埃及人西努赫 (1945)

《埃及人西努赫》（芬兰语：Sinuhe egyptiläinen）是芬兰作家米卡·瓦尔塔里所著的一本历史小说，芬兰语首版出版于1945年，一部由娜欧蜜·沃尔福（Naomi Walford）翻译的删减版英译本出版于1949年，这部英译本显然是译自瑞典文而非芬兰语原文。小说在1954年被好莱坞改编为电影《埃及王》，也是至今唯一一部改编成好莱坞电影的芬兰小说。

《埃及人西努赫》是瓦尔塔里最为成功的历史小说，故事背景设置在古埃及，主要处于第十八王朝法老埃赫那顿统治时期，他被认为是史上首位一神教君主。

小说主角西努赫是个虚构的皇室御医，在埃赫那顿去世后，他遭到流放，并在流放期间讲述了自己的故事。小说场景除了古埃及以外，还包括当时处于埃及统治下的叙利亚（黎凡特区域）、米坦尼、巴比伦、米诺斯时期的克里特以及赫梯帝国等辛纽耶游历过的地点。主角的名字来源于一部名为《西努赫的故事》的古埃及传记，原本的故事可以追溯到埃及第十二王朝时期，远远早于埃赫那顿的时代。

小说于当时成为国际畅销书，在1949年的美国高居畅销书排行榜，直到被安伯托·艾可的《玫瑰的名字》打破记录以前，它一直是美国最畅销的国外小说。《埃及人西努赫》至今有40种语言译本，不过目前还没有中文译本。

The Egyptian (Sinuhe egyptiläinen, Sinuhe the Egyptian) is a historical novel by Mika Waltari. It was first published in Finnish in 1945, and in an abridged English translation by Naomi Walford in 1949, from Swedish rather than Finnish. Regarded as "one of the greatest books in Finnish literary history", it is one of the most-translated Finnish works of literature, and is, so far, the only Finnish novel to be adapted into a Hollywood film, which happened in 1954.

The Egyptian is the first and the most successful of Waltari's great historical novels, and that which gained him international fame. The culmination of decades of research and coloured by Waltari observing World War II, it was written by him in the span of just around three months in 1945 and promptly became an international bestseller in the aftermath of the war. It is set in Ancient Egypt, mostly during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten of the 18th Dynasty, whom some have claimed to be the first monotheistic ruler in the world.

The novel is known for its high-level historical accuracy regarding the life and culture of the period depicted. At the same time, it also carries a pessimistic message of the essential sameness of flawed human nature throughout the ages.

Summary

The protagonist of the novel is the fictional character Sinuhe, the royal physician, who tells the story in exile after Akhenaten's fall and death. Apart from incidents in Egypt, the novel charts Sinuhe's travels in then Egyptian-dominated Syria (Levant), in Mitanni, Babylon, Minoan Crete, and among the Hittites.

The main character of the novel is named after a character in an ancient Egyptian text commonly known as the Story of Sinuhe. The original story dates to a time long before that of Akhenaten: texts are known from as early as the 12th dynasty.

Supporting historical characters include the old Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his conniving favorite wife, Tiy; the wife of Akhenaten, Nefertiti; the listless young Tutankhamun (King Tut), who succeeded as Pharaoh after Akhenaten's downfall; and the two common-born successors who were, according to this author, integral parts of the rise and fall of the Amarna heresy of Akhenaten: the priest, vizier and later Pharaoh Ay and the warrior-general and then finally Pharaoh, Horemheb. Though never appearing onstage, throughout the book the Hittite King Suppiluliuma I appears as a brooding threatening figure of a completely ruthless conqueror and tyrannical ruler. Other historical figures with whom the protagonist has direct dealings are: Aziru (ruler of Amurru kingdom), Thutmose (sculptor), Burna-Buriash II (Babylonian king), and, under a different name ("Shubattu"), Zannanza, son of Suppiluliuma I. Princess Baketamon is a collage of several historical figures: herself, sister of Akhenaten; Zannanza's bride-to-be, a widow queen of Egypt; and Mutnedjmet, royal wife of Horemheb. Historical Horemheb and Mutnedjmet had no son.

Plot

Sinuhe recounts, in his old age at his location of forced exile by the Red Sea coast, the events of his life. His tone expresses cynicism, bitterness and disappointment; he says humans are vile and will never change, and that he's writing down his story for therapeutic reasons alone and for something to do in the rugged and desolate desert landscape.

Sinuhe begins his life as a foundling discovered in a reed boat in the Nile, and grows up in the poor part of Thebes. His adoptive father Senmut is a doctor, and Sinuhe decides to walk in his footsteps. As an assistant to a royal doctor who knows his adoptive father, Sinuhe is allowed to visit the court, during a trepanation on the dying Amenhotep III – here Sinuhe, the young crown prince Akhenaten and Horemheb meet for the first time. Well educated, Sinuhe sets up a clinic and acquires the sly and eloquent slave Kaptah, who will be his companion and close friend throughout his life.