The Deathstalker (15 page)

A scorpion’s venom contains something called neurotoxins, which attack a victim’s nervous system. Human victims of deathstalkers and fat-tailed scorpions have symptoms like Commander Meref’s – convulsions, paralysis, difficulty breathing and intense pain. Sometimes, the victim dies of heart failure. Most healthy adults pull through, but it’s also true that approximately 5,000 people die of scorpion stings every year around the world.

The ancient Egyptians had a healthy respect for these dangerous creatures, and the scorpion goddess Serqet was worshipped throughout the land. Another version of her name means roughly ‘she who paralyses the throat’, so the Egyptians knew all about the effects of scorpion stings! Like many of the Egyptian gods, she had a double-sided nature: she could punish people, but she could prevent bites and stings, and bring healing, too.

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The Ancient Egyptian Army

During the New Kingdom, the Egyptian army was very well organised, and was made up of 20,000 soldiers. The head of the army was the king himself, and he led his men into battle with major enemies. Most of the time, though, he left the day-to-day running of his troops to the commanders.

The army had four divisions of 5,000 men, each named after an important god: Amun, Ptah, Seth and Re. These divisions in turn had 20 companies, each with 250 men, and every company was divided into 5 platoons of 50 men. So the company that appears in this book is only a fraction of the whole Egyptian army.

The army could offer a good career for Egyptian men, especially if they came from a wealthy family and had some education. Men like Djeri, the son of a scribe, might be able to progress through the ranks and end up being a commander. There were plenty of perks to be had, too. The king made sure that soldiers were rewarded for bravery with land, gold and slaves. It’s strange but true that a golden fly was a particular reward for valour. We don’t know exactly why, but it might be because flies are tough little creatures that never give up. Think of a fly buzzing at the window – it just keeps going and going . . .

But life in the army wasn’t all rewards and excitement. For the average soldier, it could be very hard. Foot soldiers were often beaten by their superiors, and had to live in harsh conditions and march long distances. They also had to go through a tough physical regime of weapons training, fitness training and wrestling. And of course, they might become sick, injured or get killed.

It’s also true that much of the army wasn’t made up of Egyptians at all. There were whole platoons of other nationalities; for example, the Nubian platoon that forms part of the company in this book. Prisoners of war were regularly drafted into the army – and they seem to have been surprisingly loyal to the Egyptian king.

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Who Were the Libyans?

The Libyans were a group of tribes who came from the lands west of Egypt. They were usually portrayed in Egyptian wall paintings with beards and colourful robes. They were known to the Egyptians by a number of different names – the Libu, the Temehu and the Meshwesh, for example. They were a big nuisance for a number of New Kingdom kings, who had to keep trying to repel them from Egypt’s borders. However, given that Egypt was a lush land of plenty, I have reinterpreted this a little bit; the Egyptians saw the Libyans as threatening invaders, but I have imagined that they envied the rich lands of Egypt and simply wanted to settle there. In fact, many of them did settle in Egypt. Some descendants of Libyan captives became important members of Egyptian society, and later on in Egyptian history, one of them even became king.

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GODS AND GODDESSES

Ancient Egyptian religion was very complicated. There wasn’t just one god, but hundreds, each symbolising something different. Many of them were linked to a particular animal or plant. The Egyptians believed that their king or pharaoh was one of the gods, too.

Not everyone worshipped the same gods. It would have been very difficult to worship all of them, because there were so many. Some gods were more important than others, and some places had special gods of their own. People would have had their favourites depending on where they lived and what they did.

These are some of the most important gods of the New Kingdom, and all the special ones that are mentioned in this book.

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Ammut
A monster who waited in the Next World to gobble the hearts of people who had not led a good life. She had the head of a crocodile, the front paws of a lion and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.

Amun
The great god of Waset (Thebes), a creator god and god of the air. When Waset became very powerful in the New Kingdom, he was combined with the sun god Re and became
Amun-Re
. He was shown with tall feathers on his head, or with a ram’s head.

Anubis
The god of mummies and embalming. He was usually shown with a jackal’s head.

Bes
A god who was worshipped in people’s homes, rather than at shrines and temples. He was shown as a bearded dwarf, often with his tongue sticking out, and was believed to protect people’s houses, pregnant women and children.

Hathor
A goddess of fertility, love, music and dancing. She was usually shown as a cow, or a woman with a cow’s head, or a woman with a cow’s ears and horns.

Horus
The falcon-headed king of the gods, who fought and won a battle with his evil uncle Seth. The reigning king of Egypt was believed to be the embodiment of Horus.

Isis
The mother of Horus and wife of Osiris, the goddess of motherhood and royal protection. She was associated with the goddess Hathor.

Khepri
The scarab god, the god of the rising sun. It was believed that he pushed the sun up every morning in the same way that a scarab pushes its ball of dung.

Khonsu
The moon god of Waset, worshipped in the great temple complex there. He was the adopted son of Mut.

Ma’at
The goddess of truth and justice, balance and order, who helped to judge people’s hearts after their death.

Mut
The great mother goddess of Waset, worshipped with Amun and Khonsu. Because Waset is often called Thebes, these three are known as the ‘Theban Triad’.

Osiris
Husband of Isis, father of Horus and brother of the evil god Seth. He was the king of the underworld, so he was usually shown as a mummy.

Ptah
A creator god, and the god of craftsmen. He was usually shown as a mummy holding a symbolic staff.

Re
(or
Ra
) The sun god, who travelled across the sky every day in a
barque
(boat).

Sekhmet
The lioness goddess of war, destruction and disease. She could offer protection and healing from these evils, too, and it was believed that she offered special protection to the king.

Serqet
The goddess of scorpions. She was believed to cure the stings and bites of all dangerous creatures like snakes and scorpions.

Seth
The brother of Osiris, the god of chaos, evil and the Red Land (the desert). He was shown with the head of a strange dog-like creature that has never been identified.

Sobek
The ancient Egyptian crocodile god. On the whole, he was feared by the Egyptians, but he was sometimes seen as a god of fertility, too.

Tawaret
A hippopotamus goddess who protected children and women, particularly during childbirth. Like Bes, Tawaret was worshipped in people’s homes rather than in temples.

Thoth
The god of writing and scribes. He was shown as an ibis, or with the head of an ibis.

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GLOSSARY

acacia
A small, thorny tree. Some types of acacia grow particularly well in dry, desert regions.

alabaster
A whitish stone that is quite soft and easily carved. The Egyptians used it to make many beautiful objects.

amulet
A lucky charm, worn to protect a person from evil.

ankh
The ancient Egyptian symbol of eternal life. It is a cross with a loop at the top. Amulets were made in this shape, and gods were shown holding an
ankh
in tomb paintings.

Black Land
The rich, fertile land close to the Nile, where the ancient Egyptians felt safe. They lived and grew their crops here.

carob
An evergreen shrub. Its seed pods are edible.

castor
A shrubby plant widely grown in ancient Egypt. Its seeds were used to make castor oil, which the Egyptians rubbed on their skin and hair to make them glossy, and burned as fuel in oil lamps.

golden fly
A fly shaped in gold, and awarded to soldiers for valour. Golden flies have been found strung on to necklaces.

hieratic
A shorthand version of hieroglyphics, which simplified the hieroglyphs to make them quicker to
write.

hieroglyphics
The ancient Egyptian system of picture writing. Each individual picture is called a
hieroglyph
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Hittites
Enemies of the Egyptians during the New Kingdom. They had a big empire to the north of Egypt and their capital was in modern-day Turkey.

Ipet-Isut
The ancient Egyptian name for the great temple complex just to the north of Waset, now known as Karnak.

Ipet-Resyt
The large temple complex in the town of Waset, connected to Ipet-Isut by a long avenue lined with sphinxes. Like Ipet-Isut, it was dedicated to the worship of Amun, Mut and Khonsu. It is now known as Luxor Temple.

jasper
A popular gemstone in ancient Egypt. As well as green, there were red, brown, black and yellow varieties.

kohl
A kind of dark powder that the Egyptians used as eyeliner to outline their eyes.

lotus
Lotus flowers were actually blue water lilies that grew along the Nile. Their flowers open in the morning and close at night, so they were seen as a symbol of the rising and setting sun, and the cycle of creation. They were used in perfume, and were believed to have healing powers, too.

ma’at
The ancient Egyptian principle of divine justice and order. The principle was represented by a goddess of the same name.

malachite
A green-coloured mineral that the Egyptians used in cosmetics, jewellery and even medicinal remedies.

mercenary
Someone who hires himself out as a soldier. Unlike most soldiers, who fight for their country or government, mercenaries fight for whoever is paying them.

natron
A kind of salt mixture that was found on the bed of dried-up lakes in the desert. It was good at soaking up moisture, so it was used for drying out bodies in the embalming process. It was also used as an everyday cleaning agent.