The Egyptian

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.