The Besieged Pharaoh

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank all of my loyal readers, without whom I would not enjoy the creative process of writing.

Thanks to Amanda Thrasher and Jannifer Powelson at Progressive Rising Phoenix Press for believing in me and my books.

Special thanks go to my editorial team (Linda Speir, Ray Flynt, Jim Newman, Robyn Bartlett, and Gordon Napier) for their patience and their valuable contributions, suggestions, and corrections.

Deepest gratitude goes to my wife of 20 years, Lee Anne, for giving me the freedom of pursuing my passion. She is truly the love of my life. I am also grateful for my family (Sonya and Tom; and Brad, Susie, and Colten), without whom there would be no words worth writing.

To my father, William Byrd Speir, Sr., who touched the lives of so many people in ways he never knew. You are my inspiration and the standard against which I judge all of my actions.

INTRODUCTION

For decades, Ramses II (Ramses the Great – sometimes spelled Ramesses II) has been considered to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus (the escape of nearly two million Hebrew slaves from Egypt). I bought in to this popular myth for many years.

In 1989, the Ramses The Great exhibit came to Dallas, Texas. For almost nine months, I served as one of the volunteer coordinators for the exhibit. Spending hours each week surrounded by Egypt’s rich treasures began my love for Egyptian history.

As I studied the history of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, I happened upon a paper published in 2006 titled Amenhotep II And The Historicity Of The Exodus-Pharaoh by Douglas Petrovich, who serves on the faculty of Novosibirsk Biblical Theological Seminary in Novosibirsk, Russia. Petrovich presented a compelling case that Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty, and not Ramses II of the 19th dynasty, was actually the Pharaoh of the Exodus, placing the year of the Exodus at 1446 BC. Since reading his paper, I have found many other sources which also affirm that Amenhotep II was the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

As I studied the life and times of Amenhotep II, I discovered that the Exodus occurred in the 9th year of his reign, but he reigned for another 28 years after that. That started me wondering what those 28 years must have been like for him.

Imagine his return to his capital after the disaster at the Red Sea. The loss of the Hebrew slaves meant that there were not enough laborers to plant and harvest the crops, build buildings and temples, and tend to the needs of the Egyptians. The loss of 600 chariots at the hands of a foreign god meant that old enemies and conquered lands would sense an opportunity to exploit Egypt’s newfound military weakness, and friendly nations would no longer see the appeal of having Egypt as an ally. The priests, who viewed Amenhotep II as a living god, would be humiliated by the loss of the slaves and the chariots at the hands of the god of slaves, and they would be concerned for their own positions in Egyptian society now that Pharaoh had been defeated. The people would still be mourning the loss of their firstborn children (the 10th plague on Egypt), the loss of the slaves, and the loss of the charioteers. And the various wives and concubines of Pharaoh would be plotting for their own sons to be named the next heir to Pharaoh’s throne, now that Pharaoh’s firstborn was among those who died from the 10th plague.

In short, Amenhotep II would be besieged on all sides by those who felt that Pharaoh had betrayed them and all of Egypt.

That’s what this novel is about – the political intrigue that marked Amenhotep II’s reign after the Exodus, and what he had to do to survive while restoring Egypt to its former glory before his enemies could carry out their plots against him.

William Speir

October 2018

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Egyptian Geography

The Kingdom of Egypt in the 15th Century BC centered on the River Nile and expanded very little beyond that region. Egypt’s influence, though, spread across the eastern Mediterranean. Throughout this book, whenever possible, the names used at the time of Amenhotep II are used. Two notable exceptions are The Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. The ancient Egyptian names for these two bodies of water are lost to history, and I took the liberty of renaming them The Gulf of Mafkat (Suez) and The Gulf of Reeds (Aqaba).

Below is a table comparing the modern names to the names used in this book.

Egyptian Calendar

The Egyptian calendar in the time of Amenhotep II was a solar calendar with a 365-day year. The year consisted of three seasons of 120 days each (organized around the annual flooding of the Nile River), plus an additional 5 days celebrated as the birthdays of the gods Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Each of the three seasons was divided into four months of 30 days. Each month was divided into three 10-day periods known as decans. The last two days of each decan were treated as a weekend for royal craftsmen and artisans.

Seasons of the Egyptian Calendar:

Flood (Akhet) – June to September

Emergence (Peret) – October to January

Low Water or Harvest (Shemu) – February to May

Months of the Egyptian Calendar:

Egyptian Mythology

The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt played an important part in the daily life of Pharaoh, the royal family, and the people of the kingdom. There are hundreds of deities in the Egyptian pantheon, but the following are the most important for this book.

Ra (Re) – Ruler of the Egyptian gods, the primary sun god, father of every Egyptian king, the patron god of Iunu, and involved in creation and the afterlife.

Osiris – The god of death and resurrection who rules the underworld and enlivens vegetation, the sun god, and deceased souls.

Isis – Wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, linked with funerary rites, motherhood, protection, and magic.

Set – An ambivalent god, connected with the desert and characterized by violence, chaos, and strength. Murderer of Osiris and enemy of Horus, but also a supporter of the king.

Nephthys – The consort of Set who mourned Osiris alongside Isis.

Horus – The son of Osiris and Isis, usually shown as a falcon or as a human child, linked with the sky, the sun, kingship, protection, and healing.

Ptah – A creator deity and god of craftsmen, the patron god of Men-nefer (Memphis).

Amun – A creator god, patron deity of the city of Waset, and the principal deity in Egypt during the reign of Amenhotep II.

Mut – Consort of Amun, worshipped at Waset.

Khonsu – A moon god, son of Amun and Mut.

Hathor – One of the most important goddesses, linked with the sky, the sun, sexuality and motherhood, music and dance, foreign lands and goods, and the afterlife.

Anhur – A god of war and hunting.

Montu – A god of war and the sun, worshipped at Waset.

Khnum – A ram god who was said to control the Nile flood and give life to gods and humans.

Hapi – Personification of the Nile flood.

Wadj-wer – Personification of the Middle Sea (Mediterranean Sea) or lakes of the Nile Delta.

Neper – A god of grain.

Nepit – A goddess of grain, female counterpart of Neper.

Renenutet – An agricultural goddess.

Thoth – A moon god, and a god of writing and scribes.

Nut – A sky goddess.

Kek – The god of Chaos and Darkness, as well as being the concept of primordial darkness.

Shu – Embodiment of wind or air.

Sopdu – A god of the sky and of Egypt’s eastern border regions.

Sekhmet – A lioness goddess, both destructive and violent, and capable of warding off disease, the protector of the pharaohs in war, and the consort of Ptah.

Bastet – Goddess represented as a cat or lioness, linked with protection from evil.

Heket – Frog goddess said to protect women in childbirth.

Maat – Goddess who personified truth, justice, and order.

Anubis – The god of embalming and protector of the dead.

The Exodus

While this is not a novel about the Exodus, the Hebrew escape from Egypt is an important event that sets the stage for what happens in this book. Given how long ago this event occurred, it should come as no surprise that, to this day, scholars still don’t agree on the route of the Exodus.

Some scholars believe that the Hebrews crossed the Gulf of Mafkat (Gulf of Suez) into Mafkat (the Sinai Peninsula) and then went to Mount Sinai to worship God and receive the Ten Commandments. The principle flaw with this theory is that Mafkat was part of Egypt at the time of Amenhotep II’s reign. Why would Moses lead the Hebrews through the Gulf of Mafkat on the western side of the Southern Sea (Red Sea), only to have them arrive on the other side still in Egypt? And given how long the Hebrews tarried at the base of the mountain when Moses went up to receive the Ten Commandments, it makes no sense that the mountain where they tarried was in Egypt. They would have been seen, and their presence in Egypt would have been reported to Pharaoh.

Other scholars believe that Moses led the Hebrews to the southeastern edge of Mafkat and crossed the southern tip of the Gulf of Reeds (Gulf of Aqaba) into Midian (see map above).

There are a number of reasons why this theory makes sense from both a tactical and a logistical perspective.

The Children of Abraham, including the Hebrews and the Midianites, didn’t understand the concept of a universal god. They saw their god as a tribal god belonging just to them. Moses was first introduced to the god of Abraham while still living in Midian (according to the biblical account of the burning bush). It makes sense that he would want to bring the Hebrews to the mountain where he had seen the burning bush. The Midianites believed that this mountain was where their god lived, and Moses would want the Hebrews to worship there. Crossing the Gulf of Reeds is the shortest and most direct route from Goshen to Midian.

Crossing at the Gulf of Reeds would have the Hebrews leaving Egyptian territory more quickly than following the caravan routes across Mafkat and then turning south to reach Midian.

Crossing at the Gulf of Reeds would allow the fleeing Hebrews one more chance to see their god’s power over Pharaoh before leaving Egypt forever (the parting of the waters, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s pursuing chariots when the waters closed). The Gulf of Reeds is the only body of water reasonably crossable that would lead the Hebrews out of Egypt.

It is for these reasons that I chose to have the Exodus follow the route shown in the map above.

CHAPTER 1

Amenhotep II, son of Thutmose III, the Pride of Amun, Great Son of Ra, Ruler of Iunu, Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, stood next to his broken chariot and watched helplessly as his chariot companies from Men-nefer vanished underneath the waters of the Southern Sea. A moment before, his chariots had been racing across dry land between the two walls of water that divided the sea across the southern mouth of the Gulf of Reeds. As the chariots bore down on the nearly two million Hebrew slaves escaping from Pharaoh’s forces across the same dry land, the axles of the chariots all broke, as if by the hand of some unseen divine force. A heartbeat later, the two walls of water collapsed, covering his chariots and all traces of the Hebrews’ escape to Midian across the sea.

Pharaoh watched the sea resume its normal shape, as if the waters had never been split by the might of the Hebrews’ god. He stood motionless on the ridge above the seashore, waiting for some sign of his brave men. None appeared.

The enormity of what had just happened struck him deeply. He dropped to his knees next to the remnants of his own chariot and bowed toward the sea.

Five chariot companies! Twelve hundred brave men and horses, six hundred chariots, all gone. Destroyed by the god of slaves.

Pharaoh’s hands clenched the sand, and he turned his face toward the sky and cried out in rage and grief.

Mighty Osiris, ruler of the underworld, accept these brave charioteers into your grace and grant them an afterlife, even though the funerary rites cannot be performed for them. Great Anubis, protector of the dead, gather the souls of those who were lost this day and convey them safely through the wasteland of demons so that they may find peace in the realm of the dead.

Pharaoh slowly rose to his feet and looked around. His chariot was broken beyond repair, its axle shattered on a rock as he led his forces after the Hebrews. His driver lay dead nearby – his head smashed against a rock when he had been thrown from the chariot. One of the horses was still harnessed to the chariot; the other had broken free and was nowhere to be seen. The other horse is probably halfway to my army by now.

Pharaoh carefully unhitched the remaining horse from the chariot’s yoke and shortened what was left of the chariot’s reins before reattaching them to the horse’s bridle. He looked around for his khepresh, his blue war crown with the uraeus – the sacred cobra emblem – on the front, and saw it nearby where it had fallen from his head when the chariot had hit the rock. He grabbed the khepresh and mounted the horse. He placed the khepresh on his head, looked back at the sea one more time, and rode northwest toward his advancing army, which was following two or three days behind the chariot companies.

Anhur and Montu, last night I prayed to you to bring me victory against the Hebrews and against Moses. Now I pray to Amun, Sekhmet, and Sopdu to protect me until I can reach my army and have my soldiers escort me back to Men-nefer. Great gods of my fathers and of my kingdom, hear my prayers!

Pharaoh rode away from the Southern Sea with no food and no water. In the distance, he saw the hastily abandoned Hebrew camp. Perhaps they left something behind that I can use.

He reached the camp and saw that the Hebrews had indeed left much behind in their haste to escape from the advancing chariots. Pharaoh quickly found water, dried fruit, and unleavened bread. Too hungry and thirsty to care that he was eating the food of slaves, he quickly devoured the fruit and bread before searching for more to feed his horse and to take with him on the two-day ride to reach his advancing army.

After securing as much food and water as he could carry, he set out again to the northwest. Thank you, Sekhmet, for your gifts. When I return to Men-nefer, I will dedicate a new terrace for your temple at Waset… as soon as I can find someone to build the terrace, now that the Hebrews are gone.

Pharaoh rode in silence, his mind replaying over and over again the calamities that began the day Moses returned to the palace at Men-nefer.

It was the ninth year of the reign of Amenhotep II, in the month of Peret Tybi, the first Month of Emergence – nearly seven months before the disaster at the Gulf of Reeds. The planting season had begun in earnest, and Pharaoh prepared for the two annual ceremonies to give thanks to the gods for the gifts of life.

The first ceremony was to Khnum and Hapi, the gods who controlled the flooding of the Ar River, to thank them for the floods that brought life to the farmlands along the river. The second ceremony was to Neper, Nepit, and Renenutet, the gods of grain and agriculture, to ask them to bless and protect the year’s crops.

As the living god of Egypt, Pharaoh led most of the rituals that took place throughout the year, although all of the high priests from Karnak and Iunu were in Men-nefer to participate in and to oversee these rituals.

Pharaoh sat on the eastern terrace of his palace, enjoying the morning sun as he read dispatches from his emissaries in the kingdoms that surrounded the Middle Sea. He was interrupted by the arrival of Amenemipet, his Vizier, and Kenamun, the steward of Pharaoh’s household and Amenhotep’s childhood friend.

Pharaoh nodded to the two men, letting them know that they could approach.

Great Pharaoh, they intoned, bowing.

"What brings both of you to see me?" Pharaoh put down the dispatches he had been reading.

Kenamun looked at Amenemipet, who answered, The Priest of Midian desires an audience with you, Great Pharaoh.

Midian? Pharaoh asked. Why would Midian be sending an emissary? We haven’t had any dealings with the Midianites in years.

He didn’t say, Great Pharaoh, Amenemipet replied. Do you wish me to find out for you?

Pharaoh stared absently at the tops of the city’s many obelisks rising above the palace walls before answering. No. Grant him an audience for this afternoon. And have all of the high priests present. This is a holy man and should be greeted by his fellow priests, even if the gods they worship are different.

Yes, Great Pharaoh, Amenemipet and Kenamun responded before leaving Pharaoh’s terrace.

A few hours later, Pharaoh sat on his throne. He carried the scepters of Egypt in his hands, and he wore the traditional red and white double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and the wesekh collar of the Pharaoh. Along both sides of the throne room stood the high priests and their principal assistants.

Amenemipet announced that the Priest of Midian waited outside the throne room, and Pharaoh said, Show him in.

A moment later, a tall man entered the throne room, accompanied by a shorter man. Pharaoh looked intently at the tall man and estimated that he must be about sixty years old. The shorter man looked older.

The tall man looked around the room and whispered to the shorter man, It hasn’t changed a bit. It’s just the way I remember it.

When the two men reached the center of the room, they bowed to Pharaoh. Welcome to Egypt, Priest of Midian, Pharaoh said. I’m surprised that Midian would send us an emissary, given that we have had so few dealings with each other in my lifetime. And I couldn’t help but overhear you a moment ago. Have you been here before?

Yes, Great Pharaoh, the tall man answered. I grew up in Egypt. I spent most of my youth in the palace at Waset and in this palace.

Really? Pharaoh responded. May I ask your name?

Certainly, Great Pharaoh. This is Aaron, my brother. My name is Moses.

Moses looked like he expected a reaction from Pharaoh at hearing his name. Getting none, he chuckled. So like my brother to keep you in the dark about me.

Your brother? Pharaoh asked, confused. Who is your brother?

My brother was your father, Thutmose III.

Pharaoh sat up as murmuring from the high priests broke the dead silence that followed Moses’ proclamation. My father had no brothers!

Moses must have seen Pharaoh’s confusion and disbelief. Your father’s mother, Hatshepsut, found me in a basket floating on the canal at Waset leading from the Ar River to her private apartments. She took me as her own son and declared me a Prince of Egypt.

Pharaoh smiled coldly. And I suppose you can prove your claim?

Moses shrugged. "Honestly, Great Pharaoh, I don’t know if anyone still lives who was there when I was rescued and adopted by Hatshepsut. And since your father had my name stricken from every place in the kingdom, I doubt