Nefertiti
| Series: | Rai Rahotep [1] |
| Published: | 2008 |
| Tags: | Mystery, Historical Novel Mysteryttt Historical Novelttt |
She is called 'The Perfect One', the most famous and beautiful woman in the world. Nefertiti rules equally with her husband, the Pharaoh Akhenaten, over the richest, most sophisticated and powerful society in the modern world. At home the wealthy enjoy their hunts and love affairs, their new jewellery and fashions, and invest their money in elaborate tombs for the afterlife. The rest of the population labour on the land as they have done since time began. Yet behind the glorious facades of luxury and pleasure an epic power struggle is taking place; Akhenaten and Nefertiti inaugurate an enlightened new religion, and build a magnificent and mysterious new capital in the desert in which to worship the God of the Sun. The delicate balance of power in Egypt is thrown into confusion; the old priesthood is stripped of its traditional authority and wealth, the army is enraged by the growing turbulence on the country's borders, and the people resent the loss of the ancient Gods. Old alliances are brought into doubt, and generations of inherited power and wealth are suddenly at stake. And then, shortly before the crucial festival to celebrate the new capital, to which rulers and representatives from across the world are invited to attend, Nefertiti suddenly vanishes. Rai Rahotep, the youngest chief detective in the Thebes division, with a rising reputation for his original methods, is secretly assigned by Akhenaten himself to investigate. He has ten days to find the Queen and return her in time for the celebrations. Success will bring glory but if he fails, he and his family will die..
Nefertiti
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
NEFERT
ITI
THE BOOKOF THE DEAD
Nick Drake
HarperCollins e-books
To my father, Miles Drake
O
my heart which I had from my mother,
O my heart which
I
had upon earth, do not rise
up
against me
as witness in the presence
of
the Lord
of
Things
The Book of the Dead
Contents
x
I had dreamed of snow. I was lost in a...
1
Great Thebes, your lights and shadows, your corrupt
businesses and...
8
I admire the neatness of a boat. The simplicity of.
12
I lay beneath the moon and observed the many serene...
19
The rest of the journey passed in an uncomfortable silence.
22
I found myself in a large, open, well-lit room. A...
27
I can do nothing but wait, and waiting is torture.
31
We passed through the guard gate and into a vast...
38
As I came through the doors, Khety was waiting for...
43
I woke early like a condemned man to the naivety...
49
She lay cradled in a low dune, some way into...
59
12
The south suburb was residential. Here wer
e substantial estates hidden...
68
The reception was held by Ramose, Vizier to Akhenaten.
Those...
79
I woke to an urgent knocking on the door. It...
91
The artisans' village lay to the east of the central...
99
The hunting party gathered at the main jetty of the.
111
The city came into view, its pale new buildings gleaming. 118
Khety was waiting for me on the other side. I.
127
The early sunlight under the still curtain, and the sound.
132
Parennefer took Khety and me back to the main open...
142
22
Someone's shadow was standing over me. I jumped up,
shaking...
151
We drove to Meryra's villa. By now the population was... 164
I was dragged fast down the dark corridors, my feet...
169
There are wise men and seers who claim to have...
177
I ran back through the halls and out into the...
185
Everything went dark. Words went round and round in my... 188
The shadows were drawn aside like a curtain, and I.
193
'I have to go back to the beginning,' Nefertiti said.
198
It was in the personae of a court scribe and.
225
woke up with the name Horemheb going through my...
238
As we walked away up the street, Khety asked me...
247
I walked slowly up my street towards my house, my...
256
A quiet but entirely authoritative voice possessed the sudden
silence...
262
The ship seemed to hang in the water by its...
267
I was returned to shore, my belly full, wine in...
272
Despite the deprivations of the last few days, for all...
282
I was woken by Khety, who found me slumped like.
288
The last of the light faded to black. The Queen...
302
Well before dawn, in order to return without being seen,... 323
Nefertiti rode ahead in her chariot of gold. The older...
327
Khety and I stood together on the jetty while Nakht's...
334
Cover
Three and a half thousand years ago Akhenaten inherited an empire at the peak of its international power and wealth. It was a time of astonishing sophistication and beauty, but also of vanity and brutality. The Empire had a police force - the Medjay - and extensive papyrus archives to keep tabs on its citizens. The affluent worried about going grey, enjoyed their hunts and love affairs, and spent large amounts of money on their tombs in preparation for the afterlife. There were career bureaucracies and an enormous workforce, both local and immigrant. This complex society depended on the waters of the Nile that weaved like a great snake through the desert, dividing the Egyptian world into the fertile Black Land and the barren Red.
Akhenaten chose to do something extraordinary with his riches. He and his Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti - 'the Perfect One' - initiated a period of revolution in religion, politics and art. Rejecting and abolishing Egypt's traditional institutions and gods, and challenging the powerful priesthoods, they built an extraordinary new city, Akhetaten, as a centre
for the celebration of their new faith. At the heart of this was the worship of the Aten, now the only god, represented by the disc of the Sun.
Today little remains of the city. Outside the modern Amarna you can trace the line of the Royal Road, and the palaces and Aten Temples. You can visit the cliff tombs of the great men who worked for Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Mahu, the chief of police, Meryra, the High Priest, Parennefer, the architect of the Amarna style, and Ay, 'God's father' and influential adviser to the King. You can descend the many steps into Akhenaten's empty burial chambers.
But you cannot visit Nefertiti's tomb, for she, the most powerful and charismatic woman of the ancient world, mysteriously vanished in year 12 of Akhenaten's seventeen-year reign. Why she vanished when she did, and what happened to her, is the mystery this story explores.
