Author’s Note: Queen of Egypt
One of the difficulties in writing historical fantasy is finding that balance between being true to the history and telling a good story. Although we know an awful lot about the ancient Egyptians, there is even more that we don’t know. I have taken a number of liberties with the history in this story and usually it’s because we don’t have a definitive answer to a question. Where there is uncertainty, I have taken the path that best served the story. I am, after all, writing fantasy. Below are some of the liberties I took, although this is certainly not an exhaustive list.
It is true that Tutankhamun was probably Ankhesenamun’s half-brother or perhaps her cousin. There is evidence to suggest that not only were they married, but that she may have born him two daughters, although neither survived to full term. Although incest seems to have been relatively normal in Egyptian ruling families (if not in the wider populace), it’s very difficult to make such a relationship palatable to a modern audience. Therefore, their sexual relationship, whatever it may have been, has been entirely omitted.
Tutankhamun’s mother is unknown, although Kiya — a secondary wife of Akhenaten — is a likely candidate. I have left his mother unnamed as additional wives do not support the character I wanted Akhenaten to have.
Historians originally believed Meketaten died in childbirth due to the scene on her tomb with the nurse holding a baby. However, a more recent theory is that she died in the plague that swept through Amarna around year 14 of Akhenaten’s reign. Known as the Asiatic plague, its symptoms included black spots all over the body and bloody urine. It’s likely that several of the sisters died of this fate and it may also have been the cause of Nefertiti’s death as well. However, I needed a strong reason for Ankhesenamun to have not produced any children by the start of the story so I have used the original theory that Meketaten died in childbirth. The fate of Meketaten’s baby is unknown.
The fate of Neferneferuaten Tasherit is unknown.
The fate of Setenpenre is unknown, although she possibly died around the same time as Nefertiti and therefore possibly of the same plague.
As I needed two sisters to still be alive, I have used Neferneferuaten Tasherit and Setenpenre since the fates of the other sisters are more certain. In reality, by the time Tutankhamun came to the throne, it is likely that Ankhesenamun was the only daughter of Akhenaten still living.
For many decades, Egyptologists believed that the power to rule was passed down through the female line of the ruling family. In recent years, there has been increasing debate over this, but it is difficult to tell how much of the “evidence” presented against this theory is being viewed through the lens of male superiority. Therefore, I have honoured the traditional view that a man became Pharaoh by being both descended from the previous Pharaoh (or formally named as his heir) as well as being married to a female relative of the previous Pharaoh.
I have glossed over Smenkhkare who appears to have been pharaoh briefly in between Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Smenkhkare’s identity is still hotly debated and, in truth, he (she?) had no place in the story.
By the time Ankhesenamun (aged around 12) married Tutankhamun, she had probably already been married twice — to her father, Akhenaten, and then to his successor, Smenkhkare. Again, this doesn’t impact on the story and there’s only a single brief reference to it.
Many of the characters are real people. For example, Tutankhamun really did have a wet nurse named Maia. The Grand Vizier at the time really was Ay. However Maya and Wennefer are my own creations, as is Ay’s title of Pharaoh’s Voice.
The kathal plant, which was a gift from the woman of Indou (India), is a jackfruit. It has been planted in Ankhesenamun’s pleasure garden and will provide a point of anchor for her in the coming years.
There is no evidence that Ankhesenamun could see the future in her dreams.
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Postscript — March 2021
In the last year or two, evidence has emerged that suggests Nefertiti may have been alive at the time of Akhenaten’s death. There is even increasing acceptance of the idea that she may have ruled after him. Nothing is certain, though, and the evidence is very limited at this stage. Even if it can be conclusively established that Nefertiti survived Akhenaten’s death, I don’t intend to change her fate in this story. Although I ground my stories in as much truth as I can, I have to accept that the evidence may change over the years. The story is the story, regardless of what we later discover.