by Jeannie Lam
The mundaneness of being in writer’s block hits you hard. Every day, you make an attempt to continue writing, but your mind just can’t seem to find anything you’re passionate about, no matter how far you reach into the depths of your head. You’re desperate for an idea, but it can’t just be any idea. It has to be something original, something the general public hasn’t heard of before.
What if I told you that your next greatest inspiration will come from history?
History may seem tedious and distanced - which it is to some. But let me open your eyes and bring you to the past to show a time that you can bring to life.
The Kandakes of Meroe
The Kandakes (or Candaces) of Meroe were a series of queens who ruled the Kingdom of Kush (Sudan) around 284 BCE. Before the Kandakes were a series of kings that ruled, but after King Arkamani I changed the rules, women’s power over the country increased.
Shanakdakhete was one of the queens who ruled by herself. She also lead her armies into battle and brought Meroe to prosperity.
Amanirenas is the one-eyed queen who guided peace talks with Augustus Caesar after the Merotic War. When the Roman prefect Gaius Petronius attacked Kush, she once again brought her negotiation skills to the table without flinching from the aggression. During her time in Egypt, she brought back a statue of Augustus that she buried under a flight of stairs so that civilians would trample his head.
These powerful women remain unknown to most people. This makes them the perfect story to retell now. How did Shanakdakhete achieve independence and what did the public think of it? What did Amanirenas think when she fought during the Merotic War?
Bronze Age Collapse
The Bronze Age is known as one of the three periods of prehistory. When it happened around 3000 BCE - 1200 BCE was when humans started using metals such as bronze. They crafted items like the wheel and weapons. But then this prosperous time stopped. The Bronze Age suddenly ended around 1200 BC. No living person is sure of the reason why. Civilisations all across the world suffered, with their cities forgotten and trade routes abandoned.
But what truly happened? What did the people living during that time have to face? Were there stories of love and desperation? With the mystery shrouded around this time, it offers a way to pique the reader’s interest and inspire you to question the problem yourself.
The Romanov Family
The Romanovs were the royal family who lead Russia in 1900. Czar Nicholas II had four daughters and one son, Alexei. The young boy had inherited haemophilia, a blood disease that made the only heir weak. Desperation to cure him helped his mother, Alexandra, believed the holy man Grigori Rasputin could heal him of his ailments. Due to Rasputin’s influence over the royal family, the public raged at him and he was eventually murdered in 1916. Some say he was a fake, others said he performed miracles. But what was he?
After years of civil unrest in Russia, the Romanovs were sentenced to death. Soon, they were murdered by the firing squad and were buried. There, they laid forgotten until they were discovered in a grave in 1991.
But many believed that Czar Nicholas’ daughter, Anastasia, managed to escape death. Many women have claimed to be her, but none were backed by evidence.
So what do you think? Did the family escape execution? If they did, then how? How would they have survived the World Wars?
History itself is filled to the brim with countless stories, some forgotten, others thought of daily. As you finish this article, it's important to remember that history is not just plain facts. It is a person’s life: their love, hope, and despair, all bound into a neat sentence. Go wild with your ideas. Bring them back to life.
To learn more about the author, check out @sj_writessss on instagram.
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