Alisia Dimoula
My name is Asim and I am going to describe to you the most tragic event that ever happened to me that I am undoubtably never going to forget.
So, the story begins during the 8th year of the reign of Ramses III somewhere in Egypt….
I closed my eyes for a moment. Heavy breathing my heart beating rapidly, adrenaline rushing through my veins… Then, I opened them again and I saw it – the fleet! My gods, it was massive… Never had I seen so many ships gathered in one place. Hundreds – maybe thousands – of vessels, stretching as far as the eye could reach, appeared in the horizon. A shiver travelled through my spine. I lowered my look and gazed at the armament the servants of his majesty gave me: a rusty spear and a wooden shield. “Is it enough?” I wondered, “Is it enough to defend myself, to defend my pharaoh, to defend the land of Egypt and its children?” A feeling of despair overwhelmed me. I ‘m nothing but a simply farmer from a small village near Luxor. What could I possibly do against the enemy’s mighty armada?
From my home we had heard rumors of a foreign people pillaging their way through the Mediterranean. No one really knew where they came from or what they wanted. Yet, we were sure for only one thing: everywhere they went, they brought death and destruction. One after another, all of the world’s greatest nations fell. Fire at Ugarit and are at Cyprus! The Acheans are gone and their great kings lay dead to the battlefield. And at the shiny palaces of Crete which once pulsated with life, now ghosts wander through the ruins. Everywhere you go; everywhere you look; fire; death; destruction and bile… Even the once mighty empire of the Hatti couldn’t withstand the foreigner’s powerful blow. I grew up listening to stories of my grandfather and how we defeated them at the battle of Kadesh. He told me about their fearful army that went tow to toe with our pharaoh’s invincible legions. Yet now, its people is scattered like the pieces of a broken pot. I couldn’t help but wonder: “Is that our fate, too?” I disregarded them as the words of a drunk old man. Little did I know I would be in this position today.
The ships now appeared closer; strange figures boarding them. All the ships looked kind of the same with a bird’s head on the one and an animal’s head on the other side of the boats. I ‘ve never heard of an emblem like this before.
“The must be Mediterraneans “uttered an old guy who was standing next to me and seemed way more experienced in battles than I was. I guess now that he made that prediction based on the way those ships were constructed but then I wanted to ask him if he could tell me more about them hoping that this extra information helped us win. However, as the fleet’s eary screams echoed through the beach my body was paralyzed from the fear. Yet, my mind managed to wander off. It travelled back to my small village, to my humble hamlet and to my lovely family. “I must succeed”, I said to myself “I must survive, I owe it to them. “I was more determined than ever. Meanwhile, the ships were getting closer and closer. The cries were becoming louder and louder. Now is the era of the spear and the are! Now is the era of death and blood! We fight today or we die today…
Suddenly the keels of the ships touched the muddy banks of the Nile. A prolonged silence covered the battlefield. Then a horn was blown. A foreigner jumped and landed on the shore…
