Thebes at War - the third in the ancient Egyptian trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz

Thebes at War, the third instalment of the Ancient Egypt Novels, Naguib introduces us to the vagaries of war, avenging, deceit, suppression, death, love and suffering….

The musicality of Naguib can be heard in the sentences that he pens….

‘The sun, high in the sky, sent out beams of light that quivered where they drenched the vegetation and sparkled where they touched the water…’

‘It is the spirit of a master dictating to his slave, of a king incriminating his own people…the latter strives to enslave the former, while the former struggles to hold on to its independence by all the means at its disposal.’

‘Once they had despaired of gaining anything further by continuing the battle, life lost its meaning for the soldiers, who determined to seek martyrdom on the spot that they brave sovereign had watered with his blood.’

‘A battle that will be remembered forever has taken place, in which pain and glory alike took part.’

‘I’m very afraid of them, sir, because, the only ones allowed to steal in this country are the rich and the rulers!...the rich steal from the poor, but the poor are not allowed to steal from the rich.’

‘…sat for some time reading his memories in the pages of the garden, the pathways, and the arcades, absorbed and at ease, until…’

The canvas of this novel is epical, a hybrid of the biblical and mythical narratives of Moses (let my people go) and the Iliad (the Trojan horse), and Naguib brings about deathly battles, alive. I felt the arrows, I wept at the loss, I felt hatred towards the raiders who battled not to defend but to attack and conquer territories to loot and plunder.

The trilogy begins with Khufu’s Wisdom, exploring the difficulty of escaping fate, followed by Rhadopis of Nubia, which mirrors Romeo & Juliet, and concludes with Thebes at War. Through these works, the author delves into human emotions of hope and fear, unrequited love, revenge, loss, and victory.

I feel elated and sad at the same time – elated that I was able to taste the nectar of words, saddened that it has come to an end.

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