"Haggard, H Rider- Moon of Israel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haggard H. Rider)

MOON OF ISRAEL
A Tale of the Exodus

by H. Rider Haggard




AUTHOR'S NOTE

This book suggests that the real Pharaoh of the Exodus was not
Meneptah or Merenptah, son of Rameses the Great, but the mysterious
usurper, Amenmeses, who for a year or two occupied the throne between
the death of Meneptah and the accession of his son the heir-apparent,
the gentle-natured Seti II.

Of the fate of Amenmeses history says nothing; he may well have
perished in the Red Sea or rather the Sea of Reeds, for, unlike those
of Meneptah and the second Seti, his body has not been found.

Students of Egyptology will be familiar with the writings of the
scribe and novelist Anana, or Ana as he is here called.



It was the Author's hope to dedicate this story to Sir Gaston Maspero,
K.C.M.G., Director of the Cairo Museum, with whom on several occasions
he discussed its plot some years ago. Unhappily, however, weighed down
by one of the bereavements of the war, this great Egyptologist died in
the interval between its writing and its publication. Still, since
Lady Maspero informs him that such is the wish of his family, he adds
the dedication which he had proposed to offer to that eminent writer
and student of the past.



Dear Sir Gaston Maspero,

When you assured me as to a romance of mine concerning ancient
Egypt, that it was so full of the "inner spirit of the old
Egyptians" that, after kindred efforts of your own and a lifetime
of study, you could not conceive how it had been possible for it
to spring from the brain of a modern man, I thought your verdict,
coming from such a judge, one of the greatest compliments that
ever I received. It is this opinion of yours indeed which induces
me to offer you another tale of a like complexion. Especially am
I encouraged thereto by a certain conversation between us in
Cairo, while we gazed at the majestic countenance of the Pharaoh
Meneptah, for then it was, as you may recall, that you said you
thought the plan of this book probable and that it commended