In this novel, unique in its structure and content, Naguib Mahfouz reformulates Egyptian history from a different point of view, as he brings together Egyptian rulers from the era of Mina, who unified the two countries, up to the era of Sadat, and conducts a long dialogue between them in the form of a trial that calls on each of them to stand before it. Mahfouz draws inspiration from the idea of the trial from an ancient Egyptian myth that revolves around justice and reckoning after resurrection in the afterlife. The court consists of Osiris in the lead, and around him are Isis and Horus. The reckoning begins, and the court begins to prosecute each ruler and highlight what he has and what he owes during the period of his rule, so that it ends with each of them either in eternal bliss or in the status of the insignificant.
