Out of the Black Land - By Kerry Greenwood Page 0,72

my right and she was grinding my bones in her grasp, for she also had greatly loved her father.

It was hot in the House of Life under the palm branches, and I felt sweat run down my breasts and into my eyes. The ritual was horrible, forcing the reality of death into our mouths, the words falling like ash on our heads. All must die, even the wise and generous.

Homage to thee Divine Father Osiris who lives!

Thou didst not decay, no worms made food of thee, thou didst not rot, thou didst not putrefy. Osiris-Amenhotep shall not rot, shall not decay, shall not putrefy. He shall not see corruption. He shall live, he shall live, he shall live! He shall flourish, he shall flourish, he shall flourish! He shall wake in peace, he shall be whole; he shall not lose form or savour of life. He will be stabilised and established; he will never be destroyed on this earth.

The amulets with their attendant spells were placed, even the garland of cornflowers and lotus was laid around the head of the mummiform coffin, which was of gold. This was then laid within a bigger sarcophagus, and then a larger, so that Osiris-Amenhotep was shut away from us within three shells of precious metal.

As Isis, it was my turn to speak. I said:

I am come to be a protector unto thee. I waft unto thee breath for thy nostrils and the north wind which comest from the god Tem into thy nose. I have made whole thy throat, I make thee live like a god. Thine enemies are crushed under thy feet. I have made thy word true before Maat, and thou art mighty among gods.

As Nepthys, my sister Merope said:

I am around thee to protect thee, my brother Osiris, my strength is near thee, thou art raised up. The gods have heard thy call and have made thy words to be truth. Ptah hath overthrown thy foes, and I will be with thee forever.

As Neith, Sitamen said in a loud voice:

I have come quickly, behold, I have driven back the footsteps of the hidden enemy. I have illuminated thy face, Osiris-Amenhotep. Brother, I watch to protect thee, I stand with my bow and my arrows to repel the demons which assail thee.

As Selkis, Queen Tiye delivered her speech in a low, tight monotone:

I protect thee with the flame of my life, Oh Osiris-Amenhotep. I have gathered thy limbs and collected thy bones. I have brought thy heart and placed it on the throne within thy body. I will make thy house to flourish after thee, oh thou who livest forever.

Then the litter bearers came to lift the sarcophagus and carry it to the boat which would cross the river with our lord, and as expected we shrieked and wailed our lament, tearing our faces with our nails and fending off the bearers who would take him away.

‘Come to thy house!’ screamed Tiye, embracing the coffin. ‘Oh my father and brother, oh, my dearest love, return to thy sister who loves thee!’

‘Father and brother and lover, return,’ shrieked Merope, who clawed after the coffin as it was lifted. ‘Return, my lord, return!’

‘Great lord, sweet lord, come back to thy sister, he whose mouth was of honey, whose body was my delight,’ Tiye begged, and was pulled respectfully back by Sitamen, who had not spoken.

I took Merope in my arms. She was shaking with expended emotion. Tears ran down her face and down mine, and Queen Tiye collapsed into her daughter’s strong arms. Even Neith-devoted Sitamen was weeping, even that muscular warrior maiden whose hair was too short to dry her mother’s tears.

Ptah-hotep

I was back in Thebes and he was dead, the wise old man. I was to accompany my lord Akhnaten to the funeral, and he was very reluctant to go.

‘I do not believe in these gods, these fraudulent gods of the otherworld and the Tuat,’ he protested when messengers brought the news that the Pharaoh Amenhotep had gone to Osiris. ‘Tell me, Ptah-hotep, why should I go to this funeral?’

‘Because although you are wise, Lord, the people are not, and they believe. They would think badly of you if you did not,’ I had replied.

But when we had arrived at the palace of Thebes my lord went first to visit his remarkable temple of the Aten, which had taken a year’s sandstone and untold amounts of labour to build. It occupied the ground between Karnak temple and Thebes village, a sandstone