Before the Throne

17

HORUS HAILED, “King Thutmose the Third!”

A short, strongly built man, whose features projected majesty, entered the room wrapped in his shroud, then stood submissively before the throne.

“He took the throne at Hatshepsut’s decease,” read Thoth, Scribe of the Gods, “purging the administration of his rivals, while seizing the reins of power with an iron grasp. He bestowed favor on the clergy of Amun, granting them primacy over all the priesthoods of the Two Lands. He mustered both an army and a fleet whose peers the nation had not known before, and boldly embarked on numerous wars, thereby creating the greatest empire that the ancient world had seen until his time. He annexed Asia Minor, the Upper Euphrates, the Mediterranean islands, the Western Desert oases, the highlands of Somalia, and the cataracts of the Upper Nile — making Egypt the crossroads for the races of all nations, the repository of traded goods and commodities. He built temples, forts, and obelisks, both within Egypt and in all the countries attached to her, leaving behind him a homeland perched at the summit of greatness and civilization.”

Osiris invited Thutmose III to speak.

“At the start of my life, I tasted oppression as no king has known it,” said Thutmose III. “Noting the strength with which the gods had endowed me, I was more deserving of rule than were my siblings. Yet though I acquired knowledge of the world, and of religion, I was denied my right because of a trifling technicality — my mother’s origin as a commoner. I did not arrive at my right due to trickery, as some have said. Rather, the god Amun revealed me to his priests during his feast day. He stopped in front of me as I stood before the clergy, announcing his choice of me for the throne. I then prostrated myself before him in acceptance of his blessing.

“But the queen’s faction set up a wall around me, and I dwelt in the shadows, like a man without the slightest weight. And so, when I seized the key positions of power after the death of the queen, I brought down the sternest chastisement on the men who had usurped my legitimate authority and sullied my marital bed. The woman’s reign left only weakness as its legacy, for the army had fallen apart, while sedition spread through our foreign dominions as the prestige of Egypt and of her god Amun perished.

“The empire had been my greatest dream — not the love of killing, or the lust for wealth. Rather, I longed to spread the rays of Egyptian civilization, so that its radiance would shine over all the peoples around us, and Amun would occupy the highest place amongst all the gods.”

“I witness that you achieved all of our dreams altogether,” Ahmose I declared, “and acknowledge that you knew victory tens of times, but defeat not even once.”

“What did you do for the peasants?” asked Abnum.

“My soldiers, officers, and commanders were drawn from them,” Thutmose III replied. “I improved the methods of irrigation, took care of their needs, and exterminated the poverty in the places where they lived. I shifted a great many of them toward work in industries, crafts, and trade in the cities.”

“You erected your empire,” the Sage Ptahhotep upbraided him, “on the skulls of thousands upon thousands of Egyptians and others!”

“There is no avoiding death,” rejoined Thutmose III. “Better a man die while building glory and good than wasting away in a plague or being bitten by a snake. In truth, I was not a tyrant, nor did I love the shedding of blood. I planned my wars based on thoroughness and surprise, to obtain the swiftest victory possible, with the least number of losses. After the siege of Megiddo, all of my enemies — soldiers, princes and kings — fell into my hands. They begged for mercy and my heart felt for them — so I let them live.

“I sent their sons to Thebes to learn science and civilization, to prepare them to rule their countries, rather than using Egyptian governors. This was a wise and humane policy not known before me.”

“If it weren’t for the riches that I left you,” heckled Hatshepsut, “you would not have been able to launch a single campaign among the many you made in Asia.”

“You did indeed leave me great wealth,” conceded Thutmose III, “but you left the army in a mortal condition, and corruption was rampant among those closest to you.”

“You are still a resentful, wrong-headed, and rotten person,” protested Hatshepsut. “You remain determined to impugn my honor without any proof.”

“I warn you not to exchange such wounding words,” Osiris rebuked them.

“Did you love her, my son?” asked Isis.

“She used to mock my short stature — before which the kings of all nations would prostrate themselves abjectly.”

“This great son is worthy,” Isis lauded Thutmose III, “because he brought prestige to Egypt for many long ages.”

“Go take your place among the Immortals,” commanded Osiris.