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Before the palace
intrigue of King Louis XIV’s Versailles, before assassinations and
corruption plagued the Roman Emperors, Pharaoh Amenhotep II of
Egypt’s 18th Dynasty reigned over the greatest kingdom in
the known world during one of its most dangerous times.
Amenhotep II sat on
the throne of Egypt when the ten plagues of the Hebrews were visited
upon his people. So terrible were these plagues that he finally
allowed the nearly two million Hebrew slaves to leave, hoping that
their departure would end the calamities that nearly destroyed all
that he and his forefathers had built.
After the disastrous
encounter with the fleeing Hebrews at the Red Sea, Amenhotep
returned to his capital defeated and facing an uncertain future. The
firstborn children of Egypt had been killed. Crops and livestock
were virtually destroyed. Pharaoh’s people, recovering from
infestations of insects and frogs, were grieving for their children
and on the verge of starvation. Pharaoh’s queen was enraged that her
husband was unable to get justice for her son. Pharaoh’s other wives
all wanted their sons to be named as Pharaoh’s heir and were willing
to do almost anything to achieve that. Pharaoh’s priests were
humiliated that the “living god of Egypt,” as they declared Pharaoh
to be, was defeated by the god of slaves. Egypt’s neighbors saw
Egypt as weak and no longer able to defend itself, and Egypt’s
conquered territories no longer believed that Egypt was strong
enough to hold them.
Amenhotep had only a
handful of allies to help him navigate the plots and intrigue that
plagued his palace upon his return. Will his enemies succeed in
assassinating him and placing one of his sons on the throne, or will
Pharaoh find a way to stay one step ahead of the plots and intrigue
so he can save his people and return Egypt to its former glory?
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