Before the Throne

39

HORUS RAISED HIS VOICE to extol, “King Psamtek the Third!”

A strongly built man of medium height advanced in his winding sheet until he stood before the throne.

Thoth commenced to read from the sacred tome before him, “He reigned for three months. Then he and his army defended Egypt against the Persian king, Cambyses, but his forces were routed and he fell captive to the foe. Cambyses slew him and seized control of the country.”

Osiris asked him to address the court.

“I came to the throne as the Persian armies were penetrating Egypt,” replied Psamtek III, “so I prepared my Greek troops for battle while urgently conscripting a small army of Egyptians. I met the enemy in a fierce engagement, but we found ourselves surrounded, and I was taken prisoner. Cambyses wanted me to rule as his puppet, obedient to his commands. But I plotted secretly to resist the invasion: I was exposed, and for it I paid the price of my life.”

“Tell me about the resolve of the Greek and Egyptian soldiers in the fight,” demanded Thutmose III.

“No doubt, that of the Egyptians was immeasurably greater than the others,” said Psamtek III.

“I expected to hear just that,” Thutmose III affirmed. “Perhaps if your whole army had been Egyptian, the encounter would have turned out differently. But you disregarded your own people and relied entirely on foreigners — and so the history of independent Egypt ended at your hands.”

“We cannot overlook that he refused to occupy the throne in the shadow of alien rule,” Seqenenra intervened, “sacrificing himself by doing so. I myself shared such a fate.”

“Before you stands my son, so blighted by misfortune,” Isis implored. “He fought with all his bravery. If his ambition had been to rule at any cost, then it would have yielded to him. Instead, he died nobly and dearly.”

Osiris bid him, “Go take your seat among the Immortals.”