Ramses, Volume I Read online

  THE CRITICS PRAISE RAMSES

  “A plot as sinuous as the River Nile, with characters lying like crocodiles in the shallows, all seeking to divert or assist young Ramses the Great. This book makes ancient Egypt as relevant and 3-D as today’s news.”

  —J. SUZANNE FRANK, author, Reflections in the Nile

  “Officially, Christian Jacq was born in Paris in 1947. In fact, his real birth took place in the time of the pharaohs, along the banks of the Nile, where the river carries eternal messages. . . . Who could ever tell that Christian Jacq, Ramses’s official scribe, was not writing from memory?”

  —Magazine Littéraire

  “With hundreds of thousands of readers, and millions of copies in print, Christian Jacq’s success has become unheard of in the world of books. This man is the pharaoh of publishing!”

  —Figaro magazine

  “In 1235 B.C., Ramses II might have said: ‘My life is as amazing as fiction!’ It seems Christian Jacq heard him. . . . Christian Jacq draws a pleasure from writing that is contagious. His penmanship turns history into a great show, high-quality entertainment.”

  —VSD

  “It’s Dallas or Dynasty in Egypt, with a hero (Ramses), beautiful women, plenty of villains, new developments every two pages, brothers fighting for power, magic, enchantments, and historical glamour.”

  —Liberation

  “He’s a pyramid-surfer. The pharaoh of publishing. His saga about Ramses II is a bookselling phenomenon.”

  —Le Parisien

  RAMSES

  Volume I: The Son of Light

  Volume II: The Eternal Temple

  Volume III: The Battle of Kadesh

  Volume IV: The Lady of Abu Simbel

  Volume V: Under the Western Acacia

  RAMSES VOLUME I: THE SON OF LIGHT . Copyright © 1995 by Editions Robert Laffont (Volume 1). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  For information address Warner Books, Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017.

  A Time Warner Company

  ISBN: 978-0-446-93021-5

  Originally published in French by Editions Robert Laffont, S.A. Paris, France.

  A trade paperback edition of this book was published in 1997 by Warner Books.

  The “Warner Books” name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  First eBook Edition: March 2001

  Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Ramses, the greatest of conquerors, the Sun King, guardian of Truth.” In those terms Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone and thus unlocked the secrets of Egypt, described his idol, the Pharaoh Ramses II.

  Ramses’ fame has endured for centuries. His name is synonymous with the power and glory of Ancient Egypt, the spiritual mother of Western civilization. For sixty-seven years, from 1279 to 1212 B.C., Ramses, the “Son of Light,” guided the country to its peak of political power and cultural influence.

  Travelers to Egypt still encounter Ramses at every turn. He left his imprint on the countless monuments he built, as well as those enlarged or restored during his reign. There are the two temples at Abu Simbel, where Ramses is enshrined forever as a god with his beloved consort, Nefertari; the vast colonnade at Karnak; the giant statue, seated and smiling, at the temple of Luxor.

  Ramses would not fit into one book. His life is an epic journey, from his initiation into pharaonic law under the guidance of his father, Seti (as impressive a ruler as his son), to the final days of his long and eventful reign. That is why I have chosen to write a series of five novels, reflecting the breadth of his extraordinary destiny, which included unforgettable figures like Seti, his wife, Tuya, the sublime Nefertari, Iset the Fair, the poet Homer, the snake charmer Setau, Moses the Hebrew, and a host of others.

  Ramses’ mummy is preserved in the Cairo Museum, his aged face still regal. Many visitors say he looks as if he might awaken at any moment. But what death has stolen from him, the magic of the novel can restore. Thanks to fiction and Egyptology, it is possible to share his hopes and fears, experience his failures and successes, meet the women he loved, suffer his betrayals and value his true friends. We can be at his side as he fights the forces of evil and seeks the light from which everything originates and to which everything returns.

  Ramses the Great—what a traveling companion for a writer! From his initial showdown with a wild bull to the soothing shade of the western acacia, he was a legendary leader in a fabled country. The gods smiled on Egypt, a land of water and sunlight, where the words integrity, justice, and beauty had meaning and permeated everyday life. A land where the Great Beyond connected with the here and now, where life could overcome death, where the invisible had a palpable presence, where the love of life and the eternal filled the hearts of humankind and made them joyous.

  In truth, the Egypt of Ramses.

  Contents

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  FORTY-TWO

  FORTY-THREE

  FORTY-FOUR

  FORTY-FIVE

  FORTY-SIX

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FORTY-EIGHT

  FORTY-NINE

  FIFTY

  FIFTY-ONE

  FIFTY-TWO

  FIFTY-THREE

  ONE

  The wild bull froze, staring at young Ramses.

  The animal was huge and dark, with legs thick as pillars, drooping ears, and a stiff, pointed beard. It had just sensed the young man’s presence.

  Ramses was fascinated by its horns, broad and almost joined at the base, then flaring out and upward in a helmet shape, tipped with two lethal points.

  In all his fourteen years, Ramses had never seen such an enormous bull.

  Even the ablest hunters steered clear of this particular breed. Calm in his own surroundings, protective of the sick and wounded, a watchful parent, the dominant male transformed into a terrifying warrior as soon as his territory was invaded. The slightest provocation could send him charging furiously and with amazing speed, retreating only when his opponent was trampled.

  Ramses took a step backward.

  The bull’s tail whipped the air as he kept a fierce eye on this intruder into his marshy domain. By the tall reeds, a cow was calving, her sisters in a ring around her. In this solitary backwater of the Nile, the huge male reigned over his herd and permitted no challenge to his authority.

  The young man had hoped the thick grass would hide him, but the bull’s brown eyes, deep in their sockets, were trained on
him. Ramses knew there would be no escape.

  Ashen, he turned slowly toward his father.

  Seti, Pharaoh of Egypt, stood a few feet behind his son. “Victorious Bull,” they called him: his mere presence was said to paralyze his enemies. His mind, sharp as a falcon’s beak, perceived all; there was nothing he did not know. Slender, stern-faced, with a high forehead, hooked nose, jutting cheekbones, Seti was authority incarnate. Worshiped and feared, the monarch had restored Egypt to her former glory.

  Ramses had just met his father for the first time.

  Until now, he had been in the care of royal guardians, who taught him all a king’s son must know in preparation for a high government position. But this morning Seti had pulled the boy away from his hieroglyph class and driven him deep into the country. Not a word had yet passed between them.

  When the vegetation grew too dense, the two had abandoned their two-horse chariot and waded into the tall grass. Once clear, they had entered the realm of the bull.

  Which was more frightening, the wild beast or Pharaoh? Ramses felt unequal to the power that emanated from each of them. In legend, the bull was a celestial animal, burning with the fire of the other world, and Pharaoh walked among the gods. Though Ramses was taller than most grown men and naturally courageous, still he felt trapped between two almost conspiring forces.

  “He spotted me,” the boy said, trying to sound assured.

  “Good.”

  The first word his father spoke to him rang like a death sentence.

  “He’s so big, he . . .”

  “And you, who are you?”

  The question threw Ramses off guard. The bull pawed the ground with his left front hoof, faster and faster; egrets and herons flew off, as if clearing the battlefield.

  “Are you a coward or a king’s son?” Seti’s gaze pierced his soul.

  “I like to fight, but . . .”

  “A courageous man goes to the limit of his strength. A king goes beyond it. If that is not in you, you are not meant to rule and we will never see each other again. No test should daunt you. Leave, if you wish; otherwise, capture the bull.”

  Ramses dared to raise his eyes and hold his father’s gaze.

  “You’re sending me to my death.”

  “My own father told me, ‘Take for yourself the power of a bull, forever young, with a stout heart and sharp horns, stronger than any enemy.’ Ramses, you came out of your mother’s womb like a bull calf. You must become the light of your people, shining like the sun. You were hidden in my hand like a star; today I am setting you free. To shine—or to vanish.”

  The bull snorted, irritated by the sound of their voices. All around them, a hush fell over the countryside; from burrower to bird in flight, every creature sensed conflict brewing.

  Ramses turned toward the bull.

  In hand-to-hand combat, he had already beaten opponents bigger and stronger than himself, thanks to holds learned from his trainer. But what strategy would work against a monster this size?

  Seti handed his son a long rope with a slipknot. “His strength is in his head. Catch him by the horns and you will have him.”

  The young man saw a glimmer of hope. In nautical practice on the palace lake, he had done a great deal of roping.

  “Once the bull hears the lasso, he’ll charge,” warned the Pharaoh. “Don’t miss, for you won’t get a second chance.”

  Ramses rehearsed in his mind, silently working up courage. Tall for his age, he had the muscular build of an all-around athlete. He chafed at wearing his ginger red hair in the ritual style of childhood, pulled to one side and anchored in place above his ear. As soon as he was appointed to a court position, he would be allowed to change it—if fate let him live to see that day.

  Young and full of himself, he had been longing for the chance to prove his worth. Yet never had he imagined that Pharaoh himself would translate his dreams into such brutal reality.

  Riled by the human scent, the bull grew impatient. Ramses gripped the lasso; once the bull was roped, holding him would take the strength of a giant, a strength he did not have. So he would have to surpass himself, even if his heart burst.

  No, he would not disappoint Pharaoh.

  Ramses twirled the lasso; the bull ran at him, horns lowered.

  Surprised by the animal’s speed, the young man stepped quickly aside, snapped his arm, and tossed the rope. It snaked through the air, landing on the bull’s back. Recoiling, Ramses stumbled on the damp soil and fell just as the bull’s horns were about to gore him. Even as they grazed his chest, he kept his eyes open. He wanted to look death in the face.

  The angry bull raced to the edge of the reeds, then spun around and charged again; Ramses, back on his feet, looked him straight in the eye. He would stand up to the beast until the very end. He would show Seti that a king’s son knew how to die.

  Then the bull’s mad dash was stopped outright; Pharaoh had roped him tight around the horns. Tossing his head until he nearly strangled, the raging beast struggled to break free. Seti grappled wildly and flipped the animal.

  “Cut off the tail!” he ordered his son.

  Ramses ran over and grabbed the smooth, tasseled tail, like the one Seti wore in the waistband of his kilt as proof that he had mastered the bull’s power.

  Beaten, the beast relaxed into panting and groaning. The king released the animal after signaling Ramses to get behind him.

  “The male of this breed can’t be broken,” he told the boy. “It will run through fire and water, even launch a surprise attack from behind a tree.”

  The bull stole a sidelong glance at his opponent. Knowing he was powerless against the Pharaoh, he lumbered off toward his herd.

  “You beat him!” said Ramses.

  “No, we reached an agreement.” Then Seti unsheathed his dagger and with a single quick stroke severed the side-lock in his son’s hair.

  “Father . . .”

  “Your childhood is over. Tomorrow your life begins, Ramses.”

  “I didn’t beat the bull.”

  “You conquered your fear, the first enemy on the path to wisdom.”

  “Are there many others?”

  “More than there are grains of sand in the desert.”

  The question burned on the young prince’s lips. “Am I to understand . . . that you’ve chosen me to succeed you?”

  “Do you think courage is all it takes to govern men?”

  TWO

  Sary, Ramses’ guardian and teacher, scoured the palace for his pupil. It was not the first time the young man had skipped his mathematics lesson and headed for the stables or an impromptu swimming race with his pack of idle, unruly friends.

  Paunchy, affable, detesting exercise, Sary constantly cursed his disciple but fretted over the boy’s slightest escapade. His marriage to Ramses’ older sister had won him the coveted post of royal guardian.

  Coveted . . . by those who had never dealt with Seti’s strong-willed son. Sary was blessed with patience and was stubbornly determined to open the boy’s mind, or he would have given up long ago on the insolent, overconfident prince. In keeping with tradition, the Pharaoh was not involved in his children’s upbringing. He waited until they were on the brink of adulthood to meet and test them, to see whether they might be fit to rule. In the present case, the decision had been made some time ago: Shaanar, Ramses’ older brother, would mount the throne. Still, the younger son’s high spirits must be channeled. At best, he could be molded into a good general; at worst, a court fixture.

  Well into his thirties, Sary would gladly have spent his time lounging by the pond in back of his mansion, his bride of twenty at his side. But that might grow boring. Thanks to Ramses, no two days were alike. With his insatiable craving for life, his boundless imagination, he had run through several guardians before settling on Sary. Despite their frequent clashes, he was achieving his goal as a teacher: to educate the young man as a scribe, with all a scribe’s knowledge and technique. Secretly, Sary took real pleasure i
n molding his pupil’s acute intelligence, his sometimes exceptional insight.

  Now Ramses was changing. The boy who could not sit still for a minute had started to pore over the old sage Ptahhotep’s Maxims. Sary had even seen him dreamily watching the swallows dart through the early morning sky. The maturation process had begun; many young men never completed it. The teacher wondered what manner of man Ramses would be if his youthful fires could be banked, burning steadier but still as strong.

  Such gifts did not come without a price, of course. At the royal court, as at every level of society, mediocrity was the rule, and mediocre people, hating to be shown up, instinctively shun stronger personalities. Although Seti’s succession was established and Ramses need not fear plots and intrigues, his future might be less sunny than his birth would dictate. Some, including his own brother, were already making plans to exclude him. How would he do, exiled in some dusty provincial capital? Would he adapt to a simple country life, in tune with the seasons?

  Sary had not confided these worries to his wife; she kept nothing to herself. As for approaching Seti, that was impossible. Immersed in managing affairs of state in his flourishing kingdom, he was far too busy to burden with a royal guardian’s vague concerns. It was good that the father and son had no contact. A character as strong as Seti’s would leave Ramses only two options: rebel or be crushed. Appointing guardians was definitely a sensible tradition; fathers did not always know best.

  Ramses’ mother, Tuya, the Great Royal Wife, was another matter entirely. Sary was among the few who were privy to her strong attachment to her younger son. Cultured, refined, Tuya gauged the strengths and weaknesses of each royal courtier. She reigned supreme over the royal household, demanding strict adherence to etiquette and commanding the respect of nobles and commoners alike. But Sary was in awe of Tuya; troubling her with his little worries might discredit him. The queen disliked loose talk; in her eyes, an unfounded accusation was as serious as an intentional lie. No, it was better to keep quiet than to be a bearer of bad tidings.

  Reluctantly, Sary headed for the stables. He was terrified of bucking horses, hated being around the grooms or, even worse, the royal horsemen bragging of their ludicrous exploits. Ignoring the jokes they made at his expense, the guardian continued his investigation. No one had seen Ramses for two days, which was most unusual.