Before the Throne by Naguib Mahfouz Read Free Book Online Page A

turned our glory into a laughingstock.”
    “Your debate is pointless,” Akhenaten replied dismissively. “The matter, pure and simple, is that I heard the voice of the God. And that this heavenly blessing did not descend on you.”
    “Always we were pursued by these same views, both from our enemies and our friends,” remarked Nefertiti. “The world shattered us with its brutality, but today we stand here before a just divinity.”
    “Then why did you abandon your husband when the crisis reached its climax?” Hatshepsut confronted her.
    “I never doubted him,” Nefertiti answered defiantly. “But I was deluded to think that if I left him, I could save him from being killed.”
    “This son was entrusted with a message by which he strove to save mankind,” Isis said to them. “Yet no one was ready either to understand him, or to reach an accord with him—and this was the tragedy. I shall remain proud of him for all eternity.”
    “Take your seat, with your wife, among the Immortals,” Osiris told him.

22
    H ORUS HAILED the court, “King Smenkhkara, King Tutankhamun, and King Aya.”
    Thoth, the Sacred Recorder, read aloud, “Smenkhkara ruled for four years, Tutankhamun for six years, and Aya for four years. Their reigns were times of disturbance and corruption. None of them was capable of confronting the crisis.”
    Osiris asked them to speak.
    “I began my rule as coregent with Tutankhamun,” responded Smenkhkara, “but I was not able to restore the throne’s prestige.”
    “Real authority lay with the priests of Amun,” said Tutankhamun.
    “And the influence of the priests increased in my time,” admitted Aya. “I was weakened by age, and failed to achieve reform.”
    “How could you repudiate me,” Akhenaten grilled Aya, “when you were the closest person to me, and I was your wife’s father?”
    “I renounced you to avoid civil war in our country,” answered Aya.
    “You were unfaithful to the One True God after you had proclaimed your belief in Him right in front of me.”
    “My three sons were not suited for the throne,” Isis asserted. “Without the blind law of hereditary succession, not one of them would have sat on it, yet they deserve mercy, just the same.”
    Osiris turned to them.
    “Go to the Northern Gate,” he bid them, “which leads to the Realm of Purgatory.”

23
    H ORUS CALLED OUT , “King Horemheb!”
    A brawny, stern-faced man of middling stature came in, walking in his winding sheet until he stood before the throne.
    Thoth, Scribe of the Gods, then read aloud, “He came to power though not from the royal line. So, despite her advanced age, he married Mutnodjmet in order to legitimize his rule. By main force he ended the chaos, corruption, and neglect, while repairing the damage to the temples after Akhenaten. Thanks to him, security and order were established inside the country. As for the empire, by that time it already—except for a small portion—belonged to the past.”
    Osiris then invited Horemheb to speak.
    “True, I was not of royal blood, yet I came from a venerable old family in the north of Egypt. My upbringing was military, and I rendered many successful services to Pharaoh Amenhotep III. When Akhenaten took the throne, he brought me close to him, bestowing his confidence upon me. Yet to my great regret, he did not take my advice and impose the necessary punishments for corruption within the country and dispatch expeditions to put down the rebels throughout the empire. When the crisis worsened, and the first warnings of civil war loomed on the horizon, I reached an understanding with the priests of Amun to put an end completely to Akhenaten’s rule. Everyone agreed that I had the competence to confront the anarchy that then prevailed all over Egypt. Yet it was also necessary to uphold legality, so first Smenkhkara, then Tutankhamun, and finally Aya became kings in succession. When Aya passed away, a revolution erupted—the tombs were plundered,