History Literature / Pyramids

* CarpetRolledCorpse: Ptraci tries to emulate an ancient queen who'd used this method to smuggle herself into her lover's chambers. RealityEnsues when she's unrolled and finds there's nothing romantic about lint, dizziness, or being dumped out on the floor.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Early on in his education, Teppic had an instructor who suggested they try some Ephebian style athletics, which Teppic had read up on, and responded by clubbing the guy senseless. Ephebe is based on Ancient Greece, remember.

* {{BFG}}: Obliquely referenced, as Teppic learned to use a "puntbow" from the ibis poacher whom his father absent-mindedly appointed as a tutor. Punt guns actually existed, and were used for the same purpose of killing waterfowl en masse.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Actually invoked by Djelibeybi's hiring policies. They (meaning Dios) ''prefer'' guards who aren't terribly keen or interesting in things like fighting, in case those guards start getting ideas (such as "hey, why aren't ''we'' in charge?")

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%%* AntiVillain: Dios isn't exactly wicked, just inexorably hidebound and traditional.
%%* ControlFreak: Dios. He has everything running the exact way he likes it, and won't allow for even the most insignificant change. Dead kings will be emtombed regardless of their preferance [[note]]Teppic's father wanted to be buried at sea[[/note]]. The king will have chicken for dinner even when he expressly said he didn't want it, and so on.
%%* CreatureOfHabit: Dios.
%% * DeathGlare: Dios has such a good one that Teppic is surprised not to see lines of molten rock on the walls when Dios is scanning the room for Ptraci.
%% * DoubleThink: The religious beliefs of the Djelibeybians are obviously contradictory, with multiple "supreme" gods ruling the other gods. Dios believes in all of them [[spoiler:even though he invented most of them himself]]. He has some trouble with the idea of the sun and moon orbiting four elephants standing on a giant turtle, but he believes that one too.
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%% * AuthorityInNameOnly: Teppic may be the king, but over the course of his [[spoiler:seven thousand year]] career as High Priest and Chief Minister, Dios had gathered all actual power to himself. Every royal declaration made by Teppic, even something as trivial as 'I do not want to have chicken for dinner' is ignored in favor of whatever Dios decides, by everyone.
%% * CoolMask: The pharaoh's mask, which Dios insists the pharaoh wear. It looks gold, but as Teppic eventually discovers, it's actually just gold paint. Underneath, it's lead.
%% * EvilChancellor: Dios is more of an evil priest than an evil chancellor, but the trope is referenced in describing him. "It is a fact as immutable as the Third Law of Sod that there is no such thing as a good Grand Vizier. A predilection to cackle and plot is apparently part of the job spec. High Priests are the same way. No sooner than they're given the funny hats, they start getting ideas about throwing virgins into volcanoes."
%% ** Although in the aspect of him being the high priest, he very much follows expectations in that he is not explicitly insane or power-hungry, but so pious that adherence to belief and tradition override all else.
%% * FertileFeet: Although it was a later book that was the TropeNamer.
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%% * CharacterDevelopment: Ptraci is initially more than a little dim. After [[spoiler:Djelhi goes missing]], she suddenly starts making dramatic leaps in intelligence.
%%* DreadfulMusician: Teppicymon XXVII likes to hear Ptraci sing, because the world always seems so much brighter after she stops.
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%%* CharacterTics: [=IIb=] has a habit of biting his wrist when he's nervous. After he burns his hand from touching his dimension-warped brother, he switches to biting his stylus instead.
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%%* TheAnticipator: Teppic considers inhuming Mericet, his Assassin's school examinator (managing to kill the examinator gets you an automatic pass, because it's nearly impossible), but decides against it. Mericet was in fact hiding as a gargoyle, tells Teppic where to go next (involving an obstacle course worthy of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''), and somehow shows up there before Teppic.
%%* MasterPoisoner: Mericet teaches Strategy and Poison in the Assassins' school and many of the traps he sets for Teppic are poisoned.
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%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Teppic's father is a little confused in life. Namely, he's convinced he's a seagull, which ends up being what kills him. [[spoiler:After death he finds he can reason much more clearly.]]
%%* CoolMask: The pharaoh's mask, which Dios insists the pharaoh wear. It looks gold, but as Teppic eventually discovers, it's actually just gold paint. Underneath, it's lead.
%% * ParentalNeglect: Teppic's father is a good man, and he does care for his son, but as a parent he's astoundingly lacking, and not entirely sure how to even talk to Teppic for two minutes.
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%%* EmbarrassingTattoo: Alfonz has depictions of sex positions tattooed on his arms, [[AnatomicallyImpossibleSex some of which are physically impossible]]. After Ptraci takes a keen interest in them he decides it would be best if he wore a long-sleeved shirt.
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%%** Hoot Koomi ''wants'' to be scheming and oily, but Dios won't have any of it. [[spoiler:Even when he finally gets the job at the end, he can't get any evil machinations past new ruler Ptraci.]]
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%%* FormulaicMagic: Camels can use maths to manipulate dimensions.
%% * ImprobableAimingSkills: The narration describes camels as the world's greatest mathematicians, whose innate grasp of complex trigonometry is used solely to spit at people with uncanny accuracy. You Bastard spends most of his time in Ephebe hitting seagulls out of the air with olive stones.
%%* MoodyMount: You Bastard the camel.
%%* ObfuscatingStupidity: Every camel, everywhere on the Disk. Having long ago figured out that showing off your intelligence in any significant way leads to being asked to ''do things'' (admittedly, either being a lab rat or used to sink boats, like dolphins), they're quite content to be contentious and disagreeable if it means all they have to do is walk around and eat stuff while they ponder theoretical physics.
%%* UnfortunateNames: Camels have insults as names, such as You Bastard, Evil-Smelling Bugger and Bloody Stupid.
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%%* FriendlyEnemy: Though the elite and citizenry of Ephebe and Tsort may hate each other dearly, their soldiers (or at least their commanders) don't appear to hold a particular grudge.

* ShesTheKing: According to Dios, Teppic's great-great-grandmother declared himself king "as a matter of political expediency".

* AmbiguousSyntax: Dios' habit of addressing Pteppic as "we" causes some confusion when he says "It is time to discuss our marriage." Pteppic says to him "Well, I don't think we'd be compatible."

*** Also, it may be a stretch, but [[Manga/JoJosBizrreAdventure like a certain other Dio]], [[spoiler:he is also involved in time manipulation, a fact which is not revealed until later]].

* GrapesOfLuxury: Partially subverted. Teppic doesn't really approve of the practice, and even asks that the servants not peel the grapes because most of the vitamins are found in the skins.

* OurSphinxesAreDifferent: When Pteppic and Ptraci are attempting to reenter Djelibeybi, they pass through a misty land not entirely in any dimension where they encounter the Sphinx, who asks them her famous riddle with the equally famous penalty, and will not let them pass unless they answer it.

* RoyalInbreeding: High Priest Dios suggests that newly-crowned pharaoh Teppic marry any available female relative, such as his aunt. Teppic is horrified. Dios, ComicallyMissingThePoint, regretfully muses that it's a pity that Teppic doesn't have any sisters -- ironically, he ''does'' have a half-sister (probably), Ptraci, and there's genuine {{UST}} between them, but Teppic backs of sharply when he finds out.

* GroinAttack: You Bastard saves himself and Teppic (but mostly himself) from a shady camel salesman and his henchpeople with a very carefully calculated one, prompting by seeing the henchmen holding a pair of bricks. You Bastard, figuring there's only ''one'' use a camel salesman would have for two bricks, decides to Do Unto Them before Being Done is Done Unto Him.

* NowILayMeDownToSleep: One of the flashback scenes during Teppic's assassin examination involved a classmate performing his bedtime prayers... which involved the ritual sacrifice of a goat.

* RoyalInbreeding: High Priest Dios suggests that newly-crowned pharaoh Teppic marry any available female relative, such as his aunt. Teppic is horrified. Dios, ComicallyMissingThePoint, regretfully muses that it's a pity that Teppic doesn't have any sisters - ironically, he ''does'' have a half-sister (probably), Ptraci, and there's genuine {{UST}} between them, but Teppic backs of sharply when he finds out.

* EvilChancellor: Dios is more of an evil priest than an evil chancellor, but the trope is referenced in describing him. "It is a fact as immutable as the Third Law of Sod that there is no such thing as a good GrandVizier. A predilection to cackle and plot is apparently part of the job spec. High Priests are the same way. No sooner than they're given the funny hats, they start getting ideas about throwing virgins into volcanoes."

%% * EvilChancellor: Dios is more of an evil priest than an evil chancellor, but the trope is referenced in describing him. "It is a fact as immutable as the Third Law of Sod that there is no such thing as a good GrandVizier. A predilection to cackle and plot is apparently part of the job spec. High Priests are the same way. No sooner than they're given the funny hats, they start getting ideas about throwing virgins into volcanoes."

Preceded by ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', followed by ''Discworld/GuardsGuards''.

* BilingualBonus: If you're up to speed on your CanisLatinicus, the name of one of the warriors mentioned in Copolymer's ''[[Literature/TheIliad Iliad]]'' parody, Lavaeolus, translates to "Rinser of Winds". (Lavaeolus later [[BrickJoke shows up in person]] in ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'', where he does indeed turn out to be Rincewind's ancestor.)

* ContinuityNod: Teppic discovers the reason why he had a headache before his exam was that he went on to drink reannual wine to celebrate (which grows backwards in time, introduced in ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic''), and the 'hangunder' affected him ''before'' he drank it.

* HistoryRepeats: For [[Discworld/WyrdSisters the second book in a row]], [[spoiler:a [[RightfulKingReturns prince returns to his kingdom]] only to decide [[SubvertedTrope he doesn't actually want to be king]], leaving the throne to be taken up by a previously unsuspected heir (who may not actually be of royal blood).]]

** Of course the literal translation of 'Djelibeybi' is child of the Djel. Djeli-baby...[[note]]It os a;so suggested that this is a sideways {{Homage}} to the [[Series/DoctorWho Fourth Doctor]], a man who could manipulate Time with ease and who always carried a bag in his pocket in order to hand them out.[[/note]]

** The pyramid of the very first king of Djelibeybi carries the inscription [[AC:Khuft had me Made]], a reference to an Anglo-Saxon artefact known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Jewel Alfred Jewel]].

* HistoryRepeats: For [[Discworld/WyrdSisters the second book in a row]], a [[RightfulKingReturns prince returns to his kingdom]] only to decide [[SubvertedTrope he doesn't actually want to be king]], leaving the throne to be taken up by a previously unsuspected heir (who may not actually be of royal blood).

* SnakeOilSalesman: Khuf, the founder of Djelibeybi ([[spoiler:sort of]]), turns out to have been a camel salesman who was forced to flee into the desert to avoid angry customers.