Khu: A Tale of Ancient Egypt
Read Khu: A Tale of Ancient Egypt Online
Authors: Jocelyn Murray
Khu
A
Tale of Ancient Egypt
By Jocelyn Murray
Copyright © 2014 Jocelyn Murray
All Rights Reserved
FOR MONICA
m
y beloved sister
memoria
in aeterna
Last night I crossed the desert sand
Where ruins lay upon the land
Where moon-glossed relics looked dismayed
Their
stony grandeur now decayed
Where myths and monsters lay in a heap
Their fallen kings long gone to sleep
Jocelyn Murray, “The Desert Sand”
©
Dudarev Mikhail / Fotolia
Save me from those who deal wounds, the slayers whose fingers are sharp,
Who deal out pain, who decapitate those who follow after Osiris;
T
hey shall not have power over me,
A
nd I will not fall into their cauldrons
Excerpt of Spell 17
R.
O. Faulkner, trans.
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
©
ocipalla / Fotolia
Map of Ancient Egypt
© Peter Hermes
Furian / Fotolia
Most of the
names of the places in this novel are ancient equivalents of known sites based on the major cult centers and provinces of ancient Egypt. For other places, the author has used their commonly known or widely recognizable names, in an effort to reduce confusion and based on simple personal preference. While many of the names have evolved throughout the millennia, it is what lies beneath the shifting sands of time that is most intriguing: the histories, myths and legends hidden or buried within the artifacts and ruins themselves.
Abdju
—now known as Abydos. It was one of the oldest sacred cities of the ancients, and the cult center of the god Osiris, as well as an important site of many temples.
Abu Simbel
—located on the west bank of the Nile in the land of Kush. Abu Simbel was a sacred place where Ramesses II built two temples directly into the sandstone cliffs by the river, during the 19
th
Dynasty of the New Kingdom.
Deir el-Bahari
—the mortuary-temple complex on the western bank of the Nile that includes the temple-tomb of King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II.
Gebtu
—now known as Qift. Its Greek name was Coptos, also spelled Koptos. Gebtu was the main cult center of the god Min. It also marked the beginning of the ancient caravan trade route that leads to the western coast of the Red Sea at Quseer. The caravan route follows a dry river bed known as Wadi Hammamat. Gebtu is the shortest point from the Nile to the Red Sea.
Inbu-Hedj
—known by its Greek name Memphis; also known in ancient times as Inebou-Hedjou, Aneb-Hetch, Djed-Sut, Ankh-Tawy and Men-nefer. Inbu-Hedj is located by the modern-day town of Mit Rahina. It was the cult center of the god Ptah. It was also the seat of power during the time of Egypt’s Old Kingdom.
Ipu
—now known as Akhmim. The ancient Greeks called it Khemmis (also Chemmis and Panopolis). Ipu was the site of an ancient necropolis on the east bank of the Nile. It was also one of the cult centers of the god Min.
Kush
—later known as Nubia. Kush (Kingdom of Kush, land of Kush) included territories in what is now known as Southern Egypt, Sudan, and part of Ethiopia.
Nekhen
—known by its Greek name Hierakonpolis, it was the cult center of the god Horus. Located in Upper Egypt, Nekhen was called “City of Falcons,” and sometimes interchangeably called “City of Hawks.”
Nen-nesu
—the site that is near the modern day city of Beni Suef (also spelled Bani Suwayf) in Lower Egypt. In ancient times it was also known as Henen-nesut or Hwt-nen-nesu (Greek names Heracleopolis, Herakleopolis, or Herakleopolis Magna). It was the cult center of the ram-god Heryshef. Nen-nesu was Lower Egypt’s seat of power during part of the First Intermediate Period.
Nile—
Nile River and River Nile are used interchangeably in this novel. The Nile was simply called
Iteru
meaning “river” by the ancient Egyptians.
Nubt
—known as Naqada, it was also known by its Greek name Ombos. Nubt was the cult center of the god Seth.
Quseer
—the site of a remote outpost and an important port on the western shores of the Red Sea in ancient Egypt. It is also written as Al-Quseir and Al-Qusayr.
Sea of Reeds
—now known as the Red Sea.
Sopdet
—now known as the star Sirius (Greek name Sothis). It is the brightest of all the stars in the sky. The ancient Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius which always occurred just before the Nile’s annual flooding. Sopdet was personified as a goddess who was known as “Bringer of the New Year and Nile Flood.” Her annual appearance in the sky was welcomed with great joy and anticipation.
Swentet
—now known as Aswan, previously written as Assuan. It was the cult center of Anqet, goddess of fertility and the Nile at Aswan.
Thebes
—the ancient province that includes modern day Luxor and Karnak in Upper Egypt. Thebes was the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian city of Waset. It was the cult center of the god Amun, and the Theban Triad which included Amun, Mut and Khonsu. Thebes was Upper Egypt’s seat of power during the First Intermediate Period, and continued to be Egypt’s capital during part of the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom, thus earning it the title “City of the Scepter.”
Tjeny
—now known as Thinis, also written as This. Tjeny was the capital seat of power in the early dynasties of ancient Egypt.
Wadi Hammamat
—the dry riverbed that served as an important trade and caravan route, being the shortest path from the Nile at Gebtu (Qift) to the Red Sea at Quseer. The Wadi Hammamat cuts through quarries and mines that were used in ancient times.
Yabu
—now known as Elephantine Island. Its ancient name is also written as Abu and Yebu, both of which also mean “elephant.” The island is located in the Nile River within the Aswan area. It was the cult center of the ram-headed god Khnum who was worshipped as part of the triad that included his wife Satis and their daughter Anqet.
Zawty
—now known as Asyut, also spelled Assiut; also known as Səyáwt during ancient times. Its Greek names were Lycopolis, Lykopolis, Lycon or Lyco. It was the cult center of the funerary god
s
Anubis and Wepwawet.
Amm
it
—crocodile
-
headed, soul-eating female demon with the upper body of a lion and the lower body of a hippopotamus. Ammit devoured the hearts of the dead who were deemed unworthy of eternal life.
Her name means “Devourer.”
Amun
—king of the gods and one of the creator gods. Amun was the patron god of Thebes. His name means “Hidden” or “Invisible One” because his spirit was believed to be present everywhere, like the wind which symbolized him. Amun was often represented in human form wearing the tall double-plumed headdress—Two Feathers Crown. Together with his wife Mut and son Khonsu, he forms the Triad of Thebes. Amun was later merged with the sun-god Re and came to be known as Amun-Re when he was worshiped as principal god of all Egypt.
Anubis
—god of the dead and patron of embalmers. The jackal-headed god Anubis weighed the hearts of the dead against a feather symbolizing truth, during their final judgment before the throne of Osiris. Anubis was also depicted in the full-animal form of a jackal. He was revered as a guardian of tombs, and oversaw funerary rites, embalming and mummification. His cult center was in Zawty, or modern day Asyut.
Apep
—demon/god of all evil, and embodiment of all that was wicked. Apep was depicted as a very large water serpent. He was the evil brother of the sun-god Re. He lived in the darkness of the Underworld where he ruled over an army of demons, and was known as “Destroyer,” as well as “Eater of Souls.”
Bastet
—cat goddess who was the patron of Lower Egypt. She was the daughter of the god Re, and the wife of Ptah. Bastet was depicted as a woman with the head of a cat, or in the full-animal form of a cat. She was the goddess of the home, cats, protection, love, joy, music and dance, and was also believed to aid in the growth of crops.
Hapi
—god of the Nile inundation who oversaw the river’s annual flooding.
Hathor
—one of the fertility gods, Hathor was a mother goddess of love, joy, music and childbirth, and patron of women. She was depicted as a woman wearing the headdress of cow horns with a moon-disk between them, or in the full-animal form of a cow. Hathor’s main cult center was in Dendera.