River God

by Wilbur Smith Book 1 in the Ancient Egyptian Series series.

First published 1993

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4.5(9,553)

Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period. Taita, an enslaved scholar, physician and engineer, serves Lord Intef and protects his daughter Lostris. Her marriage to Pharaoh Mamose draws Taita and the soldier Tanus into court politics and war. The narrative uses the political fragmentation of the Second Intermediate Period and the military advantage of Hyksos chariots as the framework for its fictional dynasty.

The Hyksos invasion forces the royal household south along the Nile. Exile, military adaptation and the preservation of Egyptian institutions shape Taita’s effort to prepare Lostris’s descendants for a return and the eventual recovery of the kingdom. Taita’s practical knowledge becomes a form of statecraft, linking the survival of individual characters to the preservation of language, ritual and royal legitimacy.