Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean

Tutankhamun.

Glossary
    Beetling       Overhanging.
    Boon       A royal favour or blessing.
    Cataract       A series of river rapids and small waterfalls.
    Coracle       A small roundish boat made of waterproofed animal hides stretched over a wicker frame.
    Country of the West       Spirit world of the dead.
    Dais       A raised platform, usually at the end of a large room or hall.
    Electrum       A natural metal alloy of gold and silver.
    Faience       Greenish-blue glazed pottery.
    Flail and crook       Implement for threshing wheat and shepherd’s curved staff, used as symbols of kingly power in ancient Egypt.
    Ibis       A wading bird.
    Kohl       Cosmetic powder used to darken around eyes.
    Lapis lazuli       Brilliant blue semi-precious stone, much prized for inlay in jewellery.
    Land of the West       The spirit world of the dead.
    Palanquin       A covered seat built between two parallel rods. Used for conveying an important person, it is carried upon the shoulders of four men.
    Pigment       A powder used to add colour to a liquid.
    Scree       Loosely-piled, weathered rock fragments.
    Serval cat       A slender bush cat that has an orange-brown coat with black spots, large ears, and long legs.
    Skiff       A small reed boat propelled by oars.
    Sphinx       A statue with the body of a lion and the head of a man.
    Stela (plural: stelae)       A rectangular stone slab with a rounded top; inscribed with title, name and epithet (descriptive word) of the dead person; set up as an aid to secure continuing life after death.
    Ushabti       Small wood or faience figures put in a tomb to perform any tasks the gods may require of a dead person in the afterlife.

Historical Note
    Akhenaten’s capital of el-Amarna was uncovered by archaeologists in the 19th century and today, Akhenaten and his beautiful wife, Queen Nefertiti, are among the most famous of all the rulers of ancient Egypt. However, for many hundreds of years, the city’s ruins lay forgotten and the pharaoh was virtually unknown.
    For many people, the fascination with Akhenaten’s reign lies in his dramatic and controversial religious reforms. Religion and ritual held a central place in the lives of ancient Egyptians and they traditionally worshipped many gods and goddesses. They believed that there were gods and goddesses responsible for every part of life, and death. There were those who created the world, some who brought the flood every year and others who took care of people after they died. There were also minor, local gods who were responsible for particular towns and places.
    Each of the gods and goddesses had sacred animals that were linked to them. The gods could be represented in human or animal form, or as animal-headed humans. The first and most powerful of the gods was Amun. Amun was usually represented as a man wearing a headdress of two tall ostrich plumes, as a ram, or as a man with a ram’s head. Likewise, Thoth, the god of writing and knowledge, was linked with baboons and ibises, and Bastet, the protective goddess, was symbolized by a cat. Worshippers could honour a god by making temple offerings of bronze or faience figurines of an animal associated with the god, or they could offer the mummified remains of the animal. Mummification was a successful business for the temples, which kept large breeding pens for animals. When they reached a certain age the creatures were killed and mummified, and the mummies sold to pilgrims.
    Akhenaten was raised in a traditional ancient Egyptian manner. He grew up in the capital Thebes (modern-day Luxor) and worshipped Amun and the established gods.Akhenaten came to the throne around