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Princess
of Amarna
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This is the second page of Ankhesenamun's biography.
| Page Note: Italic text portrays author's fictional verse. Default text conveys historical information. |
The Queen She had been banished in drydock for over ten years now. Frantically, she had been inspected, repaired and recommissioned. Now once again in the water, minor leaks were patched with bitumun and a new crew conscripted. Their training consisted of the three-day voyage from Thebes to Akhetaten. Augmenting these two hundred virgin sailors, was a force of two hundred elite marines under the command of the General Horemheb. After docking at the marble watersteps of the heretic city, the marines disembarked the great ship and secured the avenue leading to the palace. As royal chariots from the palace now heading for the dock slowly passed them, the marines closed ranks behind and secured the rear of this stately procession. These elite troops did not reboard the ship, for they were issued new orders to disarm the local police force and take control of the city. Carefully, the huge vessel was maneuvered to the deep middle of the river, where its sails and imperial blue banners were proudly unfurled. Ankhesenpaaten and Tutankhaten were now deeply overwhelmed as the vista of their childhood city slowly disappeared from their vantage point aboard the great warship "Amun is Powerful".
On their voyage to Thebes for the coronation, Ankhes and Tutankhaten no doubt saw an Egypt they never imagined existed beyond the confines of their childhood city. Its natural and manmade beauties formed a brilliant visual kaleidoscope all along the banks of the mighty river of life. They also saw the dismal culmination of the seventeen years of their father's rule. Fields lay fallow and uncultivated. Cities that were once beautiful centers of culture now displayed signs of neglect and deterioration. Temples were in a state of shambles, overgrown with weeds and clothed in angry public graffiti. No doubt the Chancellor Ay pointed these things out to them and explained the present situation in blunt terms. The country was in a state of chaos. Their father had allowed the military to deteriorate to such a low point that many of their former vassal states were now under the thumb of the hated Khatti. Hand in hand with the loss of these territories, was the fact that their economic tribute and support was cut off. The treasury was almost depleted. Corruption was now a plague in the offices of the tax accessors, tax collectors and judiciary. Criminality abounded, and the tombs of royalty and nobility were being plundered en mass. The ranks of the priesthood were decimated, and the names of the gods had been effaced in profound blasphemy. Something had to be done, and done quickly.
After the coronation at Thebes, the royal couple moved to the "northern city" of Memphis, the ancient political capital. They were accompanied by Chancellor Ay, General Horemheb, and a host of other state and religious officials. It was decided that the only way to begin restoration of the country was to begin with the military. New recruits were conscripted. What funds were in the treasury were used to train and rearm the new fighting force. Once all was in readiness, these forces struck at the southern kingdom of Kush. Abandoned Egyptian fortresses were recaptured and the caravan routes secured. Gold mines were reopened, and wealth once again began to pour into Egypt's coffers. Success bred more success. Excursions into Libya and Palestine ensued and many lost territories were reclaimed. Trade with Lebanon and its vast resources of timber were renewed, thus allowing the rebuilding of the Egyptian navy.
As the economic footing of the country slowly stabilized through the success of the military on foreign soil, it nurtured opportunities for internal domestic reform. The battle against official corruption and the criminal element was initiated, and a grateful peasantry responded with increased agricultural output. As for the priesthood and religious sector, a proclamation by Tutankhaten was issued and inscribed on a huge stela at Thebes. Today this is known as the "Restoration Stela" . On it, for all to see and read, Pharaoh Tutankhaten acknowledged the mistakes of his father, Akhenaten. He promised to allow complete religious freedom, rebuild and refurbish the various temples of Egypt, and support the priesthood with generous amounts of money and ritual supplies. He made good on all these promises. Tutankhaten next repudiated the Aten cult and its elitist religious theology. In a final personal statement as to where their religious loyalties lay, Tutankhaten and Ankhesenpaaten officially changed their names to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun respectively. Under the guidance of Ay and the cabinet think tank, the young royal couple had engineered the beginnings of a new renaissance that would eventually come to complete fruition under the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh, Ramses II (The Great).
Although they married at a young age, Ankhesenamun and Tutankhamun truly fell in love with each other. As they matured in their teenage years, this deep seated love grew even more intense. Tutankhamun loved to hunt and fish, and always by his side was Ankhes. Taking a flat bottomed boat into the marshes that surrounded Memphis, Tutankhamun would hunt with bow and arrow. As he would let one arrow off, Ankhes was already handing him another one from his quiver. In their private moments, they coupled as any loving husband and wife. Tutankhamun never married a secondary wife, nor made use of his harem. Ankhesenamun soon became pregnant, and hopes were high for a male heir to the Tuthmosid throne. As she entered her eighth month of pregnancy, she miscarried. The child was a little girl, and had she lived she would have been deformed with a curved spine. Going against all tradition, Ankhes and Tutankhamun had the little baby mummified. The couple were surly devastated, but soon afterwards Ankhes again became pregnant. Five months into this pregnancy another miscarriage occurred... claiming another daughter. This second small fetus was wrapped and placed in a small wooden coffin similar to her sister's. Both of these fetuses were found in Tutankhamun's tomb, and are now in storage in Cairo. However, this was a young couple with plenty of time to have a large family. However, the unthinkable and unlikely happened. Sadly, in January of 1323 B.C.E., the young pharaoh Tutankhamun was dead at nineteen years of age. Ankhesenamun, who had now been wife and queen to two and perhaps three kings of Egypt, was a widow at the age of twenty-two. Compounding her sorrow and distress, was an intuition or knowledge that her husband's untimely death was not accidental. She believed her beloved was murdered. Worse still, as the sole heiress to the throne, she would now probably be forcefully compelled to marry his scheming murderer. |
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