Meet Ahmose

Carole TowrissAncient Egypt, In the Shadow of Sinai, International Adoption, Writing Leave a Comment

This is Ahmose. An orphan-slave in Ramses’s palace, befriended by Bezalel, in Sinai he finds his forever family. He returns in By the Waters of Kadesh. Below are excerpts from some of our first encounters with him in Sinai. It was late in the evening, long past the time he normally went home, but Bezalel had stayed a little later …

Meet Kamose

Carole TowrissAncient Egypt, By the Waters of Kadesh, In the Shadow of Sinai, Writing Leave a Comment

This week I’ll introduce you to Kamose—or you can catch up with him if you met him in Sinai. Kamose was the captain of the guard in the palace in Egypt. He escaped with the Israelites in the Exodus. Kamose brushed the dust from his face, dust kicked up by hundreds of thousands of sandaled feet, hooves, and wooden wheels. …

When is an hour not an hour?

Carole TowrissAncient Egypt, In the Shadow of Sinai, Research Leave a Comment

Keeping track of the passage of time was crucial to the ancient Egyptians, especially to the astronomers and priests who were responsible for determining the exact hour for the daily rituals and sacrifices. They divided the day into two equal periods of twelve hours each. However, due to the revolution of the earth around the sun, the length of the hours …

What’s a “naja haje”?

Carole TowrissAncient Egypt, In the Shadow of Sinai, Research Leave a Comment

The Egyptian cobra, also called a “naja haje,” is most likely the snake the magicians in Pharaoh’s court used in their duel with Moses. It is the most dangerous and one of the largest cobras of the African continent. When disturbed, cobras have the ability to raise the front quarter of their bodies off the ground and spread their necks …