Tales of Ancient Egypt Read online

  Sekhti continued with words such as these for a long time, while the scribes wrote them down. At last Meruitensa said, ‘I will consider your case and hear more from you tomorrow. This night I have given orders that you shall be fed at my house.’

  Then Meruitensa hastened into the presence of Pharaoh Amen-em-het and said, ‘O Pharaoh – life, health, strength be to you! – I have found a peasant called Sekhti who has such a gift of words that it is wonderful to listen to him. He has been robbed and defrauded by that wicked miser Hemti, but I have passed no judgement until I had told you all and you had heard his words.’

  When the scribes had read out all that Sekhti had said, Pharaoh clapped his hands with delight and cried, ‘Never have I heard such words of praise! You did right to tell me of them, for they give me great joy. Now, as you love me, lengthen out his complaint: do not reply to his charges but see how long he will continue with such speeches – and be sure that all he says is written down and brought to me.’

  So each day Sekhti was summoned to the Hall of Judgement, and he spoke a rich stream of words, praising Meruitensa, praising Pharaoh, wishing them all imaginable joys in this life and all good fortune in the long journey through death.

  Each evening as the day’s speeches were read to him Pharaoh marvelled more and more that a peasant should have such eloquence. And he urged Meruitensa to drag out the trial still longer. But he said also, ‘Make sure, Meruitensa, that Sekhti is provided with four loaves and two measures of beer each day – though do it through a friend so that he does not know that it comes from you. And send to his home to see that his wife and children lack for nothing. Then take down his words, and bring them to me, for they delight my heart.’

  On the sixth day Meruitensa caused Sekhti to be beaten with rods, though lightly. And for the next three days the peasant had this further outrage to complain about and beg to have avenged in more and more flowery language.

  ‘O my Lord Steward!’ Sekhti was still protesting on the ninth day, ‘you destroy deceit and encourage justice; you raise up every good thing and crush all evil; even as plenty comes to drive out famine, as clothing covers nakedness, as the clear sky after a storm brings warmth to those who are cold, as fire cooks that which is raw, as water quenches the thirst of those who have been lost in the desert – even so is your justice and your mercy: therefore look upon me with kindness, bring me content, do me right and not evil, give me justice for what I have suffered wrongfully.’

  Then at last Meruitensa bade two men raise Sekhti from the ground and bring him out of the Hall of Judgement. Sekhti feared that he was going to be punished for having troubled the High Steward for nine long days, but Meruitensa said, ‘Fear not, Sekhti, for what you have done. Your speeches have been reported to Pharaoh and they delighted his heart. Come now before him and you shall be satisfied and all your goods shall be restored.’

  And the end of it was that not only did Pharaoh cause all the three asses with their loads to be restored to Sekhti, but he gave him all that belonged to Hemti and made him chief workman and guardian of the canal in his place. He sent to bring Sekhti’s wife and five children to dwell at Henenseten, and he made the cruel, proud Hemti into a peasant and set him to work on the shores of Lake Moeris.

  But Sekhti was beloved of Pharaoh more than any other of the overseers of his royal works, and he dwelt in the shadow of the palace with all his household and grew rich and famous.

  The Taking of Joppa

  In the days of Thutmose III, the Pharaoh who reigned in Egypt after the Great Queen Hatshepsut, an expedition set out to capture and punish the city of Joppa in Palestine which had rebelled against him. In command of the expedition was the great general Thuti who was the trusted friend and Royal Companion of Pharaoh. And to show that he came as Pharaoh’s representative he brought with him the great royal sceptre, a golden mace called ‘Beautiful-in-Strength’.

  Thuti camped outside Joppa, a mile or so from the city, which was surrounded with great walls, all heavily fortified. Very soon he realized that to conquer the city by force of arms was almost impossible and that to reduce it by laying siege might take months or even years.

  It seemed to Thuti that Joppa was only to be taken by guile. So, when he had made his plans, he sent a herald with a message asking the Governor of Joppa to meet him next day midway between the city and the camp.

  The Governor agreed readily to this, and during the night Thuti caused a great pavilion to be pitched on the level sand half a mile from the camp and the same distance from the great gate of Joppa. There were no trees or bushes anywhere about, and there seemed to be nowhere in the pavilion where enough men could hide to raise suspicions of treachery. But nonetheless Thuti had prepared all that he needed for his great attempt in the two hundred baskets that stood ready packed along the back wall of the silken pavilion.

  When the Governor of Joppa arrived, Thuti welcomed him under a canopy spread in front of the entrance to the pavilion. But first he led him inside so that he could see that no armed men were hiding there.

  Then the Governor’s guard withdrew to a little distance, Thuti sent his own handful of attendants out of earshot, and the two sat down under the canopy to drink their wine and discuss the situation.

  They talked for a long time, each making offers which the other refused; and as they talked the Governor drank more and more of the strong wine of the south while Thuti saw to it that his cup was never empty for long.

  When he felt that the Governor’s wits were becoming a little dazed, Thuti said to him, after looking suspiciously all round the pavilion to make sure that no one could possibly overhear him, ‘My friend, it seems to me that I can only take the city after a siege of two years. If I take so long, Pharaoh will be angry and take away my rank and riches: for the cost of keeping a large enough army to surround Joppa for two years will be very great – and Thutmose does not like to spend money, but rather to hoard it. And if I go back to him now and say that Joppa is too strong to take by assault, and can only be reduced by a two-year siege, he will be angrier still, and may even take away my life.’

  Thuti paused, and the Governor became interested. ‘What do you suggest?’ he asked eagerly.

  ‘Pharaoh has always been a hard master to me,’ said Thuti, ‘and I am sure that you will be a kinder and more generous one … It is in my mind to betray Pharaoh’s cause and join you in revolt against him.’

  ‘I swear by Jahwah, my god, that you shall be second only to myself in the new kingdom which we shall carve out of Pharaoh’s domains!’ cried the Governor. Then he paused doubtfully, and added, ‘But how am I to know that you do not mean to trick me? If I open my gates to your army as to friends, may not these friends become enemies once they are inside my walls?’

  ‘I have thought of that,’ answered Thuti. ‘We are sensible men: we know that oaths can be broken, so I will swear none to you. We know that loyalty and honour are but empty words, so I will not speak of them. But I will give you a greater surety than any of these.’

  ‘Yourself?’ interrupted the Governor eagerly.

  ‘Yes. If you give yourself up to me, I will trust your word. For a man’s own life is the only thing of real value to him.’

  ‘I would willingly give myself up to you here and now,’ said Thuti. ‘But if I did so, how do we know that Pharaoh’s army will not cast me off to die in your hands, elect a new general and attack Joppa? No, I have a better surety still: me you may take after you have taken that. Come, and I will show you.’

  He led the Governor into the pavilion and pointed to the baskets ranged along the wall.

  ‘See, he said, ‘here is the strongest thing in the world: gold! In these sealed baskets is all the money to pay Pharaoh’s army for the six months which he thought would be enough for the whole expedition. And in them also are such treasures as might be needed for other purposes such as bribing friendly princes or rewarding faithful governors. I came from Egypt
with more than two hundred such baskets and all these remain. See!’

  As he spoke Thuti broke the seal on one of the baskets, opened the lid and showed the Governor of Joppa that it was indeed filled with gold and precious things.

  ‘To prove to you that I mean no trickery I will send all of the sealed baskets into Joppa, and they shall be yours absolutely. This one I have opened I will keep as my own share: I am sure you will not grudge it to me. Without the money, the army cannot exist and will not rebel or set up another general. Whoever has the money commands the army. So I will summon four hundred of my men – men whom I can trust. They will come before us unarmed, as you will see, and carry the baskets into Joppa. You will send your chariot before them to bear the news and cause the gates to be opened in readiness, but you yourself will remain with me until you and I have seen the treasure carried into the city. Then I will speak to the army and tell the men of what has chanced, and they will be faithful to you – you who will then have the money to pay them.’

  All this seemed very straightforward and satisfactory to the Governor. Like most Asiatics he saw nothing unusual in an army and its general changing sides, particularly if paid well enough to do so. And he could see no way in which Thuti might be cheating him.

  So he agreed to the plan, and instructed his charioteer, saying, ‘Drive ahead of the bearers until you come to the great gates of Joppa. Then bid them open and lead the bearers with their loads into the city, crying: “Rejoice! For Jahwah has given Thuti and all that is his into our hands. Behold here the vanguard of his tribute!”’

  Then Thuti summoned four hundred of his men who came before them unarmed and picked up the baskets, two men to each basket, and carried them slung on poles thrust through their handles.

  When they had started on their way across the open desert towards Joppa, the Governor said suddenly: ‘Thuti, my friend, it was told to me that you had brought with you Pharaoh’s sceptre which is called “Beautiful-in-Strength”. It is said that magic goes with it and the might of Pharaoh. Will you not therefore touch me on the brow with it and set it in my hands, and then bow down before me as your new lord?’

  ‘That will I do willingly,’ answered Thuti, his eyes flashing suddenly. ‘Come into the pavilion where the precious sceptre is hidden.’

  So they went into the pavilion and Thuti drew out the golden mace ‘Beautiful-in-Strength’ from its hiding place and showed it to the Governor who was so lost in awe and admiration that he fell on his knees before it.

  ‘Touch me on the forehead with it,’ he cried, ‘and give me the power that goes with it!’

  ‘Look at me, Governor of Joppa and enemy of Pharaoh Thutmose – life, health, strength be with him!’ cried Thuti. ‘Thus Amen-Ra the great god of Egypt gives him victory over a traitor!’

  So speaking, he struck the Governor on the head with ‘Beautiful-in-Strength’ and crushed his skull at a single blow.

  Then he went back to the entrance of the pavilion and stood there in the shadow of the canopy, quietly buckling on his armour as he watched the bearers draw near and enter into Joppa.

  For the charioteer who went ahead had cried aloud to the watchmen on the gate: ‘Rejoice, for we have overcome Thuti the Egyptian: his army is our army, and in these two hundred baskets come the vanguard of his tribute – all the gold and precious things which Pharaoh sent to pay his troops!’

  So the four hundred unarmed men entered into Joppa and set down the baskets in the gateway. Speedily they broke the seals and opened the lids of the baskets. And out of each basket sprang an armed man, and in each basket were arms and weapons for the men who had carried the baskets.

  The people of Joppa were taken by surprise, and the six hundred armed Egyptians were easily able to capture and hold the great gate until Thuti and his army reached it and marched into the city.

  So Joppa fell in one day, and Thuti sent a letter to Pharaoh saying: ‘Rejoice, for Amen-Ra your father has delivered the Governor of Joppa into your hands along with his city and all his people! Send men to carry away the spoils and lead captive male and female slaves to fill the House of Amen-Ra! Send men to occupy Joppa and hold it for you for ever more!’

  Thuti continued on his way after the capture of Joppa, and brought all the lands round about under Egyptian rule. Then he returned to Pharaoh, and Thutmose heaped honours and riches upon him, and gave him a great golden bowl which may still be seen with its inscription to ‘Thuti, the Follower of Pharaoh in every country, the trusted Follower of Pharaoh, the Commander of Garrisons, the Overseer of the Northern Countries, the trusted man of Pharaoh in every foreign country and the islands which are in the midst of the Sea; he who fills the storehouses with lapis lazuli, silver and gold; the Commander of the Army – praised by the Pharaoh of the Upper and Lower lands, Thutmose Ra-men-Kheper – even the Royal Companion, Thuti.’

  The Story of the Greek Princess

  In the days when Seti II, the grandson of Rameses the Great, was Pharaoh of Egypt, there came a great ship driven by a storm from the north, which sought shelter in the Canopic mouth of the Nile.

  Near the place where the ship anchored stood the temple of the ram-headed god Hershef, who watched over strangers. If any man took sanctuary in the shrine of Hershef, he was safe from all his enemies; and if a slave knelt before the statue and vowed to serve the god, he became free from his master.

  The ship which had come to Canopus was reported at once to Thonis, the Warden of that mouth of the Nile, and he learnt that it belonged to a prince of the people whom the Egyptians called the People of the Sea, or the Aquaiusha – that is the Achaeans, those who dwelt in Greece and the islands of the Aegean and in Ionia, whom we now call the Mycenaeans.

  Thonis discovered this from a group of the sailors on the ship who, when they learnt of what chanced to those who sought sanctuary in the Temple of Hershef, deserted in a body and asked to be allowed to serve the god. When Thonis asked them why they wished to leave their master, since it seemed strange to him that men of the Aquaiusha should wish to enter the service of an Egyptian god rather than return to their homes, they replied that they feared the vengeance of their own gods if they remained on the ship.

  For it seemed that the Prince their master had carried off the wife of one of the kings of Greece, together with much of his treasure – and this after the Greek king had received him as a guest and friend, and entertained him kindly in his palace.

  Thonis was as much shocked as the sailors by this behaviour – for in Egypt as in Greece to behave thus to one’s host was thought to bring a sure vengeance from the gods. And he seized the Prince’s ship with all on it and guarded it closely until he learned the will of Pharaoh. But the Greek Princess he caused to be escorted with all honour to the Temple of Hathor, the goddess of love and beauty.

  When Seti heard of all this, he commanded Thonis to bring the ship, with all who had sailed in her, up the Nile to Memphis.

  All was done as he commanded, and when they arrived the Princess was placed for safety in the Temple of Hathor at Memphis. But the Prince was led at once before Seti where he sat in his great hall of audience.

  ‘O Pharaoh, life, health, strength be to you!’ cried Thonis, kissing the ground before Seti’s feet according to custom. ‘I bring before you this stranger, a prince of the Aquaiusha, that you may learn from his own mouth who he is and why he has come to your shores.’

  Then Seti spoke kindly to the stranger Prince, saying, ‘Welcome to the land of Egypt, if you come in peace and as one who serves the gods. My Warden of the Nile, Thonis, tells me that in your own land you are the son of a king. Tell me of that land of that king – for it is my delight to hear strange stories and tales of other lands.’

  The handsome young Prince in his bronze armour that shone like gold bowed before Pharaoh and said, ‘My lord, I come in peace – driven here against my will by the god of the sea whom we call Poseidon. I am the son of Priam, the great King of
Troy, and I have been on a visit to Greece where I have won to be my wife the most beautiful woman in the world – Helen, Princess of Sparta, and daughter of its King, Tyndareus.’

  Seti the Pharaoh looked thoughtfully at the proud young Prince, and said, ‘Tell me, Prince of Troy, how did you come to win this Princess of Sparta? Do the kings of the Aquaiusha send their daughters across the sea to be wedded to the princes of other lands? For my learned scribe Ana, here, tells me that the city of Troy is far across the water from the land and islands of the Aquaiusha, and that there is war and rivalry between the two lands.’

  ‘Then your scribe Ana is in error,’ answered the Prince loftily. ‘There was some fighting in my grandfather’s day, but since then we have dwelt at peace. I came as one of the many princes of the Aquaiusha who were suitors for the hand of fair Helen – and King Tyndareus of Sparta gave her to me.’

  At this the sailors who had sought sanctuary in the Temple of Hershef murmured, and Seti the Pharaoh said to them, ‘Thonis reports that you who are now servants of Hershef tell another tale concerning these matters. Speak without fear, for you are now my subjects, and I will protect you.’

  ‘King of Egypt,’ answered the leader, ‘we few sailors come from the islands and are of the Greek people, whom you call Aquaiusha, not men of Troy, whom we hold to be barbarians. We serve the gods of Greece – and we fear them also and know that they punish wrongdoing.