Searching for reviews of the book I found this one:
"'River God' Interview
.....Everyone is always wondering about the actual amount of truth
behind the amazing story 'River God'. One of the generous people who
visited this page, Mark Bieri, wrote to three experts on ancient
Egypt, and received replies from all of them. He was then nice enough
to send them to me. None of the experts had ever heard of 'Lostris' or
the tomb described in the story, which leads me to believe that the
story is pure fiction. However, below is an interview with Wilbur
Smith that may help you make up your own mind as to the truth of the
matter."
http://members.tripod.com/~rollindice/riverview.html
Second I read the following comment:
"...A book by the author Wilbur Smith, entitled 'The River God'...
...This is a work of fiction, and there is no truth in Smith's account
(even
by reference) to any discovery of scrolls in Egypt as described in his
works...."
by Katherine Griffis-Greenberg
University of Alabama at Birmingham
UAB Options/Special Studies
You can contact her at grifcon@mindspring.com
You can read this comment visiting: (Look at the end of the page, the
second starting from the last post)
http://www.rostau.demon.co.uk/AEgyptian-L/archives/week137.txt
Third I noticed that the River God begins in the twelfth year of the
rule of Pharaoh Mamose VIII. But searching in several list of
pharaohs, at diferent Ancient Egypt related pages, no one Pharaoh
Mamose can be found. The names of pharaohs that used eight times was
Ramasses and Ptolemy only.
You can do your own researchvisiting:
First:
"The Egyptian Character Tree Copy"
To take a look abiut the Wilbur Smithæ„€ characters and a description
of his trilogy.
http://www.panmacmillan.com/NewFeatures/Wilbursmith/FamtreesEgyptianCopy.html
And then:
"Egyptian Kings (Pharaohs)"
http://www.touregypt.net/kings.htm
"All about Ancient Egypt - List of Pharaohs"
http://groups.msn.com/AllaboutAncientEgypt/yourwebpage.msnw
"List of Pharaohs"
http://www.geocities.com/musesrealm/egypt/pharaohlist.html
As you can see no Mamose or similar name can be found in the lists.
The novel in ambineted at the end of the 12th Dinasty and the
beggining of the 2nd Intermediate Period (circa 1780BC). When the
Hyksos invade and conquer Egypt.
Now the conclusion is obvious, the history of Lostris is fictional.
The answer of why did Mr Smith mislead the public is more difficult to
be found but I can say something. This is a trick used frequently in
historic novels. For example I read Augustus by Allan Massie and he
use this trick in this book and in Tiberius too.
A seller comment of this book describes the situation:
"A novelized account of Augustus from the killing of Julius Caesar
until Augustus's own death. The novel is based on the two books of the
"Augustus autobiography" discovered in a Macedonian monastery in 1984,
and revealing the life of this flawed, doubting, powerful man."
The confusion created with the veracity of Augusus autobiography did
that Massie retracted in certain form in the next novel Tiberius.
In Tiberius he excuse himself for the confusion created and start the
history of Tiberius with the "discovery" of another manuscript, but he
received this new one from a slave of Tiberius who is inmortal or
something like this.
No confusion is possible here!! :>)).
If you like more info about Ancient Egypt:
"Valley_of_the_Pharaohs_section_1"
http://www.palladiumbooks.com/stuff/valley/Valley_of_the_Pharaohs_section_1.pdf
"Valley_of_the_Pharaohs_section_2"
http://www.palladiumbooks.com/stuff/valley/Valley_of_the_Pharaohs_section_2.pdf
"Egypt: Egypt Web Search - History"
http://www.egyptbot.com/search.ihtml?step=1&topiclevel=1015&topicname=History
Search strategy:
keywords used:
"River God" Smith
pharaohs list
Search engine:
Google
I hope that this answer satisfies you, if not please request for all
the clarifications that you need.
Best Regards
livioflores-ga |
