The Heretic Queen (57 page)

Osiris:
The husband of the goddess Isis and the judge of the dead. He was murdered by his brother, Set, who scattered pieces of his body across Egypt. When Isis gathered his body parts together, she resurrected him, and he became the symbol of eternal life. Osiris was often depicted as a bearded man dressed in mummy wrappings.

Papyrus:
A type of reed plentiful on the Nile that could be dried and smoothed, then used for writing.

Per Medjat:
Library.

Pschent
crown:
The red and white double crown symbolizing both Upper and Lower Egypt.

Ptah:
The god of builders and artists.

Pylon:
A stone gate or entryway often accompanied by statues on either side.

Ra:
The god of the sun, often depicted as a hawk.

Renpet:
An entire year, according to the Egyptian calendar, which comprised 365 days (twelve months of thirty days each, with an extra five days added to the end).

Sarcophagus:
A stone tomb or coffin, often covered in gold.

Sekhmet:
The lion-headed goddess of war and destruction.

Senet:
Considered to be the world's first board game, Senet later became a religious symbol and was often depicted in tombs.

Senit:
Little girl.

Seshed:
A circlet crown with a single uraeus.

Set:
The god of storms, chaos, and evil who killed his brother Osiris. When he was not depicted with the head of an unknown animal, he was depicted as having red hair.

Shamash:
The Babylonian and Assyrian sun god.

Shasu:
Nomads who appeared in Egypt as early as 1400 BC.

Shedeh:
A favorite Egyptian drink made from either pomegranates or grapes.

Shen:
A symbol of eternity in the form of a looped rope. The cartouche is an elongated version of a shen ring.

Sistrum:
A small bronze (or brass) instrument made from a handle and a U-shaped frame on which small discs were placed. When shaken, the instrument made a loud, tinny noise.

Tawaret:
The goddess of childbirth, who was often depicted as a hippopotamus.

Thoth:
The god of scribes and the author of the famous Book of the Dead. He was credited with inventing both writing and speech and was often depicted as an ibis-headed god.

Uraeus:
The cobra crown that symbolized kingship. The cobra was depicted with its hood flared and was thought to be able to spit fire into the eyes of the wearer's enemies.

Ushabti:
Small figurines placed in tombs as servants, which could be called upon in the Afterlife to do manual labor for the deceased.

Vizier:
An adviser to the royal family.

CALENDAR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

HAVING ALREADY PUBLISHED my first novel in which I thanked everyone from my seventh-grade teacher to my next-door neighbor, I am going to use these acknowledgments for the people who contributed specifically to the creation of
The Heretic Queen.
As always, I am deeply indebted to my mother, Carol Moran, who has supported me in every meaning of the word with her generosity and incredible spirit. My husband has been my champion from the very beginning, editing my work from first to last, and with his red hair I like to think of him as my very own Ramesses (minus the rashness and harem, of course). And without the hard work of New York's finest editor Allison McCabe, who insisted that there be an
iwiw
somewhere in the book,
The Heretic Queen
as it is written would never exist. To Danny Baror, Dyana Messina, Donna Passannante, Heather Proulx, my copy editor Laurie McGee, and Cindy Berman, thank you for being part of
The Heretic Queen
's journey to publication. And to my wonderful agent, Anna Ghosh, who made sure my third novel,
Cleopatra's Daughter,
had a home with Crown, thank you very, very much.

ALSO BY MICHELLE MORAN

Nefertiti

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright (c) 2008 by Michelle Moran

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moran, Michelle.
The heretic queen : a novel / Michelle Moran.--1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Nefertari, Queen, consort of Ramesses II, King of Egypt--Fiction. 2. Ramesses II, King of Egypt--Fiction. 3. Egypt--History--Nineteenth dynasty, ca. 1320-1200 B.C.--Fiction. 4. Queens--Egypt--Fiction. 5. Egypt--Kings and rulers--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.O682H47 2008
813'.6--dc22 2008011857

eISBN: 978-0-307-41028-3

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