Walk Like an Egyptian
So this is interesting: Will Smith will be potentially be starring in The Last Pharaoh, about Taharqa, one of the Nubian rulers of the 25th dynasty. He spent most of his life fighting the Assyrian Empire, which ruled the Near East out of the Fertile Crescent (in the middle of modern-day Iraq). Of particular note here is that the screenplay’s being penned by Randall Wallace, who wrote Braveheart. And what happened to Mel Gibson/William Wallace is pretty much what happened to Taharqa too: the Assyrians kicked him out of Egypt and back into Nubia, though not before he’d fought and won at least one heroic battle. This could be really cool, and might even lift the curse that Oliver Stone laid on the swords and sandals epic after Alexander sold about ten tickets.
Though I may as well confess though that for me the real payoff here would be seeing the Assyrians in action on the silver screen. They were the most ruthless empire the world had seen up to that point, and they took siege warfare and propaganda to a whole new level. Their big claim to fame is turning Israel into the seventh century BC equivalent of a parking lot (which got them into the Bible), but I’ve always had a soft spot for them after seeing the incredible recreation of a corridor of the Assyrian royal palace at the British Museum. How can you beat winged lions with human heads? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Tags: assyria, egypt, nubia, pharaoh, will smith
