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By Root 971 0

but only a man who is clever can succeed. My ministers are not clever, and so they scheme for the throne. Atum-hadu, will you take my grand-daughter’s daughter? Take that girl and our two kingdoms and our palace and our land and all the people of the land.” And Atum-hadu said, “I will have them, King, though long will you still rule in health and life.” And Djedneferre Dudimose said, “Oh, yes, of course, and crocodiles will fly. But now in seriousness, will you vanquish the priests and ministers who would see you fail?” “I will.” “And will you, with your strength, preserve what can be preserved of the story of our land before night falls?” “I will.” “And will you forsake all other tasks and pleasures to preserve and hide our glories?” “I will. I will do all that and more, King. I will drive out the invaders. I will defeat the rebels in the Delta. I will make the two kingdoms whole and strong to the sea. I will see the gods worshipped correctly as they have not been for many years. I will give to you many descendants, and I will assure your name is sung by all.” And Djedneferre Dudimose said, “Do not exhaust yourself before you have taught my pet monkeys to shoot bows and arrows. Now stop talking. You have been surrounded by enemies from the moment you entered my chamber. Except for your queen-to-be and my Master of Largesse, who will support you. Forsake glory, it is too late. Only strive to preserve the memory of our great land.” And the king was seized in the doom of death.

Atum-hadu called for the court. “The king has been seized in the doom of death,” he said. “And behold before you Horus resident in the palace.” And he slew the treacherous ministers. He called for papyrus, and he wrote a verse, and he told the scribes that they were to write about all of the land but only Atum-hadu would write about Atum-hadu. Then the Master of Largesse fell to his knees and swore fealty. Then Atum-hadu took as his queen the daughter of the daughter of the daughter of the dead king, and he moored himself to her and explored her grotto, and was well pleased.

Seventy days passed, and the Overseers of the Secrets finished preparing the mummy of the old king, great Djedneferre Dudimose. Atum-hadu sent everyone away and with his own hands carried the king’s mummy to a secret place and buried him with his books and treasures and food, and sealed the tomb himself.

Illustration: A few highlights. We have here in the old king’s retorts what is perhaps the first example of sarcasm in recorded history, and if this wall were more forgiving, it would be clear that the artist intended to depict the old king rolling his eyes at Atum-hadu’s boastful plans, as if to say, “You do that, Atum-hadu. Tell me all about it in the underworld.” One would see also the dying king’s panicked frustration that the young buck was not taking the king’s assignment seriously but was instead preparing to hold power for conventional reasons without taking the historical, last-man-turns-out-the-lights task to heart. Unfortunately, the artist was forced to paint on this dimpled and uneven stone, particularly bumpy here at Wall Panel C, quite difficult enough just to draw the glyphs, and was no doubt, after all this painting and composition, exhausted, hungry, dirty, thirsty, in pain, and swimming in smoke.

Analysis: Obviously, I do not know what anonymous scribe and artist decorated these walls, and the painstaking work of copying down the glyphs and translating the vast inscriptions into my notebook, all while carefully double-checking against my philology texts and the Budge dictionary, is taking a great deal of time, so I cannot say what is still to come. But I can say this: for those who are not experts, allow me to clarify what I have discovered in these wall chronicles so far: the clear determination of royal succession at the previously blurred end of the XIIIth Dynasty, an explanation for the lost tomb of the previously debatable Djedneferre Dudimose, further details of the life of the unquestionably real Atum-hadu, and a crystal-clear explanation as to why