Casting the Gods Adrift Read online

Dais A raised platform, usually at the end of a large room or hall.

  Electrum A natural metal alloy of gold and silver.

  Faience Greenish-blue glazed pottery.

  Flail and crook Implement for threshing wheat and shepherd’s curved staff, used as symbols of kingly power in ancient Egypt.

  Ibis A wading bird.

  Kohl Cosmetic powder used to darken around eyes.

  Lapis lazuli Brilliant blue semi-precious stone, much prized for inlay in jewellery.

  Land of the West The spirit world of the dead.

  Palanquin A covered seat built between two parallel rods. Used for conveying an important person, it is carried upon the shoulders of four men.

  Pigment A powder used to add colour to a liquid.

  Scree Loosely-piled, weathered rock fragments.

  Serval cat A slender bush cat that has an orange-brown coat with black spots, large ears, and long legs.

  Skiff A small reed boat propelled by oars.

  Sphinx A statue with the body of a lion and the head of a man.

  Stela (plural: stelae) A rectangular stone slab with a rounded top; inscribed with title, name and epithet (descriptive word) of the dead person; set up as an aid to secure continuing life after death.

  Ushabti Small wood or faience figures put in a tomb to perform any tasks the gods may require of a dead person in the afterlife.

  Historical Note

  Akhenaten’s capital of el-Amarna was uncovered by archaeologists in the 19th century and today, Akhenaten and his beautiful wife, Queen Nefertiti, are among the most famous of all the rulers of ancient Egypt. However, for many hundreds of years, the city’s ruins lay forgotten and the pharaoh was virtually unknown.

  For many people, the fascination with Akhenaten’s reign lies in his dramatic and controversial religious reforms. Religion and ritual held a central place in the lives of ancient Egyptians and they traditionally worshipped many gods and goddesses. They believed that there were gods and goddesses responsible for every part of life, and death. There were those who created the world, some who brought the flood every year and others who took care of people after they died. There were also minor, local gods who were responsible for particular towns and places.

  Each of the gods and goddesses had sacred animals that were linked to them. The gods could be represented in human or animal form, or as animal-headed humans. The first and most powerful of the gods was Amun. Amun was usually represented as a man wearing a headdress of two tall ostrich plumes, as a ram, or as a man with a ram’s head. Likewise, Thoth, the god of writing and knowledge, was linked with baboons and ibises, and Bastet, the protective goddess, was symbolized by a cat. Worshippers could honour a god by making temple offerings of bronze or faience figurines of an animal associated with the god, or they could offer the mummified remains of the animal. Mummification was a successful business for the temples, which kept large breeding pens for animals. When they reached a certain age the creatures were killed and mummified, and the mummies sold to pilgrims.

  Akhenaten was raised in a traditional ancient Egyptian manner. He grew up in the capital Thebes (modern-day Luxor) and worshipped Amun and the established gods. Akhenaten came to the throne around 1353 BC and was crowned Amenhotep IV, meaning ‘Amun is content’.

  Soon after becoming pharaoh, Akhenaten rejected his royal name and his loyalty to Amun. He renamed himself Akhenaten, in honour of the sun-god Aten. The new pharaoh turned away from the old priests and forms of worship and began the cult of Aten the sun disc. Akhenaten declared that Aten was the only god. He banned the worship of the old gods and closed down sacred temples.

  Akhenaten decided that the worship of Aten required a new location, away from places where traditional gods had been worshipped. He chose a site in Middle Egypt, along the Nile. There he build a new capital city which he called Akhetaten, ‘Horizon of the Aten’, which today is known as el-Amarna. To the east of the city, the pharaoh started preparing tombs for the royal family. On the plain near the river, massive temples to Aten were constructed. Unlike traditional temples these were open to the sun.

  There is much we still do not know about this remarkable period in Egyptian history, including Akhenaten’s reasons for his religious reforms. However, it is clear that Akhenaten’s ideas were not accepted by most Egyptians. This was partly due to the powerful influence of tradition, but also because people must have found it more difficult to relate to this impersonal abstract god than their traditional deities.

  Akhenaten’s reign lasted 17 years and when he died the throne passed to young Tutankhaten, ‘the living image of Aten’. This ‘boy-king’ later changed his name to the one he is known by today, Tutankhamun, ‘the living image of Amun’. As he was still only a child, regents ruled Egypt on his behalf and they encouraged him to abandon the sole worship of Aten. All across Egypt, temples to the traditional gods were restored. It was not long before the new pharaoh left the city of el-Amarna and returned to the old capital. His subjects shut up their houses and followed him.

  Later pharaohs attempted to erase all memory of Akhenaten’s unorthodox reign. Throughout Egypt his image and name were removed from monuments, his temples were dismantled and the stone reused for new buildings. The names of Akhenaten and his immediate successors were left out of official king-lists. His city crumbled back into the desert, vanishing as quickly as it had risen.

  Map of Ancient Egypt

  A GHOST-LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

  PAT THOMSON

  These are the 1650s and England is in a state of civil war …

  When Elinor Bassingbourn steps out of a 17th-century painting, Tom and Bridget are terrified. But Elinor needs their help, so they follow her back in time on an exciting, terrifying adventure.

  ISBN 0-7136-7453-9

  £4.99

  ACROSS THE ROMAN WALL

  THERESA BRESLIN

  The year is 397 AD and life in Roman Britain is getting dangerous …

  Marinetta is a Briton, Lucius is the nephew of a Roman official. When they first meet they hate each other. But when marauders cross Hadrian’s Wall they are forced to work together.

  ISBN 0-7136-7456-3

  £4.99

  A Candle in the Dark

  ADÈLE GERAS

  The year is 1938 and the world is poised on the brink of war …

  Germany is a dangerous place for Jews. Clara and her little brother, Maxi, must leave behind everything they know and go to England to live with a family they have never met.

  ISBN 0-7136-7454-7

  £4.99

  First published 2005 by

  A & C Black

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP

  www.acblack.com

  This electronic edition published in April 2012 by

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Text copyright © 1998 Geraldine McCaughrean

  The right of Geraldine McCaughrean to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

  eISBN 9781408152782

  A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the

  British Library.

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  s Adrift