Egypt (41 page)

Ankhesenamun's tomb and mummy have never been found. She was neither named nor depicted in Tutankhamun's tomb, and despite the custom of burying personal items belonging to the Great Royal Wife in the tomb, nothing of hers was found there. The very absence of such things is significant. Similarly, as Ay's Great Royal Wife, she should have been depicted in Ay's tomb; but its walls are decorated with images of another wife, Tiy. KV63 (i.e. the sixty-third tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings) lies near Tutankhamun's, and some fragments of pottery suggest a possible connection to Ankhesenamun. Another recent nearby excavation has also been identified as a possible tomb: in February 2010, DNA tests encouraged speculation that one of two late eighteenth-dynasty female mummies from the Valley of the Kings might be Ankhesenamun. But as of the time of writing she remains missing. All we have are fragments of evidence, some glorious images of her such as that on Tutankhamun's golden throne, and the great mystery of the Hittite letters. ‘I am afraid,' she wrote; and she had good reason to be.

        Andrews, Carol,
Egyptian Mummies
, British Museum Press, 1998 Bryce, Trevor,
Hittite Warrior
, Osprey Publishing, 2007

        —, The
Kingdom of the Hittites
, Oxford University Press, 2005

        —,
Life and Society in the Hittite World
, Oxford University Press, 2002

        Cohen, Raymond and Westbrook, Raymond (editors)
Amarna Diplomacy
, The John Hopkins University Press, 2000

        Collins, Paul,
From Egypt to Babylon
, British Museum Press, 2008

        David, Rosalie,
Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt
, Penguin, 2002

        Faulkner, R. O. (edited by Carol Andrews),
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
, The British Museum Press, 1985

        Jones, Dilwyn,
Boats
, British Museum Press, 1995

        Kemp, Barry J.,
100 Hieroglyphs
, Granta, 2005

        —,
Ancient Egypt, Anatomy of a Civilization
, Routledge, 2006

        Manley, Bill,
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt
, Penguin, 1996

        Meskell, Lynn,
Private Life in Ancient Egypt
, Princeton University Trust, 2002

        Nossov, Konstantin,
Hittite Fortifications
, Osprey Publishing, 2008

        Nunn, John F.,
Ancient Egyptian Medicine
, British Museum Press, 1997

        Pinch, Geraldine,
Egyptian Myth, A Very Short Introduction
, Oxford University Press, 2004

        —,
Magic in Ancient Egypt
, British Museum Press, 1994

        Redford, Donald B.,
Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times
, Princeton University Press, 1992

        Reeves, Nick,
The Complete Tutankhamun
, Thames and Hudson, 1990

        Shaw, Ian, and Nicholson, Paul,
The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt
, British Museum Press, 1995

        Vernus, Pascal (translated by David Lorton),
Affairs and Scandals in Ancient Egypt
, Cornell University Press, 2003

        Wilson, Penelope,
Hieroglyphs, A Very Short Introduction
, Oxford University Press, 2003

Howard Belgard inspired the writing of this story in many ways, and guided me through to the end with patience and generosity. I can't thank him enough.

Carol Andrews, BA, PADipEG, once again scrutinized the drafts, meticulously correcting the factual errors of my ways, and constructively disputing some of my ideas and decisions. Any liberties taken with the known facts are my responsibility.

My thanks to Bill Scott-Kerr, and to Sarah Adams–my wise, patient and encouraging editor; and to Alison Barrow, Vivien Garrett, Lucy Pinney, Ben Willis (tour manager supremo), Matt Johnson and Neil Gower at Transworld.

Thank you, too, to my agent Peter Straus, and Jenny Hewson; also to Laurence Laluyaux and Stephen Edwards at Rogers, Coleridge and White; and to Julia Kreitman at The Agency.

Walter Donohue and Iain Cox read drafts of the novel, and their responses helped me to find my way.

And thanks to Cara, Grainne and Siofra, the glorious girls, to Dominic Dromgoole and Sasha Hails, to Broo Doherty, Paul Sussman, and Jackie Kay.

Thank you from my innermost heart to my partner Edward Gonzalez Gomez.

Nick Drake is the author of two critically acclaimed novels featuring Rahotep:
Nefertiti
, which was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award, and
Tutankhamun
, a
Publishers Weekly
top 100 books selection. He has published two award-winning collections of poetry, and his play
Success
was performed at the National Theatre in London, where he is a literary associate. His screenplays include the critically acclaimed
Romulus, My Father
(starring Eric Bana), which won Best Film at the Australian Film Awards in 2007. He lives in London.

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Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows
Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead

Cover illustrations: head of Ramesses courtesy AISA/Bridgeman Art Library; moon & hieroglyphics © Shutterstock

Cover design by
the
Bookdesigners

Maps © Neil Gower

EGYPT
. Copyright © 2011 by Nick Drake. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Bantam Press,
an imprint of Transworld Publishers.

FIRST U.S. EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-0-06-076594-1

EPub Edition © NOVEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062097200

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