Authors: Carole Wilkinson

Prince in Exile (12 page)

BOOK: Prince in Exile

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A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

The history of the ancient Egyptians spans a period of three thousand years from around 3000
BCE
to 30
BCE
. They lived a long time ago, but we have lots of information about them. One reason for this is because of the tombs they built to preserve the bodies of pharaohs. The tombs contained all the everyday things they needed in the afterlife, such as furniture, cooking pots and clothing. The walls of the tombs were decorated with pictures of daily life. The tombs have been robbed or destroyed over the millennia, but there is still enough remaining to tell us a lot about the way Egyptians lived.

The other reason we know so much about ancient Egyptian life is that the Egyptians liked writing. They kept records of everything they did. Near the village of the tomb workers, in the area now known as the Valley of the Kings, archaeologists found a rubbish pit filled with thousands of stone chips, all covered with writing. From these chips we have learnt an amazing amount of detail about the lives of these ordinary people: what they ate, what they were paid, arguments they had with each other. Reading about the lives of these workers who died more than two thousand years ago inspired me to write a story set in ancient Egypt.

GLOSSARY

akhet
The ancient Egyptians divided the year into three seasons. Akhet was the first season of the year when the Nile flooded.

amulet
Good luck charms worn by ancient Egyptians to protect them against disease and evil. Amulets were also wrapped inside a mummy’s bandages to give good luck to the dead person as they travelled through the underworld.

cubit
The cubit was the main measurement of distance in ancient Egypt. It was the average length of a man’s arm from his elbow to the tips of his fingers, 52.5 cm.

deben
A unit of weight somewhere between 90 and 100 grams.

Horus eye
Horus was the hawk-god of ancient Egypt. Horus lost an eye in a battle, but the goddess Hathor restored it. His eye became a symbol of healing and is used in many paintings and sculptures.

lapis lazuli
A dark blue semi-precious stone which the Egyptians considered to be more valuable than any other stone because it was the same colour as the heavens.

palm-width
The average width of the palm of an Egyptian man’s hand, 7.5 cm.

papyrus
A plant with tall, triangular shaped stems that grows in marshy ground. Ancient Egyptians made a kind of paper from the dried stems of this plant.

peret
The season of spring.

sarcophagus
A large stone container, usually rectangular, made to house a coffin.

senet
A board game played by ancient Egyptians. It involved two players each with seven pieces and was played on a rectangular board divided into thirty squares. Archaeologists have found many senet boards in tombs, but haven’t been able to work out what the rules of the game were.

stele (plural stelae)
A slab of stone or wood with an inscription or painting on it used in funerals. The stele had prayers to the gods on them, often mentioning all the offerings and worship that the dead person had given to the gods when he or she was alive.

underworld, afterlife
The ancient Egyptians believed that the earth was a flat disc. Beneath the earth was the underworld, a dangerous place. Egyptians believed that after they died they had to first pass through the underworld before they could live forever in the afterlife.

vizier
A very important person. He was the pharaoh’s chief minister. He made sure that Egypt was run exactly the way the pharaoh wanted it.

First published in 2001
by
an imprint of Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd
Locked Bag 22, Newtown
NSW 2042 Australia
www.walkerbooks.com.au

This ebook edition published in 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Text © 2001 Carole Wilkinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Wilkinson, Carole, 1950– author.
Ramose: prince in exile / Carole Wilkinson.
Series: Wilkinson, Carole, 1950– Ramose series; bk. 1.
For primary school age.
Subjects: Princes – Juvenile fiction.
Egypt – Juvenile fiction.
A823.3
ISBN: 978-1-742590-05-9 (ePub)
ISBN: 978-1-925081-59-6 (e-PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-742590-03-5 (.PRC)

Cover image (Luxor Museum Statue) © GettyImages.com/Hisham Ibrahim
Cover image (hieroglyphs) © GettyImages.com/Adam Crowley
Map by Mini Goss