Warning: Ancient Egypt overload ahead

[dangermousie]

Today, Mr. Mousie and I went to an amazing AMAZING exhibit, 'Tutankhamen and the World of Pharaohs.' It was completely worth over two hours drive each way.

Wow.

The exhibit consisted of actual objects from Tutankhamen's tomb as well objects from the tombs of his relatives and WOW.

WOW.

There were so many exquisite things, things I could stare at for ages, but some stick in the mind the most:

The sarcophagus for Akhnaten's grandmother: inlaid, gleaming, perfect, exquisite. Carved chest that looks like it would open 3500 years after it was made (I cannot even imagine such a distance of time), a trumpet, fragile and gorgeous. Tutankhamen's crown, the one he actually wore in life: a graceful thing of curves and jewels.

But the things that stuck with me somehow the most were the small personal touches, that made it all real: the small chair that child Tutankhamen used (as he ascended the throne when he was 9), the game board for a variety of games, so he won't be bored in afterlife (it just made me imagine someone whiling away evenings playing games with others) and most of all, a container for a small statue. The statue itself is gone, but the container, made of gold, has detailed reliefs on it, all depicting Tutankhamen and his wife Ankhesenamen. They are depicted doing some regular or ritual things: in one he is hunting as she is sitting, in another she is pouring wine, but in two of them they are holding hands. And in another, they are grasping each other's arms.

For some reason, that really got me. I have no idea if they loved each other or not (as it was a state marriage) but for some reason it made me feel for them as real flesh-and-blood people, a 19 year old boy and a 21 year old girl, more than anything else could.

19 is a stupid age to die, even if Tutankhamen clearly had a better life than most anyone else in Ancient Egypt. Yeah, I am maudlin.

Of course, this reawakened my dormant Ancient Egypt obsession. I am trying to remember (so far to no avail) the name of the novel I read in high school which was about Ankhesenamen. No idea and it's driving me crazy.

Actually, I think I can blame Ankhesenamen for my interest in AE. I remember reading some random book as a child and it mentioned a letter written by her to the Hittite king after the death of her husband, when she was alone and afraid. It really struck me:

"My husband has died and I have no son. They say about you that you have many sons. You might give me one of your sons to become my husband. I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband... I am afraid."

The son the Hittite King sent after dithering which arguably cost him Egypt, was significantly murdered en route. No one knows what became of Akhesenamen.

And that brings meto something semi-random. Red River A.k.a. I just discovered a manga set IN THE KINGOM OF THE HITTITES!!!! Oh My God. Where has it been all my life? tatterpunk mentioned it to me some time back, and I thought 'Hittites, OK' and moved on. But the heroine of it, the one who gets transported back in time, gets transported during this time! In fact the ruling king is the one to whom Ankhesenamen addressed the letter! She falls in love with a historical person, one of his sons! And one of the characters is the son the King sent to Ankhesenamen! I am getting all the volumes TOMORROW. OMG.

I have also remembered my love for Ann Moray's The Dawn Falcon, a novel of the Hyksos expulsion. The novel centers around Kamose and Ahmose, the brother Pharaohs (Ahmose became Pharaoh after his older brother's death, all the battles would take their toll) who drove the Hyksos out of Egypt. I had such fiction crushes on the characters in the book. Actually, if I had to pick a favorite Pharaoh, it would be Ahmose (whose name apparently means 'The Moon is Born' which is TOO AWESOME for words) who finally drove the Hyksos out of Egypt and united the country (and established control over neighboring countries). Not only that, but (to quote wikipedia), he also 'reorganized the administration of the country, reopened quarries, mines and trade routes and began massive construction projects of a type that had not been undertaken since the time of the Middle Kingdom. This building program culminated in the construction of the last pyramid built by native Egyptian rulers. Ahmose's reign laid the foundations for the New Kingdom, under which Egyptian power reached its peak.' That's just incredibly impressive.

And I also have always had a fiction crush on his older brother Kamose (whose throne name was the unpronouceable 'Wadjkheperre' which means Flourishing is the Manifestation of Re), mainly because I fell like mad for him in Pauline Gedge's novel The Oasis. (all the more notable as the book has no love story). (Here is a good non-spoilery write-up on the book). Oh well, I am in excellent company. I think PG herself (she is an excellent author of fiction set in Ancient Egypt btw) fell for him a little as she dedicated the book to him.

I better stop, I could ramble on forever.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*jealous stare*

I was reading Red River for a while...the first 6-7 volumes I think-but then it started to fall into "we want to have sexsexsex but is she ready yet?" territory and i forgot about it...that usually(but not always) makes me lose interest(because, really, whether or not the characters have sex before the series ends rarely matters to me and if it's a major plot point or device, it needs to be near Mars level of import) But, yeah, the story was good. Didn't care a lot for the art, though.

But yes, I am jealous.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heeee. I am easily pleased (or into manga sex or something) because this plot point never bothers me. I am so checking it out.

Hmmm, art. I checked it out and it looks OK enough, if not breathtaking.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The scenery and everything was great, I just wasn't big on how the characters themselves were drawn.

I think my thing with sex and manga(or anything) is that often it feels like a crutch...they can't think of another complication or development for the relationship, so they fall back on sex. I feel the same way about scripts and cussing most of the time(or, for that matter, speech and cussing) in that it seems they just can't think of another way to express what they want to say despite there being many other, more effective ways to do it. Maybe it just feels like a lack of imagination?

It's not universal, of course. I mean, its almost the most crucial plot point and development in Mars, and is absolutely necessary for both Kira and Rei. Yuu Watase always pulls it off well when it comes up and it never feels like a fallback, but instead like natural growth for the characters and story. And other times, like with Shuri in Basara and Kyo in Samurai Deeper Kyo, it's a defense mechanism, though for different reasons(with Shuri its because he's used to women falling all over him and it helps him to distance himself from people, but she's the first time he's wanted one specific person to the point of having no interest in anyone else, and with Kyo, while there's never any sex in the series-though I've read the end and he's obviously about 2 seconds away from tossing her over his shoulder and heading for the nearest private place-he's very...urm...grabby, but it's very clearly a "would I treat someone I care about this way?" thing. The Kyo part sounds odd, but think of Yamapi in Kurosagi, only replace the feigned indifference with grabby hands and repressed possessiveness/obsessive overprotectiveness.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The Kyo part sounds odd, but think of Yamapi in Kurosagi, only replace the feigned indifference with grabby hands and repressed possessiveness/obsessive overprotectiveness.)

No, it makes sense. Should I start with SDK anime or manga btw? Because I am really interested.

I don't mind sexcapades btw: heck, I own Kare First Love which is volumes and volumes of that stuff.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

heh. The sexcapades were what sent me from rabid about Kare to not caring.

SDK Manga is much better than the anime, I love the anime, but it tells a completely different story, it's more "inspired by" than "based on." Can't really blame them, though. I think the manga was only just entering it's second major story arc when the anime was made, and they wanted to make it so that they could tell a complete story in one season, as opposed to hoping they could get enough seasons to follow the whole thing like so many shonen action anime. That said, characterwise, the anime is probably more accessible(and has an awesome soundtrack) but Kyo and Kyo/Yuya are really the "lite" versions, and you barely get to a lot of the best supporting characters *lives for Akira and Hotaru when the Kyo/Yuya blinders come off* Yuya also suffers from the normal fate of manga heroines in action stories when they go to anime in that she loses a lot of her usefulness(Kaoru is one of the very few to actually have the reverse happen to her) In the early manga volumes, Yuya is a pretty good buttkicker, and once she's up against pepole way out of her league, she's very practical about it. In the anime, she's still pretty smart and does her best in those situations, but you don't get as much of a sense that she actually IS pretty good on her own, just not on Kyo, Benitora, Akira, Yukimura, etc.'s levels. But, all that said, like I said, I AM very fond of it.

Kyo's also a lot nicer in the anime(which anyone who's only seen the anime and never read the books would be astounded at hearing anime Kyo called nice) There's really no other way to put it, but in the manga, Kyo is a rude, mean, perverted(with Yuya, at least) bastard(in every sense of the word) who really IS exactly what he seems...it's just that that's not ALL he is. And a lot of his early behavior has to do with the fact that he just spent 4 years locked up in a box and when he got out, it was in someone else's body. I've actually always thought that a lot of his perviness stemmed from the fact that he didn't like that Yuya gave him mild warm fuzzies(esp since she also gave Kyoshiro a lot of platonic warm fuzzies) but she had a crush on Kyoshiro(think early HYD...Makino has a crush on the nice guy, not the-as it seems-jerk and doesn't change affections until she knows Domyoji better...same here) and, hey, locked in a box for 4 years...wanted action...but in someone else's body? And his former best friend's at that? Urk. Seriously, the guy is like a 5 year old with a sex drive at times.

But...uhm...back to the original question...manga is better and more highly recommended, but the anime is probably more easily accessible. I think I posted some anime vids to my LJ a few weeks back, if you want to check out the animation.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Will check it out!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

The sex thing is actually something I liked about the series -- I liked that they were able to trade upon different cultural attitudes to help with romantic tension. I thought it was pretty brave for a manga written in the early 90s

*sticks obligatory "this is my 2 cents only for sake of discussion" sticker on the comment*

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It was just that, at the time I was reading it, it was 3 or so volumes of both brothers lusting after her, one kidnapping her to have his way with her(though, iirc, he was being controlled?) "EEK!!! NO NO! I WANT TO BE WITH KAEL!"(I think that was his name) obsessing about getting her in bed and such and didn't show any signs of stopping and I was all "uhm...what about the REST of the story?" and my "sidetracked for sex-capades" level was reached.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL. And yet perversely, the more you describe it, the more I want it.

And apparently (according to wiki) the story does move forward after that...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

heh. Well, depending on what you're posts are like after that point, maybe I'll give it another chance(because I did like the story) And it probably wouldn't have bothered me if it hadn't been so early on.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I definitely agree within those volumes. The series starts out a little shaky, but I think the mangaka was (understandably) taking a while to find her groove and shake off the rather tired tropes of the genre. The main character never quite looses the suspect shine of Mary Sue-ness, and the sex is never NOT an issue, but those themes become worked into the plot in a way which is much more intrinsic to the story she's telling, rather than just satisfying the expected cliches. For instance: the main character "special"-ness begins to stem from her advantage of having lived in the future (knowledge of metals, vaccinations, etc), and the sex involves much more complicated issues of gender roles in ancient society and the emotional bond it could produce, and whether two people who live in separate times actually want to create that.

Okay, I've been reading academic papers and my (subsequent) phrasing makes it sound more high-brow than it is (it is shoujo), but what I mean to say is: the series gets better. More realistic angst, much much much more politics, more real-life historical figure cameos. There's... really no point to saying that, except to state that I totally agree with your opinion of the early books, and add that I like the series overall because it takes a surprising turn into a Much Better Story.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

High brow? Pft...I've given entire dissertations about deep intrinsic meaning and on the english language in replies before. But I do completely get what your saying. If it'd been going on later in the series as opposed to near the beginning(isn't the series between 20-30 volumes?) I likely wouldn't have noticed, but it seemed to be too much, too soon in that department.

And as far as it being shojo...IMO, a LOT of shojo series, esp. the ones that get put out over here, often feel like allegories for growing up and learning. The girl sent to another time/world setup has, to me, always felt like an allegory for getting married...you leave your comfortable, safe world and enter a new and scary one and your one foothold tends to be this one guy and you have to have faith in him.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I so should have listened to you!!! I want this entirely too much!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Haha, my taste is totally impeccable. Trashy, but impeccable. ;)

[katranna.livejournal.com]

And here I had thought you'd covered all the geeky obsessions already. But of course! You must know tons of things about Ancient Egypt, too!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am a very well rounded geek :D

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

soo jealous.... i wanted to see that exhibit but i live in cali and not sure when it'll come to san diego. although in june i'm planning on going to the sd natural history museum for the dead sea scrolls exhibit.

i loved how i learned more about the exhibit from reading your post...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I saw Dead Sea scrolls when I was in Israel and it was amazing!

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

Egyptology has always fascinated me, ever since I was a kid. I was one of those little kids who had books on dinosaurs and mummies and thought Jurassic Park was a terribly interesting, if not improbable, idea. I saw a King Tut exhibit once, a very long time ago, at the British Museum, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I am totally with you re: imagining the human lives behind all of the artifacts; it's very easy to see how so many people can get inspired to write novels or screenplays, just thinking about that!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I could see that too. It was so interesting I wish I could have stayed there for hours.

[rossywar.livejournal.com]

Did you know that I actually did my degree in Egyptology? I did! This exhibition is coming to London in the autumn and I'm looking forward to it :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is neat! Enjoy!

[(Anonymous)]

if you remember the name of the Anakhsenamun book please tell, it sounds good!
It sounds sad though, but her life must of been sad... having to marry her grandfather after the death of her brother-husband!