Historical Note

Time travel novels are a peculiar blend of historical fact, science, and absolute fabrication. That's why I think I owe my readers an explanation of how and why I created these novels and some indication of what is real and what is invention. As far as the historical period and people are concerned, I try to remain true to the facts, but there are instances where I have to be creative, especially when I'm dealing with an ancient era. I endeavor to explain the science of time travel as best I can, however, time travel is, as yet, an impossibility, so again I have to extend my imagination. And my characters . . . well, they're based on near and dear friends. No they're not. Completely manufactured. What did you expect? I'm a professional liar—um, ah . . . fiction writer.

Before I get into the fact versus fiction explanation, I thought I'd satisfy your curiosity—assuming you care at all—about how my ideas for this particular novel came about. Why did I choose the Nubians and was I first interested in the time travel dilemma, then hard-pressed to find a link between the two? Actually, the dinosaurs came first, but who wants to read another book about dinosaurs? Oh, you did? Sorry about that. Maybe in another book.

Anyway, to answer the questions above, I felt this need to erase our history—to place Matt and Sarah into the worst (time travel) situation imaginable—I'm so kind to my characters—and finally give you an explanation for Nadine—who's not the cardboard villain you may have assumed. At the same time, I wanted to establish that there may be a link (or links) between our civilization and an ancient one, a civilization that we know far less about than the Egyptians or the Romans or the Macedonians. Don't remember the Macedonians? Some fellow named Alex was involved.

Now in order for our timeline to end, this link had to be broken, with the collapse of the civilizations to follow, or at least some extreme alteration. I don't mean to imply with any certainty that Taharqa played a role in securing the protection of Jerusalem. But the speculation exists—The Rescue of Jerusalem, Henry T. Aubin.1. If I wanted to show that there could be a connection, that might have far-reaching consequences, like removing a link and erasing our history, well, there it is. Not exactly a strong one, but a possible one.

As for Nubia, I selected this ancient civilization because, quite simply, it's fascinating. Nubia, throughout the ages, has withstood onslaught after onslaught of invaders—the Egyptian pharaohs, Cambyses, the Persian conqueror of Egypt, who went as far as the Fourth Cataract, but nearly died on the return march, the Romans, who sacked Napata, but refused to stay and secure the nation, the Arabs, who dominated northern Africa from the seventh century onward, but left Nubia to the Christians for another 800 years. Even in the past century Great Britain abandoned Sudan to a "dervish horde armed mainly with knives and spears."2.

The Nubians stand apart in their stubborn refusal to be absorbed by other nations. They even dominated Egypt in the time of the Pharaonic Dynasties—the 24th to the 30th Dynasties. Discounting the current conflict in Sudan, which is horrific, but has nothing to do with ancient history—although even aspects of that could be debated—I wanted to reveal the amazing character of Nubia. I waded through book after book, trying to piece together the puzzle of the Nubians. I gazed at fantastic colour photographs mixed with historical data from books such as The Nubian Pharaohs, Black Kings on the Nile 3. and it did give me a sense of Taharqa's love for sculpture and construction, but it didn't provide me with nearly enough archaeological proof of their lifestyle and character or explore all the details that I needed to really understand the Nubians.

Aside: This may get long and drawn out, because it involves historical fact and research without a hint of crocodile battles or goat attacks, so, by all means, nod off if you must.

The most comprehensive book I found was called Nubia, Corridor to Africa by William Y. Adams—an out-of-print book, but can still be obtained in libraries. From this (gigantic and heavy) book, among a few others,4. I threaded through the details, finding everything from geographic information—cataracts and savannah—to the customary meals the Nubians ate (hippo meat included), from detailed descriptions and diagrams of Buhen, Napata, and Gebel Barkal to burial rituals and funerary offerings (which included some of the basic items buried with a soldier). I learned a wide variety of facts about Nubian pharaohs and was introduced to the Medjay.

Yes, the Medjay were real raiders, mentioned throughout history in ancients texts particularly in the second century where Pliny—a Roman author and army commander—wrote of the desert nomads, the ferocious Blemmytes as a "headless race whose eyes and ears do grow beneath their shoulders."5. (I guess even Roman authors liked to exaggerate and lie—I mean, fictionalize.) They're also referred to in the third and fourth centuries as "the perpetrators of raids upon the settled communities around Aswan and Philae,"6. and even supported Egyptian rebellions against Roman authority. These Blemmytes were probably the ancestors of  the Beja tribes of today, and likely descended from Medjay or Medju, who were often named as desert raiders in the hieroglyphic texts of the Middle Kingdom. Their primary habitat was the Red Sea Hills.

When I read about them, I saw the potential for conflict with these people. I began making connections right up to the Fuzzy Wuzzies of the nineteenth century. I consulted the Internet (who doesn't?) and found on Wikipedia (yes, even authors use Wikipedia for a quick reference) a connection between the Fuzzy Wuzzies—what British colonial soldiers called Hadendoa warriors supporting the Sudanese Mahdi in the nineteenth century—and the Medjay, or, if you've followed the links through time above, the Beja people. They had butter-matted hair which gave them a fuzzy look. Ah. Maybe they always did. The Beja people were one of two multi-tribal groupings—one of which was the Hadendoe, nomadic along the Red Sea coast. They were known for their skill in battle. Hmm. Sound familiar? Rudyard Kipling, in his poem Fuzzy Wuzzy7.said they "broke the square"—which is actually the British infantry square, a very difficult task. Kipling's narrator, an infantry soldier, admires the Fuzzy Wuzzies, praising their bravery.

 So the Medjay, or at least their descendants, were even documented and poetically admired in practically modern times, but where did they begin? My next step was to look backward. I discovered that the Medjay actually worked for the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom—as their guardians and warriors. Eventually they became an elite police force and were often used to protect valuable areas, especially royal and religious complexes.8. They're most notable for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes. I'm not really sure about Abu Simbel, but . . .  see below.

At some point in time, however, the Medjay broke away from the pharaohs and began their legendary raiding. Why did they break away and plague the Egyptians and eventually the Nubians? Adams even mentions some archaeological evidence—Pan graves (oval-shaped) in the Buhen area, which were unique and indicated another cultural sub-group—that they'd once lived along the banks of the Nile and worked peaceably as farmers. So I invented their protection of Abu Simbel, but they used to live near Buhen, may have gathered there, and, at one time protected royal palaces, tombs, and temples. Fact . . . mixed with fiction. If you continue reading, you'll see how it becomes blended even more. But if you need a coffee or a brisk run in between, I'll understand. (You really shouldn't drink coffee, though.)

Back to fiction. There's absolutely no evidence for my suggestion that the Medjay opposed slavery. Not true. Sorry. What I did discover—this is fact—was that they opposed Roman rule, after which they settled down and became farmers again—so they could have had issues with another nation dominating their people—an issue with freedom perhaps? And if you think about it, why would the former police of ancient Egypt suddenly swing to the opposite side: stealing and raiding? (This is just my brain, pondering.)

What I could establish without a great deal of hunting was that slave-gathering occurred in Nubia for a long period of time—first when the Egyptians captured Nubians, then when the Nubians captured people who lived farther up the Nile River. If I needed a reason for conflict between these two Nubian cultural groups, I suppose stripping individuals of their freedom might have appalled the skilled, proud Medjay warriors who were drawn to a nomadic/free lifestyle. Perhaps it would even incense them enough to set out to change things, to harass the pharaohs until they saw justice done.

Facts, facts, ponder, ponder, speculate, more facts, speculate . . . fiction. It works like volcanic intrusion into bedrock, prodding at the foundation until the heat creates . . . metamorphic (rock).

The fact remains that the Medjay existed. They were farmers who became warriors/police, who then became raiders, then farmers again, then raiders, etc.  Who knows why they did what they did. I made up their association with Taharqa to defeat the Assyrians. There's no evidence that Taharqa even reached Jerusalem, only that he was called to do battle, something mysterious happened, and the Assyrians fled—after which the Assyrians actually drew up a trade agreement with Nubian-ruled Egypt.

So . . . I created the association between the Medjay and Taharqa because I needed a reason to prevent the prince from (potentially) reaching Jerusalem—thereby destroying the link—and it had to be a better reason than stepping on a butterfly, or simply meeting the Matt-boy.

Back to research. It was time to focus on the Nubians, in particular, Taharqa. Taharqa was the only connection I could find between the Nubians and western civilization—his name written in the Christian Bible. I had to discover everything I could about the young prince. Taharqa liked to build—temples, statues—and in a cache of statues discovered at Doukki Gel I could actually look photographically at Taharqa's face, his almond-shaped eyes, his full lips, and see the pleated kilt he wore and the double uraeus crown on his head. Taharqa left inscriptions on his building projects and one even referred to his mother—how he summoned her to his coronation. A great deal of inscriptions and actual references to queen-rulers allowed me to come to the conclusion that women were consulted and respected in Nubian culture—a rather pleasing discovery for the time period. I also learned that the priests of Amun may not have had a stellar relationship with royalty—the reason I included Taharqa's difficulties with the priests. At the same time, I read about the usual method of succession to the throne—brothers of the king first, then eldest sons—and the exceptions throughout Nubian history. Taharqa wasn't the eldest son, so he must have been chosen for other reasons. That, at the age of twenty, he was a general in the army and leading troops into battle seemed to suggest he was an exceptional leader. I tried to convey this in the prince's methods of leadership that Matt witnesses as his travel companion.

Which brings me to ma'at. I was surprised to come across this concept, an Old Kingdom concept in Egyptian civilization that means, as I described: order, justice, truth, and righteousness, living in harmony with the gods, etc. A goddess—Ma'at—symbolized this concept. The Kushites were generally devoted to ma'at, according to one expert—David O'Connor PhD, Egyptologist at the University of Pennsylvania.9.  The turmoil in Egypt, in particular the quarrels between the princes around 736 BCE, disturbed King Piankhy—and he decided to restore peace and ma'at to that region by taking control. Perhaps mysterious forces were at work in my decision to write about this time period and culture, since my own character who has strong principles and is always concerned with justice and peace should happen to have the name Matt.

I could go on and on about endless research. How lions stalk their prey by stealth, circling and ambushing them. How horned vipers, along with cobras, are the most deadly snakes in Nubia. How the scorpions there are harmless. How goats can be really smart—just kidding.  And did they really use the stem of a palm branch, horn, and sinew to make bows? Yes! But I think you get the point. Facts are carefully simmered with lies—fiction—to make for a delicious stew, so that you can experience history anew (accidental rhyme), but if it's not to your taste you can always spit it out. After all, some people don't even like stew.

D. J. J

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