the last queen of india by michelle moran

As I peered through the heavy glass which separated myself from the a man commonly referred to as the greatest Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, my pre-conceived notions of Ramesses II fell away. There were those who contended that his mummy had red hair because of burial dyes or henna, but French scientists laid these theories to rest after a microscopic analysis of the roots conclusively proved he was a red-head like Set, the Egyptian god of chaos. Contrary to every single media portrayal of Ramesses and every movie ever made, it turns out the Pharaoh was not tall, dark and handsome as I had expected, but tall, light and red-headed (which was just as fine, by me)! When his mummy was recovered in 1881, Egyptologists were able to determine that he had once stood five feet seven inches tall, had flaming red hair, and a distinctive nose that his sons would inherit. My first surprise came when I first visited the Hall of Mummies in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

But neither of these assumptions turned out to be true. And I imagined that he would have been victorious in every battle, given his long reign of more than thirty years and his triumphant-sounding title, Ramesses the Great. I assumed that when I began my research I would discover that Ramesses was tall, dark and handsome (not unlike the drool-worthy Yule Brenner in The Ten Commandments). She married Ramesses II and possibly lived through the most famous exodus in history. The Heretic Queen is the story of Nefertari and her transformation from an orphaned and unwanted princess to one of the most powerful queens of ancient Egypt. No, I mean the large surprises which alter the way we think about an ancient civilization and humanity. I don’t mean the small surprises an author uncovers during the lengthy process of researching for an historical novel, such as the fact that the Romans liked to eat a fish sauce called garum which was made from fermented fish.

I haven’t yet read her latest book, The Heretic Queen, but after reading this guest post, I can’t wait! (Keep reading for details on how you can win a copy of Nefertiti.)įirst of all, thank you very much for having me here! When you first asked me to write a guest post, I knew immediately what I wanted to talk about. Today, I’d like to welcome Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti (read my review here) and The Heretic Queen, to Diary of an Eccentric.

The last queen of india by michelle moran