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	Memoirs of Moses Part 1 - Life in Egypt
Naturally I do not remember my birth and first two or three years, and it was only as I grew up that I learned the full story. Then identities became confused because the princess I had thought to be my mother was not my mother and the lady I considered to be my nurse (nanny) turned out to be my real mother. I will explain this conundrum as I go on but, to avoid confusion, I shall refer throughout to these ladies as the princess and nanny, respectively. It seems that I was born to Hebrew slaves in Egypt at a time when the Pharaoh had decreed that all the baby boys of the Hebrew should be killed. His idea was to prevent the Hebrews becoming so powerful that they became a threat to his throne. My parents, however, did not kill me but hid me in a basket among the reeds, which grew along the banks of the river Nile. There I was found by the princess, Thermusis, and adopted as her son. She named me Moses which means, in Egyptian, "saved from the water". My earliest memories were growing up in a wonderful palace at Avaris (later renamed Rameses) in a region of the Nile delta called Goshen, where there were a lot of Hebrew slaves. There I was taught to be an Egyptian prince, and to rule the people, although the princess's brother (whom I called my uncle) was the one destined to succeed as pharaoh, and the princess's son (my 'brother') after him. At the palace-school I was taught the Egyptian religion and at first I believed it was the true religion, although my nanny told me about the religion of the Hebrews. At that time I thought it natural that each country should have its own gods and its own religion. And why not? We Egyptians have several gods of our own, so surely there were others around. I also discovered that the Hebrews, as the Egyptians called them, called themselves Israelites after an ancestor who founded the tribe. I was given charge of an army unit, and I turned out to be a good general, winning battles against the Kushites and conquering a large part of the upper Nile valley for my Pharaoh. This made some people jealous of me, particularly the princess's son, but most people hailed me as a great victor, and the army supported me wholeheartedly. As I grew to manhood, however, I began to hear mutterings about the 'Hebrew kid' who pretended to be a prince. At first I did not realise that they were referring to me, but eventually I tackled the princess and got the truth from her. I was actually a Hebrew! She insisted that it made no difference to me, but from then on I began to pay more attention to the Hebrew slaves and their religion. I also got to know my true sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron. Eventually I adopted the Hebrew religion, and the princess had a special temple built for me in the desert so that I could worship as a Hebrew away from the Egyptian priests. This was, in time, to lead to my break with the Egyptians. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *