In the hill of Kochlit, tithe-vessels of the lord of the peoples and sacred
vestments; total of the tithes and of the treasure; a seventh of the
second tithe made unclean. Its opening lies on the edges of the Northern
channel, six cubits in the direction of the cave of the ablutions, ΧÎ'Γ
In the plastered cistern Manos, going down to the left,
at a height of three cubits from the bottom: silver, forty
…talents…
The connections I have made back through the Qumran-Essenes to Ezekiel and Habakkuk, the Levites, the priests of On present in the Exodus, and to Akhenaten means that any interpretation should assume a strong ‘Egyptian Effect’ on the hidden meanings of the text. The numerical values are also all likely to be Egyptian in origin, rather than Canaanite.
A full translation, in the version given by John Allegro, of all twelve columns of the Copper Scroll, together with the ancient Hebrew text, is given in the Appendix.
THE FINAL HIDING PLACE
To begin at the end, as Lewis Carroll would recommend. The end of the last column of the Copper Scroll, Column 12, refers to a tunnel in Sechab, to the north of Kochlit. It is here, in this last mentioned place, that, we are told, is hidden the key to the Copper Scrolls:*40
In the tunnel which is in Sechab, to the North of Kochlit, which opens towards the North and has graves in its entrance: a copy of this text and its explanation and its measurements and the inventory of everything…item by item.
(My italics)
Clearly this confirms that the contents of the Copper Scroll cannot be taken at face value. There is a code, and a key that can unlock the code.
So where is Kochlit? What does the code mean? Where is the key?
In his translation of the Copper Scroll, John Allegro, one of the original editorial team who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls, is very cautious (and rightly so) in assigning place-names to words that are essentially a grouping of consonants. By the nature of the Hebrew writing at the time, and as still pertains in the scrolls of the Torah, vowels were not included. Usually there is little ambiguity about the pronunciation and meaning of a word, but for unusual words, such as names and place-names, there is ample room for alternatives.
The Geza Vermes translation of ‘Kochlit’ is also given in the first, second, fourth and twelfth columns of the Scroll,10 but interestingly John Allegro here translates ‘Kochlit’ not as a place-name, but as
…and stored Seventh Year produce…
The ‘Seventh Year produce’, if it is a correct interpretation, is an unusual term. There is only one reference in the Bible that comes to mind for this kind of farsighted strategy. Could it be referring to the place where Joseph stored the last year’s and previous years’ excess gatherings of corn from the seven years of plenty for his Pharaoh, Akhenaten?
Do the Greek letters that appear in Column 1, which also contains the word ‘Kochlit’, have a bearing?
The Strange Greek Letters
No-one has previously come up with a satisfactory explanation of the meaning of the Greek letters in the Scroll, suggesting that they are indeed some kind of coded message, however many theories have been put forward. They are variously ascribed as referring to:
a) place-names
b) types of treasure
c) quantities of treasure
d) names of people
e) distances from locations
f) scribal marks
g) section divisions
One of the most recent authoritative translations of the Copper Scroll, The Copper Scroll, Overview, Text and Translation, by Al Wolters and published in 1996, refers to the Greek letters as follows:
Although various theories have been offered to explain the Greek letters, they remain an enigma. It may be significant that they could in each case be the beginning of a Greek proper name.9
Studying the Greek letters, and thinking about my theory that Moses, or the priests of Akhenaten who came out of Egypt with him, brought a ‘written map’ of treasures that remained hidden in Egypt, the solution to the Copper Scroll enigma suddenly dawned on me. A solution that was not inconsistent with Al Wolters’s suggestion.
My excitement at the discovery, as the letters fell into place, made the back of my neck tingle. The answer lies partly in the order of the locations described and partly in the cryptic Greek letters amended to some of the columns of text that have long mystified translators. They now began to have some meaning.
Later hiding places for the precious items that were brought out of Egypt and subsequently hidden in Canaan were added to the original texts being copied.
All the visible Greek coding marks occur in the first four columns of the Copper Scroll.
The letters are interspersed in the columns as:
The first ten letters spell (A)KHENATE!*41
I realized that I had cracked one of the most obstinate puzzles of the Copper Scrolls – one that has baffled scholars for decades.
The reaction of Jozef Milik to my explanation was one of wonderment. He was the first person to publish an official translation of the Copper Scroll and is an expert in ancient Middle Eastern linguistics. Whilst agreeing that the letters could relate to Akhenaten, he was puzzled as to ‘how the Essenes could know about the Pharaoh or his City’.11
In addition to Jozef Milik’s affirmation that the first ten Greek letters in the Copper Scroll might refer to Akhenaten or Akhetaten, I now needed to see if there were any references in classical literature that might use Greek letters to spell out these names.
Living in London, I was fortunate enough to be able to consult one of the most knowledgeable authorities on Egyptian and ancient Middle Eastern languages, Professor John Tait of University College London. He was kind enough to direct me towards a number of sources where I might find an answer.12
Gauthier’s Dictionnaire des Noms Geographiques gives the equivalent hieroglyphic sound of Akhenaten as: Ahk (on) t n – Åton, and from Calderini’s Dizionario dei Nomi Geografici e Topografici dell’ Egitto Greco-Romano the nearest equivalent name in Greek is ÅKAN ΘION
The fact that I could not find an exact Greek rendering of the name Akhenaten or Akhetaten was, as Professor Tait pointed out, not surprising as the Greek world would not have known of a place that had long since disappeared.13 Also, he added, there would not be Greek letters available to make the sounds equivalent to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic or hieratic words.
The nearest Greek letters that could have been used to represent pronunciations of Pharoah Akhenaten’s name, or its earlier version of Amenhotep, which the ancient Greeks were familiar with, was Amenophoris or Amenophis. Had they known of the Pharaoh’s later name, like the Qumran-Essenes, they might also have come up with the Greek letters:
Å Κ ε N Χ Î' Γ H N Θ ε
The meaning of the remaining Greek letters is discussed below, in their context within the book. The reason the Greek letters occur only in the earliest part of the Copper Scroll is, I believe, because the earlier columns relate to locations in Egypt and the scroll, being a form of list, has been added to at a later date with locations referring to Canaan.
The Seventh Year Storehouse
The meaning of the term ‘Kochlit’ as storehouse for the seventh year, as referred to in Column 1, now became clear. It is almost certainly one of the storehouses (probably the main one), next to the Great Temple of Akhenaten, where Joseph would have stored grain during the seven years of plenty in preparation for the seven years of famine. What more convenient place to hide the bulk of the treasures of the Pharaoh than at his capital Akhetaten, modern-day Amarna?
On the Upper Floor of the Museum at Luxor there are several statues of Akhenaten, and a breathtaking reconstruction of a wall from a Temple of Akhenaten at Thebes. Pictured on the talattat (blocks) of the wall are scenes of busy life on the Aten estates and, in one, a storehouse crammed full of pots, caskets, metal ingots and precious items. This is the kind of stor
ehouse from which our search can truly begin.
If the reference in the final column, Column 12, does refer to the storehouse at Amarna, as the starting place from where a summary and explanation, item by item, will be found, (and if my theory is correct), I would anticipate finding Greek letters at the end of this passage also, to indicate it was an Egyptian location. There are none. However, this is almost certainly because there is a piece of text missing exactly where one would expect to find the Greek coding letters, with just enough space to accommodate two Greek letters. What those two Greek letters might have been, I will come back to shortly.
My theory is further endorsed by a reference to a place, in Column 4, that John Allegro reads as ‘the Vale of Achor’, and Garcia Martinez reads as ‘the valley of Akon’; I read as ‘the valley of Aton’.*42 From now on the pieces of the jigsaw fall neatly into place, each bit reinforcing the others.
Figure 18: Illustration of text from the last column of the Copper Scroll.
The description at the end of the final column, therefore, refers to Egypt, and we start at the storehouses just south of the Great Temple.
…In the tunnel which is in Sechab, to the North of the Store House, and opens towards the North and has graves in its entrance: a copy of this text and its explanation and its measurements and the inventory of every thing [blank] item by item [missing piece].
Column 12
The Copper Scroll is saying: go due north of the stored seventh year produce and you will find a tomb or tombs.
Bearing almost exactly due north, as instructed, from the storehouses you do indeed arrive at a line of northern tombs, running along the edge of a quarry-ridden plateau just south of modern Sheikh Said. Here the plateau parallels the curve of the River Nile and comes right down to within about 30m of the river. What more convenient way to transport bulky treasure than by the river that is in close proximity to the Great Temple.
The tomb, which has a tunnel opening towards the North, has the key to the Copper Scroll buried in the mouth of the tunnel.
The ridge on which these Northern Tombs are situated faces in various directions following the contour of the hillside. Those of Meryra, Huya and Meryra II (or Kheshi as he has been called) face approximately south, and their tunnel openings run northward. All three persons were key officials in Akhenaten’s Court, and their tombs are candidates for determined further excavation.
As far as is known, Meryra was the only High Priest of Aten. His other titles were: ‘Bearer of the Fan on the right-hand side of the King’, ‘Royal Chancellor’, ‘Sole Companion’, ‘Sometime Prince’, and ‘Friend of the King’. He was also an hereditary prince and his tomb reflects his importance, with lavish decorated scenes of local life. About 60m behind his tomb at the top of the hill is a deep burial shaft, facing north. This location is a most likely contender for secreting the key to the Copper Scroll.
Reference in the translation of at Sechab as the location of the tunnel is another important clue. Looked at more closely, the Hebrew word could easily be translated as ‘Sechra’. There is one name that fits this pronunciation, and that is ‘Seeaakara’ – the mysterious King who immediately succeeded Akhenaten and is thought to have reigned as co-regent shortly before the Akhenaten’s death. Seeaakara, as King, is shown rewarding Meryra II, his scribe and superintendent, on an unfinished picture on the wall of the scribe’s tomb.14
The tomb of Meryra II, or, if it can be located, that of the mysterious Seeaakara (Smenkhkara), also warrants further intensive investigation.
Figure 19: Plan of the archaeological sites at Akhetaten, now known as El-Amarna.
BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TEXT
Column 1
Returning to Column 1, the line ruin which is in the valley puts us, according to John Allegro, in the valley of the seventh year produce, looking for structures built before the time of Akhenaten, or which were then in ruins. There are steps leading east. The most likely contenders are the Desert Altars, not far from Akhenaten’s North Palace. These were enclosed in heavily buttressed brick walls, alluded to by John Allegro’s translation that describes the location as ‘fortress-like’. The altars, chapel and pavilion structure were either in ruins or dismantled in Akhenaten’s time. The Northern Altar can be approached by a ramp leading to the east. Forty cubits (or 20.4m) along this ramp and beneath it, there should be a chest of money with contents weighing seventeen Talents.
The next section refers to the sepulchral monument, where there are 100 light bars of gold. There is only one other reference to gold ingots, and that occurs in the ‘Egyptian’ Column 2. This talks about the carpeted house of Yeshu(?). I take this as meaning in the precincts of Akhetaten city. John Allegro, rather, reads this phrase as the Old House of Tribute. In one of the northern group of tombs there is a tomb of ‘Huya’, Steward to Queen Tiyi, mother of Akhenaten. The decorated chapel to Huya shows a scene of Akhenaten in the twelfth year of his reign, being borne on a carrying chair with his wife Queen Nefertiti to the Hall of Foreign Tribute. Below and to the side of the scene are pictures of visiting emissaries paying homage to Pharaoh. The ‘House of Tribute’ was almost certainly this Hall of Tribute of Akhetaten.
The Hall of Tribute was a large altar area forming part of the enclosure wall of the Great Temple to the north-east end of the building. It is quite likely that the floor would have been carpeted, for the comfort of the dignitaries who must have been constantly prostrating themselves at the feet of Pharaoh. In the cavity…in the third platform sixty-five gold ingots. Under the raised platform three levels down these gold bar riches must have been secreted.
Too late! Someone has got there first!
‘Crock of Gold Square’
In 1926 a team excavating the ancient city of Akhetaten had began a six-year season of work under its leaders, Dr H. Frankfort and J. D. S. Pendlebury.
The dig had reached the Central Western Quarter of Tell el-Amarna and what appeared to be the outhouse of a large estate. In a small courtyard to the east, Mr Pendlebury was supervising a Bedouin workman in what seemed to promise to be a useful day’s effort. They had already found a small limestone statue of a monkey playing a harp and a fragment of pierced blue faience decorated with spirals and a Nefertiti cartouche.*43 Digging a foot under the ground the workman unearthed a large buff-clay, matt-brown painted jug. It was about 24cm high and 15cm diameter. As he prised off the lid, out popped a gold bar, followed by twenty-two more.
By the time they had completed the excavation, the team had also found two silver ingots, silver fragments, rings, ear rings and silver sheet.
Dr Frankfort believed that the silver fragments had been crushed and the rings twisted and broken, to make them ready for melting down, just the way the silver and gold ingots had been produced. Frankfort and Pendlebury considered that the find was part of a thief’s loot, and even suggested that the looter, or looters, had raided the Hall of Foreign Tribute, as it was less than a mile away.
The area that they were excavating is now known as ‘Crock of Gold Square’. What Dr Frankfort and his team had found was a treasure trove of twenty-three gold bars of various weights between 34.62g and 286.53g, and weighing 3,375.36g in total.15
Before proceeding to assess this find we need to re-examine the question of what the text of the Copper Scroll really means when it refers to a ‘Talent’.
The Problem of Weights and the ‘Gold Khaff Link’
The difficulties in determining what exactly was meant by the unit of weight that is written in the Copper Scroll texts as ‘KK’, and sometimes just as a single ‘K’, has continually perplexed translators. The unit is usually translated, and therefore considered to be, a ‘Talent’.
The weight term is represented in the text as two Hebrew ‘khaffs’, for which there is no exact English pronunciation but an approximation would be ‘kh kh’. These weight letters have always previously been translated as the Canaanite or Biblical ‘Talent’ – a unit weighing variously between 30kg and 150kg.
For the Copper Scroll, 35kg (equivalent to the weight of 3,000 Shekels) has usually been taken as the guide. Using even the lowest of these units, astronomical financial values and excessive weights are arrived at for the total amounts of precious metals mentioned in the Copper Scroll. Some translators have, therefore, quite arbitrarily downgraded the term to the next Canaanite unit of weight.16 (For further discussion of this point, see Chapter 2.)
From my standpoint that the texts refer to Egyptian locations, I considered it more logical now to use local contemporary Egyptian units of weight. In addition, drawing on my experience as a metallurgist, I knew (as anyone who has been in an assay office would know) that units of ‘kilogrammes’ are not the currency for weighing precious metals.
The Egyptian common unit of weight was, until 1795 BCE, the ‘Deben’ – equivalent to 93.3g. After that period it was supplemented by the ‘Kite’ of 9–10g – which was exclusively used to weigh gold and silver.17
Our worthy gentlemen, Dr Frankfort and Mr Pendlebury, and their team of excavators at Tell el-Amarna, also dug up a number of small decorative figures that they classified as weights. All are in the range of 20g, but only one looks like a standard weight. It is made solely of lead as a plain cuboid and is inscribed with two parallel vertical downward marks ‘II’. This was found in one of the most sumptuous houses amongst the large estates. These downward marks are identical to the type of single marks found in the Copper Scroll to indicate one unit of weight.
The weight of this lead cuboid is 20.4g. The two parallel downward strokes on it indicate that it was equivalent to two ‘Kite’ and must mean that the standard unit of weight – a ‘KK’ – is represented by the two ‘khaffs’ in the Copper Scroll.
The Copper Scroll only mentions pure gold ingots twice; on both occasions each reference is in the first two columns, which I have deduced relate to the City of Akhetaten. The total number of gold bars listed, from both locations, is 165. Assuming the gold bars were originally cast in identical, standard moulds, sized to produce gold bars as close as possible to the standard ‘KK’ unit of weight, the total weight of the 165 gold bars would be:
The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran Page 21