Thoas is alone on deck on the Nile:
false dawn
moonset
darkness
vaulting sky
wheeling stars
unseen banks
glimmering fires
gleaming river
lapping wavelets
cool, wet, low, sad, murmuring wind
howling dogs or jackals
slapping crocodiles
splashing hippopotami
sleeping men
dream whimpering
Ankhsenamen joins him and says in part:
"'...I don't know what to believe. Was Amen or Aton the false god, or were all gods a lie and this life a brief meaningless accident...'" (p. 133)
How the question is put is culturally conditioned. We do not now speak about Amen or Aton but the names do not matter. Gods are lies when used to oppress but not when they delight or enlighten. Life is a brief accident but not meaningless. It alone bestows meaning.
Thoas says that he has:
"'...heard nothing from the lips of any who have themselves died. So I will wait and see.'" (ibid.)
Or not see.
2 comments:
That is an extremely unlikely thought before the Greek philosophical period, and even then it was limited to a very small number of people.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, the Egyptians took their gods seriously, whether or not they followed the Aten preached by Akhenaten or remained devoted to Amon and the polytheistic gods the "heretic Pharaoh" sought to cast down. Here I had in mind the Restoration Stela of Tutankhamen, reversing his father's policy and restoring the worship of Amon and the other gods.
The kind of doubt expressed here by Anderson and attributed to Ahkhesenamen was anachronistic and would be more appropriately seen in ROGUE SWORD, where a Roman character was disdainful of "those children" on Olympus.
Ad astra! Sean
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