Priestess of Maat E-Book

alastair macleod

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The high priestess of the temple of Maat, Goddess of Order, Balance, Harmony and Justice sends her next in line to warn the Pharoah of a dangerous idea coming from the Kingdom of Punt that threatens the order and stability of Egypt. But she does not realise there is another internal threat, from within the Royal family itself; a challenge that will attack and attempt to undermine the established priesthood and the Gods of Egypt. 

Leseprobe

Alastair Macleod

Priestess of Maat

The struggle for the principles of Maat goes on.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Priestess of Maat

Thebes, Egypt 1350 BC

The High Priestess of Maat was now very old.

She had seen a vision in which the old gods were toppled and a single new one supplants them. Yet after a while the old gods revived.

She summoned Tasseret, her special pupil, to the audience chamber.

“Tasseret you have learned much in our order; meditation, the forty two principles of Maat, the orders of service, and the offerings. But I am getting towards the end of my years and I must pass on the final wisdoms to you.”

“The final wisdoms?”

“Yes, and at no better time than now when the influence of Punt threatens our land. You may not know it but the people of Punt are a warlike people and seek to undermine Egypt by undermining Maat.

As you know Maat embodies the concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice; the principles behind our laws and government and the Pharoah lives by it.”

The High priestess got up and walked towards her.

“When you were a young novice you passed the selection test remember?”

Tasseret recalled the day. She stood as a young girl of fifteen in front of the then high priestess.

The high priestess knocked over a jar which fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

Tasseret immediately bent down and began to pick up the pieces. When she had them all she offered them to the high priestess, who refused them saying “bring the shards to the table.”

There Tasseret was given glue and instructed to reassemble the vase.

Her nimble young hands quickly solved the puzzle but she had some small bits left over.

“Well done, said the high priestess, admiring the vase.

“But your Highness, there are some bits left over.”

“Learn from this, Tasseret. Once destroyed Maat is extremely difficult to completely reinstate.”

Now Tasseret was twenty seven. The high priestess beckoned her closer.

“Maat is universal; it applies not only to objects, and the laying out of the cultivation plots, but to individual people; it also applies to the fabric of the state.

Just like a great woven cloth, the state is held together by threads. People make up those threads; there are key people, head men, local officials, court officials, and the Pharoah.”

“Are we not in the cloth?” Asked Tasseret.

“Indeed it is our teachings that create the warp and the woof of the cloth. If men and women did not believe or crave Maat then Isfet, chaos would rule.

But men and women are forgetful, and the young come into this world unformed.

We must repeat the teachings over and over to the people.

The threats to Maat and her priestesses therefore are the people themselves, but now we face an external threat.

“The kingdom of Punt?”

“Yes, they do not hold to our beliefs; they are greedy and destructive. They believe in continuous war.

We must remind the Pharoah, of the dangers of marrying his ideas with Punt.

In doing so he undermines his responsibility to protect Maat and Egypt - for they are one.

Continuous war is the creed of Punt; this results in Isfet, (Chaos), and eventually this will engulf our own belief.

I am sending you as a representative of our order, to the Festival of Ra at Memphis. The goddess Maat will be celebrated too.

“Why am I to go?”

“The Ambassador of Punt will be there. He is smooth tongued and would have the Pharoah ally himself and Egypt with Punt’s philosophy of continuous war. If the Pharoah does he will commit blasphemy to Maat and to the principles of order.

“Why would the Pharoah so commit?”

“Punt comes with promises of riches and more power. And from Egypt they are buying weapons and mercenaries - rulers are always tempted by such.

The High Priestess, sitting down, opened a box in front of her and withdrew something.

“Here is the feather of Maat, the symbol of her belief system. It will remind him of judgement day when he stands in the Hall of Thoth and his heart is weighed against the feather.

Approach him at the festivities and place it in his hands while you say a prayer to Maat. Ask for an audience, and at the audience give him this,” she said placing a papyrus in Tasseret’s hand.

“And if he does not respond?”

The high priestess, used to obedience by those even in high office, was shocked, not at Tasseret but at her own inability to have conceived of this.

Yes, what would they do if the Pharoah had already committed to an alliance, with the King of Punt, rejecting Maat?

“Then all is lost. Retreat first here, then move the order out of Thebes to Pa Deme, in The valley of the Kings, where we have a small temple.

The order can be maintained there until the king of Punt and his ideas fall. All greedy empires fall in time.

The people of Egypt will be desperate for Maat to guide them then.”