In The Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian Literature
A Reconstruction
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In The Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian Literature
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After some years, Sesostris I became very ill. He had been injured fighting rebels in Nubia. The injury to his chest had become inflamed, perhaps poisoned by their weapons. In and out of fever, he called for his son, “Nemty, Nemty, where are you? Get my son. Bring him here to me,” the dying man weakly ordered.
His son, Amenemhet II, named after his slain grandfather, had only ruled in a short co-regency with his father. However, the young king did not inherit the abilities of his father. His father tried, almost heroically, to prepare him for the approaching disaster. But there could be no solution, the old king seemed to know. He knew he had failed to teach the king enough skills. Or else he was comparing his son to a man of many skills that he remembered. Any son would suffer in such a comparison. Sesostris’ mental anguish surpassed his physical suffering as he waited for his son to come to him. He tried to hide his despair, his fear for his son and his country. But he knew that he could offer no helpful advice on how to rule or what to do to save his people from the final disaster. He could offer no reassurance to the novice that everything would turn out fine. He recalled his youth and how much he had learned from his mentor, Sinuhe. He recalled how he had depended on Sinuhe. He wanted Sinuhe to help his son. How ironic he thought, he still trusted the man who killed his father. He knew that Sinuhe would be able to guide his son. Nemty entered his father’s chambers and came close to the bed. “Here I am father,” he put his head down on the bed and placed his father’s hand on his face while he kissed it. “How do you feel? Your hand is hot. Do you want me to change your dressing?” Sesostris ignored the question and rubbed his son’s bald shaven head softly. “When I die, Nemty,” Sesostris called his son by his pet name, “consider the old fugitive, Sinuhe. He remains a good man. All these years later, I still love him. It will be difficult for you to align with him. All the advisors abhor him. Half of the population still hates him. “But he will come back to help you. I know he will. Do not reject him. Do not think too highly of your own abilities. Even though no one in Egypt can surpass you, you will not be able to navigate the ship safely through the coming storm. Only he can help you. He has captained well for the Asiatics: they now prosper exceedingly. I know he would return if the bounty on his head is removed, and we restore his honor somehow. “Our useless priests will agitate against his return. There will be a very bad reaction against him because of his past sin. I forgive him, please tell him. Tell the country that on my deathbed I forgave him. Those who follow him will survive the coming disaster. Perhaps his brother, Khuni will join with you in planning for his exoneration and return. “My dying words to you my son, align with the old fugitive, Sinuhe. Heed his plans. Convert the people toward his leadership. Even if it takes your abdication to him, although I think he would not require you to step aside.” He died hugging the sobbing Nemty who cried not only for his father, but also for himself and for his people. Nemty later wondered why his mother Meri had not attended at his father’s death. His father did not call for her. Nemty ruled alone as Amenemhet II, and presided over the preparation of his father’s body for burial and the interment in the tomb that had been prepared. It had been forty years since his grandfather’s assassination. Sinuhe heard of the death of his half-brother, Sesostris I, who had continued offering the reward for Sinuhe’s head on a spear. Sinuhe wrote to the new king, praising his late father and the new king himself, in extremely flattering prose: “He is a god without peer . . . a fighter without equal . . . smashes foreheads . . .” but also “Lord of grace . . . rich in kindness . . . happy the land that he rules.” Of course he wanted the king to cancel the reward and pardon him. If only Sinuhe knew, the young king thought, what his dying father had told him. Sinuhe also wrote to his older brother Khuni, and asked him to represent his interests with the new king. He wanted to find out if the king would perhaps not only cancel the old reward, but also welcome him back and take his valuable advice concerning the astronomical threat. The fugitive wondered what the new king, his nephew, considered to be important. He wondered how intelligent and forgiving the king was. He wondered if he would consider his plan to evacuate the populace to safety. Sinuhe knew the grave situation facing Egypt required evacuation. His father-in-law had warned him that when the time came he should bring the refugees to Midian temporarily, if they survived. Sinuhe knew that the Egyprian astronomers knew the situation, but he did not know what their plans for the people would be. The young king knew some astronomy but ignored and feared the priests who relied heavily on ancient Egyptian records. The dark king preferred the ancient legends of his grandmother. Besides the Egyptians also relied heavily on the Asiatic astrologers more than the southern star gazers. He identified more with his Nubian heritage, but diffidently allowed for accommodations that allowed peaceful co-existence. The king felt little kinship with his half-uncle, Khuni. But the king felt extreme interest in his half-uncle Sinuhe. Sinuhe had become a very great famous and prosperous leader of the Asiatic tribes-people who loved him very much. He ruled with legendary justice and power. He preferred to make friends rather than enemies. He shared the secrets of wealth making all his friends prosper. This power interested the king greatly. The king wished to meet the man his father loved so much. Khuni appeared before the king representing his fugitive brother. Called the “Eloquent Peasant” in deference to his education but in denial of his royal blood, the priest spoke boldly not only for the king’s ears, but for the interested populace. Khuni appeared nine different times with subtle and engaging presentations. In his first appearance he reassured the king that “No flood will carry you away . . . for you are father to the orphan, husband to the widow and brother to the rejected woman.” Khuni reassured the insecure new king that he was in no danger of being deposed because he protects those beloved by the fugitive, Sinuhe. In the second petition, Khuni praised the king as a “rudder of heaven,” referring to his divine right to rule as king, as captain of the ship of state. Also he is the “punisher of evil” but one who “commits crimes” himself. Sometimes the eloquent one implies that extreme clinging to “punishment” may become a crime itself because the punishment may deprive the people of the skills that the repentant have to offer. As “straightener of another’s crookedness,” that is, by renewing the reward offered by his father for Sinuhe’s head, he ignores the fact that the old king deserved to die because he had raped an innocent virgin. This misguided choice “threatens the country as the Lady of Pestilence, the comet Hathor, does. Bring him, Sinuhe, to your team! Give the commission to one who is skillful. Sinuhe has proven himself to be a good and resourceful leader. This unnecessary exile has made miserable the wretch you are destroying!” In the third petition, Khuni again reassured the king that as a good ship captain, as a good herdsman he should think of the people. “Earth’s rightness lies in justice! The goddess seeks to punish the unjust! Restrain your anger for the humble seeker!” Khuni continued in the next few petitions, describing the king as a ship captain steering the country on the right course. But apparently becoming more exasperated, he became quite insulting, calling the king a criminal for depriving a poor man of his belongings, that is, depriving Sinuhe of his title and his estate. Next Khuni subtly and elaborately called the king lazy, greedy and dumb. Nemty sat patiently and silently on his throne. Then Khuni got mean: “No fear of you makes me petition you; you do not know my heart. A humble man who comes to reproach you, is not afraid of him with whom he pleads.” He implies that Sinuhe could invade and win, so take the offer and save face. Nemty had already decided in Sinuhe’s favor based on his father’s advice. He let the high-priest ramble on so as to convert the people to the idea of the hero’s return. Each day the heralds ran onto the street corners and summarized the days highlights for those unable to attend the popular event. And finally, in closing, the peasant said, “Don’t blame me when your boat doesn’t moor at its landing place.” The king took the offer that he could not refuse and did not want to refuse. The useless priests who had been elevated to jobs after Khuni had been pushed aside from his previous top job, feared and complained about the king’s decision. Sinuhe, still in Midian, got the news within a day, and jumped for joy. His brother Khuni had won his case. “I can go home! I can go home!” He joyfully told his Midian family who were not as delighted as he was. They did not want to lose him. “I can get the best architect and plan my burial!” “What fun,” his children murmured. Then Ammunenshi took him aside and reminded him of his mission. “You must get the people out of there. You have six months. They see it coming. They will follow you. We will do the best we can to accommodate them when you bring them here. Sinuhe gathered his Midian family with great formality. He gave orders to his sons on how to continue to maintain prosperity. He divided his holdings among them. He cried and embraced Zepra, who chose not to accompany him. She had many duties at the school. But her visions had become his marching orders. She had charted the projected motions of the approaching comet and had explained it to him. He carried her charts. She only wanted him to survive. Ammuneneschi hugged him as he kept giving him more advice. His happy haste to return home to see his still elegant and unbent aged mother, his father’s secret gravesite, and his other family and friends, almost overshadowed his painful memories of Sidiptu. The fear of facing his beloved mother hoping for her welcoming forgiveness, made even his fear of the cow goddess, seem minor. Speeding with his sedan carriers, his return trip contrasted to the earlier trip back to the palace that his brother, Sesostris I, had so long ago taken. Sinuhe chatted with his carriers, and occasionally got off the chair to jog along side them, telling them he was saving their strength so that they could carry him faster. They did step up the pace to humor him. He finally arrived at the palace. Ten men greeted and escorted him to the royal presence. He threw himself on his face. “Lift him up, let him speak to me,” the young king, Amenemhet II said. Competing emotions of joy and the fear of punishment grabbed at his heart. Trembling he said, “May your Majesty do as he wishes with me!” The king brought in the royal daughters, and the queen, and his grandmother, and said, “Here is Sinuhe, looking like an Asiatic!” The queen and ladies screamed their delight, “Is it really he, Oh king, our lord!” “It is.” They leapt into dancing and started the singing and music making rattling their tambourines and chirping their squeals, to show that he was totally forgiven and welcomed home. They fluttered over him, touching his hair and dusty striped robe. They removed his head cloth that revealed his wild hair. The younger children giggled while his sister Meri and mother left their chairs and walked slowly to him. His mother smiled and Sinuhe realized his heart’s terror had not been from fear of capital punishment, but only from his mother’s rejection. He threw himself down to her feet while she reached down and helped him upright. “Clean him up!” she commanded. The cheery delighted harem surrounded and escorted him to the bath. They skipped and sang and gathered fine white garments and towels for him. They removed his dust-covered wools. They covered him modestly while they handled him. They shaved his apricot and gray hair and his braided beard off, and they oiled and perfumed him. They restored his Egyptian appearance. He stood tall and lean, his hands and face alone shone sunburned. The musicians escorted him back to his mother with joyful tunes. The ladies continued to flutter about him. His stately old mother received him. He fell sobbing again to her feet. “Your father has been dead ten years, now. He loved you, he called to you as his last words.” She allowed him up to her. He knelt and put his head on her lap. She hugged him. “It has been well with us. Amenemhet II respects the family. We have received the reports on how well it has been going with you. Tell about your family and the wise Asiatics.” He replied, “They welcomed me because of my family and education. They initiated me as one of them. I married Ammuneneschi’s daughter, Zepra, who gave me two sons. They love me. They cried when they sent me back home to evacuate my people from the raging goddess in the sky. The astronomers have given me a timetable. Zepra and her father explained the approaching visit with its attendant terrors. “They explained the ancient writings as related to the disasters of old. I have to convince the king. We all must escape and flee to the safety of the mountainous deserts and get to Midian. After the goddess passes over we can return . . . if we survive.” Khuni and Meri entered the apartment. They hugged Sinuhe and cried. They brought in their children and grandchildren for his blessings. The king assigned him a luxury estate and appointed him the best tomb architect. |
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