The Inconvenient Goddess: Recent Episodes
James E Aarons DVM
The ancients believe their goddess Ištar has come to earth when modern-day veterinarian Katie Reynolds is blown back in time and appears in the goddess's temple. A voluptuous winged goddess with lions on either side and an eight-pointed star above, Ištar ruled the Cradle of Civilization for thousands of years.
Broken and bleeding, Katie is found unconscious inside a Mesopotamian temple three-thousand years ago. Wrapped in a mysterious blue plastic tarp and wearing an out-of-this-world blue vinyl United Nations jacket with white lettering and white plastic zipper, the ancients are even more astounded when they find a holy thing has been expelled from Ishtar's womb. It is Katie's birth control device from the 21st century. This foreign object can only be a talisman, sent to protect the goddess on her earthly journey.
Here is the final chapter of The Inconvenient Goddess. Of Gods and Mortals is the next story of the Ancient Katie series.
After pacing to and fro and waiting for what seemed like a long time, Katie heard René’s distinctive shuffle coming down the path toward her. “René, I’m pregnant!” Katie exclaimed as she ran to him with her arms out.
Traveling went smoothly for the first thirty miles. The well-maintained road offered little impediment. Katie kept up small talk with René at first, but finally, she let her worries out. “René, I need to talk to you about Çitri,” she began. “Why, Katie?” “I know Çitri is very close to Queen Yuni who, I have learned, is plotting against me. I think you are being played.” “In what way?” René asked. “Yuni has made plans to steal my IUD. She believes it to be the source of my power. Has Çitri said anything to you?”
Emil, Dastur, and Çitri gathered in Yuni's chamber. "We must move tonight," the Queen began. "The Goddess is becoming restless in Nineveh. She is arranging a trip south to see the King. We must move now, we must be careful. King Tushratta cannot hear of this."
The next morning Rabea approached Katie with a worried look. “Ištar, there is something that is not right here, in Nineveh. I believe you are in danger from Yuni’s priests."
Meeting with Dastur, the Zoroastrian High Priest of Nineveh, Queen Yuni decides the best way to deal with Ishtar is to kidnap her while the goddess is on earth.
Çitri offered to take René through Nineveh so he could sharpen his driving skills. Now their two-horse chariot was in unprotected territory. Their helmets and armor were laying on the chariot floor behind them next to a blanket and picnic supplies.
René has a great time exploring metropolitan Nineveh while Katie worries anxiously about their predicament.
René quickly learned how to use his temple credit card. When the young men were full of food, smoke, and brew, they left the tavern and made their winding way back up the temple mount. “See you guys tomorrow.” Devi waved and headed off to the barracks. “It was great, bro, thanks for hanging.” René waved back while he and Cedat stumbled further up the hill. The front guard let them in, and they wandered towards Ištar’s quarters. Katie and Rabea looked up as Cedat fell across the threshold into Katie’s room. “Get up, go to bed, Cedat!” Rabea yelled in Sumerian, harsh enough to clear the alcohol shroud covering his mind. Cedat realized it was a smart idea to make a quick retreat. “Okay, goodnight, everyone,” Cedat said as he scurried away, followed by his scolding mother. “Goodnight, bro, I love you,” René called out. He turned to Katie. “Hey, Katie,” he said with a slur in his speech. “I just learned something. No, I learned more than one thing.” Katie smiled at René’s inebriated enthusiasm. René found alcohol somewhere. “What have you learned, dear atsilí? Come here, sit down, sit here René and tell me.” “A couple things. Oooph!” René said as he plopped down hard on the low bed. “First is, oh my goodness, you will not believe it. You’re famous, Nineveh is totally Ištar’s city.”
Following the Lalish River, the chariots drove through snow-covered hills toward Nineveh. Settling into a familiar routine, the horses functioned well as a unit quickly traveling the ten miles of steep hillsides before they gave way to open meadows. When the road widened, the chariot teams paired and continued the trip side-by-side.
“Ištar, this is Mašda” Moudad began. “He has come from Nineveh and speaks on behalf of my brother Josef, the high priest of Ištar’s Nineveh temple.” Mašda at once knelt and prostrated himself before Ištar, with his arms outstretched he kissed the ground. “Thank you. You can stand now, Mašda,” Katie said somberly. “But why are you sad, Moudad?” she asked again. “Josef says Nineveh is your rightful place. It is your greatest city, Ištar, and High Priest Josef wants you there.” “What do you mean, my greatest city?” “We created Nineveh for Ištar,” Mašda said. “It is your birthright.” “But I prefer it here in Lalish,” Katie protested. “Why should I leave my temple here?”
Bored to tears, Katie latched onto a major comfort in her previous life: the horses in the barn.
Annoyed at being fussed over, Katie waited for an alone moment to go outside. Donning her warmest clothes, she went out for a walk. A dense layer of snow blanketed the hills around Lalish, its sparkling crust punctured by the dark, barren trunks of oak trees. Katie’s cheeks reddened from the chill, and her breath rose in white clouds of fog. It was quiet. The snow dampened the sound waves; her boots crunching the dry snow was the only noise breaking the stillness. She wandered the small valley, enjoying the quiet and solitude. After a half-hour of trudging, she was at ease again. When the wind changed direction, the smell of manure and leather and horse sweat coming from the stables made Katie smile. It invigorated her. Unable to resist the call of horses, she turned and headed toward the barn.
Closing her eyes, Katie took a breath thinking back weeks earlier to the day she and René were forced into Lalish’s modern-day temple. A grenade’s explosion inexplicably shifted her timeframe. Katie was just now realizing she was recovering in ancient times. Katie and René were flown overseas to study an infectious disease of sheep that was spreading to the people of Lalish, a mountain village sixty miles north of Mosul, Iraq. The study was going well; the group was collecting valuable information during the modern Yezidi fall festival in Lalish’s temple. Until ISIS invaded.
A command was given. Individual soldiers coalesced into a solid line. As they inched toward Apollyōn their shields closed together, giving the horse less and less freedom with every step they took. Now the stallion could see no escape. Unable to temper his unease, he pinned his ears back, snorting and pacing back and forth, back and forth. Apollyōn was accustomed to the soldiers. Venerated as both a pet and a nuisance, he had been allowed to follow his whimsy as long as he maintained his manners. But now these men were a threat to his very existence. Running back and forth, from right to left he pushed the length of the corridor keeping to the edge. What did they want? Why were they pursuing him? He had to decide which to do, die or surrender, jump or submit? Raising his head high Apollyōn looked about. Trotting worriedly to the right for twenty feet he stopped and looked at the soldiers as they continued their slow and steady advance. He turned back again and ran up and down the ten-foot-wide safety zone, deciding between death and surrender. A human voice broke the standoff. “Hello Apollyōn, how is my friend? It’s me, Ištar.” A tall, slender woman emerged from the threatening wall of men. She stood relaxed and smiling as the stiff breeze twirled long strands of silky black hair around her face. Pressing her hand to her forehead, she shielded her eyes from the sun as she watched the magnificent horse. Ištar carried herself with a composure that seemed studied but was a well-learned facade she used to mask her shyness. She was born Katie Reynolds, of Navajo/Anglo descent and was raised on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. During her college and post-graduate years, she lived in California studying veterinary medicine. With her long black hair, dark flashing eyes, and light copper skin she was strikingly exotic and mysterious. It was no wonder Katie had been mistaken for the Goddess Ištar. Only months before, she and her co-worker René were on a research assignment in Lalish, Iraq when they took refuge in Ištar's ancient temple during an attack by invading marauders. The power of a grenade blast blew them into the very distant past. They were still in the Middle East, but the time was now late winter 1328 BC. Katie’s sudden appearance dressed in a royal colored blue UN jacket was taken as a sign. The Goddess Ištar had to come to earth to show her pleasure in her loyal worshippers, and René, her consort, was there to look after their Goddess during her time on earth.
Katie Reynolds, a young veterinary doctor from California, and her colleague René were sent to war-torn Kurdistan to find a disease spreading from animals to people. Unexpectedly caught in a firestorm, she is blown back to the ancient Middle East, where she has only her intelligence to keep her alive in the extraordinary and archaic time of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Following a lengthy convalescence in a primitive and foreign place, it takes Katie a while to realize she has been cast into a very ancient time. Luckily she finds two things to help her maintain a grip on her sanity; these ancients believe she is a goddess who has come to earth and treat her accordingly, and she is thrilled when she discovers René, her twentieth-century colleague, miraculously passed through the same time portal she did during the firestorm. Katie's real acceptance as Ištar could not begin until she came to understand the ancients truly believed she was their divine Goddess sent from heaven. They took her earthly appearance in stride. The priests left meals for their deities three times a day so they would protect them. It was natural to assume a Goddess visiting earth would take on the form of a woman. But no previous god had ever deigned to walk among men. When Katie’s accident cast her inside the ancient temple in Lalish, the head priest immediately felt this was divine intervention. Wise enough to see how this could work to his advantage, he championed the goddess in human form.
With Lalish paralyzed by the unusual snowstorm Queen Yuni renewed her push to know more about Ishtar. Worried, Moudad doubled his efforts to keep Ishtar’s power from being stolen, moving Katie deeper inside the temple. But, it was a good time her Rene when he found solace helping repair chariots. That’s when he met Çitri.
Inside the Lalish temple Katie’s meeting with Queen Yuni remains formal and bland as the Queen of the Mitanni kingdom offers gifts to her Goddess Ištar while poor René is smitten by the Queen’s beautiful niece, Çitri.
Katie and René are introduced to the tediousness of royal protocol as they are prepared to be formally introduced to Queen Yuni. Their moods lighten when René excites Katie with news that marvelous chariots and impressive horses came with Queen Yuni’s entourage.
While Girgous was finding his way into the newly conquered Hittite city of Karkamis, four hundred miles east, Yuni, the Mitanni Queen and her niece Citri arrived in the mountain village of Lalish, an ancient center of worship 60 miles north of Nineveh, modern day Mosul. Yuni was on a quest to see what this Ishtar appearance was all about. Having grown up outside her husband's religion, Yuni remained skeptical of the power of her husbands gods and was determined to show her people Ishtar was not the goddess people thought she was.
The city Karkamış, located on the most strategic site of the Euphrates River separates the mighty Mitanni Kingdom of King Tushratta with the growing military menace of the Hittite armies of King Šuppiluliuma advancing south from modern Turkey. When Karkamış fell to the Hittites King Tushrata lost a major east to west thoroughfare that connected the ancient Middle East, the cradle of civilization to the Egyptian empire of the Nile,. The learned scribe Girgous understood th¥e importance of befirending the future Hittite rulers a, aquiescing to a long and the copper rich mines of alashaya, modern day Cyprus
Rib-Hadda’s scribe Girgous was running out of options. His home town of Byblos was in danger because of the Amorite incursions and although his reading and writing capabilities were appreciated by the Amorites, he realized they were too loosely organized for him to find a secure position with these rugged folk from the mountains. Also, if the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned Gubla, his boss, Rib-Hadda would be banished or murdered. Now Girgous eyed an alliance with the Hittite king, Šuppiluliuma whose armies had recently conquered the city of Karkamis from Tushratta, the Mitanni King, whose empire was collapsing under the unrelenting Hittite onslaught. Hoping to offer King Šuppiluliuma his scribing powers, Girgous hoped to show the King he could be an important figure in the upper echelons of Hittite royalty because of his experience dealing with Egypt, which was becoming worried over Hittite advancement into territories claimed by Egypt.
While Katie and René meticulously search Ishtar's temple looking for a way back to the future Moudad prepares for Queen Yuni's royal arrival.
Nursed from near death by her ancient caregivers Katie’s mind pushes for explanations as she realizes she is in a very foreign place. Actually, she’s in the same place, the Lalish Temple. However, her timing is off by 3,000 years. Katie is recovering in the year 1328 BC. Understandably, her mind cannot comprehend she’s been involved in a time shift. It isn’t until she wanders outside does the truth dawn on her. Looking for the North Star Katie glances at the night sky.
Being of Navajo descent, Katie knows the star patterns well. The Diné’s most revered constellations involve the North Star. They call it Nohookos Bikq (Na hoe kos Bih kwo) which means Central Fire. It is the cosmic center of the Navajo night sky and represents the central hearth, the fire, centered in the home, of hogan. In the sky, it burns between the Great Father/Hunter; the Big Dipper, and Cassiopea, the Great Mother/Provider.
However, because of the change in earth’s tilt Thuban became the stationary north star for a thousand years. Thus, Draco, the Dragon constellation ruled the northern sky as it circled around ancient north star. The Egyptian Pyramids were designed to have one side facing north, with an entrance passage geometrically aligned so that Thuban would be visible at night. Thuban means "head of the serpent". Draco was the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Seeing the different night sky in its ancient majesty finally convinced Katie she was in a very different time.
Katie’s convalescence in ancient times went smoothly for a while. Although uncertain about where she was she had found a way to communicate with her helpers, when a severe infection from her wounds sent her into critical danger.
“Is this the reason you have sent for me, Queen Nefertiti?” Cepri asked uneasily. Nefertiti noticed the reticence. “What worries you about this, Cepri?” She asked. “I am perplexed more than worried,” Cepri replied, relaxing into the interview. “Lalish is far away. Ištar coming to earth in a distant kingdom has little to do with Aten.” “Aten is not as powerful as my husband believes,” Nefertiti replied. “Times are changing, Cepri. We need divine help, and I want to bring Ištar to Egypt.” “Why not bring back Isis or Hathor? They are Egyptian Gods equal to Ištar.” “Akhenaten gave onto me the strengths of both Isis and Hathor when he outlawed the Amun priesthood. I have no other powerful Egyptian Goddesses I can call on. Akhenaten does not yet see it, but he needs Ištar, Cepri. The Amun priests are angry, maybe this will quiet them.” The Priests of Amun loathed the intrusion of the Syrians. As the Amun religion became all-powerful their priests incorporated themselves ever more closely into the ruling dynasties, making the Amun theocracy an exclusionary and elitist religion riddled with corruption and cronyism. Initially they succeeded, becoming as powerful as the Pharaoh. Fearing their hold was a danger to the Hyksos royalty Akhenaten bided his time until his parents died. Soon after his mother Tiye died, he changed the entire religion of Egypt, kicking out the old Gods, along with the corrupt priesthood.
Girgous followed Aziru and Abdi’aširta through an opening of the Terre pisée. “We will get to Karkamış quickly by using what I have stored in there.” Abdi’aširta pointed to a stone building with a wooden thatched roof that lay inside the protective walls. Many horses were grazing nearby. “I can’t ride horses,” Girgous said. “We will attach chariots to the horses, Girgous,” Abdi’aširta explained. “Nasser has two chariots. If we trot the horses, we will arrive with only two long days of travel.” “I didn’t know you had chariots, Abdi’aširta.” Aziru stepped in front of his father and took the lead. “Come, see!” he said as he led them into the stone barn. Aziru’s overzealousness was making him appear foolish. Perhaps he put too much blind faith in a man he just met. His father had spent a lot of time and money to collect these weapons. With one thoughtless moment, Aziru could jeopardize their future. But Abdi’aširta trusted this little man. Girgous followed Aziru inside the barn.
Katie begins to convalesce in ancient Lalish inside the temple in northern Iraq where she was discovered. As her body begins to heal she becomes more aware of the extent of her dilemma.
After leaving Baalbek, Girgous and Sonia continued north from the Lebanon Mountains onto the Qadesh plain and into Ebla. They were guests of Aziru, staying in places friendly towards the Amorites. “Wow,” Girgous exclaimed when they walked closer to the massive walls in front of them. “So, this is Ebla. I’m very impressed.” Many soldiers were walking the parapet above the entrance. “Oh, there are a lot of soldiers,” Sonia said. “They must be bored, we’ve got a few near the tower looking at us.” She waved at a group of four men looking over the stone wall. One of them waved back. “Who’s in charge of Ebla, Aziru?” Girgous asked. “Who must I worry about offending today?” “Aki-Teššub is the King of Ebla,” Aziru replied. “But he is not here. He has taken his chariots north to accompany Artatama, the King’s brother to fortify the frontier. That is the reason so many soldiers are stationed on the gates.” “And the gods, who are Ebla’s gods?” “Ištar and Rešef,” Aziru replied.
“The talisman that came from Ištar’s womb is an ankh; Ištar is bringing the gods of Egypt with her. The ankh is a symbol of life itself to our Egyptian friends and the reason the Yezidi priests are sure she is Ištar. If this is so, we will be outnumbered. This is my great fear.” “Then it is even more imperative that you see her yourself. Dastur, you are the most powerful high priest west of the Zagros.” “I am not allowed inside Ištar’s Lalish temple, my Queen. It is fruitless for me to try.” “Who decided that?” Yuni asked. “Moudad, the Yezidi priest of Lalish. Even Josef, Ištar’s high priest of Nineveh was denied an audience with the goddess. Moudad maintains strict secrecy. That is why you or King Tušratta need to be there.”
Tušratta stood for a while as they made their way along the rough, muddy, slushy corridor. Forty chariots protected the four vehicles. Sometimes the chariots were driven two by two; next to one another but the bad weather left the road in poor condition. Today the procession trudged along in single file, digging deeper and deeper ruts into the beige colored mud. The carts frequently tipped sideways, slowing down when their wheels fell into one mud and water-filled pothole after another. The snow cover from the previous night couldn’t decide whether to stay or go. They spent an uneventful night in Sinjar and exchanged goodbyes in Nineveh on the third day. After traveling together for two days and nights, they looked forward to going in different directions. “Don’t get run over by a horse,” Yuni warned him. “Don’t cause any more rebellions inside the empire,” Tush shot back waving to her while trotting south with his Shepi Shari, his elite bodyguard, to spend a week in Nuzi. He could hardly wait to drive the secret chariot, a new one Kikkuli was working on. Tush controlled the best equine military in the Middle East. Over the last few years, he'd collected a vast number of horses and instructed his chariot manufacturers to ramp up production. Their efficient design of the chariot made them mighty warriors. Tušratta was impressed with the plans of this latest model. The driver stood on a semi-solid platform of wood supports and animal hides. Twelve goatskins covered with thin, hand-hammered, bronze armor plates covered the sides. Ten sheepskins were used to cover the semi-firm floor, making it a big, roomy chariot. These new models sported wheels with eight spokes, allowing them to carry heavier loads. It would accommodate three men to ride into battle, giving King Tušratta's army a definite edge. Yuni needed time away from her husband so she and Çitri could make sense of the Ištar threat. Tušratta was Hurrian. His family had grown up with three main Gods. Šauska; the Hurrian counterpart of Ištar, was the Goddess of fertility, war, and healing. Šimegi was the sun God and Kušuh the moon God. Because he felt comfortable with his Gods, he didn’t feel the need to bring new Gods into his temples. Yuni felt differently. “What do you make of Ištar’s appearance in Lalish, Aunt Yuni?” Çitri wondered as they resumed their northward journey without Tush. “You seem quite concerned about this.” “I wonder if this is truly the real Ištar. It could be a jinni manifestation come to fool us. It should be a simple answer, however. A talisman came from Ištar’s womb when she arrived. I will know quickly if she is a jinni once I hold it. If she is divine, this talisman will have much power. And, if I have possession of it, I will be in control.”
This simple act of concentration made Katie's head pound. Her eyes glazed over, and she drifted, merely listening. The woman continued washing Katie, letting her know she was there for her. Katie tried to speak, but her mouth was so dry. She licked her lips softly and said hello in Diné, the language she learned first her native Navajo tongue. “Yá'át'ééh.” The woman with the washcloth stopped and leaned into her. Did she understand her? Katie expanded her hello. “Yá'át'ééh shidine'é. Shí éí Katie Reynolds yinishyé. Táchii'nii Diné éí nishłį. Bilagáana dine'é éí báshíshchíín. Hashtł'ishnii dine'é éí dashicheii. Bilagáana dine'é éí dashinálí. Ákót’éego ’éí asdzání nishłí.” The woman replied in a guttural language similar to Katie’s, but not the same. That made her eyes open. This wasn't Navajo, but it wasn't English either. And it wasn't Kurdish, the language she was trying so hard to learn for the past few days. It was a language composed of guttural, tribal sounds. She kept her eyes open long enough to focus on the room she was in. Rays of sunlight splashed onto whitewashed walls covered with brightly colored frescoes and tapestries. She looked around the room until her dark, ebony eyes lit on a pair of bright, solid blue ones. The woman was smiling at her. “Oh, hello,” Katie said. She changed to English when her mind registered a Caucasian, not a native Diné in front of her. “I am Katie Reynolds. I am from Táchii’nii Diné, the Red Running into the Water Clan. I am born for Bilagáana Diné, the Anglo clan. My maternal grandpa is from Hasht ł 'ishnii, the People of the Mud Clan. My paternal grandpa is from Bilagáana Diné, the Anglo clan. That is how I am a woman.” “Hmm,” the blue-eyed, older woman replied. She was smiling patiently, happy to see her charge awake and speaking. “My mother calls me Shundeen.” Katie summoned the strength to point her finger at herself. The woman nodded and continued humming. Katie stopped talking. Okay, I'll speak to her in Kurdish, she thought. She started with the introduction taught to her by her Kurdish friends. Again, there was no response from the nurse, just an ongoing hum amid continuing ministrations. Katie gave up and fell asleep again.
“I am sorry to report this, your Majesty, but the first shipment has been stopped.” Yuni was shocked. “What do you mean, stopped, Nizer?” she yelled. “The dye was stolen somewhere between Kadesh and Qatna.” Nizer held his ground as he was very familiar with his queen's quick temper. “Then move more troops into Qatna!” Yuni demanded. “What is Akizzi doing about this?” She asked. Akizzi was another relative and the ruler of Qatna. “Akizzi has Qatna well-fortified. The problem is the lawless region between Baalbek and Qatna.” “Have Kikkuli position more troops in Qatna,” Yuni replied. Kikkuli, the famous horse trainer was Yuni’s ace-in-the-hole. “He cannot leave Nuzi because of the Assyrians,” Nizer explained. “Shit! Is that all, Nizer?” She asked. She was weary of hearing bad news whenever the scribe reported to her. “No,” Nizer replied.” “The Ištar issue is resurfacing.” “I thought we were done with Ištar; I sent her statue to Egypt to get her out of here. Is Nineveh becoming restless? What do the priests say?” “The problem is in Lalish, at the temple of Ištar north of Nineveh,” Nizer explained. “I’ve heard from others about this,” Tušratta added. “There was an appearance in Ištar’s Lalish temple. It is making quite a stir inside the religious community.” “What appearance? Is it a person? Where does this person come from? Who sent him? What does he want?” “She, it is a she, Yuni.” “Well, Tush, is she a vagrant? What is the big deal? Why not just feed her and send her away? Most importantly, why is this your problem?” “There are things about the woman that cannot be explained. She just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, at the end of the Sacrifice of the Bull. And she is different.” “Different? How? In what way, Tush?” “As you know, the people of Lalish are light skinned, like the Hittites; they have blue eyes and light hair. This woman is dark like us, more like you.” Being of Mediterranean descent, Tušratta’s skin was olive colored while Yuni’s copper color was from her Eastern origins.
Abdi’aširta, Aziru's father, was a muscular, bronze-skinned, black-haired Amorite. He and eight of his men were surreptitiously following the camel caravan that had recently left Baalbek. They were recognized as dye traders by his point men, and he knew they carried a prize worth stealing. The dye traders hired the camels to enable them to skirt the Qadesh plains quickly. It was a lawless region at the edge of both Egyptian and Mitanni reach. Now four powers were tugging at Qadesh. Besides the old love and hate relationship between Mitanni and Egyptian might, the Hittites pushed down from the north, and the Amorites agitated a local struggle from within.
“Girgous, I have received word from Abdi’aširta,” Sonia said excitedly. “His son Aziru will meet with you in Baalbek.” “Is he sending an escort, or should I find a man to travel with?” “He asked me to show you the way. He really wants to talk to you. He…” “I am immediately uncomfortable,” Girgous interrupted. “We will not be well protected, a scribe, and a servant woman?” “We will go as husband and wife, Girgous. Amina suggested this,” Sonia quickly added when she saw his scowl deepen. Amina nodded her head in agreement. “However, we will go dressed as simple Amurru, not as a royal scribe.” “If we do it that way, it means we’ll have to walk the whole way, doesn’t it?” “Yes.” She smiled. “We will allow a week to travel, so we must leave tomorrow. Amina and I have begun gathering things for the trip. We have brought out Bedouin clothes; a thawb, serwal white trousers, and a keffiyeh for you to wear tomorrow.”
In Amarna, Egypt, Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti waited with Pahannate, the commissioner of Canaan and Amurru for the scribe to unwrap the latest tablet from Gubla. Akhenaten was a handsome king, a bit over six feet tall. The dark-skinned ruler had curly black hair and a long, slender face, with flashing dark brown eyes. He knew all about Gubla's mayor, Rib-Hadda, whose name came up often in Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father’s court. “What was that last worry Rib-Hadda wrote about?” Pharaoh queried Nefertiti. “He complains Abdi’aširta acts as though he were the Mitanni King and the Kassite King all in one!” The beautiful queen replied. Nefertiti was lighter skinned than her husband. She was born in Akhmim, a city on the Nile known for exceptional horses. Her father was General Ay, the great horseman of Pharaoh’s cavalry. Nefertiti’s recent ancestors hailed from the area of ancient Syria and Lebanon and she maintained a keen interest in affairs of the region. Migrating to Egypt with their horses, generations earlier their excellent horsemanship quickly elevated these foreigners into Egyptian nobility. Being of Syrian descent, Nefertiti knew much of Ištar. Akhenaten didn’t understand the urgency Rib-Hadda, the mayor of Gubla felt. So long as trade continued to flow, a small distant skirmish was not significant. After all, it took a lot of money and promises to get the army on the road. And, at this moment, foreign affairs took a back seat to Akhenaten’s domestic worries. Within Egypt, the question of Pharaoh’s ultimate authority was indeed becoming an issue. When he became Pharaoh, Akhenaten destroyed all Egyptian Gods except one. Now only Aten, the sun God mattered. Akhenaten ordered the names of all the others removed from walls, tombs, and monuments, severely angering the right wing of his constituency. His New Age theocracy put the priests of Amun out of work, and they were resisting his efforts and questioning his power.
Remember those ghostly images Katie saw when she was visiting modern day Byblos with Rene? The apparitions came from the same place, 3,000 years earlier when Byblos, then called Gubla, was under control of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Gubla was a major connection stop between Egypt and Mesopotamia, which was being torn apart by the war between the Hittites and the Mitanni. And there was the local Amurru nuisance. Being an Egyptian outpost, Gubla was not as protected as places closer to the Pharaoh. The further from Egypt a place was the more vulnerable it became to local turmoil. One band of renegades, the Amurru were particularly dangerous.
Katie was badly injured from the grenade blast and was lucky to arrive at a place where people had the knowledge and desire to nurse an ailing stranger from near-death wounds. Even more fortuitous was the fact the place she appeared was the Goddess’s Ishtar’s cella, a holy place no one but priests are allowed to enter.
It takes a different mindset to bring a horse to your side without reverting to punishment born of frustration, and Katie had successfully accomplished this in front of a contingent of chariot warriors. Kikkuli, the great horse master of the Mitanni kingdom was very impressed with Katie’s horse skills as he watched her tame Apollyon. Likewise, Katie understood this man as calm, patient, and receptive to her. They bonded.