Egypt was at the height of its powers in the days of Ramesses the Great, a young king who confidently predicted his House would last for a Thousand Years. Sixty years later, he was still on the throne. One by one, his heirs had died and the survivors had become old men. When Ramesses at last died, he left a stagnant kingdom and his throne to an old man--Merenptah. What followed laid the groundwork for a nation ripped apart by civil war.The House of Ramesses is in the hands...

The story of Princess Beketaten, otherwise known as Scarab, comes to an end. Her story started in the royal court of her father, Pharaoh Amenhotep of Egypt, moved throughout the ancient land of Kemet, into Nubia, the Sinai and Canaan, where she left her life story written on the walls of chambers carved out of solid rock in modern-day Syria. Now her story will move again to Egypt, to her tomb in the wastes of the Western Desert.Three thousand years after the reigns of the Amarnan K...

Rahotep leads his Egyptian army to victory, and Apophis withdraws the Hyksos army northward. An uneasy peace settles over the Nile valley. Rebellions in the north keep the Hyksos king from striking back at Rahotep, while internal strife between the Hyksos nobility and generals threatens to rip their empire apart.War is coming to Egypt once more, and the successors of Rahotep start preparing for it, using the very weapons that the Hyksos introduced--bronze weapons and the war chario...

The Hyksos drive south into the Nile Valley, sweeping all resistance aside. Bebi and Sobekhotep, grandsons of Harrubaal, assume command of the loyal Egyptian army and strive to stem the flood of Hyksos conquest. But even the cities of the south are divided against themselves.Abdju, an old capital city of Egypt reasserts itself, putting forward a line of kings of its own, and soon the city is at war with Waset, the southern capital of the Nile Valley, as the two cities fight for sup...

The reign of Ramesses III is failing and even the gods seem to be turning their eyes away from Egypt. When the sun hides its face, crops suffer, throwing the country into famine. Tomb workers go on strike. To avert further disaster, Crown Prince Ramesses acts on his father's behalf.The rivalry between Ramesses III's wives--commoner Tiye and sister/wife Queen Tyti--also comes to a head. Tiye resents not being made queen and can't abide that her sons have been passed over. She plots ...

King Akhenaten, distraught at the rebellion and exile of his beloved wife Nefertiti, withdraws from public life, content to leave the affairs of Egypt in the hands of his younger half-brother Smenkhkare. When Smenkhkare disappears on a hunting expedition, his sister Beketaten, known as Scarab, is forced to flee for her life.Finding refuge among her mother's people, the Khabiru, Scarab has resigned herself to a life in exile...until she hears that her brother Smenkhkare is still ali...

The House of Ramesses falters as Tausret relinquishes the throne upon the death of her husband, King Seti. Amenmesse's young son Siptah will become king until her infant son is old enough to rule. Tausret, as Regent, and the king's uncle, Chancellor Bay, hold tight to the reins of power and vie for complete control of the kingdoms. Assassination changes the balance of power, and, seeing his chance, Chancellor Bay attempts a coup...Tausret's troubles mount as she also faces a challe...

When Djoser takes the throne of the Two Lands, Egypt is newly united but far from stable. As the successor to a strong but contentious legacy, he must prove himself worthy--not only to his court, but to a people still recovering from civil war.With internal divisions threatening to splinter the kingdom and external enemies watching closely, Djoser relies on a handful of trusted advisors--and his own strength of will--to navigate the fragile balance of power. Under his reign, the co...

Set in Egypt of the 14th century B.C.E. and piecing together a mosaic of the reigns of the five Amarnan kings, threaded through by the memories of princess Beketaten-Scarab, a tapestry unfolds of the royal figures lost in the mists of antiquity.A chance discovery in Syria reveals answers to the mystery of the ancient Egyptian sun-king, the heretic Akhenaten and his beautiful wife Nefertiti. Inscriptions in the tomb of his sister Beketaten, otherwise known as Scarab, tell a story of...

Scarab and her brother Smenkhkare are in exile in Nubia but are gathering an army to wrest control of Egypt from the boy king Tutankhamen and his controlling uncle, Ay. Meanwhile, the kingdoms are beset by internal troubles while the Amorites are pressing hard against the northern borders. Generals Horemheb and Paramessu must fight a war on two fronts while deciding where their loyalties lie--with the former king Smenkhkare or with the new young king in Thebes.Smenkhkare and Scarab...

A king in decline. A kingdom in waiting.Pharaoh Menkaure has defeated the challenger Baka--but victory does not bring peace. As his pyramid rises quickly above the desert, his health declines just as fast. Afflicted with a mysterious shaking sickness, Menkaure struggles to hold onto power while a kingdom waits.In his stead, Prince Shepseskaf steps in as regent--but ruling in his father's name is no simple task. Internal power plays brew among nobles, military men, and pries...

Khufu, son of Sneferu, inherits a stable throne and a nation poised for greatness. But in a court still echoing with his father's legacy, Khufu knows stability is fragile--and power always comes at a cost.Determined to outdo the past, he commissions what will become the largest pyramid in Egypt's history. Yet ambition alone is not enough. As factions stir, rivalries grow, and the burden of kingship deepens, Khufu must prove that he is not just the son of a great king--but a builder...