Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 4, 2025
Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal, seeking an alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King of kings invades him and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to travel on and conquer Ethiopia also, since he learns that it is now ruled by a certain dwarf who once stole his White Signet, and by a certain Egyptian who once killed his Satrap, Idernes." "What says the Karoon?" I asked.
Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to my Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes and bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without delay, that she may enter my household as one of my wives."
As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and his eyes flash, but he only said, "O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to you to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and lodging. You are dismissed." "Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O Peroa," said the man with insolence.
Bethink you, Idernes has a great force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright, he will attack us, which indeed is what the King means him to do before we can make preparation. Say then, shall we fight, or shall we fly to Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there make our stand?" Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
I travel to Memphis to deliver the commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the King. Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes." "To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not afterwards," said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed escort. "I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King."
The news before it was that the Satrap Idernes lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far from the great pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis.
When it had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me to overhear, "Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King which it so much resembles?" "So I understand, O Idernes," answered Peroa. "That is, until it became mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great King."
"I do not know, O Idernes," answered Peroa; "I only know that the lord Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your pleasure." "Shabaka again " began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying, "Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the Great King, and with them a certain weight of gold.
"If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in our present trouble?" "Thus, Prince," I answered. "I would send a command under the seal to Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army. Then he will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an army."
In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which I had fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert haze saw the chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after them the masses of his footmen. Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long spears and swords.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking