The New Kingdom The New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt was the ‘Golden Age’ of this once great civilisation, which lasted from 1550 BC to 1069 BC. It was more importantly, the age in which my book – ‘The Field of Reeds’ was set in part. During this time, the invading Hyksos were expelled from the country; the Valley of the Kings became the Royal Necropolis and saw the reigns of its most famous Pharaohs – Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Rameses II. It was also a period of great building, when the great temples at Abu Simbel dedicated to Ramesses II and his wife, Nefertari were constructed; major additions to Luxor Temple by Amenhotep III, Tutankhamun and Rameses II were completed; and Karnak Temple grew into a huge religious complex under the rule of Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, Tutankhamun and Horemheb amongst others.

At the time of the New Kingdom, Thebes, which to the ancient Egyptians was known as Waset was the capital of the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt. It is now to be found within the confines of the modern city of Luxor. Within its boundary are to be found many of the locations featured in ‘The Field of Reeds’ – Luxor and Karnak Temples; the Precinct of Mut in Asher; the Royal Necropolis of Ta-Sekhet-Ma'at- ‘The Great Field of Truth’ familiar to all as the Valley of the Kings; the workers village at Deir el-Medina, known in times long gone as Set-Ma’at, the ‘Place of Truth’; and Ta-Dehent, ‘The Peak’, home of the fearsome cobra Goddess Meretseger.

Map of Luxor in 1914   The map to the left is taken from the 1914 Baedeker Guide and shows the then village of Luxor, the location of its hotels, set amid the temples and tombs of Ancient Thebes at the time of the New Kingdom. Within the panel to the bottom-right can be seen the Old Luxor Hotel and the recently built Winter Palace, as well as the Savoy, Karnak and Grand Tewfik Hotels, now sadly demolished; within their midst is to be found the Pharaonic Luxor and Karnak Temples, which feature in ‘The Field of Reeds’.   The top-left panel of the map, shows the Valleys of Kings and Queens; the workers’ village at Deir-el-Medina, the home of the stonemasons, carpenters, artists and goldsmiths who constructed the ‘Houses of Eternity’ for the Pharaohs, their wives, their children and the high officials, soldiers and priests of this once great civilization; the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari and the ‘The Peak’ of el-Qurn, home of the cobra Goddess, Meretseger.

The Gods The religious beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians are based on a pantheon of many Gods and Goddesses. They were born out of a need to understand the world around them in their fleeting Earthly existence and to help them prepare for the everlasting life that awaits in ‘The Field of Reeds’. They have Gods that explain the natural elements seen in the life; Ra God of the rising and setting of the Sun; Khonsu God of the Moon that shines in the night sky; and Hapi God of the river Nile that flows through their land. Others mimic all aspects of worldly affairs; Sekhmet Goddess of war and healing; Set, God of chaos, Khepri, God of creation and rebirth; Hathor, Goddess of music, dance, joy and maternal care; and all many more for the myriad traits of humanity. More exist to ease or hinder their passage from this life into the next; Osiris, God of the afterlife; Anubis, God of mummification; Ammit, devourer of the dead; and Ma’at, Goddess of Truth.

My book ‘The Field of Reeds’ tells of these Gods and Goddesses; and of a place where the spirit of a person’s Ka will live a ‘mirror like’ existence of their former life; no longer fleeting and brief, but one that will endure for all eternity. Into a life, to be lived forever with their family and friends, their land and animals, and all of their Earth-bound wealth and possessions. To have servants to do their bidding, whilst they relax under a favourite palm and sit on a special bench, shaded from the heat of the day; to go hunting by the river with a much-loved dog; or even to take care of a sick and neglected donkey. In the entire history of the world and all of its past civilisations and the many religions they practiced and the numerous Gods they worshipped, there is to my mind, none more perfect a vision of an afterlife, than that believed in by the ancient Egyptians.

The Pharaohs The Pharaohs were the Earthly representatives of the Gods in the fleeting life of mortals. He was both the civil and religious head of the two lands. He owned all of its lands, enacted its laws, collected taxes from its people, and as the commander-in-chief of the army, defended them from invaders. He officiated over its religious ceremonies and chose the sites of all new temples; as well as being responsible for maintaining the cosmic order, balance, and justice in his realm; and if necessary, going to war to defend the country or attack others who threatened its security.

In my book – ‘The Field of Reeds’, you will read of the life of the heretic, Pharaoh Akhenaten; and how his son Tutankhamun desperately sought everlasting life in both this world and in the next, even eliciting the help of the cobra Goddess, Meretseger to achieve the immortality he craved. But in return she asked for something so dangerous, that is so nearly destroyed his soul and almost prevented his passage into the eternity of the afterlife. I will tell of how Ramesses II lost the love of his life, to the Machiavellian scheming of Meretseger and who had in turn to suffer a punishment so cruel that it goes beyond any sentence that mankind could ever conceive or carry out – for only the Chief Architect, creator of all the Universe and all who dwell within his realm, had the power to make it happen.

The Valley of the Kings The Theban hills which can be seen from the Old Luxor Hotel, lies across the river Nile on its west bank. it is where the ancient dead rest, awaiting the passage of their Ka through the underworld, known as the Duat, before those who are light of heart reach everlasting life amongst ‘The Field of Reeds’, that many seek, but rarely find. They are dominated by ‘The Peak’ known in times long gone as ‘Ta-Dehent’, the lair of the cobra Goddess, Meretseger. It is thought that this location was chosen, because of its pyramid shape, which mimicked the earlier tombs at Giza and Saqqara. Below it can be seen the Royal Necropolis of Ta-Sekhet-Ma’at – ‘The Great Field’, which to my native friends is called Biban el-Moluk, but to you my readers it is the – ‘Valley of the Kings’.

For almost five centuries, the ‘Valley of the Kings’ was the Royal Necropolis of the Pharaohs of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties. In its magnificent tombs, which were cut down and into the rock, by the artisans of ‘The Place of Truth’ were laid to rest many of the greatest Pharaohs of Egypt: Ahmose I who finally drove the invading Hyksos out of the two lands; Hatshepsut, the first female Pharaoh, who took on the very persona of a man; Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) who abandoned the worship of the Old Gods for the single God – the Aten, symbol of the Sun; Tutankhamun his son, who restored the pantheon of deities, but whose successors still tried to erase his name from history; and Rameses II, probably the greatest of them all, who ruled the land of the Sedge and the Bee for over 66 years. The true story of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun is told in my book – 'The Field of Reeds’

Luxor Temple “Before leaving, I stepped out through the brown shuttered doors that led to the private balcony beyond. As I opened the doors the delightful scent of honeysuckle and freesias greeted me from the well-watered terracotta pots that lay next to a single wicker chair and a small round table of similar design. On the table top was a glass tumbler, the ice at the bottom not yet melted into the sliced lemon it held; its owner must surely have not been long gone. I must be gone too. I looked up to see a vista of ancient times in which a pharaonic temple dominated the scene before me, visible above the tops of the trees in the front garden of the Luxor Hotel; behind it the ever changing, flowing backdrop of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings beyond. I was in awe; no wonder Thomas Cook & Son chose this as the site for their first hotel.”

John Mason Cook chose the perfect location in which to create his brainchild, the Old Luxor Hotel. Not only was it close to the quay where his Nile Steamers could dock, but was situated in a perfect spot overlooking the three thousand-year-old Pharaonic Luxor Temple. A temple dedicated to the Royal Ka and not to any particular deity. It was here in this hotel, that Flossie, the heroine of my book – ‘The Field of Reeds’ had her room. The maverick archaeologist, Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis-Budge, came to this temple and was given a great gift by the cobra Goddess Meretseger, which allowed him to see it as it once was – complete, intact with its walls, pylons and columns adorned in a myriad of colored hieroglyphic signs and symbols.

Key to Plan Key: a – Temple of Amun (Amenhotep III); b – Sun Court – (Amenhotep III); c – Barque Stop (Thutmose III & Hatshepsut); d – Colonnade (Tutankhamun & Horemheb); e – Great Court (Ramesses II); f – Kiosk (Shabaka); A – Sanctuary of Amun (Amenhotep III & Alexander the Great); B – Barque Shrine (Amenhotep III & Alexander the Great); C – Birth Room; D – Roman Sanctuary; E – Hypostyle Hall; F – 3rd Pylon; G – Processional Colonnade (Amenhotep III); H – 2nd Pylon; I – 1st Pylon; J – Obelisks.

Karnak Temple “You fear for your art, which is young like yourself. You are unsure of the path it will take; fearing that it might fall along the way and be lost to history, and forgotten as you will one day be. A great city will rise from the desert to its honour; its priests and devotees will build temples throughout the world, that will display your art as moving pictures on their walls, as the hieroglyphs adorn those in Thebes. Many will come to worship as stars in the night sky, the idols they see before them. But, with new life, there comes also death. You will help build the foundation of these temples; and in a time not so far, their images will come to speak; but the silence of the art you know, will disappear along the axes of time, along with you. Until a time when you, although dead will live again; and your name as that of the boy king who helped build this great temple in which we stand, will be spoken for all eternity. This is the gift you have earned this day. Goodbye faithful servant of Meretseger.”

It was at the entrance to the Precinct of Mut in Asher, within the Great Temple at Karnak - the sacred domain of the Sun God Amun-Ra, Lord of the Pantheon of the Ancient Divinities of Egypt, that the silent movie actress, Gene Gauntier was told her future in 1912. This was the very same temple which Margaret Benson, the first female Egyptologist, had excavated nearly two decades before; and within it walls discovered the base of a rose granite statue, that bore the cartouche of the boy King Tutankhamun, which was once to be found in the garden of the Old Luxor Hotel.

The Place of Truth Deir el-Medina on the west bank of the river Nile at Luxor, is the Arabic name for an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who constructed the tombs in the Royal Necropolises during the 18th to 20th dynasties of the New Kingdom. The settlement's ancient name was Set Maat ‘The Place of Truth’, and the workmen who lived there were called ‘Servants in the Place of Truth’. The settlement’s population was made up of labourers - stone-cutters, plasterers and water-carriers), as well as the artisans – i.e. those involved in the administration and decoration of the royal tombs and temples – stonemasons, artists, carpenters, goldsmiths and scribes; as well as their wives and children. The artisans were split into two groups, the port and starboard crews, with a foreman for each who supervised the village and the work, as if on a ship.

It was here to ‘The Place of Truth’, Meretseger, that the patron deity of the village, brought Flossie, the heroine of my book – ‘The Field of Reeds’, to learn both humility and be educated in the ways of the Ancient Egyptians – to master the reading and writing of the hieroglyphs; to be initiated into the religious rites and practices of the time; to be taught the skills and practices of a healer; and to become a great tomb painter. You will read of the artisan Neferabu who created a stele that Meretseger wished should be hidden for all eternity, lest the world will learn of the great sin she committed so long ago and of the terrible and seemingly unending punishment that the Ancient Gods had so cruelly caused her to suffer across the centuries.

'The Peak' “Meretseger, lady of the sky, mistress of the two lands, her good name is Peak of the West. Giving praise to the Peak of the West, kissing the ground before her Ka. Let me give praises, hear my appeal for I am one truthful on Earth. Made by the Servant in the Place of Truth, Neferabu, true of voice. I was an ignorant man, senseless who did not know good from bad. I did the act of transgression against the Peak and she taught me a lesson. I was in her hand by night as by day. I sat on bricks like the pregnant woman. I called out for breath but it did not come to me. I lie bated to the Peak of the West, great of strength and to every God and Goddess. Now look to the great and the small who are in the gang, beware of the Peak, there is a lion in her. The Peak, she strikes with the strike of a fierce lion when she is after the one who transgresses against her. I called out to my mistress and found her coming to me as a sweet wind, and she was merciful to me, after she let me see her hand. She turned to me in peace, and she made me forget the sickness that was in my heart. So, the Peak of the West is merciful when one calls to her.” Stele of Neferabu, Deir el-Medina.

‘The Peak’ is the 400m high hill that overlooks the Valley of the Kings, known to the ancients as Ta-Dehent. It is the sacred home of the fearsome Goddesses Meretseger, she who loves silence’, protector of the Royal Necropolises and patron deity of the workers’ village at Deir el-Medina. My book – ‘The Field of Reeds’ tells her story and of the mortal sin, she committed in the name of love, one which reverberated through the centuries, even up to the present day; and how she sought redemption from the pain, guilt and shame it brought. And of the all powerful deity that controlled her actions and gave her the power to travel the three axes of time – that led to the past, the now and into the future.