by Adam Palmer
‘I remember, but what has—’
‘Wait! Let me explain. Henry Salt was a contemporary of William John Bankes. He was one of that whole crowd of Victorian British explorers and adventurers from the great age of Empire who travelled to Egypt and the Middle East in search of the treasures of the ancient world. He was a wealthy man and during the course of his travels he acquired a papyrus now known as Papyrus Salt 124. It was one of a number of papyri that he donated to the British Museum.’
‘And what made you think of that just now?’
‘Because that’s what this is about! It refers to the same events.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘The papyrus consists of a complaint by the brother of someone called Neferhotep. Neferhotep was the works foreman for the necropolis. And the complaint is mainly against someone called Paneb, but also partly against someone called Mossy or Mussi.’
‘And who were they?’
‘Paneb was Neferhotep’s adopted son. Mossy or Mussi was someone in a position of authority who took Paneb’s side when the case against Paneb was brought to judgement. And Mossy or Mussi also appears to be the author of this text.’
‘But I thought you said that the man who wrote this text was called Amenmesse.’
‘Yes, but there has long been speculation and debate as to whether Amenmesse and Mossy were one and the same. And the problem is compounded by the almost biblical use of ambiguous pronouns.’
‘So wait a minute – what exactly happened? I mean, who judged who and what was the outcome?’
‘That’s what I’m trying to explain. The complaint makes all manner of accusations, some of them quite possibly exaggerated. It starts off by saying that Neferhotep, the complainant’s brother, was killed by some unspecified “enemy” – a term usually reserved for a traitor to Egypt. Then it says that Paneb usurped his role as works foreman by bribing a corrupt vizier with five of the late Neferhotep’s own slaves. But the complaint also goes on to list all manner of other crimes allegedly committed by Paneb during Neferhotep’s lifetime, including stealing from the necropolis, threatening to kill Neferhotep, beating up nine guards that Neferhotep set to guard him by night and various rapes of both women and boys.’
Daniel was puzzled by this account. ‘So why didn’t Neferhotep bring the complaint himself? Before he was killed by this “enemy”, I mean?’
‘Well, first of all, like I said, there may be an element of exaggeration in the complaint itself. But secondly, Neferhotep did bring a complaint against Paneb to the vizier – not the corrupt vizier, but his honest predecessor. According to the papyrus, the vizier who heard the complaint upheld the claims and ordered that Paneb be flogged for his crimes. But Paneb then appealed the ruling and the appeal came before this Mossy or Mussi.’
‘And who was this Mossy or Mussi?’ asked Daniel.
‘We don’t know who he was. But one thing we can be sure of is that he must have been someone of high enough rank to veto the local vizier. One suggestion is that it was Amenmesse who ruled part of Egypt during his power struggle with Sethi the Second. Another is that it was someone called Messuwy, who had previously been the pharaoh’s viceroy in Nubia. Yet another theory is that they were one and the same – although there is some vigorous debate about this.’
‘Well, from what you’ve said, Gaby, this text suggests that it was Amenmesse.’
‘Yes, but the name Mossy sounds like Messuwy. So taken as a whole it could also be interpreted as meaning that they were one and the same. Anyway, go on!’
Daniel turned to the second tablet, which lay between them on top of the remaining two. He switched on the car light to illuminate it better and continued reading.
When my brother Sethi heard of this he was angry with me and wanted to kill me. So I fled to a place nearby where I came face to face with the one true God, whose face cannot be seen. He appeared to me in fire on this sacred ground and revealed his true name to me and it was Jehovah. And he commanded me to end the cruelty against Israel. So awed was I by this wondrous place that I engraved words in the writing style of Israel upon the stones nearby.
‘Wadi el-hol!’ said Gabrielle.
The name sounded familiar to Daniel. ‘The place where they found an early sample of the ancient script?’
‘Yes! Remember… it’s only twenty miles from the workers’ village. He must have run away when he realized that the pharaoh was after him.’
Suddenly Daniel found himself gripped by the excitement of a profound realization. ‘Then this phrase “appeared to me in fire” must be a reference to the burning bush… the burning bush which Moses saw after he ran away from…’
‘What?’ asked Gabrielle.
‘After he killed the Egyptian taskmaster who was beating an Israelite slave!’
‘Holy shit!’ said Gabrielle. ‘It really happened… maybe not quite the way the Bible described it, but it really happened.’
There were tears in Daniel’s eyes.
‘And Mossy must have been…’
‘Moses,’ Gabrielle muttered, barely able to raise her voice above a whisper.
Chapter 92
‘Excuse me, I know this is going to sound awfully silly, but I was looking for some friends of mine. I was supposed to meet them here, but I got a bit delayed.’
Sarit was talking to a woman behind the counter at the Petra visitor centre.
‘We get so many people passing through here.’
She had been about to tell the woman the names of her ‘friends’ – but the initial response made it clear that this would serve no useful purpose.
‘One of them is quite tall.’ She made a gesture with a raised arm and right-angled hand to indicate height.
‘Oh, wait a minute, yes, I remember them. They went with Sheikh Ibrahim.’
‘Sheikh Ibrahim?’
‘Yes. They wanted a special tour with someone who really knows the history.’
‘You mean like a private tour?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, do you know where they went?’
‘Not really. I mean, knowing Sheikh Ibrahim it’ll be well off the beaten track.’
‘But you don’t know where.’
‘I’m afraid not. But I can give you his mobile phone number.’
‘Oh, er… thank you.’
She hadn’t expected that. Less than a minute later she was outside trying to get a signal. She had to move a few yards away from the building, but eventually she got one. She called the number. It rang for such a long time that she expected it to cut out and transfer to voicemail. But eventually a man answered.
‘Hallo.’
The voice sounded rasping, like he was in some place where he couldn’t speak freely, like a church or a library.
‘Sheikh Ibrahim?’
‘Who is this?’
‘My name is Siobhan. You don’t know me but I’m—’
‘Help me,’ the voice croaked.
Sarit froze. The pain in the voice sounded real.
‘Help me,’ the voice said again, in a muted rasp. It sounded like he was struggling to speak.
‘Who is this?’
‘Ib… Ibrahim.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Snake Monument.’
She tried to ask him more questions, but was greeted by silence. She realized that she would have to go there, with or without a guide.
Chapter 93
Daniel had recovered his composure and was reading out loud.
I returned to the city and claimed the throne of Egypt and fought against my brother Sethi. And the Jehovah-ites helped me against the might of Egypt.
‘Jehovah-ites?’ Gabrielle repeated.
‘It says Yahowa da’im. That could be translated as the ones who knew Jehovah. But it could also be Yehudim: the Judah-ites, which in English is translated as Jews.’
‘What else does it say?’
He carried on translating.
But my brother’s army was too strong
and so we fled into the desert: Israel and the Jehovah-ites.
‘So you’ve got two peoples joining forces: the Jehovah-ites or Judah-ites… and Israel.’
‘That’s what it appears to be saying.’
And we celebrated our freedom like the sed of Pharaoh.
He broke off. ‘I don’t know if I pronounced that right.’
‘You did,’ said Gabrielle. ‘The sed festival was a great feast that the pharaohs had to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary – those that had such an anniversary, that is. Then they had other sed festivals every three or four years thereafter. Ramesses the Second, who ruled for sixty-six years, had fourteen sed festivals.’
‘And what were they? I mean, how did they celebrate?’
‘The sed festivals were essentially great banquets for the royal court with sumptuous food and singing by choirs consisting of the royal wives. They also had singers from the temples and performing acrobats and the whole thing was officiated over by the daughters of Asian princes whose main job was to pour drinks for the pharaoh four times into his royal goblet… Daniel?’
He realized that the look on his face had arrested her exposition midstream. ‘Say that again.’
‘I said, the festival of sed was a—’
‘No, the bit about the drinks.’
She blinked, uncertain of what he was getting at. ‘They were poured by Asian princesses who—’
‘No, I mean how many times?’
‘What – how many times did they pour the drinks? Four, according to the descriptions in the ancient texts.’
‘Four drinks.’
‘Yes,’ Gabrielle replied, still unsure of what Daniel was getting at.
‘And it’s called the festival of sed?’
‘Yes! Look, what’s all this about? What’s so special about four drinks? As opposed to three… or any other number.’
‘The Jews celebrate the Exodus at Passover—’
‘Yes, I know that!’
‘No, what I mean is that Passover starts with a festive family dinner accompanied by a religious service at the dining table called a seider. That means order, in both biblical and modern Hebrew, because things have to be done in a particular order.’
‘Mm… I never thought of that.’
‘But there’s more. It’s a tradition at the seider service that we drink four glasses or cups of wine!’
‘Good God!’
‘That’s what I was getting at. Specifically four!’
‘And you think that this seider service could originate with the festival of sed that the Egyptian kings used to celebrate?’
‘That’s what I’m beginning to think.’
Gabrielle was unable to contain her curiosity. ‘Does it say any more?’
‘I was translating from the bottom of the second tablet.’
‘Then let’s go on to the next one.’
The Jehovah-ites were a warrior people and did not wish to stay outside Canaan as we did. So they entered Canaan in battle with their leader Judah.
‘Did the Israelites have a leader called Judah at the time?’ asked Gabrielle.
Daniel’s eyes lit up. ‘No, but there was a tribe called Judah! And for much of history Judah was a separate kingdom from Israel. And of course Judah can also mean the One Who Knew Jehovah.’
‘That would explain the fragmented history of your people,’ she said with a smile.
‘Absolutely. It explains quite a lot of things such as the varying linguistic styles of the early parts of the Bible and some of the apparent contradictions…’
Again his train of thought had been arrested. This time by the words that he had just read and translated in his mind.
‘Daniel?’
But the people complained against me and against Jehovah because there was no water. And so I built an idol to the Snake God that was the god of the place where we settled, to appease its anger and we prayed to it for food. But Jehovah was jealous and he sent a plague against the people. And we were afflicted with boils on our skin that looked like fiery snakes. And the people came to me and begged me to take the snakes away. But I knew that the snakes on our flesh were a punishment from Jehovah so I told the people to destroy the snake idol and repent to Jehovah…
He couldn’t continue.
‘So that’s what the Snake Monument was,’ said Gabrielle.
‘It’s mentioned in the Bible, in the book of Numbers, albeit in somewhat different form – just before the reference to The Book of the Wars of the Lord in fact. Remember what I told you about the fiery serpents and Moses putting a snake on a pole so that when they looked up at it, they were cured.’
‘But that stone base was hardly what you could call a pole.’
‘I know,’ Daniel replied. ‘But pole is just a modern translation. It could be a pedestal or base. Aside from that, in order for the Israelites to see it, it must have been something big. A small serpent on a pole would hardly be visible to such a numerous band of people. But a huge stone monument on a huge base is something else.’
‘But didn’t you say it was a bronze or copper snake? Not a stone one.’
‘Yes, but that was just other people’s interpretation. Later parts of the Bible describe how the bronze snake head of Moses’ staff was used to burn incense in the temple – until it was destroyed by one of the kings of Israel. He said it was being used for idolatry. He called it the Nehustan, which is a corruption of the Hebrew for snake.’
‘Let’s go on with the translation,’ Gabrielle suggested.
It was Jehovah’s will that we leave the accursed place and go into Canaan as the Jehovah-ites had done. So I sent men to spy out the land and they returned and one of them whose name was Caleb told me that it is the will of Jehovah that we enter the land of Canaan and fight for its holy soil and its fruits and its trees. But the other spies said that the men of Canaan are giants and we are like grasshoppers in their eyes.
‘What about Joshua?’
Daniel’s eyes widened.
‘Oh, come on now, Danny, I may not be a Bible scholar like you, but I know the story of the twelve spies that Moses sent to spy out the land. Ten came back with negative reports but Joshua and Caleb said it was a land flowing with milk and honey and they could beat the natives and conquer the land.’
‘Well, in this narrative there’s no Joshua, just Caleb. Oh, hold on… wait a minute…’
‘Yes?’ she said, desperate to know.
‘This next bit…’
‘What?’
The man at my right hand Joshua said to me that Caleb was a righteous man. But I am old and I know that I cannot lead the people in battle. And when I told Joshua that he must lead the people, he said that he did not wish to leave my side. He said that if I was too weak to lead the people in battle, then they would stay here with me. But now I too am stricken by the plague and I know I will soon see God face to face. So I told him to leave this place and lead the people into the land of Canaan.
He looked up at Gabrielle, unable to continue. It was Gabrielle who spoke. ‘The plague?’
‘I know.’ His tone was solemn.
‘Does that mean…’
‘You remember what Sheikh Ibrahim said about those bones in the cave?’
‘Yes.’
‘How the bones were taken to the University of Jordan and then they gave Ibrahim the silent treatment when he asked about the results?’
‘Yes,’ said Gabrielle, realizing where this was heading.
‘I think we have to go to Amman. We need to talk to that professor.’
Chapter 94
Finding the Snake Monument and the path leading to it was easy enough using the map that they had provided at the visitor centre. But finding the specific cave was another matter. They had suggested she take a guide, especially as she didn’t have a travelling companion. But Sarit knew that the danger of taking trails without guides was somewhat exaggerated and she couldn’t afford to have anyone else around right now. She had a problem t
o deal with.
Fortunately there was no one else around, no local Bedul families with screaming kids, and no one making any noise that might prevent her fine-tuned ear from finding what she was looking for.
‘Sheikh Ibrahim?’ she called out tentatively. ‘Sheikh Ibrahim!’
She heard her own voice echoing back to her; but no response, even as she strained her ear to detect the slightest sound. She trudged on a bit more.
‘Sheikh Ibrahim!’ she shouted a little louder than before. She didn’t want to alert others, but she had to find him.
A faint trace of a voice rippled towards her from the distance, but it was hard to gauge its location.
‘Where are you?’ she called out, plugging one ear with her finger and straining to hear.
‘Over here.’ The voice was still weak, but at least she could determine its direction. It appeared to be coming from a ridge above her and to the left. She made her way to it and as she got nearer, she could make out the entrance to a cave.
‘Sheikh Ibrahim,’ she repeated.
‘In here.’
The weak voice confirmed that she was in the right location. Rather than venturing directly into the lion’s den, she peered in to assess the situation. It was hard to see, because her pupils were contracted against the bright light outside the cave. Eventually they adjusted sufficiently to make out some semblance of what was inside.
And what she saw was a bloody mess.
On the far side of the cave a man lay covered in blood. That, she realized, was Sheikh Ibrahim. She approached him cautiously.