The Memphis Papyrus
The Memphis Papyrus
By Laila Bouinidane
2022
INDEX
Forward
I. Michael in Saqqarah
II. Hidden Treasures
III. Michael in Memphis
IV. Drafting the Papyrus
V. The last quest
VI. The Curse of the Pharaos
Forward
Here I am lost, time and again, in this world, floating beyond my shadow in the seventh skies, layers of the earth, the deep seas, still rivers and in between. This world, together with the underworld and its untold mysteries and ambiguous stories, are ever so intricate to fathom and continue to arouse the curiosity of researchers, scholars and the layman.
Michael Denver, an australian archeologist, fascinated by the legendary ancient egyptians' way of life, decides to carry on a research on the pharaonic civilisation, moving to Egypt with his family. He started looking into some ancient archeological sites and meeting some local dwellers in an attempt to decipher the enigma of that civilisation.
In his life-time quest for ancient wall drawings or sculptures that assumingly might help him understand the ancient egyptians' way of life and evolution.
Following Michael in his trip and quest, a resurrection of the ancient egyptians is felt through the remains of their cities, pyramids, tools, jewellery, mummies, temples, tombs and sarcophages.
And yet, many enigmas need to be sorted out to understand few phenomena and grasp the level of evolution that such a civilisation had achieved in that foregone era, which remains unparallel compared to modern accomplishmenets.
Michael takes the lead in archeological research, with a masters' degree in archeology from Flinders University, he carrried on successfully several excavation works, accompanied by his wife who is herself an egyptologist and a translator of hieroglyphic scripts.
With his unsatiated desire to learn more and discover hidden secrets in Egypt he ends up laying out his own Papyrus, he called the Memphis Papyrus
Chapter I. Michael in Saqqarah
Michael met some indonesian friends of his in Cairo who were about to leave to their home land. Anwar and his wife came from Djakarta to attend a workshop on archeology.
' You should go to Saqqarah, it is full of new findings, you can hire a local guide to show you some places" said Anwar looking amazed with the sites in the area.
"did you met some of the locals yet?' said Michael.
"Yes, Bilal is a good boy living there, I can give you his contact numer" said Anwar.
"let's see if he can be of any help" said Michael.
'He knows many inhabitants and he can show you a lot of sites too" said Anwar.
'all right" said Michael.
Michael decided to call Bilal and ask him to guide him through the Saqqarah sites. Bilal was a strong young egyptian guy whose dark skin was an evidence that he grew in the desertic area. He showed Michael Pyramid Khufu in Giza.. then took him to Ahmed, an ambulant merchant of egyptian decorations.
Ahmed had a tanned skin and was a strong young guy as well. The fiery sun would make him sweat with the the high temperature.
Ahmed showed Michael some decorations and then asked Michael to go to a nearby shop belonging to his brother for more choice.
Michael strolled over the golden sand to see the temples and remnants in Saqqarah, then asked Bilal to take him back home, as he could not stand the fiery sun which was at its peak after midday.
Michael went for some rest in his rented appartment where stayed his family as well. He asked Bilal to be back the next morning.
Michael was talking to his wife Lesley about the sites he saw and that they can go there with him the following morning. Lesley was preparing some food for lunch, meanwhile, Michael resorted to sleep, he was so tired and the sun was fierce anough to coax one into slumber out of extreme exhaustion.
In his mild slumber, he saw a dream or rather heard a voice, it was someone standing near his shoulder telling him:
"I offer you this gift, it is a papyrus" said the voice while Michael was looking at the rolled up papyrus then opened it. It was like some research and strangely enough the Papyrus was not in hieroglyphic scripts but written in Michael's hand-writing in English.
" But.. this is my writing!!" said Michael.
"Yes!", answered the voice before resuming "because You are the one to do it".
Michael felt, without, seeing the face of the person, that it was someone belonging to the ancient egyptians' era. At that time, Michael was scared and woke up immediately.
"What's the matter?" asked Lesley.
"I've seen a dream, actually, it was like an ancient egyptian trying to give me something and then.. I woke up" said Michael confused. "Ok, just forget about it" said he to Lesley.
Actually Michael could not forget the papyrus that was rolled up like a rag. He could remember some of its content. It was about several aspects of the life of ancient Egyptians.
The following day, he asked Lesley to go downtown instead of going with him, because he had to do some research in the archealogical sites. He went to a museums trying to see things that look like the Papyrus he saw in his dream. He did not find anything like that. He called Bilal and asked him to take him to Ahmed.
Ahmed was very happy to see Michael again. He welcomed him and offered him some icy drink that was just he needed in that hot weather. Michael sipped the hibiscus icy tea while asking Bilal a few questions.
" Apart from the decorations and the sites in Saqqarah, do you know any sites where I can see carvings and things related to ancient egyptians' way of life?" asked Michael.
Ahmed told him "just be patient, I told you to come to my brother's shop, he will show you things you never saw and you will be speechless".
"Ok, shall we go and meet him?' acquiesed Michael.
The three men went to Ahmed's house where is located the shop of his brother. The latter was a short and bold guy everyone called 'Carlos' who was looking like a coptic egyptian.
"Is your name Carlos?" asked Michael.
'That is only a nickname' said Carlos.
"He speaks many languages so everyone calls him Carlos" said Ahmed.
Carlos told Michael if he needed something particular. Then proceeded to display some of the goods in his shop.
"But if you are looking for decorations made of genuine stones and good material, they are available in my grandfather's house" said Carlos.
'Like what?' asked Michael.
' You should see these items and you will baffled" said Carlos.
The four men walked for few miles to a dilapidated house where there remain only few rooms.
"This house was built on a cemetery. We discovered, a few years ago, incredible treasures underneath. That is why it is alsmost destructed." said Carlos.
Carlos ushered the three men into the mansion and led them through a corridor to a small cell. He started displaying few items and told Michael that they belonged to his grand father and that they were buried for thousands of years under the house, meaning that they belonged to the Ancient Egyptians.
The first item was an ivory clock gilded in gold with a small gatethat opens. Michael opened it and found something that looked like a rolled up papyrus. He was so happy thinking he found his document.
' Shall I call a friend to translate for me the hieroglyphic scripts?' asked Michael.
'These treasures, my friend, are to take or let, It cannot wait for long, it belongs to my grand father and he would not let me display it even for a second. It is worth a thousand million dollars. Give me 10.000 dollars if interested and you can pay in cash or cheque right now". said Carlos.
'I need just the Papyrus and will get it back to you' said Michael.
'Nope, It is not possible' said Carlos categorically.
'I will show you something else" said Carlos digging in some old drawers.
Meanwhile, Michael took a picture of the scripts in the beginning of the Papyrus and sent it to Lesley asking for translation. Lesley can understand the Hieroglyphis scripts and sent him a quick reply.
' this is nonesense, not a real hierglyphic script" said Lesley.
Michael wanted to leave, Carlos asked him 'aren't you buying anything?".
'I should go, my wife needs me to take the children somewhere' said Michael in a hurry.
Chapter II: Hidden Treasures
Bilal related to Michael some stories about locals looking for treasures in cemeteries buried under their houses.
"I went to give my condolences to my uncle on the death of his son. Once there, I was told a mysterious story about the death of my nephew. A relative told me that it was associated with a hidden treasure . I was curious enough to inspect the house there, so I realized that there were digging works underway. Overnight, I heard a lot of noise so I traced back some voices and I found out it was my uncle with a mediator trying to open a cemeterey under the house. I heard their conversation and found out that my nephew was a victim of some rituals done to open the cemetery. To my surprise, my uncle killed his son to satisfy some supernatural forces to help open the gate of the cemetery where supposedly was hidden tons of golden statues!"
"My goodness and they went unsanctioned?" asked Michael.
" I went the following day to inspect the place and found a lot of blood shed there and my uncle's shoes and also some written psalms ..on the walls and went through a corridor but in my way back I was caught by my uncle, we were struggling and I managed to get out of there. I had a narrow escape and called immediately the police who caught him and after the investigations he was in tears and admitted perpetrating the crime to get the treasures out of there, saying that the mediator asked that the victim to sacrify should be very close in kinship to the person making the digging." went on Bilal.
(drawing in egyptian cairo museum)
Chapter III: Michael in Memphis
To his dismay, Michael was looking for the Papyrus he saw in his dreams but in vain. Bilal took Michael to Memphis where he could visit an open air museum and take some souvenirs always trying to decipher the hieroglyphic writings on some chunks of stones and trying to understand them. He found no Papyrus like the one he dreamt of. He began to reconstitute its content according to his memory flashes.
Michael also had collected a lot of information from the Pyramids in Giza , Luxor the city of "hundreds gates" with its temples, the abydos temple cloaked in mystery, the Kings' valley, Aswan with its rose granite stones used for chopping rocks into statutes, and the Isis temple. He went to Al minya city where Akhenatun started calling for monotheism to believe in Atun containing tombs and sports arenas, he could also see the Artemis cave containing remnants where, in a temple of Bastet and Sekhmet, one can read that Hatshepsut repared the demolished parts destructed by the Heksus.
Michael also visited Suhaj, and temples like Dendara and Karnak and other funerary temples. Among the places Michael discovered a Valley in south Aswan, known for the gold mines which were useful to ancient egyptians and another one in south east Aswan known for mines of Amethist and Gold.
Michael visited a lot of temples especially in Luxor dating back to the Ptolemus and roman era. He went far to the pyramid of Dahshur and temples of Amenhophis and Hatshepsut and he could compare their architecture and difference in planning. Then, Michael visited the tomb of Tutankhamun . He could discern the difference between cemeteries of the ancient, Middle, and late era.
What was breath-taking to Michael was the majestic sphinx built in connection with the orion counstellation. Most of the temples and pyramids were built following the movement of the sun and in relation with cosmic views. He could see that part of those works of arts were carved on valleyes first and had certainly a solid and mysterious background underneath. Most of them made from the red Granite, others in limestone, basalt or alabaster.
Chapter IV. Drafting the Papyrus
Michael decided to take his note book and start writing his own Papyrus, which he titled the Memphis Papyrus.
I- Culture
- Literature and art: According to many researchers, few Papyrus were found relating stories taken from the real life of Egyptian, they were often written in Hieroglyphic scripts and endorsed with some drawings.
(photo of ankh from the exposition in egyptian cairo museum)
- Religious beliefs: The ancient egyptians believed in life after death. They also believed in many mythical Gods and their power to rule their land.
-Deities in ancient Egypt: Most deities in ancient Egypt had symbols and representations and ruled over their respective space, field and had specific attributions. They influenced, with their myths, ancient egyptians' literature as can be seen in some literary papyruses. The most prominent mythical Gods in ancient Egypt were as follows:
Re, associated with the sun and is represented with statutes with a head of a hawk and a human body and is involved with the God Amon,
Amon, God of the air represented by the goose,
Anubis, a man with a head of jackal associated with the funerals, embalming and was replaced by Osiris as God of the dead,
Hathor, depicted as a woman, she represented motherhood, fertility and sunset,
Sekhmet, Bastet; Sekhmet represents a God with the body of woman and the head of a lionness associated with Bastet who, like her, has the body of a woman with the head of a cat.
Osiris, slayed by his brother for power, he symbolized resurrection, judgement and fertility,
Isis, wife of Osiris who reassemled his body allowing him to be resurrected she embodied maternity,
Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, a man with a falcon head, raised to take revenge ,killed his uncle Seth, to regain power usurped from his father, he lost his eye according to the myth in the struggle with Seth which was healed thanks to the God Thoth,
Thoth, God of writing and wisdom, he invented hieroglyphic scripts and possessed knowledge of magic and secrets of the dead, weighing the hearts of the deceased before being judged by Osiris,
Seth, personified chaos, violence and storms.
In their beliefs about the after life, ancient egyptians believed in judgement which is based on good deeds and having a good heart.
(Bastet statutes in egyptian cairo museum)
According to some observers, ancient egyptians also believed in the necessity of having the two extremes in everything. This nurishes the idea that one should be sometimes contradictory somehow to create some balance in life.
(Akhenatun statute in egyptian cairo museum)
Belief in life after death was the main preoccupation of ancient Egyptians so they invested in cemeteraies more than in their daily abodes. They would prepare to the after-life financially, mentally, spiritually and thus they resorted to "embalming or mummification" through spices like salt, cinnamon, onions, and other products like wax, gypsum, rice oil, and other oils.
to achieve a lofty and noble status, they would always, in their writings, warn from bad deeds and misconduct and give priority to moral values and principles, like justice, loyalty, modesty, honesty and righteousness.
This can be felt in ancient egyptians' literature written on papyrus like the story of Osiris with his brother Seth.
(Osiris statute in egyptian cairo museum)
In their literature, you can find mythical moral stories, songs and lyrics. Another type of writing that was scarcely found were the art of correspondances sent for administrative or judicial matters. On the other hand, there were some religious writings on walls like the Saqqarah pyramid 'Djeser".
Other writings concerned the tombs themselves where you can find the life papyrus, and others for judgements after death in the after life.
(portrait of Nefertiti in the fair at the egyptian cairo museum)
Ancient egyptians knew more than twenty dynasties that ruled subsequently over three milleniums B.C. Each one concentrated on its own God and had special crowns.
In these subsequent dynasties, women had a special status like Hatchepsut, Teti, and Cleopatra. Thus, one will find their bodies mummified in due form just like other royal members buried in lavish coffins inside a well polished sarcophage inside a pyramid in the Middle age empires, or in the Valley of Kings in the new Empire. In other times, you will find them buried after embalming and rituals in a temple in late ages.
-Crowning :Monarchs were crowned according to special rituals followed by the clergimen, the date of crowning is usually chosen in coincidence with a good corsmic event or with a seasonal event like the Nile floodings.
Crowns are also symbols of the rule of the king over one or two part of the country, the northern part represented by a Hedjet crown ( a white one) referrring to the north or a deshret crown ( a red one) refering to the desertic land of the southern or lower Egypt. Sometimes, we find both of them are incorporated in one, when it is a Pschent (a double crown worn by powerful rulers after unification of both parts of Egypt ).
In the Cabinet of kings, there were clergymen who were persons entrusted with the daily prayers from dawn to sunset. They had to be very clean and do their absolution from the sacred lake. They used to know many psalms, arts, science, languages and also magic. They presided over temples and enjoyed great powers in the egyptian society.
(Djed-Hur statue: a healer and a clergyman displayed at the egyptian Cairo museum)
Celebrations: Ancient Eyptians also celebrated important feasts. For offcial days these were: the new year, the season's beginnings, the king's intronisation. As to local days they ranged from: the Horus day, the Victory of a God. Other feasts were religious, agricultural or funeral days. Kings commemorated Jubilee celebrations called Heb-Sed after 30 years of rule.
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(Djed-Hour statute in egyptian cairo museum)
-Magic: the Most famous clergyman was DgedHur, whose statute is placed, at a very quiet space, at the Egyptian Museum, and was carved in multiple psalms and symbolic carvings to fend off evil and ennemies.
DgetHur was a clergyman and a healer. His statute covered with magic texts containing psalms and invocations to all the ancient Egyptians' Gods mainly for purposes of healing and protection. at the feet of the statue a scorpian and a crocodile are emblematic of triumph over all the dangers.
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(Key of life called also ankh)
Inside some psalms and invocations , amulets were mentioned like the key of life (ankh), drawings of the scarab, which is prevalent in cemeteries and is always sculpted and painted mostly in blue with hieroglyphic scripts on the back of it, not to mentionand the Horus Eye.
(amulets of scarabs)
The eye of Horus
reveals how ancient egyptians were proficient in art, had a good
knowledge of medicine and anatomy. The Horus eye has an epic story
relating back to the story of Osiris illustrating the struggle between
good and evil.
Osiris,
the elder son of the God of the earth, Geb, married his sister Isis and had
a son called Horus. Seth, Osiris' brother, slayed him to gain power and
cut his body into 14 pieces distributed across the Nile to prevent it from
crossing to the underworld, knowing that Crossing to the after-life needed appropriate embalming and burial in
royal tombs. Isis and Horus searched for the cut body in the Nile River and reconstituted it
to allow it to pass through to the underworld and, then Osiris became the ruler of the dead . Horus, then,
killed Seth near the Edfu temple and regained power.
Researchers
assume that the eye of Horus represents
the six senses: the Smell, the Sight, Thought, hearing, taste and touch. the
image of the eye superimposed suggests a part of the mid-sagittal human
brain, particularly the neuro anatomical features.
Ever since, it has been used to stand for the eye of the mind, , the third eye, and the eye of the truth.
(Eye of Horus)
- The use of Lotus and Papyrus: These two components were essential in the daily life of ancient egyptians. They were part of rituals of Kings, part of writings and scripts. They were even incorporated in some perfumes, a habit that lasts until today.
Egyptian perfumes were made from natural products, among which oil with cinnamon, and salt, and distilled blossom. Today, one can find shops today where are sold papyrus and lotus oil perfumes.
Magic was actually a science that clergimen should master along with other arts and skills to be deserving of their position and closeness to the kings.
II- Industry
(carvings on an ancient Basalt sarcophage at the egyptian Cairo museum)
- The Death Industry: Given the fact that one dead person would generate so many work on preparing offerings, statues, food for the after-life, Utensils from golden and stone, the Ushabti statues (at least 402 statues up to 700 ones). The Ushabti statues were believed to come back to life once the dead is resurrected, to help him in his after life. The Ushabtis are like servants dedicated to the dead person when revived. The more the person who prepared the death is satisfied with his payment for all the statues and things he prepared for that funerary tomb, the more grace and credit is given to the dead..
(Wall drawings at the egyptian Cairo museum)
- Cemeteries: The cemetery is prepared according to the status of the dead person. Golden statues and those made of good material are a symbol of high status. The dead mummy after embalming is put with its jewelery, most cherished things, utensils, ushabti statues thinking of resurrection and life after death.
Observing some women jewellery, it was fascinating to see how precise and accurate is cutting and polishing of gems and stones to make beads and nice looking necklaces and ornments. precious stones were decorating coffins, face masks, statues and utensils like lapis lazuli, amethists, and other gems.
polishing gems and even further polishing sarcophages as it is the case for the serapium is a time consuming and accurate task that is done astutely .
(Ancient Egyptian polished gems and jewelery exposed at the egyptian Cairo museum)
- Building sculptures and architecture: There were almost no carvings about the key behind the planning of architecture and buildings or how pyramids were built, but some tools are found and are displayed at the Egytpian Cairo Museum to show how ancient Egyptians were skilled in using their hands in drawings and sculpting. Although building such giant pyramids with an astute technique remain challenging to the most bright scientists, engineers, archeologists and researchers.
(Wall Hieroglif carvings in Saqqarah sites
sculpture was in its apogee in the era of king dzeser and it consisted in building pyramids full of carvings, making statues and carvings on walls and also preparing alternative heads for the dead and landscapes from the daily life in the modern state of ancient egyptians.
drawings and carvings ranged from idealistic to realistic. In idealistic art, which was predominent in ancient Egypt, the kings and crowns were shown in 3-D like drawings to show all the details of the person's garments and crowns. In realistic art, things were drawn almost as in real life.
One thing about art in ancient Egypt is that the artists used to observe the symmetry and parallelism of statues.
- Light in ancient egypt: Egyptian lamps were made of stone alabaster or ceramic. Egyptians used floating wicks, therefore, one might draw a similarity between the jewish menorah containing seven floating wicks and the egyptian candelabras of which little is found in sites. drawings and paintings.
In the Dendara temple, for instance, the use of such amazing colors entails the use of a lot of lighting to paint such good colors in walls. What is even more intriguing is that the colors themselves, which are drawn from natural products, defeated time and preserved so far their brightness.
Some equivocal drawings with hieroglyphic scripts contained drawings that scientists could not decipher. Some resembled the shape of a bulb and yet, that looked more like the use of the lotus flower by ancient egyptians in some rites.
III- Agriculture
(Wall Drawings in egyptian cairo museum)
The ancient Egyptians first preoccupation was to collect food, this was, at first based, on fishing and hunting and extracting plant's roots and tree leafs. Then, they discovered agriculture with the Nile river floods. This helped them install themselves on its banks. With the elapse of time, they thought to preserve their thoughts through creating their special transcripts ( the hieroglyphic scripts ) from 'hieros and Glophos, meaning the sacred transcript. this created the tools for writing from papyrus, pen, and ink in different colors made from natural material like carbon, gypsum, iron..and so on.
Ancient
Egyptians used to plow their lands and use seeds of wheat and used to dry raisins
and had different kinds of beer. They used to do animal husbandry
especially that drawings of a goose, or a cow was prevalent in walls. They used to make their own bread and used to
present food and some animals as offerings to Gods or store them for the dead'.
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(wall carvings and drawings at the egyptian Cairo museum)
This leads us to think about papyrus which replaced wood and rocks. Papyrus was also used in the ships' industry and handicrafts. Ships were also made from cedar wood imported from Lebanon.
IV- Cooperation with the outside world
- Partnerships: Relying on the material used in building ships like that of Ramses II, one deduces that Egyptians, in ancient times, used to import wood and other products. They exported and imported things from other countries. In the process, some benchmarking and consultations might hint that the Pyramids, which resemble those of other civilisation of Inca, Maya, and Aztec ,were the result of mingling with other civilisations.
(Tools used by ancient egyptians exposed at the egyptian Cairo museum)
- Influence and war: Many Egyptian kings used to wage war to defend their rule. One of the Kings who assumed the rule of ancient Egypt following the death of his father, was faced with the betrayal of his allies in greece and had to face the threat of the perse and their greed for expansion, at a time of weakness, they lost the war which led to the domination of the perse over Egypt. Alexander the Great, then, took power from the Perse to lay down the rule of the Ptolemaic (macedonian-Greek rulers) dynasty.
Chapter V: The last quest
Michael almost ended his famous papyrus; still numerous questions were dangling in his mind. He wondered what happened to prisoners of war at that era. were they killed or enslaved or used in some works. He wanted more knowledge about building pyramids. He wondered how serapiums were brought inside the caves or temples. He decided to make some more research.
His guide Bilal offered to help him. He first invited him to his grandfather's mansion in Memphis for dinner. Michael could see a portrait of the deceased grandfather and feel the history of such an old house. At a corner, on an antique green alabaster stand, was placed a sekhmet statue kneeling towards the entrance.
Later on, after dinner, Bilal offered Michael some egyptian coffee. Michael rather contented himself with a refershing cup of Hibiscus. They had a little conversation. Michael disclosed to Bilal that his mind was busy finding answers to the questions bothering his thought. He told Bilal that his family left Egypt and that he intends to stay more in Memphis. Bilal invited Michael to stay with him in his gradfather's house. Bilal's hospitality and Good manners encouraged Michael to stay.
After all, Memphis was the ancient capital of Egypt. It is an enigma in itself, being a region full of ancient sites, cemeteries and undiscovered vestiges, Michael needed more time to observe the remnants there.
"I need to dig more into the area's secrets, Bilal' said Michael.
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after an hour, Michael went for a nap and in that time he had a dream. It was the statue of Sekhmet, the Goddess with the head of a lion or a cat, in alabaster painted in a greyish blue color. The statue started moving her eyes towards Michael, not only that her feet started moving towards him as well.. after a while, he could see some kind of other Ushabti statues carrying boxes of offering and thingsand heading up some stairs in a machine like manner.
Michael woke up and the clock struck 11.11 P.m. He called Bilal. The dark skinned egyptian young man was wearing a white long sleeved garment and came hurriedly. They had a walk in the back yard. rambling there, Michael's feet stepped over a hard stone, he bent forward to throw it away.
"it's weird, it was a red chrystalized granite stone almost the same as that found inside temples." said Michael.
He put the stone in his pocket and continued walking alongside Bilal until midnight.
Once in his room, Michael could feel the stone in his pocket and took it out. He inspected the stone with his torch. It was solid enough to break any other kind of stones.
The following day, he asked Bilal to go to the back yard again, he started digging in the ground and found other rocks similar to that stone.
"there is a huge possibility that a cemetery of ancient egyptians and sculptures are underground." said Michael.
Bilal was very cooperative and helpful. He is also a very welcoming young men.
"If you are right, it means we need a mediator to help us dig inside' said Bilal.
"No, we just need someone to help us dig carefully" said Michael.
One day elapsed, Bilal brought a friend to dig the back yard. After two days, many chunks of pottery were found, some with hierglyphic scripts and broken keys of life. Too many positive signs augured that the land contained many secrets.
'Am gonna be rich?!!" said Bilal,
"I don't know, but am not looking for money, all I want is some drawings and scripts to help me continue my research" said Michael.
The works went as far as eight meters underground. The cat in Bilal's grandfather's house called Ozzy, started meowing around the abyss. Bilal and his friend went inside it. they sarted digging more and more.
"Do not rush, dig carefully and slowly because as far as you get inside, the roof might fall down." said Michael warning the two men.
"Hey.. there's an entrance into the lower layers.. I can see there are mummies with lots of sands over them" yelled Bilal.
"Wait.. I am coming.. I will help take off dust" said Michael.
Michael got inside the lower layer and Ozzy the cat followed. After a while, Bilal ordered his friend to continue digging into the cemetery to find other rooms. Following lots of knocking, a large amount of golden Ushabti statues were found and other precious pieces. Bilal strived to look for more and the men advanced in sreaching and knocking deeper and louder. At some point, an avalanche of rocks fell down on them at once and darkness prevailed.
"Bilal, Bilal," called Michael.
The two men were speechlessimmediately under the rocks. Michael behind them was almost suffocated but managed to use his torch and see the tail of Ozzy the cat.
"Ozzy.. help" said Michael.
The cat, in a poor state managed to turn his head and look with his colorful enlightened bright eyes towards Michael. Then , Ozzy managed to find his way out. Michael in a rampant movement followed Ozzy's way. Michael coughed inside the dusty mine of mummies. He dragged his heavy swollen feet and limbs as far as the entrance to the upper layer and shouted for help. With a broken arm and neck, Michael was unsure of his survival.
Ozzy was hovering up around the abyss growling with a twisted back leg. After a while, someone came towards Ozzy. That was Ahmed, Bilal's frien. He took Ozzy in his arms to cuddle it and noticed his dusty fur. Ozzy turned towards the abyss sniffing his master's smell and moaning, as if relating the story to Ahmed.
Ahmed understood that something must have happened there, peeped inside the abyss and tried to get inside and heard Michael shouting.
" Am coming . . do not move" said Ahmed.
A bunch of neighbours and firemen came but it was too late. they could rescue Michael but Bilal and his friend died in the hospital.
Michael had another unanswered question crossing his mind, does the curse of the Pharaos exist?.
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Chapter VI: The Curse of the Pharaos
Michael understood that the Pharaos were very keen to preserve their bodies to be able to cross safely to the after-life. They also conditioned that transition to observing moral ethics, meaning these two principles were of paramount importance to them.
Psalms and scripts on cemeteries mostly try to fend off any intrusion into the tomb or sarcophages and avoid looting of the belongings of the dead there.
Therefore, the mummified spirits would surely not be satisfied to see their bodies decomposed, cut, stolen or sold. Spirits might pour their wrath onto the intruder especially in case of an ill-intentioned, greedy person.
He tried to link that thing called "curse" with the death of his friend Bilal and other similar stories.
Ruminating all night long, Michael made the deduction that he would not have been rescued and alive now had he been a disrespectful intruder.
He did not hide his curiosity to know and discover more about the Pharaos but his lust was not for money or wealth. He even had mercy on the exposed mummies. He would not like to be exposed after his death in the same way.
Michael had a good heart, the real ankh (key to life) for ancient egyptians. He was given a gift from an ancient egyptian spirit and that provided him with a panoply of information he gathered and assorted in his papyrus.
May be his dream of Sekhmet was what saved him thanks to Ozzy's meowing. May be Ozzy was an angel sent to drag him from a certain death.
What if Ozzy was Sekhmet or Bastet itself?! He started spending hours and days in museums and archeological sites waiting for an answer to the amazinness of a vanished civilization.
Each day he spends prooves to be enriching and informative, as he compares translations of hierogpyphic scripts and dusts off buried statutes, tombs, chunks of pottery, boards, accessories etc..
One thing is sure is that Michael is going to spend his whole life in Memphis until he is an old crooked man with grey hair, looking for more knwoledge and more discoveries.
Bibliography:
- Historical Sites and Civilisation of ancient Egypt, Part I , 2009 by Dr Abdelhalim Noureddine
- Historical Sites and Civilisation of ancient Egypt, part II , 2013 by Dr Abdelhalim Noureddine
- www.worldhistory.org
- www.cureous.com
- www.mandoxegypt.wordpress.com
Glossary
- Papyrus: a plant that grows on the Nile River banks that was used to make paper
- Saqqarah: an ancient village in Giza in Egypt
- Memphis: ancient capital of lower Egypt
- Serapium: a sacred place dedicated to the body of God Apis (in the shape of a bull)
- Sarcophages: a stone tomb sually of granite at a burial place where coffins are placed
- Orion Constellation: a belt of three stars
- Embalming: Using certain products to preserve the body from perishing after death
- Mummifcation: Wrapping the body of a dead person in straps of linen or cloth
- Ushabti: Statues placed in burial places taking the form of Gods or of the dead person
- Ptolemaric: an ancient greek state based in Egypt
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