RebeccaGet ready for a crazy week! While we crack open our books and prepare to move into the third installment in our read, we are going to see the court holds even more intrigue than we thought before.
Mutnodjmet has left the court of her sister after the loss of her child. After being poisoned, and the one she loved sent to the front lines of the war with the Hittites, she wants nothing to do with her sister. While she tends to her plants, she remembers. She holds within herself the resentments of her sister, and the devastation that they are bringing to Egypt. Soldiers are being used as construction workers, instead of keeping Egypt safe. New cities and temples are being built, while other towns are being razed to the ground. Their aunt, the queen dowager still wields a great deal of power, as does the Vizier Ay, the father of Mutnodjmet and Nefertiti. All the while, Nefertiti continues to have daughters. While she has daughters, Kiya, the other wife of Akhenaton, has a son. Her son is growing, and his mother hopes him to take over the throne one day. While her ambition mounts, with the help of her father Vizier Panahesi, Nefertiti becomes more and more cunning. She finds anyway she can to relegate Kiya and her son to the background, where they are non existent. She keeps the pharaoh so close to her, that he can hardly do anything without her involvement.
Nefertiti is surrounded by power, wielding power over even her husband, and she attempts to cement her hold over him even more. By now, most can see that the Pharaoh does nothing without first consulting his wife. Nefertiti has him entirely wrapped around her fingers. He is even afraid of angering her! But Nefertiti and Akhenaton are fixing to find themselves in a situation that will not just go away. With the Hittites getting more and more bold, Akhenaton signs a treaty with them. While he is under the impression that this will fix all their problems, everyone else around them know that it won’t. When General Horemheb comes back, along with General Nakhtmin and the remaining soldiers, they are immediately arrested and put into prison. On Nefertiti’s orders, Nakhtmin is released and he and Mutnodjmet disappear into the night, running for their safety. But the seeds of discord have been sewn, and the people are angered to see their generals jailed, and those who are protesting put to death. It will take more than money to keep the crowds at bay, and the people satisfied…
This week we are reading Chapters 17-24
Questions:
- Was Mutnodjmet safer away from the main palace?
- Why would General Hormeheb throw the severed head at the pharaoh?
- Do you think Nefertiti meant what she said about Mutnodjmet being banished from the palace?
