Digital illustration created using Blender and Adobe Photoshop brushes.

 

A fragile hegemony held sway over a people yearning for the blessings of a bountiful flood. As the menace of neighboring foes became ineludible the interpretations of Amun’s signs dissented along the fertile plain. While Egypt fractured, a revival of thought emerged south in Nubia. It’s people once belittled, now traveled further north than they had ever before, inspired by a vision of leadership to restore Amun’s righteous rule of law.

Those who once served self-serving masters acquiesced to be governed by masters who served them in turn. When floods failed to return, science channeled the water to labored soil. If threats abroad loomed great, ambition did not obstruct the perseverance of peace. Egypt met anew a season of bliss under the 25th dynasty, its new rulers immortalized in gold and basalt stones. But this kindness proved fleeting, for selflessness is a trait seldom admired, weaved humbly from a tangle of egoistic violence, it can unravel all too easily.