to be
revealed
Userkaf
Book 1When the last king of Khufu's line and his heir are both dead, the army and the priests of Re put General Userkaf on Egypt's empty throne. He names his family the Children of the Sun-God. To make that…
Read More →General Userkaf was never raised to be king. Then Egypt's
king and his heir are both dead, and he takes the empty throne. He declares
that his sons and grandsons will be known as the Children of the Sun-God. To
hold the throne, he marries the dead king's widow, Khentkaus. His first wife
fears that a son by Khentkaus could push their own son, Sahure, aside as heir.
Sahure already has a wife he married for love. Now he must marry his own sister
too, so that no other man can claim the throne through her. The wife he loves
has the same fear for her own sons. And Khentkaus has believed since childhood
that she will rule Egypt as a king. In a palace counting its sons, she is
carrying the new king's child.
Nyuserre would not be king of Egypt at all if his brother
had not been murdered. Now that he rules alone at last, he means to keep faith
with his brother. Kaiu, his brother's son, will be king after him.
His queen, Reptynub, wants the crown for their own son,
Isesi. But Nyuserre will not take the throne from his brother's son to give it
to his own. He will not hear the subject raised again.
So the queen looks for another way. She finds a boy of the
court with a grudge against the prince, and soon a tutor's scroll is ruined
with honey. Prince Kaiu, she remarks lightly to her husband, needs to learn
restraint.
It is no great thing, and the king means to treat it as
none. He only tells his heir that taking revenge on a tutor for correcting him
is beneath him. Kaiu insists he did not do it. His uncle, disappointed, does
not believe him.
One trivial piece of misbehaviour will not turn a king
against his heir, and the queen knows it. But it is a good start.
When the last king of Khufu's line and his heir are both dead, the army and the priests of Re put General Userkaf on Egypt's empty throne. He names his family the Children of the Sun-God. To make that…
Read More →Sahure was his father's only son, and one accident could have ended Egypt's new royal house. Now that he is king, he means to be one of its great kings, remembered for his wisdom rather than the size…
Read More →Prince Ranefer's twin was born only a few minutes after him, and has never hidden his belief that the throne is just as much his. So when their father, the king of Egypt, dies, Ranefer will not wait e…
Read More →As soon as she could talk, Khentkaus told everyone she would be king of Egypt, and everyone laughed. A woman could not be a king, they told her. Now she is old, and she has found another way. King Nef…
Read More →Eleven-year-old Prince Raemka is heir to the throne of Egypt, and he has never gone anywhere without guards at his back. The farthest he has travelled is the Temple of Ptah, and the most excitement he…
Read More →Djedkare Isesi is king of Egypt because two young boys are dead. They were the sons of his cousin, the old king, and both died on the same day, before their father. Now the new king has a hard questio…
Read More →Unas becomes king of Egypt standing over his father's body, and the gods have left him no son to follow him. One of his sons was murdered by Unas's own uncle. Unas has sworn to his father to keep that…
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