Ka's
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Ancient Proverb...
What we do in life,
echoes in eternity...
"maat": In ancient Egyptian terminology,
happy state of affairs, order, and
harmony that prevails when authority
is respected and traditions are honored.
Upon ascending his throne in 2606 B.C., Pharaoh Khufu commanded his Overseer of "royal works" to start the building of the "Great Pyramid" on the west side of the Nile River across from Memphis in Egypt. Thus began the "maat" of mankind, the real beginning of civilization.
I, Ka, the pharaoh's scribe, was born in 2600 B.C., and at the age of 25 years, I Ka, took a wife whose name was Miw, which means "little cat". She was a beautiful young woman of 15 years in age, the average age for women to marry. I earned my position in my pharaoh's service because of my father Kha, who is now with King Khufu serving the great pharaoh in the afterlife. My father was chief royal scribe to the prior pharaoh. I was graced by the present pharaoh, King Khafra, to serve in my pharaoh's service.
Miw, my beautiful young wife, and I first set eyes on each other in our pharaoh's court. Miw was one of my pharaoh's royal servants whose task was to bring our lord's food to the royal banquet area of the palace. Often, as the pharaoh was dictating some letter of state affairs to me (because I was his favorite scribe), Miw would sometimes bring in our food and drink.
Miw was a slender, but well-proportioned young woman with dark black hair, done in the traditional Egyptian style of the time. She wore only a short loin skirt, and her full, firm breasts were completely exposed, as was the fashion of all court servants. Often as Miw served me my drink, she would brush one of her supple breasts against the side of my shoulder and neck area by chance or purpose, her breast nipples were ripe and fragrant of lotus... Miw was demur and somewhat shy in personality. Every time Miw appeared to serve drinks to the pharaoh and myself, I became 'enamored' and transfixed by her grace and beauty. Her perfumed body permeated the air with the smell of lotus blossoms every time she entered. The pharaoh, Khafra was not unaware of the attraction between I, Ka the scribe and Miw the servant. In the year 2575 B.C. the great pharaoh, Khafra, in appreciation for my father Kha's service to the previous pharaoh King Khufu, thus my lord Khafra gave me Miw as a gift, to be my wife.
The "Blessing Ceremony"
The blessing ceremony for our wedding rites, took place in the inundation season of 2575 B.C. at the mortuary temple of pharaoh Khufu's "Great Pyramid", because my lord Khafra's pyramid and temple were still under construction. The blessing rites were conducted by the great pharaoh Khafra himself, for the king truly loved me as one of his own children. As a present for my "new life" with Miw, the great pharaoh bestowed a wedding gift upon I, Ka and Miw, our own house with a courtyard and spacious garden area in the back, the house was located on the outskirts of Memphis along the Nile, the house came complete with a young maidservant called Myrt and a gardener.
"Sopdet"
Each year in late June, the star known to the ancient Egyptians as Sopdet (Sirius to a later world) would appear. Sopdet would come forth from hiding, creeping into view just minutes before daybreak. Farther back in Egyptian history, astronomers had noticed that the star's emergence coincided with another annual event: the swelling of the Nile River, presaging a flood that would soak the land and renew it with a fresh coating of fertilizing silt. The coincidence was not exact, because the onset of the river's rise could vary by weeks, but it was close enough that the return of Sopdet became an occasion of great ceremonial importance, launching the new year and festivals of prayerful thanks and great joy. With this inundation, when the Nile River overflowed and replenished the parched earth, the people of Egypt witnessed anew the miracle of creation, this too was part of "maat", the harmony and order of the world. The Egyptian legends attest that the floodwaters once engulfed the world. Nothing stirred amid that dark and dismal expanse. Then, miraculously, a lotus blossom surfaced and opened its petals to give birth to the sun. Rising from the blossom like a golden bird, the sun subdued the waters and coaxed life from the emerging land. Ever after, when the Nile receded and the growing season began, people gave thanks to the sun god "Ra" and to his earthly counterpart, the pharaoh, who claimed divine powers and kept the country fruitful.
Ka and Miw's Royal Barge Honeymoon
After the wedding ceremony, Miw and Ka were granted passage as "royal guests" on the pharaoh's royal barge. The ship measured 75 feet long by 35 feet wide and was made of the finest teakwood and cedar imported from abroad. The king had instructed the ship's royal captain of the magnificent barge to sail the Nile for 10 days and nights, so that Ka and his young new wife could start their "new life" and be blessed by the mother Nile, the giver of life to Egypt...
The first night aboard the royal barge, a special feast was prepared by the royal cooks aboard, in honor of Ka and Miw. The banquet consisted of roasted duck, nut bread, honey, plenty of "memphis crush" and wine. The special feast was served above-deck, because the galley was also above deck. Teakwood benches and tables under canopy graced the magnificent ship, also aboard were the necessary respective servants. The king's royal quarter's, were below deck, a special section below was reserved for guest, servants and ships crew. As they now sailed along the peaceful Nile River at a leisurely pace, all aboard could hear the night sounds of the Nile, the occasional roar of a hippopotamus in the bulrush, and the calls of the waterfowl in the nearby papyrus reeds. The smells and scents of the lotus flowers wafted towards them in the warm night breeze-all of this was theirs. In the distance loomed the "Great Pyramid", with its polished white casing stones of the finest white limestone from Tura and Aswan, "glittering" from the reflection of a full moon, never before or since has such a wondrous monument entranced the world.
As Ka and Miw's first night aboard the ship turned late, they retired to their guest quarters below deck. Miw was "pure" Egyptian female, her bronze soft skin and braided black hair were scented with lotus flower oils, she radiated the scent of "pure female". Ka now slowly undressed Miw, letting her elegant white wrap gown fall to the floor, exposing her young ripe breasts, took her by her slender waist, laid her on their bed of white linen, instantly they melted together, both of them, lost in passion in the warm Memphis night...
From thence forth Ka loved to sleep with Miw, his elegant young and beautiful consort, his "nefertiti" is what Ka often would whisper into Miw's ear as he took her for the night. In Egyptian "nefertiti" means literally "the beautiful woman has come".
The Hunt
The time Ka and Miw spent on the royal barge was truly "maat". Often they would retire late in the evening, when morning broke, they would have their morning meal brought to them while they were still in bed, with the fresh scented breeze of the Nile blowing softly in through their barge window. Their bath quarters were next to their room and had a copper washbasin set on an elegant teakwood table, with an elongated marble bath-tub for bathing. The tub had a large, hollow bamboo tube/stock attached to the lower drain section part of the tub, which led to the outside of the royal barge's lower-side deck, thus acting as a drain, a cork stopper acted as the tub's plug. When one finished bathing, one only had to pull out the cork stopper, which released the water into the Nile. Each morning the royal servants aboard would fill the marble washbasin with buckets that were lowered by rope into the Nile from above deck, then carried to the bath quarters. Scented oils would be added to the bathwater, and a sponge was supplied also to wash with. The servants would assist Ka first with his bath, then Miw, each morning. After Miw's bath, she was rubbed down with scented myrrh, then dressed in either a short or sometimes long white linen form fitting gown, which conformed to her figure not loosely, but tight enough that her slender waist and full breasts were revealed enough, to her advantage.
The great King Khafra was able to spend only one night aboard the royal barge, he had wanted to share in Ka's wedding feast celebration aboard the barge a few days earlier, but the pharaoh had many pressing matters of State to attend to at the palace. Early the next morning the royal barge docked at the Memphis port, and the King departed. The pharaoh's son, Prince Mycer, who was also Ka's age, "stayed" on board to continue the tour and do some game and fowlbird hunting with Ka, along the marshes near the Nile. Along the Nile River, papyrus reeds and bulrush grew abundantly, which sheltered an abundance of wildlife and game fowl.
Prince Mycer was an avid hunter. On the fifth day of the excursion, the Royal Prince and Ka, with a few of the Prince's royal body guards lowered a rowboat off the side of the barge with ropes, climbed down the rope ladder, then proceeded to row toward the bulrush and papyrus reeds along the Nile. The hunting practicices of the time were to use bow and arrow or a specially carved wooden boomerang-type device, which was thrown at the game fowl as they sprang up from the reeds. If one hit the bird just right, it would stun the bird long enough to capture it in a net. Prince Mycer was an expert in both methods, that day he bagged 12 birds, while Ka only managed 2 birds to his catch. Prince Mycer kindly pointed out to Ka that it takes alot of experince to perfect the hunt.
Later that day the "away boat" returned to the royal barge with the bagged game fowl, which were soon prepared by the royal cooks aboard, for the evening banquet. At the feast table that night, Prince Mycer and Ka were the center of attention as they told of their hunting adventure in the bulrush. They told of how they were charged by a large hippopotamus and how the Prince seeing the danger, scared it off by landing a direct blow with his hunting boomerang to the hippo's head. The Prince and Ka, with some of the royal guards by then had circled the confused hippopotamus with the rowboat a few times, until finally the great beast gave a loud roar, and then submerged itself in the water, only to reappear across river.
All aboard the royal barge that warm, star-bright night, laughed, sang, drinking their "memphis crush" and wine, as they sailed down river with the flow of the Nile, all was in harmony with "maat" that evening. On the 10th day, the royal barge pulled into the Memphis harbor, and all aboard disembarked.
Ka and Miw's New House
Upon their disembarkation from the royal barge, Ka and Miw were escorted to their new house outside of Memphis, it was truly a beautiful house, the pharaoh had spared no expense. It had been freshly replastered with a white coating, which was the fashion of the time. The house consisted of a front entry and main living room area, which was supplied with new Egyptian furniture of the time. The house had master sleeping quarters for Ka and Miw, and four guest sleeping rooms, one of which would be used by their young and beautiful maidservant Myrt, who now was the property of Ka. Myrt always dressed in Egyptian fashion, with her jet black braided hair, she wore black eye liner and blue kohl around her sensual eyes. She always wore a short white linen tunic dress, tight around her slender waist, exposing her body's curves, beautiful legs and full firm breasts.
In the back of the house was the kitchen area with a brick oven, just outside of the house by the courtyard and garden area, to be used for banquets and every day cooking. The house's bathroom was also located in the back by the courtyard, because the house's water supply was located nearby in the garden. The garden had a marble-lined holding pond basin 25 by 25 feet square and several feet deep. It was supplied water from an ingenious system of irrigation canals that ran from the Nile River. The holding pond basin had an overflow system of thick hollow bamboo pipe that ran from the top of the basin into an irrigation cistern that returned the unused water back to the distant fields, thus recycling the water. The garden area consisted of carved granite benches, a birdbath, and numerous fig and palm trees.
Upon their arrival, Myrt gave Ka and Miw a tour of their new house. After the tour, Myrt led Ka and Miw back to the garden area and had them sit on one of the granite benches that was near the garden's holding basin pond. Myrt then went to the holding basin, and pulled up a bucket attached to the rope. In the bucket was a liter-sized jug of wine, "kept cold" in the water, removing the cork stopper from the jug, Myrt poured Ka, then Miw, then herself each a mugful of the fine wine. Myrt then made a "toast" to Ka and Miw, saying, "May Ra our lord make our new lives together always happy, may Ra always bless us".
Ka and Miw then "knew" that the three of them would be happy here, together in their new life, Ka then kissed his lovely new wife Miw, and then Myrt on the cheek, the three of then spent the remaining part of the day drinking, laughing and talking about their future.
"Feast of Ra-Atum "
Being in the service of the great pharaoh was no easy task. Ka would rise each morning at dawn, kiss Miw on the cheek, then bathe, while Myrt prepared a light breakfast for Ka. Then start his trek by foot to the pharaoh's palace, which was about a mile away. The days in Egypt started early, because by noon the heat of the sun engulfed the whole of Egypt. Ka's duties as a court scribe varied, sometimes Ka would read government dispatches to the pharaoh that arrived from Thebes the day before. Other times, the pharaoh would dictate letters to kings in foreign lands. Memphis at this time was Egypt's principle city, its magnificent white wall of tura limestone which surrounded the city was built by the earlier pharaohs, it made Memphis the jewel of Egypt. With the "Great Pyramid" of Khufu as its background monument, there was no city in the world its equal. Memphis was Egypt's jewel crown, and its pharaoh was at its center.
Each year the Feast of Ra-Atum, usually held in July the inundation season, was celebrated and lasted 24 days, all of Egypt practiced this annual feast. Its center ceremony was held in Memphis at the pharaoh's palace, with the "chief priests" participating and also organizing the event. No other celebration except the "Feast of Ptah", Memphis's own celebrated god, was celebrated more.
The pharaoh's chief high priest was Qa'a, a senior high priest and advisor to the king. Qa'a also was considered to be a mystic and highly regarded in pharaoh's court. Qa'a was the person responsible for Ka's education as a scribe. When Ka's father Kha died early in Ka's youth, the elderly Qa'a took it upon himself to raise and educate the boy, because Qa'a saw a higher purpose and a spirituality in the young boy.
The day of the opening ceremony for the Feast of Ra-Atum started at dawn, Ka and Miw rose at the first light of the sun. Myrt, their maidservant already had the bathbasin filled with water and conditioners for both Ka and Miw to take their morning bath in. The bathbasin was at ground level in their bathroom on a raised floor, it was equiped with a drain connected to hollowed out bamboo stalks that emptied outside in the gardens drainage canals. The basin could be plugged with a cork stopper, the basin could be filled with water by a special bamboo pipeing system that led in from the gardens holding basin pond.
After Miw's bath, Myrt helped Miw dress for the upcoming festival, because Miw was going to participate in the procession to the Temple of Ra later in the day. Since her marriage to Ka, Miw was given new duties at the palace and temple. With the blessing of both Pharaoh and Qa'a the high priest, Miw was also given the duty as a "temple chanter", in the temple of the sun god Ra. Miw's main duty, along with other young women, was to chant sacred spells glorifying the sun god Ra. Today, she would march in procession behind the priests as they walked to the Temple of Ra, it was a big honor. Later that day, Ka watched as the procession march past pharaoh's palace, he could not help but notice his lovely Miw, she looked so beautiful and happy as she marched in the procession as a "temple chantress". Truly Miw and Ka were honored to be in the pharaoh's service. Ka as he watched Miw march past the palace "remembered" how in a special letter, he wrote on a decorated papyrus scroll that he gave to his beloved Miw at their marriage ceremony at the Temple of Khufu that day. I, Ka, wrote this verse to my beloved Miw, which I read aloud at our marriage ceremony, the following is that verse...
Ka's Papyrus Scroll Verse To Miw
" While unhurried days come and go
let us turn to each other in quiet
affection, and I shall be with you
each unhurried day.
Let us walk together each day
and embrace in each other's arms
in endless nights...
Till death us part
until we are reborn..."
By Scribe Ka
