtah-hotep's chief slave, housekeeper and concubineTaniNubian slaveHaniNubian slaveTetiNubian slaveAnubisThe guard dog
HOUSEHOLD OF MUTNODJME
TakharThe CookKasaThe Small BoyIpuyThe Old SoldierBukentefThe ButlerAnkherhauServantWabLittle GirlIiMaidNebnakhtA GuardKhaemduaGeneral of the Hermotybies.Khety-tashery'little' Khety, son of Khety the Scribe
BOOK ONE - THE HAWK IN THE HORIZON
CHAPTER ONE
Mutnodjme
In the name of Ptah, in the name of his consort Mut after whom I was called and his son Khons who is the moon and time, in the hope that my heart will weigh heavily against the feather and I may live and die in Maat which is truth, I declare that my name is Mutnodjme and my sister is the most beautiful woman in the world.
I was born when she was seven. Her dying mother, the concubine, gave her into the arms of the formidable woman, my mother, Tey wife of Ay. I do not remember the concubine who bore Nefertiti. They say that she was beautiful, pale and silvery and sad, and she died young. Her child was kept apart from Tey's household, and I did not see her when I was a baby. Tey is a small woman, dark of skin and eye; and those things I have inherited from her.
I am small, measured against Nefertiti's length of limb; I am dark against her glowing Theban fairness. I am ugly against her almost divine beauty, and I am miserable against her happiness, for they have just told her that she is to marry Pharaoh Akhnamen, and become Great Royal Wife. She is his; no longer mine.
We have pleated the linen garments for her, and I am sitting on the marble floor of the palace of Divine Father Ay in the great city of Thebes - with the sellers of dates and dried fish calling his trade outside, women's voices, shrill and constant - making wreaths of moonflowers and lotus. I am uncomfortable and cramped, because I have no skill in my fingers for this delicate work, and the flowers will not lie peaceably along the wire frame for me as do those of the other maidens. They are refractory and shed their petals if I force them.
This is the third time that I have had to start again.
When did I first know her, my half-sister Nefertiti Neferneferuasen, whose name means 'The Beautiful One Who Is Come'?
It must have been the river.
I knew that I was being very naughty.
My wet-nurse had been called away on some deep matter involving herbs and childbirth - both female mysteries from which I was excluded - and the servant-girl who was supposed to watch me was flirting with the guard. I was sitting in the garden in Ay's palace, watching the little boats being dragged ashore as the flood filled the Nile and the banks crumbled.
'Egypt,' said Asen my nurse, 'is called the Black Land, because of the rich soil deposited by the river. Our land is the gift of the Nile,' she said, stroking my curly dark hair, 'as you are, daughter, as we all are. And Pharaoh is our Lord and the Gods are above and beneath us, the land our father Geb and the sky our mother Nut, so go to sleep, little daughter. We are cradled in the Nile, nursed by the river,' she said, and went away to tend a woman who was groaning in the next room.
I tried to follow, but an old woman grabbed me by the arm and hauled me from the door.
'Not СКАЧАТЬ