Part 9 (1/2)
I sat in the shelter at the stes, and watched my countryside slide by I sa the Nile was as we plied our way upriver, past the pyra in the noonday sun, past green fields studded with palm trees, banks lined with red-black earth, donkeys and heels and houses of mud brick The strip of land near the river was always the saround
The desert was soolden and sandy behind it, other times an ashy white, bleached wilderness, other tireen waxed and waned, from less than a mile to alht and the desert took over
When the sun set, a red ball sinking into the dier Night caht with aover the desert just beyond us It got cold, even in high summer
We passed the ruins of a stone city about three days' sail past Memphis, and I asked our captain what it was ”The city of the heretic Pharaoh, may his name be lost forever,” he muttered
Akhenaten! I knew a little about hi to found a new religion based on a worshi+p of Aten as the one God The priests of A past all that remained of his life and work I was profoundly thankful that ion No, we threw ourselves into them all with relish!+ The Ptolemies, and my father in particular, had been avid builders of teypt in the old style As a result, our te in the land-- Edfu, Esna, and Kom Ombo were famous now A little way past the ill-fated Pharaoh's city we passed the Hatnub alabaster quarries on the eastern bank, where so in
Two days later we passed the town of Ptolemais It was founded by the first Ptolemy; almost four hundred miles from Alexandria, it was the last Greek city outpost on the Nile Fron influence faded away
On the ninth day of our journey, the Nile took a sudden bend and ere sailing due east Near the very elbow of the bend, at Dendera, we passed the Temple of Hathor, the Goddess of love It was a very recent one, with new sections having been built by my father I could see it from the water, its carved coluuard wall I wished I had time to stop and visit it
Directly across, at the exact place where the river turns back west, was the town of Coptos I was familiar with it because it was an important trade route At this spot, where the Nile comes closest to the Red Sea, caoods from Punt and Arabia My father had been very interested in this trade route; he believed that Egypt should be looking farther east, to India, for her trading partners, leaving the Mediterranean to Rome
The earlier Ptolemies had founded a nu them after their queens: Cleopatris, Arsinoe, Berenice Berenice, the one farthest south, was the point at which the elephants captured in Africa were ferried Lately the elephant trade had fallen by the wayside They were no longer the novelty in warfare that they once had been Julius Caesar had perfected the technique of routing them, and now they had lost their superior value as a weapon of terror
Julius CaesarI wondered about him As a soldier, he seemed formidable and infinitely resourceful The business with the elephants--why had no one before him exploited their weak points so effectively? The anihtened by a volley of stones and missiles, they turn and run over their own troops For centuries elephants were coveted as war machines Yet Caesar had lately rendered theainst hiypt
A day's sail farther took us to Thebes, with its ypt, and here the priests of the te the people The fourth Ptolemy had been faced with a rival native dynasty fro an end to it that he lost ained
The priests and their retinues lined the steps at the waterside, and I could hear their sour, dirgelike holy antic te them The smell of incense wafted over the water
Across fro cliffs and valleys where the royal to rock Here Queen Hatshepshut had set up her , horizontal series of terraces and chambers built into the hard, bone-dry cliffs Now her myrrh trees and fountains had turned to dust Not far aere the great mortuary temples of Ramses II and Ramses III, as well as the Colossi of Ah But the priests, paid to perform rites forever in the teotten, and only the stones re heat under the desert sun
A little farther, and Hermonthis, our destination, appeared on the western bank of the Nile It was a small toith little there except the Bucheum Temple and its enclosure where the sacred bull, believed to be incarnated by A catacombs where the mummified bulls were entombed
The people lined the riverbanks, and the priests, with their shaven heads and white linen robes, stood ready to receive us There was intent curiosity on all their faces Is this really the Queen? Is this really the Queen? they thought they thought May we approach? Is she truly a Goddess ? May we approach? Is she truly a Goddess ?
In that instant I was profoundly glad I had come all this way to be welcomed unequivocally at last Let my brother stay behind in Alexandria, where ere treated as all too hu joy and release, as if I could breathe for the first time in my life
”Your Majesty,” the oldest priest said, ”the sacred bull rejoices that you have coh I disliked bulls, I rejoiced as well
When the previous Buchis bull died, a search was ht one had been found quite nearby, to his owner's delight
The cere the beast--who had to be dun-colored, hite horns and a white tail--onto a specially constructed boat, which docked near the bull's breeding grounds a few old and lapis lazuli, and a face net to guard against flies He was festooned with flower garlands, and his hooves were stained red, I noticed as his keeper led hio I hoped he had a long and uneventful tenure in Here It is not easy, being a holy thing and set apart
The silver-tipped oars on the boat sparkled as they eh in the air The bull was going to his destiny, and he rode placidly as the boat rocked on the water
There was , as is customary The priests had prepared public banquets for all the people fro area, as a new bull's installation is an uncoh priest held a private feast for us, spreading a table with the produce of the area: onions, leeks, garlic, lentils, chickpeas, spinach, lettuce, and carrots Goat and laazelle and ibex, were the meats Out of deference to the sacred bull, beef was not eaten
”We will raise a cereh priest ”Forever and ever, as long as there are men to read, this deed will live on”
I was served a platter of the vegetables, sprinkled with oil from the bak bak tree, flavored with herbs ”Your harvest seeathered all this food, to feed not just us but the multitude?” tree, flavored with herbs ”Your harvest seeathered all this food, to feed not just us but the multitude?”
He looked downcast ”I am afraid---I must confess to Your Majesty--that it was y in his bounty this year You sa high the landing was above the water? Usually the boats ride at a level even with the platfor?”
”There is no starvation yet We pray we can outlast the tih ere as yet three days' sail from Nubia, I noticed a nu his servants and priests I asked about it
”Oh yes, we find the Nubians to be very spiritual They are attracted to temple service, and faithful We are always pleased to welco raceful movements, as if she had been trained as a dancer
The host shook his head when I commented on it ”No, it is just her natural way Nubians are lithe and elegant in all they do, fro a dish on a table to the way they turn their heads They are born with a sense of bodily dignity”
”What is your name?” I asked her Her movements had captivated me
”Iras, Your Majesty,” she said When I looked puzzled, she said, ”It means 'wool,' tiros tiros, because of ood I wondered where she had learned it She must come from an educated family, or have received her education in Thebes or Hermonthis Her hair was indeed woolly, thick, and worn in Nubian style, with the sides short
”I will do all in h priest ”The irrigation canals need to be deepened, I know that They have silted up This will be corrected”
”I will pray daily to Auessed his unspoken thought: I will pray daily that you stay on the throne to carry out your promise I will pray daily that you stay on the throne to carry out your pro ceremony in the palace attached to the Bucheum I had meant to return to Alexandria within two or three days, but at dawn a er ca with sailing His neas griency Council had seized power in the name of Ptolemy XIII, and I was declared deposed My absence fro
So soon a queen, so soon unqueened! I could hardly believe it That they would dare--!
”It is true,” theyou this unwelcoht it best your friends told you before you were officially informed, and before the rest of the country knew So that you can-- make your plans”
Yes Make my plans For I would not submit meekly No, never!
”I thank you” Calned to our quarters for our brief stay, to bring him water to ith, wine to refresh hi--in her exquisite way--for him to follow her into another chaolden haze that lay over the river at daybreak, gilding the reeds along the bank The royal barge was tied up, waiting formyself on the sill
What should I do? I was here in Upper Egypt, in the place traditionally overnment of Alexandria But they seemed to like and support me Should I attempt to raise an army here? The best soldiers cain here
But how could I pay them? I had no money with me The usurpers in Alexandria were now in control of the treasury as well as the Macedonian Household Guard and the Egyptian army I could not equip an army, let alone train one, with my resources here My popularity with the people, and their obvious love forbut of little e a counterrevolution from here, all I would achieve would be bloodshed
These thoughts raced through my mind so quickly I was stunned to realize I had breathed in only once or thile thinking theripped the sill
”Your Majesty” It was Mardian I always knew his voice: it was soft and not--thank Here at which the voice norer, but not deeper
I did not turn ”You know that you may call me Cleopatra in private”
”Cleopatra” He said it in a way that made it very pleasant on the ears ”What e do?” He paused ”I knoill not give up”