The Minefield of Writing Ancient Egyptian Fiction

Maat or Ma'at was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. 

(Just to keep your attention)

What REALLY happened?

Nobody knows. After all, it was five-thousand years ago. So you think you can just fabricate the stuff. Not quite. There are plenty of people (I am excluding professional historians here) who do know. You have to do your research; and that’s when the trouble starts.

Time-lines especially become a blur of contradictions and "facts" are constantly superseded by new findings. Take Dynasties 00-03, for example. Every publication hungrily perused for indisputable dates lists a different year, even century, as the beginning and duration of those dynasties. Of course, we are dealing with things that supposedly happened five-thousand years ago; and those inconsiderate scribes never saved their scrolls in “The Cloud.”

Then take the names of kings, their wives/consorts, and places. Most widely recognized are cities described by the Egyptian priest Manetho (written in Greek). But he, too, was a few thousand years late to the party for my book and—so they say—had quite a good imagination. The Greek historian Herodotus gave us “Memphis,” and “Thebes,” and “Abydos,” among many others. The pyramid of Mycinerus? Really? Did Menkaure (also Menkaura and Mencaure) speak Greek? One therefore needs to choose between the various spellings for the same thing (and stick to it throughout the book).

It all started when I stumbled upon Hierakonpolis, Herakleopolis, Heliopolis. “Wait a minute. These are all Greek names,” I sputtered, and then had a heck of a time to find the ancient name Ineb-hedj (City of White Walls). Yes, it’s our well-known Memphis that definitely wasn’t Memphis during the First Dynasty. I stuck as best as I could to the ancient names resorting to appendices and a glossary for readers who wanted to know and compare.

Ideally, there would have been a map. I love maps at the beginning of a book—but the e-book doesn’t really lend itself to that. Besides, I am no good at drawing (volunteers gladly accepted).

So what is an innocent soul like me doing traipsing in and out of this ancient minefield? I have no classical training. Maybe I should be writing erotica instead (it certainly sells better). But, I suspect, that too requires research... (volunteers not requested).

In the end, a writer can only hope that the story itself prevails, with the exotic backdrop enhancing, not challenging, the reading experience.