Authors: Naguib Mahfouz
In came a man tall of stature and powerfully built. He walked, wrapped in his winding sheet, until he stood before the throne.
Then Thoth, Scribe of the Gods, read aloud, “He assumed the throne upon the death of his father. He subdued Nubia, returned Palestine to Egypt, then focused his energies on building and construction.”
Following this, Osiris invited Seti I to speak.
“From the first day I strove to follow a well-laid plan,” Seti I said. “This was to shore up authority at home, while marching southward to our furthest borders, then taking Palestine back by victory over the Hittites, sealed by a pact of peace. This done, I completed the many-pillared hall at Karnak and restored the temples that had not before known a repairing hand. Throughout my reign security, order, and justice fared well, while ease and opulence overspread the land. The arts and literature flourished. The good life ruled, though near the end a conflict arose between my heir apparent and his brother.”
Thutmose III asked him, “Why didn’t you continue to combat the Hittites?”
“I felt that my army was exhausted,” Seti I replied, “while at the same time the Hittites as a nation were extremely tough in battle.”
“The only glorious way to deal with an enemy,” Thutmose III retorted, “is to fight against him, not to make a treaty of peace with him!”
“A treaty of peace is preferable to a war without glory,” Seti I answered.
At this, Akhenaten inquired, “Why did you not apply the Divine Law, the law of love and peace?”
Horemheb cut in sharply, “That which led to the empire’s ruin and left it defenseless?”
“Did you join yourself to the Divine Lineage,” Khufu queried, “in order to rule as a son of the gods?”
“I did this with my wife at the temple of Amun, in accordance with the observed rituals,” Seti I told him.
“I am pleased with this son, so lofty of purpose!” Isis exclaimed.
And so Osiris pronounced judgment, “Come take your place among the Immortals.”
26
A
GAIN
, H
ORUS HERALDED
, “King Ramesses the Second!”
Then entered a tall, fit-looking man who advanced in his shroud until he loomed before the throne.
Thoth, Recorder of the Divine Court, declaimed, “He came to the throne at his father’s demise. He buttressed Egypt’s rule over Nubia and Asia. He waged war against the Hittites, then concluded with them a treaty of peace. Thenceforth he devoted the rest of his long life to a campaign of construction of a kind never before seen in the history of his country. It was an age of building and of a blossoming of the arts, and of luxury. His life stretched to nearly a century, and he enjoyed it to the full, siring nearly three hundred children.”
Then Osiris asked him to speak.
“In truth, I usurped the throne from my brother, the heir apparent,” Ramesses II replied. “I was certain that the hour demanded a man of power, while my brother’s weakness, despite his legitimate claim to rule, would bring disaster to Egypt. I was boldly ambitious, determined to provide the greatest degree of security, order, justice, and prosperity to my country at home, while bringing back to our empire its splendor of old. I deepened our dominion over Nubia, then did the same in Palestine, Syria, and the Lebanon, whose rulers and princes rushed forward to swear their oath of submission.
“Next I turned toward Qadesh to deliver the decisive blow to my strongest adversary, the king of the Hittites. But to my bad luck I found myself encircled by the foe, while the rest of my forces were quite far from me, in the south. I felt a rage rising within me, out of fear for Egypt’s honor, which I held within my own hands. I prayed a long time to my God, reminding Him that I had only left my country to raise up His name and to impose His majesty. Then I fell upon the enemy, with the pick of my personal guard around me. I smote them like a thunderbolt. As the light of my glory shattered their hearts and their doom came inexorably under my blows, I drove a gap between them and passed through it to reach my army. Then we wheeled back around at them and beat them down until they threw themselves into the river, and our victory was complete.
“Following this I laid siege to Qadesh, suggesting an armistice to the king. I did not find this shameful, as I had regained territories for the empire that had not previously been restored. Afterward I dedicated my life to construction, marrying the daughter of the Hittite monarch as a way of cementing our peace. I erected structures of sorts never before built by any pharaoh. I brought forth happiness to the people of Egypt such as they had not known until then, and which I doubt they have known since.”
“Yet you began your career by usurping your brother’s right to the throne,” his father, Seti I, scolded him.
“I cannot respect a law which would grant the throne to a feeble man who does not deserve it.”
“Where did you get your power to know the Divine Will?” Akhenaten taunted him. “What you have said about your brother was said about me, yet I was the first ruler to create a kingdom for the One True God on earth.”
“But that was a catastrophe for both the nation and the empire.…” Ramesses II rejoined.
Thutmose III then asked, “Pray tell me how it behooved a triumphant leader like yourself not only to make a treaty of peace with your enemy, but to marry his daughter, as well?”
“He was the one who asked for it,” said Ramesses II, “and I found it beneficial to both parties.”
“And how, O King, did you find yourself surrounded in battle?” continued Thutmose III.
“Two of the enemy’s spies fell into our hands. They falsely informed us that the Hittite army was to the north of Qadesh,” answered Ramesses II. “I thus hurried with the vanguard of my troops to take the land south of the city. However, the enemy was actually lying in wait to the east, from which he struck to encircle me.”
“You set off in haste when you should have waited for your army to reach you from the south,” said Thutmose III. “You are courageous—there is no doubt about that—but you are not a prudent commander.”
“Yet I broke through the siege, then turned the attack back on the enemy with the rest of my army,” Ramesses II protested. “They then fell into the trap which they themselves had set for me—I tore them to pieces and scored a decisive victory.”
“Your objective was not merely to win a battle,” Thutmose III said, moving to the point of his discourse. “Rather, you clearly wanted to conquer Qadesh, as I had done, because it controls the roads in every direction. Therefore, you have no right to claim victory when you did not achieve the purpose of your expedition.”
“What do you say about my routing the enemy’s army?” Ramesses II asked.
“I say that you won a battle but you lost the war,” Thutmose III riposted, “while your enemy lost a battle but won the war. He enticed you to make peace in order to reorganize his ranks. He welcomed your relationship by marriage in order to fix your friendly attitude before making good his losses. He was content to keep Qadesh as a place from which to threaten any point in your empire in future.”
“During all of my long reign, the security of my homeland was not disturbed for even one hour,” Ramesses II responded. “Nor was there a single violent rebellion anywhere in our vast empire, while no enemy dared cast an aggressive glance at our borders.”
“I cannot dismiss your merit,” Thutmose III conceded. “You restored to Egypt the greatest part of her empire, and were marked by your overwhelming personal valor, which put fear into the hearts of your enemies.”
“And do not forget that my era was the greatest age of construction in the country,” said Ramesses II.
“Did you build a pyramid?” Khufu asked him.
“No, but man does not build pyramids alone,” said Ramesses II. “There is not one province in Egypt without a temple or an obelisk or a statue of mine.”
“But you appropriated my ruined temple and turned it into your own funerary complex,” Akhenaten intervened. “You repeated this assault on your other predecessors’ monuments, engraving your name where it did not rightfully belong. You minimized the accomplishments of all the great ones who came before you, as if the One God had created only you alone.”
“In this sacred hall I will not deny any error or defend any impetuous act,” Ramesses II retorted, “but I would prefer that someone innocent of heresy and licentiousness accuse me.”
Osiris broke in, “Don’t forget, O King, that you are addressing someone who has endured this same trial and emerged from it as an Immortal. Apologize.”
Ramesses II muttered, “I apologize.”
“What of your experience with women?” Queen Hatshepsut queried him. “And did you find time to treat kindly with your three hundred children?”
“No man has savored happiness such as I did,” Ramesses II replied. “The gods endowed me with long life, perfect health, and limitless powers for love. These remained undiminished until the end, despite all the affection that my wife, Queen Nefertari lavished upon me. As for my children, I never knew more than a few of them.”
“Did you use magic to preserve your marvelous manly vigor?” Amenhotep III inquired.
“I performed my own magic myself,” Ramesses II explained. “At the age of ninety, I would stand in the Great Hall while rows of chariots entered. In each rode one of my wives, naked, accompanied by a naked slave girl. They would keep rolling past me until there flowed in my aged veins the fresh blood of youth!”
“Were these the same chariots with which you scored your military victories?” the Sage Ptahhotep wondered.
“No,” Ramesses II said. “These were the chariots of love, clad with pure gold, exuding the sumptuous aromas of women.”
“Your life, O King, mixed both seriousness in all its senses, and play with all its caprices,” jibed Abnum. “Perhaps the final judgment upon you should combine both indulgence and restraint!”
Osiris stared at Abnum sternly. “This proceeding has no need either for your guidance or your opinions, except to ignite a new revolution in the world of Eternity,” he berated him. “Do not exceed your proper place—apologize!”
Abnum acquiesced, “I beg your pardon, Great Lord!”
Isis summarized, “This son returned Egypt to her former glory, while material comfort during his time spread from palace to house to reed hut alike. If we counted all his faults through all of his life, they would seem insignificant.”
And so Osiris turned to Ramesses II, “Go take your seat among the Immortals.”
27
H
ORUS CALLED OUT
, “King Merneptah!”
A tall man of middling years came in, marching with his familiar bearing until he took his place before the throne.
Thoth, Recorder of the Divine Court, then read aloud, “He expended his entire ten years of rule in defense of the empire, and did no wrong to anyone.”
Osiris invited him to speak.
“My father lived so long that he did not leave any of his sons even the least hope of assuming the throne,” recounted Merneptah. “Dozens of my siblings died between youth and middle age, until I became the designated heir—then the ruler at age sixty. When the great king vanished, the chieftains of sedition began to stir—so I got up to sling my sword, despite my advanced age. I overcame the upstarts in Asia and totally destroyed an invasion from the West. I took hold of the country’s reins with a firm hand in domestic affairs, and as peace spread at home, security prevailed.”
“You attacked older monuments to erect palaces and temples,” remarked Akhenaten, “engraving upon them the story of your father’s deeds!”
“All my time was absorbed in warfare—I never had time to do any building,” Merneptah replied.
“I can say you are a brilliant commander,” said Thutmose III.
“Thank you, my son,” Isis addressed Merenptah, “for your heroism and sincerity.”
Osiris ordered him, “Go to your place among the Immortals.”
28
H
ORUS HERALDED
, “King Amenmessu, King Siptah, and King Seti the Second!”
The three walked in, wrapped in their winding sheets, until they stood before the throne.
Thoth, the sacred scribe, recited from their record, “They were all preoccupied with contending for the throne. Corruption reigned supreme, as greed rent the unity of the country asunder, and killing, looting, and plunder ran rampant in the land.”
Osiris called upon them to speak, and Amenmessu was the first to respond. “I took the throne by right. Yet I was surrounded by conspiracies, and fell after only one year.”
“I was entitled to rule,” asserted Siptah, “but it was usurped from me in a dispute that arose between myself and Merneptah near the end of his reign. I was distracted from my duties in chasing down malicious plots, until I was forced to give up the throne.”
“I strove to the limits of my strength to be a good ruler,” insisted Seti II. “But the corruption worsened, and the general putrefaction swept us away.”
“How quickly corruption replaces virtue,” lamented the Sage Imhotep, vizier to King Djoser. “See how the weakness of a single ruler is reflected back onto an entire civilization!”
“Perhaps the problem in the end is,” Thutmose III suggested, “how to find the right, powerful man at the right time?”
“There wasn’t any man in the royal family who was powerful enough,” countered Horemheb. “Yet could it be that there was no such man to be found in the land?”
“The law demands that the heir who is present be granted the throne,” said Isis, “not to suffer the difficulties of finding someone else who has the right qualities. These three could only do what they were able to do.”
“Get all ye to Purgatory,” said Osiris imperiously.
29
H
ORUS CALLED OUT
, “Pharaoh Sethnakht!”
A short, strongly built man entered, covered in his shroud, then strode with dignity to his place before the throne.
Then Thoth read from his holy tome, “He restored the law to its sovereignty!”
Osiris invited him to speak, so he began, “I lived in an age of chaos. I was nearly murdered one day as I sailed on the Nile—and survived by a miracle. I was then but a distant relative of the King Merneptah, but rose to the throne with the aid of the priests. The corrupt provincial governors refused to acknowledge me. While not powerful enough to subjugate them all, I was not lacking in courage. So I crushed the nome of Khnum, where I annihilated the rebels, cutting off the ears and noses of those I captured. From there I marched on Thebes, where the cowards quickly rushed to greet me in submission.