Queen Nefertari was the most beloved queen Egypt’s history. Her husband, Pharaoh Rameses II, was its most powerful king. The kingdom they ruled prospered, and they wanted for nothing. Their wealth had accumulated so much that Queen Nefertari decided she needed to build an extension to the palace to accommodate all of their luxurious silks and stunning gold jewelry.
Seeking out someone to build this addition, she found a man by the name of Ineni, who was a well-respected architect. She told him to build her a closet worthy of Isis herself. So, he set out to add a grand dressing chamber to their palace.
When the architect returned home that evening, he told his family about the new project he had received from the Queen, one that would bring him fame and fortune. His family was obviously overjoyed, and his eldest daughter Rai asked to help him with this important project for Nefertari, as she could give a woman’s perspective to her father on what the expansion should look like. Ineni agreed, knowing his daughter to be intelligent and shrewd.
As they worked on the plans for the expansion, Ineni taught Rai the ins and outs of palatial architecture, explaining how the inside would be decorated and laid out. She put in some of her own advice, while marvelling at the riches this new room would hold. When her father asked her to deliver the blueprints to the builders, she seized her opportunity to get a glimpse the wealth with her own eyes. After he left her, she edited them to include a stone that could be moved from the outside with the right application of leverage.
She then delivered the blueprints, and construction began.
When the new expansion was completed, Rai snuck down to the palace at night to find the stone that would let her inside, avoiding the Pharaoh and his guards. Sure enough, she managed to get in without being detected. Lit only by a few oil lamps, the room glinted and glittered with all of the magnificent fabrics and jewelry it held. The room was truly something out of a dream.
The ceiling was painted to look like the night sky, with the stars on a background of lapis. The brightly colored paintings on the walls depicted the Pharaoh and his queen as Osiris and Isis ruling over Egypt. Rai became so entranced by her surroundings that she didn’t realize she tangled her foot in a drape. As she fell to the ground with a loud thud, she knew she would be caught and tried to think of an escape plan.
Before she could untangle herself and find her way back to the stone, a beautiful woman appeared in the curtained doorway to the Pharaoh’s chambers. Her features were striking, and Rai could only stare in stunned silence as she realized that she had been caught by Queen Nefertari herself.
Nefertari knew there was only one entrance into this room and was confused as to how the girl would have gotten through the bedroom without her noticing. When asked how she got in, Rai stuttered out that she had gotten in by moving a stone in the wall.
Amazed, Nefertari asked her to show her this stone, and when she saw its ingenuity, she asked the girl how she had known about it. Rai explained that her father was Ineni, the architect that Nefertari had hired to build the room, and that she had altered the plans before the building was made.
Impressed by the girl’s intelligence, Nefertari decided not to punish her. She decided to adopt her as her daughter, making her a princess of Rameses II. Rai was concerned what this would mean for her family, and asked the queen if she would be able to see them again. Nefertari smiled, understanding the girl’s concerns, and assured her that she would be able to see her family whenever she liked. She also told her that they would be well provided for, as her father would be the architect for any projects the Pharaoh came up with.
Author’s Note:
This story is based off of The Tale of King Rhampsinitus, which describes how two sons of the architect who built a stone vault would sneak into it and steal the king’s riches. They used a hidden entrance in the stone that their father told them about to get in and out. After traps were put into the vault to trap them, one brother had to kill the other to get away. After many tricks, the king’s daughter discovers the identity of the living brother, and the king offers him a pardon and his daughter’s hand in marriage because of his cunning. I wanted to make this story more about women than men, and being obsessed with fabulous and decadent closets, I decided to make that the central focus of the story instead of a vault where no one gets to see what’s in it. After all, Carrie from Sex and the City said it best when she said “I like my money right where I can see it: hanging in my closet.” I wanted the daughter of the architect to be resourceful and gain something more than marriage with her wit, and she improves the lives of her family and herself instead. I imagine that she goes on to have her curiosity and intelligence further encouraged by Nefertari as her mentor.
Bibliography:
The Tale of King Rhampsinitus, from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).