Libbie Hawker on Egypt & Palmyra

The lid of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus
courtesy of the British Museum

In her novel Daughter of Sand and Stone, Libbie Hawker transports us to the ancient city of Palmyra. There we meet Zenobia, a young girl who dreams of greatness. Not for her are the typical roles allowed women. She wishes to rule, and to make the important decisions for her people. When she realizes invaders intend on attacking her city , she rides out to warn the Palmyran troops that the enemy has diverted them. Through her help, military leaders see through the ruse, and route the attackers before they can rape, pillage, and kill. 

Zenobia capitalizes on her newfound fame by catching the eye of the Roman governor. After he marries her, she achieves a measure of importance and power. But her dreams are bigger than merely sitting beside the man who rules her city. When her husband dies, she knows she must be bold, and grasp power in a big way, before what she has is taken away from her.

So she works with her Palmyran general, captures Egypt, and sets herself up as Queen of the new Palmyrene Empire.

On her website, Libbie Hawker describes herself as an Egypt geek. That's the first time I've heard such a term, but if I can be interested in England, why can't another American be in love with Egypt? She's channeled her love of Egypt into a number of historical books, including Daughter of Sand and Stone, which came out last year. Her novel dovetailed with my interest in the Roman Empire, and told me how, during a period of weak leadership, the struggling emperors retained their power by relying on a steady stream of luxury goods from Palmyria. These kept the citizens of Rome happy with their affluence, and perpetuated the belief that they were the center of the civilized world.

I also enjoyed learning about Zenobia, and how, for a time, she ruled the world. While Rome was the center of the world, Egypt was its breadbasket. Rome relied on Egyptian grain to feed its citizens and its troops. Ultimately, this was too important a resource not to be under Rome's direct control. So when a strong emperor took control, he made sure his forces deposed Zenobia and retook Egypt.

Some could argue that Zenobia should have accepted her allotted role in life. They may point out that she only ruled Egypt, and wielded tremendous influence, for a short time. But thanks to Libbie Hawker's novel, I'll remember her as a person who not only dreamed great dreams, but made them a reality. So what if she couldn't hold onto them forever? At least, for awhile, she was the Queen.

Dragon Dave

C. S. Lewis on Egyptian Monotheism

Red Breccia figure of Egyptian goddess Taweret

According to the inscription for this figure in the British Museum, Taweret was the goddess of childhood, and was typically depicted as a hippo with the face of a lion. Her worshippers described her as the Lady of Heaven.

C. S. Lewis weighs in on Egyptian religion in his book Reflections on the Psalms. Surprisingly, he doesn't focus on polytheism, which was the dominant form of Egyptian religion. Instead, he mentions the Pharaoh Amenhetep IV, who called himself Akhenaten. Unlike his predecessors, Akhenaten ripped gods and goddesses like Taweret from the Egyptian heavens, and installed one supreme god, whom he called Aten, in their place.

In his chapter on Nature, Lewis describes how pagan polytheistic religions often pitted the gods against nature, and nature against man. Only if the gods took control of nature was man safe. In the Jewish psalms, God and Nature are one. Thus, to look at nature, you are looking at God. God doesn't need to take control of nature, as it is his physical manifestation. It is a part of him, just like a novel is part of an author. Thus, the psalmists often praise nature in the same way they would praise God.

The one religious poem that Lewis found close in relation to the psalms was Akhenaten's Hymn to the Sun. The poem is available online, should you care to peruse it. While the poem is of a different tenor to the psalms in praise of nature, Lewis compares passages to Psalm 139, the great nature psalm, and even Revelation 4:11. 

As the Jews spent a long time in Egypt, Lewis muses that Egyptian "Wisdom" poetry, and Akhenaten's in particular, influenced the development of their own religion. This would certainly prove the case for Moses, the man credited as the founder of the Jewish faith. He was raised in the Pharoah's palace, and would have been educated by the nation's best teachers. While Akhenaten's religious revolution ultimately failed, the man's glimpse of the truth served as a precursor to the Jewish faith, and hence Christianity. It's an interesting thought, don't you agree?

Dragon Dave

Mummies, Yetis, and Zombies, Oh My!

Part of the reason I fell in love with “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns” was because the films crossed Agatha Christie with Indiana Jones.  Like many of her generation, the treasures waiting to be unearthed in Egypt fascinated Christie.  She traveled there, helped out at various excavations, and eventually met her future archeologist husband, Sir Max Mallowan.  Not only did she set stories and novels there, many of them featuring her famous detective Hercules Poirot, but she also wrote a novel set in Egypt 2000 B.C.  Now take her obsession with all things Egyptian, add the supernatural powers the ancient Egyptians believed their tombs had, combine this with two characters, the gunfighter Rick O’Connell, and the archeologist Evelyn Carnahan (who together combine the two essential aspects of Indiana Jones), and you’ve got the fast-paced action and historical depth of the first two Mummy movies.

In the third movie, “The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor,” Rick and Evelyn travel to China, where their son Alex has unearthed the famed Terracotta warriors, as well as the tomb of the Dragon Emperor, who united all China under his despotic rule in the second century B.C.  Although Rick and Evelyn try to prevent this, the Dragon Emperor returns to life, and calls on his Terracotta warriors to rise up and help him rule China once more.  Through the aid of their friend Yi Zuan from Shangri La, who calls up the bodies of those who died building the Great Wall, Rick, Evelyn, and Alex O’Connell lead the zombies against the Terracotta warriors.  After a mighty battle, their zombies defeat his Terracotta warriors, and they vanquish the Dragon Emperor.

What fascinated me most about the third mummy movie was not the Dragon Emperor, who is a different kind of mummy from Imhotep in the first two films.  Nor was it the Terracotta warriors, as I’ve used lots of terracotta pots in my garden over the years, and hence wouldn’t select them for any army I commanded.  It wasn’t even the zombies, even though zombies are always dangerous, and some of the most famous people in history, from Jane Austin to President Lincoln, have had to battle them.  No, it was the Yetis that helped the O’Connells in the Himilayas that most intrigued me.  I’ve always loved stories about Yetis, as well as their friends, the Abominable Snowmen.  So a few years ago, after I watched the third Mummy move, I decided to climb Everest, and see if I could find a Yeti.

Traveling there was expensive and arduous.  Funding my expedition, and climbing the famous mountain, proved even more so.  Along the way, I stopped off at a Yeti museum, to study their history and culture, and make sure I was prepared to initiate contact.  

Eventually, I found a small family of them in a cave. After I made my intentions clear, they welcomed me inside.  We shared many days together, regaling each other with stories of our past, our culture, and our hobbies.  Then it was time to leave, as the yaks had run out of food, and stopped producing milk and butter my Sherpa porters needed to keep healthy.  I felt a sense of satisfaction as I descended the famous mountain.  For I had met the Yetis, and discovered that underneath all their hair, they were not so different from me after all.

Still, I wish I’d met the family of Yetis that helped the O’Connells defeat the Dragon Emperor’s human soldiers in the third movie.  Those Yetis were true athletes, capable of fantastic feats of physical prowess.  One even kicked a Chinese soldier over the gate of the mountain temple complex, and then with clenched fists, raised both hands over his head to celebrate his field goal.  Those Yetis probably get good TV reception up on Mount Everest.  I wonder if they’re rooting for the 49ers or the Ravens in the Superbowl, and if they ordered enough chicken wings for today's game?

Dragon Dave