The Lost Queen of Egypt

I love the last 1/4 of the book… the turn of events… this is a momentous love story!

What a fascinating book.   Go to amazon and read all the 51 reviews of people who read this book as a 6th grader and have fond memories of it.  This was  written by Lucile Morrison in 1939; it’s the story of King Tut’s wife- Ankhsenpaaten (the spelling was changed later on in her life).

Starts out kind of slow… but just you wait! It’s a beautiful love story and I think some of it is true.  I’d like to think it all was true, but of course it’s fiction mixed in with historical facts.   Finding the facts after you read the book  is revealing too.  That old guy did get the throne as I found out while looking up the history. 

I loved this book.  Suspense builds after King Tut is dead, then it   really gets good which is the end of the book.  Never thought it would end that way! Did it really happen?  I don’t know.  I want to tell you about it, but don’t want to give away the ending of the book.  I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment and enrichment of  far away places in history.  After reading it, you will always remember the lost queen of Egypt- Ankhsenpaaten.

(Below) This photo of young Ankhesenpaaten is in the book.  The other painting is her mother, Neferiti, in the blue hat.

How did King Tut die at the tender age of 18?   article that reveals he had Malaria        Malaria?  Evidently, although the book does have him contract Malaria; it also  hints at poisoning from the foreign herb that was administered to him while he had the malaria.

“Song Bird” was Ankhesenpaaten’s nickname when she was young.  Reading about the family online will show that King Tut and Song Bird had the same dad, but different mothers which was common back then.  Their Dad,   Akhenaten, believed in only one God  which was radical in Egypt’s history.

Perfume mentioned in the book:

Qemi was some kind of perfumed  oil for the hair obtained from the coasts of the Red Sea.  Here’s a quote from the book about Pharaoh using it.

The Chief Anointer next appeared, a tall dignified noble who’s duty it was to place upon the head of Pharaoh the ball of qemi, rarest of perfume oils.  For hours it had soaked in costly fluid, and now would rest on the head of Akhenaten during the entire feast, that the heavy oil might impart its fragrance to his wig.  the members of the royal family and the guests were thus anointed with qemi, a mark of great honor reserved for the privileged few,…   (taken from page 43 of the book.)

interesting link about the river boats of that time   

interesting link on King Tut and family’s DNA