1	Aegypt: The Ancient World through the Eyes of the Egyptians L.D. Alford Session 1: The Novel, Characters, History, and Politics
2	Aegypt What is Aegypt? Ancient spelling Actually Ægypt - ash Word didn’t change the language did Sounds ancient and exciting/mysterious In the Tomb of Darkness and Light
3	My Novels The Second Mission Centurion Aegypt The End of Honor The Fox’s Honor – Fall 2008 A Season of Honor – Fall 2008 The Goddess of Light – on contract The Goddess of Darkness
4	Introduction Aegypt Historical fiction novel with a fantasy/suspense driver Idea 1992, start 1992, finished 1994 Published by Capstone (now OakTara) in Jan 08 Follows Lieutenant Paul Bolang Time July-Nov 1926 Location Tunisia (French Colony) Novel, characters, history, politics
5	Class Syllabus 1. Novel, characters, history, politics 2. Tunisia (French colony) and Egypt (British colony) in time and place 3. Paganism and the Egyptian pantheon 4. Egyptian life 5. Egyptian hieroglyphics 6. Egyptian tombs and constructions 7. Legion Etrangere, French Foreign Legion 8. Conclusion
6	Overview Novel is historical—2+ years of research Mainly primary sources in history Language, religion, and cultural details Suspense driven by historical data Language key aspect of novel French, English, Ancient Egyptian Ancient Egyptian primary suspense driver
7	Tunisia
8	Tunisia
9	Tunisia
10	Tunisia
11	Aegypt Storm clouds grew across the darkening sky. They squared off like titans, rising tremendously over the burning sands. The air pressure dropped suddenly, caressing yawning ears, and in the storm’s wake, the nearly constant winds died. Silence charged the air like static electricity. Not a sound broke the stillness until, with a harsh crackle of blue fire, the clouds burst open and poured a solid torrent over the acrid waste. At first, the sands soaked up the downpour like a sponge. Then, glutted, they cast off the water in ever-increasing amounts. The initial runlets took a while to form, but soon, under the blasting deluge of the heavy rain, they assumed the character of reverse deltas, inverse Niles that funneled the water into dry streambeds and deeper canyons. The dirty, heavy, grit-laden liquid fought its way through the bone-dry sand until it was finally and completely absorbed.
12	Aegypt Lieutenant Paul Bolang laughed mirthlessly; the surging water would never make its way back to even the ancient lake Chott el Fedjadj. Set in an endless inequitable cycle, the liquid rose daily, sucked out of this hellish waste to be returned only a few times a year. He cast the butt of his cigarette to the sand and spat a few grains of loose tobacco after it. Already the sun was flooding him and the sodden plain with blazing splatters of heat. Paul cursed under his breath; not a drop of rain had touched him. He slung his rifle more evenly over his shoulder and turned back toward the line of march. The last traces of mist streamed from the clouds, and he could taste the water with his lungs—refreshing. The heat and the dryness would be back soon enough to overwhelm his senses. Paul signaled his men to remount. His horse, l’Orage, was skittish and danced back a step as Paul hauled his aching frame into the saddle.
13	L’Orage
14	L’Orage Her muscles rippled like silk under her black coat, and Paul touched her gently to soothe her. l’Orage had been his steed for nearly three years, almost half the time he had been in Tunisia. He had bought her from a Berber’s market on the coast. She was the most beautiful horse he had ever seen. Feral and full of fire, she was uncontrollable in the hands of her merchant owners and stood blindfolded and hobbled in the market horse pen. A demon in the guise of a horse, she was black as charcoal without a trace of lighter markings. Paul knew she was stolen the minute his eyes lit upon her.
15	L’Orage He paid in cash—francs, and few of those, because of her temperament. When he entered the pen to claim her, Berbers, Arabs, and Tunisians lined the enclosure to watch the black fiend trample the foolish Lieutenant. Paul walked quietly up to her, and when the laughing merchant stripped off the blindfold and hobbles, Paul spoke a single word. l’Orage calmed immediately and let him stroke her face. Contemptuously, he led her on a light field-lead out of the marketsquare. The marketplace had turned into a frenzy of babbling men, women, and children. The native peoples sidled out of Paul’s way as if he were himself a demon from the pit. At the edge of the market, to the amazement of the spectators, Paul leapt upon l’Orage bareback and rode off at a gallop. He laughed all the way back to the garrison.
16	L’Orage l’Orage was a horse trained for war. She was an Arabian, bred and drilled to the battlefield. She was trained to kill and to the tactics of combat. She was a European’s horse. Paul could tell by her carriage and by the saddle scars on her flanks. Only one type of European warrior had found his way into the wilds of Tunisia: l’Orage had to be a Frenchman’s horse. Paul guessed that, but his confirmation came when he first stood before her, wondering himself if she would strike him before he could speak. His single word was French, and with that single word, he knew she answered to only one tongue—French. Not to the Tunisian or Berber or Arabic her previous masters unsuccessfully tried, only to French. In combat after combat, she proved herself to be, by far, one of the finest horses in the Legion stables.
17	Tunisia Fort Saint Chott Djerid Chott Melrhir Tozeur Nefta Tomerzu Sabria Douz Gafsa
18	Synopsis Return to Fort Saint Paul Bolang L’Orage The Foundation The Archeological Party Lionel Audrey Claude Parrain Mr. James Williams The Foundation
19	Fort Saint
20	Fort Saint Around the fort, the windswept ground was textured with holes, scree, and—sand. The sand lodged wherever it could find a crevasse or projection to hold it, and piled along anything that was stationary. The ground directly before Fort Saint was unusually flat, forming a large rectangular area. From the towers, Paul earlier noted the exactness and full dimensions of this area, and in his spare time, he measured it. Paul found the sides, although the corners were hidden in blown sand. Using his best approximation, they were nearly the same length. The sides of the area lay aligned with the compass, the long sides to the north and south, 50 meters in length by 40 meters in width. By the ancient Egyptian scale, that was approximately 100 by 80 royal cubits. Paul estimated the level of the area exceeded almost two centimeters over the entire shape. The perfection of the alignment and level and the measure of the area excited his archeological interest. Before he’d become a soldier, Paul had studied archeology….
21	Synopsis Beginning of the dig Breakthrough To be continued…
22	Foundation
23	Characters Primary Lieutenant Paul Bolang ? ? Secondary Lionel Audrey Claude Parrain James Williams Captain Ourain Sergeant le Boehm
24	Lieutenant Paul Bolang Paul spent his childhood in many countries and places. The dictates of his family’s profession left him to spend his early years in the cities of the colonies of France: Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and British Palestine. He fought and played in the streets with the children of the colonial nations. It was only natural that he learned their languages and culture. When Paul was twelve, his family finally returned to Paris. His father went there to accept the promised position he’d sought as his life-long ambition, and Paul was forced to learn a new culture and new way of learning. He longed for his past freedom, but he embraced the formal education his quick mind desired. In spite of his ready acceptance and incorporation into his own French heritage, he found himself aggravated with his peers; he viewed all things without the cultural boundaries they enshrined. In his mind cultural grays turned into absolute blacks and whites. He based his decisions on knowledge rather than traditions.
25	Lieutenant Paul Bolang This, instead of separating his new friends from him, seemed to attract them even more. He achieved a popularity and leadership he accepted but did not desire. Paris provided him much more than this experience of his own French heritage. Although Paul spent some years in the lands of antiquity, he had no exposure to the treasures of those places. In the Louvre, for the first time, he came face to face, with the ancients. The beautiful articles from the past intrigued and beguiled him. He spent hours studying them. The mummies and artifacts of Egypt, especially, cast a spell over him. Though technically too young for the classes, he attended every lecture presented on this particular subject. There he learned of the work of Jean Francois Champollion, who first deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone, and then he knew the future life had prepared him to seize.
26	Lieutenant Paul Bolang To Paul, it seemed only natural he should enter the Academie des Sciences of the Institut de France to study Egyptology and Theology. His father was a military courtier—a man of stern discipline and unrelenting decorum. When Paul broached his plans over the family table, his father stared with incredulity. “I and your grandfather and his father have all served France as army officers. This service is not good enough for you?” He didn’t give Paul time for a reply. “I have prepared a position for you in the Military Academy. You are expected to fill this position.” Paul had not expected his father’s negative response. “Father, I have spent my life in Paris aspiring to attend the Academie des Sciences. The study of the ancients is already my life, and it will be my profession—”
27	Lieutenant Paul Bolang “But it is not the profession of the family Bolang. We have honor and position to uphold. I cannot allow my only son to spit in my face to fulfill his desires. What of my desires? What of the desires of your family?” Paul looked slowly around the formal table. The crystal, china, and silver were lifeless and inhuman. The sudden stillness of each of the members of his family turned them into caricatures as lifeless as these inanimate objects. His father’s hands were balled into fists. His unblinking eyes flashed their intense displeasure. His mother looked on Paul with pity, as though he was throwing away the future generations of the family Bolang. His sisters sat in stony and unmoving silence. No one risked the displeasure of their father and no one willfully disobeyed him.
28	Lieutenant Paul Bolang But to Paul, the decision was easy. “The family Bolang will stand—and progress and continue—no matter what profession I follow. I’m sorry, but I cannot comply with your advice or your dictates, Father.” Paul stood, bowed, and an amazed silence followed him as he walked out of the dining room, out of the house, and into a scholarship at the Academie des Sciences. His father’s disappointment became an unassailable barrier between them for years.
29	History World War I – end of war Colonial world Tunisia (French colony) Egypt (British colony) Ancient Egypt
30	Languages Tunisian Arabic Berber Other indigenous French English Ancient Egyptian
31	Politics Demilitarization of France Militarization of Germany Colonial issues of independence Revolts Terrorism Prejudice – significantly displaced by the Dervish (broke the British square) Archeology is the rage
32	Secondary Characters Lionel Audrey Claude Parrain James Williams Captain Ourain Sergeant le Boehm Sir Barot Cheston - invisible We will meet others as we study the details of the history in Aegypt
33	Sir Barot Cheston Sir Barot Cheston Department of Egyptology Oxford, Great Britain 17 August 1926 Dear Paul, I had heard from your family that you were stationed in Tunisia. The way they spoke, I thought you had been banished from Paris. Glad to find you well and successful. I thought you had fully forsaken Egyptology for soldiering. Good to see you haven’t given up our business. I still miss your speedy translations even if you do them best in French.
34	Sir Barot Cheston This slab or foundation you have found out in the desert sounds intriguing. I was almost tempted to immediately come myself and see it. Your letter was so full of excitement, I barely restrained myself. But the department is not keen on spending money without a great deal of proof. Carter’s finds in Egypt have only raised expectations and not budgets. I think I can encourage Oxford to put out some money for an expedition, but I need a better basis for my arguments. Mummies, Egyptian Stelae, or artifacts would help the cause immensely. Come stay with me when you next get to England. Your Friend, Sir Barot Cheston, Ph.D. Minor charcter in The Goddess of Light
35	Lionel Audrey Lionel Audrey was a medium-height man with thinning brown hair. He wore a heavy wool suit, but he had removed the coat. Perspiration salted his brow and made his face glisten. Audrey looked young, but his eyes were surrounded by wrinkles. He squinted out from under his thick glasses as if the glass wasn’t the right prescription, or as if he sought to penetrate further than just the surface. In spite of this impression, Audrey’s attitude was breezy and facile. He didn’t speak; he lectured in an arrogant Oxford accent.
36	Monsieur Claude Parrain This—” he pointed to a small, deeply tanned Frenchman in a fresh white suit and a Panama hat—“is Monsieur Claude Parrain. He is an emissary of your government representing the Academie des Sciences department of archeology and antiquities.” “Bonjour, Lieutenant Bolang, your reputation precedes you.” He shook Paul’s hand. “I am directly responsible to the Foreign Bureau in Tunis. My job is to represent the interests of our government in this exploration.” He wiped his neck with an already damp handkerchief. “Whatever may be found belongs to France, and I must see all protocol is adhered to.” Paul knew Parrain as a career bureaucrat. The little man’s smile was tinged with irony, and he watched Paul with a curious stare, a blend of pity and apathy. He knew the circumstances at Fort Saint, and his manner insinuated a level of conspiracy outside of his responsibility. Parrain was a minor official in cultural affairs; he had no official knowledge of the Legion’s operations and little of classical archeology. Paul kept his features bland. Parrain still had some authority over the use of French property. He was not a man Paul wanted to antagonize purposelessly.
37	James Williams Before Audrey could introduce him, the third European stepped forward and engulfed Paul’s hand in his own. His accent was a thick Scottish brogue, which Paul had trouble deciphering, but he made out, “Aye, Lieutenant, glad to meet you. Now we can get to work. I’m James Williams, Engineer on this project.” Williams had a radiant, almost burnished, scarlet complexion. Later, Paul would discover that the sunburn was perpetual and never turned into a tan. Williams had worked in Africa for years—right out of the mines of Scotland, and he could curse in more tongues than Paul could speak. His confident demeanor advertised his competence, and to Paul that reduced the coarseness of his voice and features.
38	Summary Overview of the Novel Not finished… Give you a chance to catch up Met the major characters Not all…
39	Next Time Tunisia (French colony) and Egypt (British colony) in time and place