Postscript
In writing this novel, whose events take place at different historical epochs, I have drawn on a number of books and studies, and the reader interested in comparing reality with imagination has the right to consult these and participate with me in certain speculations around them.
1. Siwa Oasis, by the late archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry, was my point of entry to this work, having caught my attention with its indication of the connection between District Commissioner Azmi and what happened to the temple of Umm Ebeida in 1897. I have tried in this novel to understand the character and the event. Fakhry's book, which combines the accuracy of a vastly erudite scholar with the style of a talented writer, was of the greatest use to me in evoking the atmosphere of Siwa in the nineteenth century, especially in terms of two customs — the internecine wars and the treatment of widows.
2. The customs of the nineteenth century have now disappeared and Siwa has become an authentically Egyptian region whose inhabitants speak Arabic, which is the language of instruction at all the various levels of education in the oasis, albeit they preserve their original language for communication among themselves. Siwa continues to be distinguished by its rare beauty, which in ancient days enchanted Herodotus (on the basis of hearsay) and Greek, Arab and foreign travellers with its forest of palms and olives, its gardens, its sweet and salt lakes, and the springs that well up in the midst of this green land encompassed on all sides by yellow sands. The pyramid-like remains of Shali still stand in the middle of the town, after having been 'melted' by heavy rains in 1926. I add my voice to those of the other lovers of this beautiful oasis who point out the need to ensure that efforts at modernization and development respect its unique character.
3. Siwa remains the land of Alexander the Great, who consulted the oracle in its celebrated temple, which towers there to this day. For the picture that the novel draws of the most famous of famous Macedonian kings I sought the help of a number of works of history, of which the most prominent is the Life of Alexander by the Roman historian Curtius, who shows a greater interest therein in Alexander's human side than in the conquests and military feats on which other books concentrate.
I also read with great pleasure The Memoirs of Alexander the Great, a fictitious autobiography by the living Greek writer Nestor Matsas, translated into Arabic by the Tunisian man of letters el Tahar Guiga, who has added to the work numerous footnotes that greatly enhance the text.
4. Alexander's tomb: people of my generation will remember the sensational headlines that proclaimed the discoveries of the Alexandrine Greek waiter Stylios and how close he believed he had come to stumbling across the tomb of Alexander under the Mosque of the Prophet Daniel, the sole result of these efforts, however, being to threaten the mosque's foundations, thus causing the authorities to curtail his activities. To this day, a Polish archaeological mission continues the search for the tomb in Alexandria. Others, however, search for it in other likely places and probable sites across three continents. The instigator of the theory that his tomb is in Siwa is the Greek scholar Liana Souvaltzi, who commenced digging in the oasis in 1989, her work leading to the discovery of several new archaeological sites there. While she claims that she was on the point of discovering the tomb itself, her researches were stopped in early 1996 following a disagreement with the Department of Egyptian Antiquities.
Souvaltzi then wrote a lengthy book entitled The Tomb of Alexander the Great at the Siwa Oasis in which she seeks to refute the accusations directed against her by the Department of Egyptian Antiquities and asserts that she was on the track of the most important archaeological discovery of modern times. Who knows?
5. For the events of the Urabi Revolution I had two main sources, Abd el Rahman el Rafi'i's al-Thawra al-'urabiya wal-ihtilal al-ingilizi (The Urabi Revolution and the British Occupation), and Wilfred Blunt's The Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt.
6. Last but not least, I offer my special thanks to my friend, the great poet and writer Dr Nassar Abdallah, from whose valuable counsel I benefited on more than one occasion during the writing of the novel. Thanks must also be extended to the two most demanding readers and critics of my work, my two dear daughters, Dina and Yusr. They did their duty and I can only hope that I have benefited from their perceptive comments.
7. One word remains to be said. In the Author's Note before the novel begins, I mention that I have found no information on the life of the real-life district commissioner Mahmoud Azmi or on what happened to him after the incident at the temple. It is worth noting, however, that it is said that the stones from the temple were used to build a new flight of steps for the police station and to repair the district commissioner's dwelling.
Bahaa Taher
Cairo
October 2006
Translator's Note
In the seventh and eighth decades of the nineteenth century, Egypt witnessed major upheavals. Khedive Ismail, ruler from 1863 to 1879, bankrupted the country through his major infrastructural projects (which included the completion of the Suez Canal, in 1869), his foreign conquests, and his lavish lifestyle. By 1875, one third of Egypt's revenue was going to service debts on foreign loans at extortionate rates, and in 1876 the country stopped making payments. A European commission to manage the debt imposed on Ismail the same year had evolved by 1878 into the Dual Control, which gave France and Britain supervision not only of revenues but also of government. In acting so implacably, the Western powers may have been motivated by their desire to control the Suez Canal, which was vital to their colonial interests further east. Deposed by his nominal suzerain, the Ottoman Sultan, in 1879, Ismail went into exile and the 'experiment in autonomy that Muhammad Ali (Ismail's grandfather) had begun'1 came to an end.
The new khedive, Tawfiq (1879–1892), acquiesced in the stringent austerity measures imposed by the Dual Control. These caused hardship to many sectors of society, including the army, which was greatly reduced in size, and gave rise to a nationalist movement with the slogan 'Egypt for the Egyptians'. In 1881, Colonel Ahmad Urabi, a member of this movement, presented Tawfiq with demands that challenged foreign control of the country. Popular support for Urabi ultimately forced the khedive to appoint him minister of war.
In May 1882, alarmed by these developments, Britain and France sent a naval force to the waters off Alexandria, Egypt's largest port. On 11 June, popular resentment fired by this move — or, according to some accounts, instigated by the then governor of Alexandria, Umar Basha Lutfi, in collusion with the khedive and intended to undermine Urabi's credibility by demonstrating his inability to maintain order — exploded into riots. A naval bombardment of the city by the British, aimed at toppling Urabi, took place on 11 July 1882, leading to large-scale loss of life among its defenders and citizens. These events were referred to subsequently either (sympathetically) as 'the Urabi revolution' (Arabic: Thawret Urabi) or (dismissively) as 'the Riots' (el Hoga). By September 1882, British land forces had defeated the Egyptian army under Urabi at Tell el-Kebir, the khedive had sought protection with the British, and the British domination of Egypt, which was to continue in various forms until 1956, had begun. By 1895, when the novel opens, Egypt was tranquil under Tawfiq's successor, Abbas Hilmi II (1892–1914). Real power, however, belonged not to the ruler but to the British consul general and the British 'advisors' appointed to steer the work of each ministry.