J. Lynn's author blog... of awesome!: January 2016

“Study the past if you would define the future.” - Confucius

I've recently been preparing for an appearance in my author personae. MY FIRST BOOK CLUB MEETING! I'm so excited to present on my writing journey, self-publishing, and some ancient Egyptian facts.

I thought I might share some history facts because, well, I'm a bit of a history nerd. So what follows are some interesting tidbits I unearthed in my personal library of ancient history books. Let's start with some of the basics.

We know things because of:

Tomb paintings
Monuments
Objects and artifacts recovered from archaeological sites
Stories others have left us

As the Roman Empire came to power in Egypt after 146 B.C.E. , the ability to understand the hieroglyphs disappeared

Sometimes building blocks were reused by other pharaohs, so these can tell the tales of two different pharaohs. This was practiced at the Karnak Temple.

As some scenes take place in the temple of Karnak, referred to as Ipet-isut ("The Most Chosen of Places") I thought I'd share a little about the temple complex.

The Karnak Temple Complex

—Is a complex is a vast open-air museum

—The second largest ancient religious site in the world (after the Angkor Wat Temple of Cambodia)

—It is believed to be the second most visited historical site in Egypt

—Major construction work in the section of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth dynasty (which includes Akhenaten & Tut)

—Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings in the complex

—Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Akhenaten

The Karnak obelisks mentioned in "Aten's Last Queen:"

Hatshepsut had twin obelisks erected.

At that time, these were the tallest in the world

Hatshepsut reigned between c. 1478 - 1458 B.C. The pharaohs after her were :

•Thutmoses III

•Amenhotep II

•Thutmose IV

•Amenhotep III

•Akhenaten (c. 1351–1334 BC)

Ankhesenamun

She is believed to have been born in Waset (present-day Thebes), but probably grew up in her father's new capital city of Akhetaten (present-day Amarna).

The fate of Ankhesenamun is not known, but she disappears from record and Ay's second wife Tey became Great Royal Wife.
Born as Ankhesenpaaten, she was the third of six known daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti.
As one of three "Senior Princesses," she would have participated in many functions of the government and religion.