Treasure of Egypt

by Barbara Ivie Green

  Akeim took a piece of wood that was only partially burned and held it toward the ceiling. The glowing ember burned brighter as the air whispered past, igniting in the breeze. “There is a wind.”

  “It’s a giant chimney flue,” Samuel narrowed his eyes as he tried to see into the darkness beyond.

  “The breath of the beast,” Sophia whispered in awe as she began to walk up the incline. As the flame grew brighter, the light revealed a drawing of the god Apophis stalking the royal barque.

  “Have we been swallowed then?” Samuel eyes darted to the scene as he hurried after her. “Metaphorically speaking?”

  “Not yet,” Sophia motioned toward the next drawing which revealed the giant snake being fettered by several gods.

  “This looks like a positive sign,” Alec nudged Samuel as he said it.

  “For those with rope,” Samuel replied while contemplating the drawing. Immediately he started removing pieces of his wardrobe tying them together as they walked.

  Alec watched him for a moment. “What are you doing?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he looked up quickly, “I’m making rope.”

  “Why?”

  “You could say I’m reading the writing on the wall.” Samuel supplied as he wound the pieces together, adding it to the bit of cloth he already had looped over his shoulder. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how everything that is written on these damn walls comes to pass?” he looked around the passage as if the devil himself might have overheard his whispered comment.

  “You actually think there is going to be a giant snake that we’re going to tie up with that?” Alec lifted a brow.

  “Make a joke of it then,” Samuel shrugged. “I didn’t believe we’d actually run into a lake,” he added meaningfully as he knotted two pieces together and tugged at the knot. “Now, I intend to be prepared,” he paused, looking over at him, “For anything.”

  “All right then. Just supposing you’re right,” Alec removed his own robe, knotting it as they moved up the corridor. “I’ll let you have mine as well, if it makes you feel better,” he handed the twisted garment over to him as they met up with the others.

  “Ah, yes, the proverbial burning branch?” Samuel commented when he noticed what Sophia was studying.

  “It’s the symbol for sound,” Sophia corrected softly.

  “How is it that a burning stick could stand for sound?” Samuel’s expression was one of puzzlement.

  “For one,” Sophia whispered, throwing her eyes heavenwards. “It is not a burning stick.”

  “It’s not?” He looked close. “Are you sure? It looks just like the symbol for a brazier.” Samuel quickly drew the symbol in the dirt at their feet. “What are the triangles, if not heat?”

  “For one,” she bent over, adding a curling line to his picture. “It isn’t fire without smoke and the triangles represent heat radiating out,” she turned back to the symbol for sound, tracing the drawing with her finger. “But here the stem represents a throat and the oval above it, an open mouth. The triangles in this case represent sound radiating out.”

  “Only one more question.” At her look of disbelief, Samuel continued, “If it stands for sound, then why are we whispering?” he asked, leaning toward her.

  “Because it warns not to make any,” Sophia pointed to the sign for water before pressing her finger to her lips for silence.

  “Oh right, the zigzagged line implies the negative,” his voice drifted off as he put his own finger to his mouth.

  As they climbed further, another archway could be seen ahead of them in the flickering light. A noise like a soft moan whistled in the wind as they approached. They stood before the opening, silently watching the cobwebs that hung from the door move in the draft.

  “This is most unnerving,” Samuel’s hushed tone seemed to resonate within the room beyond.

  “Shhh,” Sophia put her finger to her lips once again.

  Akeim brushed the dusty strands away from the entrance and walked inside, illuminating the room with the burning wood he held. A triangular cathedral rose high overhead, disappearing into the dark recesses above him.

  Alec stepped through with Genevieve and looked around. The walls had been formed by stacking huge rectangular granite blocks one on top the other. The slight overhang of each stone created a steep, inverted staircase.

  Sophia and Samuel joined them in the center. “What now?” Samuel muttered softly. The sound echoed through the chamber, turning into a groan, which produced a creaking noise above them. Alec, who was standing nearby, elbowed him.

  “O-w-w,” Samuel mouthed, rubbing at his arm.

  Silently they crept through to the other side where they were forced to stop. The opening under the archway was blocked by a huge stone. Etched on the surface was the image of the Pharaoh Khafre. Beside him was a woman of incredible beauty.

  The goddess had been drawn wearing the headdress of a vulture with its vibrantly colored wings cascading down into her long, braided hair. Above it rested the horns of fertility around the golden disk of the harvest moon. She held an Ankh up to the Pharaoh’s lips, breathing life into the newly resurrected being.

  “Isis,” Sophia whispered. Her words produced a whispered hum in the cathedral above. The stone blocking the door moved up an inch, revealing an opening beneath. “Isis!” she called out again. This time the room was filled with an echoed chant, Sis…sis…sis…sis.

  The creaking noise from above continued as the door crept slowly up, revealing a two-foot space at the bottom. The groan they had heard before returned, echoing through the chamber as the door ground to a halt.

  Akeim wedged the burning stump beneath it and rolled to the other side. His hand reappeared in the opening as Sophia crouched down. Taking hold of her, he quickly pulled her through the narrow opening.

  Genevieve followed behind her mother. As soon as she was clear, Alec motioned for Samuel to go, but he refused. High above them the creaking noise became stronger, sounding as though a sizable piece of timber was about to snap.

  Again Alec motioned, but Samuel shook his head. Why does he choose now to be brave? Throwing up his hands up in defeat, Alec dropped to his knees and followed Genevieve under the door.

  The creaking intensified, as did the loud popping as Alec crawled through. Samuel looked up at the ceiling warily. Whatever it was, it sounded as though it would be joining him on the ground soon. “Ah, Com’on,” he breathed anxiously.

  As soon as Alec cleared the door, Samuel started to crawl. He was halfway under the door when it dropped, falling to within an inch of his face. His eyes grew wide as Alec grabbed a hold of his arms, pulling him through the rest of the way. Just as his boots cleared the threshold, the door slammed down, smashing the stump beneath it.

  “Holy Hell!” Samuel jumped up. “Is it me or are these close calls getting closer?” A thunderous noise accompanied by a tremor shook the floor. He looked down at the dust billowing in from the crack beneath the stone. “Well then,” he turned around, “I’d say that way is definitely closed to us now.”

  Akeim stabbed one of the charcoal pieces of wood with his sword and held it up, blowing on it until it flickered to life.

  “Oh, it’s chilly in here,” Genevieve rubbed her arms as she looked around at the chamber. Stone pillars surrounded the space they found themselves in. Sophia nodded in agreement as they followed Akeim further into the room.

  “Hell is just not what I expected,” Samuel grumbled.

  Amused by his comment, Alec couldn’t help but ask. “And what were you expecting?”

  “Fire, that is a given. Dry perhaps… We are in the desert after all,” Samuel gave him a look of disbelief. “I for one was under the impression that in Hell, one would have to beg for water. I certainly never thought that drowning could be such a serious threat,” he looked down at their wet clothing. “And now, I’m soaked to the bone and freezing my arse off.”

  Alec chuckled, clapping him on the back. “But we are
alive,” he smiled.

  “Yes, I have my chattering teeth to remind—” Samuel stopped in mid-sentence as Akeim held up the light near the center of the room. “Would you look at that!”

  In the middle of the chamber, surrounded by pillars, rose a dais crowned by a huge golden sarcophagus. The edges of the raised floor were decorated in golden lions with two-headed snakes coming out of their mouths. Around it was a shallow trench, reminding one of a moat around a miniature medieval castle.

  The golden glow of the torch reflected not only the Pharaoh’s tomb, but also the golden bands which collared each pillar. The ceiling above it was decorated with a goddess, her golden body stretched across the dark, blue sky above. The sun’s journey through the night was elaborately drawn across her form.

  “This is beautiful,” Sophia whispered in awe as she stood before the shrine.

  “It’s even more impressive than the pyramid that rests above it,” Samuel quipped. “They really need to add this to the tour.”

  Sophia gave him a disapproving glance.

  “What?” he inquired innocently. “Have you seen the tour? I for one was very disappointed.” Samuel joked as he walked to the edge of the three-foot drop.

  “Be careful,” Genevieve cautioned.

  Looking down briefly at the moat, Samuel‘s eyes sparkled with humor. “I think I can handle this one, even if I do fall in.”

  “Don’t be so sure,” Sophia warned. “This is where the Pharaoh and the God of the underworld become one. His throne is on a raised dais, signifying not only the primordial mound, but where he as the God Osiris sits in judgment.”

  “So this is the judgment hall?” Alec looked around curiously.

  “Yes,” Genevieve nodded. “This is where the goddess Maat presides over the weighing of the heart. Only if it is lighter than the feather of purity, can you be received by heaven,” she paused, looking over at him. “Unfortunately, if it’s heavier, you will be fed to the goddess Ammut.”

  “And who is this Ammut?” Alec grinned at her dour expression.

  “She is the devourer of the dead, a demon with the head of a crocodile and a body that is part hippo, part lion,” Genevieve explained.

  “So in other words, she’s not very attractive,” Samuel chuckled.

  “She was most feared by the ancient Egyptians,” Sophia replied seriously with a look of dire warning.

  Samuel smiled at her words as he walked over to a chest that had been enshrined between two columns. The square box had an open shelf on each end that housed stone vessels with square lids. Walking around it curiously, he picked one up and opened the lid, sniffing the contents. “What are these?”

  Sophia lifted it from his hand. “Be very careful,” she admonished. “These are Canopic jars.”

  “Oh, hell!” he spit wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “They should warn people,” he eyed the containers warily. “What happened to the baboon and jackal that are supposed to protect them?” He looked mildly offended by their lack of decorum. “These don’t even look like the ones I’ve seen in the museum.”

  “You have to remember that this tomb is from a much earlier period. The Pharaoh Khafre ruled during the old kingdom.” She shook her head as she explained.

  “What exactly does that mean?” Samuel asked.

  “Everything in the underworld wasn’t set in stone, per se. Their beliefs evolved over several hundred centuries.”

  “So what did I just inhale?” Samuel curiously peered over at the vessel she held. “Brains?”

  Sophia looked down at the jar in her hands. “Intestines,” she read before placing it back on the shelf. “The Egyptians didn’t keep the brain.”

  “You’re kidding?” Samuel did a double take. “They kept the intestines, but not the ol’ thinker?”

  “The Egyptians believed that the heart was the center of wisdom and place of the soul.” Sophia left him and went to the first column as she spoke, “Whereas the brain was essentially thought of as useless.”

  “Wait a minute, I’ve heard that the ancient Egyptians operated on the brain.” Samuel trailed behind her. “Now I find that they didn’t even value it?”

  “There were several maladies they thought to cure by drilling a hole in the head.” Sophia reasoned, “Everything from tumors to letting the demons out.”

  “That gives me a headache just thinking of it,” Alec joked as both he and Genevieve followed their progress.

  “That too,” Sophia nodded. “In fact, in the embalming process, it was common practice to insert an instrument up through the nasal cavity and scramble the brain. Once they had pulled the tissue out through the nose, they would simply discard it.”

  “Augh!” Samuel grimaced, “Now you’re pulling my leg.”

  Sophia gave him a look of reproach, “I would never… pull your leg.”

  Samuel shot Alec a silent plea for help.

  Alec smiled at him insolently, enjoying for the most part Samuel’s discomfort.

  Samuel eyed him ruefully. Unwilling to risk her ire, he turned to Genevieve instead. “Didn’t they weigh the heart on some type of scale?”

  “Yes,” she watched as his gaze circled the room. “Why?”

  “We seem to be suspiciously missing one in this rendition,” Samuel’s gaze came to rest once again on her.

  “All the more reason to be careful,” Sophia warned from where she stood looking at a drawing of the god Osiris that had been carved in relief on the column facing the sarcophagi.

  “Why is he green anyway?” Samuel asked noting her direction.

  “Because he’s been resurrected, his green skin symbolizes the divine power to create new life from death,” Sophia answered before going to the next column decorated with beautiful carvings.

  “And here I always assumed it was because he was moldy.” Samuel looked over at Alec who shrugged his shoulders. “So what is this telling us?” Samuel gazed up at the woman who stretched across the ceiling.”

  “This is the sky goddess, Nut,” Genevieve answered him. “She was thought to swallow the sun god Ra every night and give birth to him every morning.”

  “That sounds rather bleak, if I may say so myself,” Samuel’s expression was one of aversion as he tilted his head back.

  “After the primordial mound rose above the waters of chaos,” she continued despite his comment, “Ra created the deities Shu, the goddess of air and Tefnut, the god of moisture. They in turn gave birth to the Nut, the sky goddess, whom Tefnut lifted up to take her place above the heavens.” Genevieve motioned to the ceiling, “She was separated from her mate, the earth god Aker, who is portrayed here as the golden lions at each corner of this raised platform.”

  “A story of unrequited love,” Samuel mused.

  “Not exactly,” Genevieve pointed to either end of the goddess. “But it was only at the edge of the earth, where the sun rose and set, did they meet.” She then motioned around the room at the other gods portrayed on the walls in vibrant colors, “Along with Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys, they create what the Egyptians called the pesedjet, the group of nine.”

  “Ah, the number nine,” Samuel remarked. “Now it begins to make sense.”

  “What makes sense?” she raised a questioning brow of her own.

  “The gods in the boat, the baboons, even the fire pots, were nine in number.”

  “The number nine has special significance,” Sophia added as she moved to the next column.

  Curiously, Samuel walked behind her, “So it seems.”

  “You see a triad, or trinity, in the Egyptians case, consisted of a god, goddess and their son and heir.” Sophia drew a triangle with her foot on the floor. “The benben stone or obelisk is an important Egyptian symbol for,” she paused looking slightly uncomfortable. “A man’s… Ah, how do you say?”

  “Ah, I see,” Samuel nodded in understanding. “It’s a phallic symbol.”

  “Exactly,” Sophia rushed on. “You see, three triads placed together represent a ve
ry powerful symbol of strength.” She drew another triangle beside the first and placed the third on top. “The pyramid,” she looked over at him. “But notice will you, that there is another triad that has been created by doing so.”

  “Would you look at that, right in the middle,” he whistled softly as he considered it. “So who does this represent?”

  “Who do you think?”

  He pondered this a moment, “Amun and his merry men?” He received a sour look for his levity. “Wait, the women.” She gave him a look that said he might be redeemed yet. “The missing daughters from the triad are actually still there.” He looked down at her drawing as it dawned on him.

  She nodded, retracing the middle symbol with her foot. “This one is another ancient symbol for woman.”

  “Amazing,” Samuel studied her drawing a moment longer before looking up at the column she was studying. The colorful etching depicted the god Osiris with a large orange disk on his head. “So, is this the moon too then?” Samuel pointed to the crown.

  “No, that actually is the sun.” Sophia glanced up briefly before walking to the next pillar. “It is the two aspects of one god. When he was living, he was the embodiment of the sun god. He was to inherit his father Ra’s kingdom, until his brother Seth killed him.”

  “Yes, I remember you told us that one,” Samuel nodded as he followed behind her.

  “On his death, he became the God of the Underworld and his own son Horus took his place,” Sophia explained as she stepped around the column. “The solar disk is symbolic of his resurrection and connection to his former self. He is restored.”

  “Ah,” Samuel nodded in understanding as he followed behind her. The image of an animal with a long snout, pricked, blunt ears, and canine body with forked tail confronted him on the other side. “Isn’t this the god Seth?” He looked the beastly creature over. “Why is he here? Is he to be judged then?”

  “Actually, no.” Sophia glanced up. “Even though he is a murderer, he is also the Egyptian god of war.” At his look of confusion, she continued. “His might is needed to battle Apophis so that his father Ra will be able to rise again.”

  “So he has been forgiven his sins, for the greater good.” Samuel gave the god’s hideous form a last glance, “despite his appearance.”