Ancient Egypt Magazine, August/September 2018

I hadn’t actually expected this to be my first real post on this blog, but the day after I launched the site, the latest issue of ‘Ancient Egypt Magazine’ dropped through my letterbox, and when I saw that one of the articles covered Seti I in Nubia, I had to immediately get to it. It then occurred to me that I might be missing an opportunity…and that I could do a write-up (I don’t think myself even remotely qualified as a reviewer, but still) of the magazine for the blog. I also subscribe to ‘Kemet’ and ‘Nile Magazine’, and I intend to cover those as they come out. I might do back issues, possibly, and certainly, of those two magazines, I’ll do the current issues in the near future.

The issue begins with the usual news of recent discoveries; I was especially interested in the discovery of two Old Kingdom dwellings at Giza; I suppose that like many others, I’m drawn to that period for a very…geometric reason, and any light that can be shed on this era is more than welcome. I also curse that I haven’t get got around to setting myself up with VR – meaning that a virtual visit to the Tomb of Nefertari is not yet an option, curse it! (In all seriousness – providing VR visits to sites like this is a fantastic idea, and much to be encouraged. Tourism is destroying so many of these wonderful sites forever, and preservation would be far easier without thousands or millions of visitors every year. I know I’d gladly pay to ‘visit’ one virtually, especially knowing that it was saving the site.

Starting with the article that naturally drew my interest first, the discussion of Seti I’s campaigns in Nubia by Dr. Nicky Nielsen – with the tantalizing suggestion that this might have been Ramesses II’s first taste of battle. (I must apologize; I can’t help reading this with a novelist’s eye. Call it an occupational hazard.) The article discusses some of the strategies used to defeat the Nubian rebels, though given that the armies were likely commanded by viziers, not Seti himself, I wonder who was the architect of the campaign – given communications lag, it would have been impractical for a campaign to be managed at range. I came away wanting to know more…and found that this is based on a book I’m very much looking forward to in September, ‘Pharaoh Seti I: Father of Egyptian Greatness.’ Appetite well and truly whetted!

The second article almost makes me wonder if this issue was written with me in mind; a discussion of emergency medicine in Ancient Egypt by Roger Forshaw. I’m going to be going through this one with a fine toothcomb during my later research period. We’re fortunate to have excellent evidence of Egyptian medical techniques – not least in the form of their mummified failures! The article covers the Ebers and Edwin Smith papyri, and it’s interesting to see that some of the techniques are surprisingly modern, whilst others are just outlandish. Such as the use of cattle feces…

A look at a fragment that likely represents a portion of a state of Senenmut comes next; a figure more popular in death than I suspect he was in life, the favourite of Hatshepsut carved in dozens of statues, most of which were destroyed. I love these articles on individual artefacts; the Manchester Museum has an outstanding collection of items, and the writer, the Curator himself, Dr. Campbell Price, always presents this well – these articles are usually one of the first I turn to in the magazine.

Ancient Egypt was always one of the jewels in the crown of Ancient Rome – whether being governed by Rome itself or from Byzantium, and the next article discusses one of the reasons why – the gold mines of Egypt, the source of much of the wealth of its rulers for centuries. The article, written by Barbara Tratsaert, examines a Roman-era mine, discussing the techniques that were used, as well as those that might have been imported from overseas. There’s often a romantic view about life in Ancient Egypt – but to borrow Hobbes, articles such as this make it clear that it was often ‘nasty, brutish and short.’

It’s always interesting to look back at the pioneers of Egyptology – I suppose I’m not the only one envious of the untouched academic wilderness that awaited them, the discoveries that were to be made. This article, by Dr. John Taylor, looks at the life and work of Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, pioneer of medicine and the writer of ‘A History of Egyptian Mummies’. I found it fascinating that he mummified a body himself, in 1852 – I’d love to know what became of the body, and whether it might be available for modern analysis. (I’d also have loved to go to the lecture tour he gave, notes for which are included in the article!

Now we get to another interesting period – the Sixteenth Dynasty, and the potential causes of the famines suffered during that time – a period about which far too little is known. Andrew Fulton brings a wide range of course into play in his analysis, notable the potential effects of the eruption of Santorini that brought Minoan civilization to its knees around that time. Certainly the Sixteenth Dynasty must have had a rather bad time of it, based on the evidence we have of the effects of this eruption elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean.

As usual, following the articles are the letters to the Editor and the book reviews – I rarely come away without having to rush to Amazon for something, but I’m trying to restrain myself at the moment after a recent spree…we’ll see just how long that lasts! I can’t recommend this issue specifically and the magazine in general enough for anyone with an interest in Ancient Egypt. It’s definitely a must-buy publication.

The Mandatory First Post

I think it can most easily be blamed on Christopher Lee. When I was about ten, I first watched the Hammer version of ‘The Mummy’, and while most of the movie faded away, there is a crucial scene that inspired an interest that has carried me to this day. Over about ten minutes, with Peter Cushing’s character narrating, you watch the internment of Christopher Lee’s character and his lost love, the mummification, the funeral procession, everything. That scene fascinated me (I wish they’d just set the whole film in Ancient Egypt; reportedly the Producer had wanted to work on such a project…) and I still enjoy the movie to this day, largely as a result. (The less said about the more modern versions, the better.)

For the last five years, I’ve been working as a science-fiction author. (And it still remains a matter of mystery that it is possible to make a living out of writing books, even after all this time!) For a while now, I’ve been wanting to move into a new genre; I considered several, ranging from epic fantasy to post-apocalyptic, and even published a few bits and pieces to admittedly limited success over the years, but I never truly settled. For a time, I strongly considered Ancient Rome, following in the footsteps of some of the outstanding authors working in that field at the moment, but something held me back.

Finally, I realized that Ancient Rome simply wasn’t calling to me. Ancient Egypt was. Something about the wonder and grandeur of those long-forgotten times – and while there is some excellent fiction written about this long-lost era, there seems almost none written from the standpoint of the humble soldier, the warriors of the Pharaoh who waged wars from Kush to Canaan. Finally, I had something to get my teeth into, something I could work on, and for a few months now, I’ve been working on this project, though it is only now that I feel in a position to really talk about it. (Many, many ideas in the past have faded to nothing – I’m reluctant to really discuss any new projects until I am reasonably sure that they will actually happen.

Naturally, this is going to require a lot of research. (Which should mostly be fun, I’m looking forward to it.) Not only will I be hitting the books, I also intend to visit as many museums as I can, as while I probably can’t get to Egypt itself any time soon, there’s no substitute for actually seeing the artefacts for yourself. I’ll be chronicling those visits on this blog, as well as some of my key research texts. My intention – though I might move things around a little – is to focus on the early days of the Nineteenth Dynasty, in the closing days of Horemheb and the reigns of Ramesses I and Seti I. This is one of my favorite periods in the extensive history of Ancient Egypt, a time when the land was at its height, interacting with peoples all across the Near East. (Among other things, I get to bring in the Hittites, Nubians, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Canaanites…)

Something that I have noticed is that, primarily, fiction set in Ancient Egypt focuses on the highest levels of society – intrigue in the Royal Court, or the life of the Pharaoh himself. I’ve certainly enjoyed those books, but I think there is certainly room for something set lower in the social ladder. And during this period, certainly in the Army, there was a greater chance for social mobility than at many other periods. Witness the story of Ahmose, from earlier in the period, as an example of that – a man who fought for several Pharaohs, rising from the ranks to become a senior commander, acquiring wealth and status along the way. (I did at one point ponder writing the story of Ahmose itself, but using a wholly fictional character provides me with considerably more freedom to move him around the map.)

All of this will be chronicled on the blog. My primary writing blog is focused heavily on my science-fiction work, naturally enough, so I decided that I needed another one for my historical fiction – and so, this was born. I won’t commit to a regular schedule of posts, at least not for the moment, but I’ll be discussing my writing process, my research, and perhaps of most interest, reviewing some of the books I’ll be using, as well as some of the historical fiction I’ve read in the past.