Helium commented.
“Or Azhi Dahaka. These must be their gods,”
Carbon concluded.
Dim light entered through small openings in the
wall. At the end of the hall, long white linen drapes fell
from a balcony, fluttering in the gentle late afternoon
breeze. The friends moved toward the balcony from
where they heard voices faintly. The terrace, colonnaded
and floored in alabaster, looked onto a semi-arid plain,
extending toward reddish mountains on the horizon.
Four tall, muscular, tanned men stood guard, equidistant
and perfectly still. They wore ceremonial military
uniforms—embroidered white shirts and tunics, brassThe floor consisted of different hues laid in a studded leather vests and sandals—and held long brass spears. A brass head ring secured their red and white
striped fan-shaped cloth headdress.
Forward on the balcony were two throne-like
chairs of exotic wood, brass fittings, and elegant
upholstery. Two graceful men of evident importance sat
quietly, gazing at the distant landscape. The older one
was tall and slender. He wore a white, blue, and gold
headdress, and robes that hung to the ankles of his
sandaled feet. The loose garb did not hide his ample
hips. He had an abnormally elongated head and face,
chiseled nose and chin, and full lips. Appearing to be in
his forties, he did not look quite normal.
The younger was in his early twenties,
handsome, with big dark eyes and average build. His jetblack straight hair hung down to his shoulders. He wore
a white and red blouse and tunic, and an intricately
worked silver-studded leather vest. Upon a carved
mahogany table were silver bowls of fruit and lacquered
ceramic jars of liquid refreshment. Both men stared
serenely at the blood-red sun, gradually falling below
the western horizon like a wounded and dying god. The
music of songbirds accompanied the soft rustling of the
wind-blown linen drapes.
“This place is a lot more pleasant than the last
two,” Helium stated.
“Where are we? Who are these people?” Oxygen
asked.
“I believe we’re in Egypt.” Silicone replied. “I don’t get it,” Helium said. “How do you know
about so many things if you sat in the desert for
thousands of years?”
“Since the Great Library was destroyed, I met
and learned from others of my kind, who knew many
things. That is how I have learned that I do not know
enough!”
“Indeed, you are in Egypt.” The voice came from
within a polished bronze staff lying next to the old man,
shaped like a winding cobra topped by a golden sun
disc. “This man is Akhenaten, the visionary pharaoh of
the eighteenth dynasty. He is the exiled leader of the
Habiru in Lower Egypt. I am Copper.”
Another voice continued from inside the cane.
“And I am Tin. Together we make bronze. Who are
you?”
The group introduced themselves.
“Who are these Habiru?” Carbon asked. “They migrated to work in Egypt from the
territories to the northeast,” Copper explained. “Who is that young man?” Silicone asked. “He is the young Pharaoh Tutankhamon, the son
of Akhenaten from his concubine Kiya. Akhenaten had
six daughters from Nefertiti, the queen, but no male heir.
His son from Kiya, and successor, Tutankhamon later
changed his name from Tutankhaten and married his
half-sister to become the next legitimate eighteenth
dynasty pharaoh.”
“Why did he change his name?”
A shining white entity replied from within an
earring on the young Pharaoh’s ear. “I am Silver. Let me
explain. Following Akhenaten’s abdication, Queen
Nefertiti ruled as Semenkhare until the child
Tutankhaten came of age. Once enthroned, he
exchanged the ‘aten’ in his name with ‘amon’ as a
gesture of reconciliation with the old dominant religion
of Upper Egypt. He restored the worship of the old gods
and reopened their temples.”
“That’s right,” Silicone said. The heretic Pharaoh
Amonhotep IV (the name means ‘Amon is content’)
later changed his name to Akhenaten (means ‘glory of
Aten’). He tried to replace Egypt’s ancient gods with a
monotheistic spiritual philosophy. He ruled from 3357 to 3349 BCE during the eighteenth dynastic period, one of Egypt’s most remarkable eras. His transformations shook the foundations society, religion, culture, as well as the balance of power between the throne and the Amon priesthood. Five years later, the Amon priesthood and certain ambitious military leaders exiled him. Akhenaten’s story was subsequently erased from Egyptian history, his legacy largely lost, forgotten, or misunderstood. Yet in many
ways his saga continues to influence history.”
At that moment Akhenaten spoke in a soothing
yet royal voice. “I am glad to have you here my son. It
has been many years since we spent time together. You
have become a fine Pharaoh. Tell me how are Queen
Mother Nefertiti, your wife, and my other daughters?
How is your mother?”
“They are well. They send their blessings. They
are sad you cannot be with them.”
“Have things changed in Upper Egypt?” “Your capital city, Akhet-Aten (Amarna), is
deserted and ransacked. Its gardens, palaces, and squares
lie in ruin, its magnificent buildings stripped, their stone
masonry carried off for use elsewhere. The Amon priests
regained their stature, power, and wealth. They
persecute your followers and reassert the ancient gods.
The Amon priesthood means to eradicate the remnants
of Aten. Mutiny brews in the army. In an unholy
partnership with the religious establishment, Generals
Ramses and Seti plot against us. They say the eighteenth
dynasty were corrupt, treacherous Habiru half-breeds.
They plan to rid Egypt of Asiatic infidels and restore
Egypt’s racial and religious purity. I’m afraid our days
may be numbered.”
“How do people respond to all that?”
“They still suffer from the last dozen years’
droughts and plagues. If you recall, seven of the most unorthodox of Egyptian severe years occurred during your reign. The priests still fill their pockets, but their temple rebuilding projects drain the treasury. People suffer, and I am virtually powerless. They blame my government and make scapegoats of the surviving Habiru. They say we angered Amon and brought on the droughts and plagues. They accuse us of spending the nation’s riches to protect you and your followers up here. Your self-exile only emboldens them. The people believe that as long as the infidel foreigners have influence in Egypt, the people’s lives will not improve, and the glories of Egypt will not
return.
“The ancient mystery traditions are also under
scrutiny. The Amon priests do not want to risk a repeat
of past experience. They oppose the old traditions,
especially the cults of Osiris, Ptah, Thoth, and Isis. The
guardians of the Temple of Osiris had to hide their
libraries. They worry about losing their sacred papyrus
scrolls. The sacred sciences have been brought under
administrative control. You know, Father, since you
have been away, I have learned much about the ancient
ways of wisdom.”
Akhenaten gazed at the orange-colored sky
reflected by the belly of a small cumulus cloud. His
beloved sun, the manifestation of Aten, was gone, but
the cloud’s reflection confirmed its existence. Aten, like
its emissary the sun, would always be there, could never
be denied, even if out of sight.
“My son,” Akhenaten said at length, “did I ever
tell you about my childhood in Lower Egypt?” Tutankhamon turned his big black eyes to his
father. So did our friends.
“First, let me remind you that the empire once
extended along the Mediterranean coast into Canaan and
Mittani. Egyptian power was unchallenged, and
Mesopotamia was weak and divided. Before the seventeenth dynasty of Ahmose I and his son Amonhotep I, the Hyksos conquered all our Asian territories. They even overran the north of Egypt. While they controlled Lower Egypt, our forefathers could not sail along the Nile to the sea. Ancient, glorious Egypt seemed headed for the same destiny as Sumer. But Ahmose and Amonhotep drove the Hyksos out and regained Lower Egypt, though not our Asian territories. Then our great grandfather Tuthmose III, who founded the eighteenth dynasty, finally took the throne From Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh. The old guard opposed him at first, for he was the son of the last seventeenth dynasty pharaoh, Tuthmose II, by a minor wife of Asiatic origin named Sara. She was from the family of Abraham, chief of a prominent Habiru clan. As far as the establishment was concerned, Tuthmose III was not of pure Egyptian blood, but half Habiru. Eventually, that half-breed prince, our ancestor, became the first pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty. He drove deep into Asia, defeated the Canaanite-Mittani alliance decisively at the battle of the Valley of Armageddon, and regained Egypt’s lost Asian territories up to the western bank of the Euphrates. He captured Kadesh, Megiddo, the stronghold of Zion, and the land of Urusalim. In honor of his victories, he replaced the destroyed Egyptian temples and built a temple for the Habiru, who went back to their own lands. That is why he is called King of the Habiru, the builder of the
famous Temple of Urusalim.”
“Is that why people call the eighteenth dynasty
pharaohs half-breed Habiru?” “Exactly my son. The
dynasty Pharaohs—Tuthmose
Amonhotep III, and I—have always had close affinities
with our Asian brethren, the Habiru.
“Think about it. Escaping famine and Hyksos succeeding eighteenth IV, your grandfather rule, many Canaanites had fled and settled in northern Egypt. For most of these people, called the Habiru, Egypt has been home for generations. Both the Hyksos and the Egyptians oppressed them. Tuthmose III’s marriage to Sara bound their people into the fabric of Egyptian society. That is why the Habiru recognize him as their first true king. The marriage also secured their allegiance to Egypt and their role in governing and defending Egypt’s Asian provinces. For many of the Habiru, Tuthmose III was a hero-king, who restored their national pride and identity. These people are industrious, resourceful, and have their own spiritual traditions. The eighteenth Egyptian dynasty is one of Egypt’s most glorious eras, due to the intermixing of peoples and their cultures. The Amon Priesthood and their political allies either forget or ignore that fact. Yes, my son, humanity is generally disconnected from reality, and the usual consequences are conflict and
suffering.”
“And Lower Egypt’s gods?”
“The first three eighteenth dynasty Pharaohs
ruled over a newly reunited Egypt and the mystery
traditions of Thoth, Isis, Osiris, Horus, and Ra, as well
as the Habiru gods,” Akhenaten said. “For centuries
before the reunification, the priests of Amon reigned
supreme in southern Egypt. The religious quagmire of
the newly reunited Egypt challenged the early eighteenth
dynasty administrations. What was the solution? As a
ceremonious compromise, Amon (the historical god of
Upper Egypt) was merged with Ra to create the supreme
Amon-Re, the king of the gods. While the other ancient
Egyptian and Habiru gods were nominally tolerated.
This transformation took place during Tuthmose III’s
rule. The inadequate resolution, however, caused the
various temples to compete for recognition and
donations. The confusion persisted until father’s royal decrees established hierarchical equivalence between the Amon temples and the others. Father’s decrees effectively reduced the Karnack Amon priests’ religious influence, power, and wealth, but strengthened the royal house. They never forgave us for that. That was the blow that started their enmity, which eventually led to
today’s events.”
“What of your childhood experiences?” “Oh yes. Awakenings, my beloved son,
awakenings. My eyes were opened for the first time.” Akhenaten silently gazed at the now darkened
night sky. The crescent moon’s beams whirled serpentlike through the waves of rising desert warm air. Tutankhamon interrupted his father: “You spent
most of your childhood in Zarw, in Lower Egypt. Tell
me about the origins and meanings of the ancient
Egyptian traditions.”
“Good, my son, very good. Open your mind to
the unspoken words. Secret teachings reveal much
wisdom. The truth lies beneath the surface reflections.
Contemplation penetrates the surface to reveal the truth
that lies beyond.”
Akhenaten paused, breathed deeply, and then
went on. “You have seen the great five great pyramids,
the three at Giza, the Red and the Bent Pyramids, and
the Sphinx and its temple complex.”
“Of course. Why?”
“Have you really seen them? Have you stood
before their grandeur and majesty and really admired
them? The mystery traditions teach that the ancient gods
embedded many secrets in them.”
At that point a uniformed man came upon the
balcony, approached the two nobles, and talked quietly. “The pyramids,” Silicone explained in the
meantime, “are among the most enigmatic structures
that have survived from antiquity. Science continues to unearth their previously undiscovered features. Ordinarily, people believe slaves built each one, using bronze chisels, ropes, and rollers. Having quarried millions of tons of stones hundreds of miles away, they assembled them all during one megalomaniac pharaoh’s life to give him a private tomb. That theory hardly explains some of their complexities. Throughout and under them run corridors and chambers with puzzling engineering and mathematical features. Oddly, none bears any Egyptian building record or any sign or text proclaiming their builders, whereas typically other ancient monuments provide that information. In later better-recorded times, dozens of smaller pyramids were built from stone rubbles and lie in ruins, and each is covered in designs and texts attributed to its builder. All have been looted of their mummies and treasures, but not the great five pyramids. Apparently, no one entered them between their building and the era of a studious Memluk Sultan, who once inside, found no mummies, no treasure, no information…nothing. Those
magnificent structures remain a mystery.”
“Maybe their builders forgot to sign their names
before sealing the secret doors,” Helium humored. The uniformed man finished his conversation,
bowed, and walked away. Akhenaten resumed. “We
revere the sacred pyramids and imitate them so we may
reach the ancient gods’ heavenly abodes. The priests
pretend to understand their messages, but they are
deceitful fools. I believe the ancients left a message for
humanity. Maybe those structures guard secrets, but we
still cannot understand them.”
“Perhaps,” Tutankhamon said, “their message is
meant only for those worthy of its power. As you always
told me, a blade can cut the harvest or someone’s flesh.
It depends on who wields it.”
Akhenaten nodded. “Are there other sites buried deep in the desert sand? Often I feel the desert did not always cover Egypt, for she houses numerous remnants of ancient civilizations. Have you visited the ziggurat in Saqqara built by the Pharaoh Zoser? On its inner walls, his priests inscribed The Pyramid Texts, the first written version of what we revere as the holy Book of The
Dead.”
“Father, every educated person makes that
pilgrimage.”
“Again I ask, have you really seen it?” “Please explain.”
“The Saqqara step-pyramid is built within a far
more ancient site. The surrounding walls, decorated at
the top with sacred cobra heads, are built with the same
workmanship and precision as the great five pyramids.
Since unknown ancient times, the complex has been
attributed to the god Osiris. A group of initiated priests
preserved the wisdom of the ancient gods—alchemy,
magic, astronomy, and other sacred arts. Long ago the
priests began to misinterpret or disagree about the
ancient message. They decided to break the sacred oral
tradition and inscribed the texts on the walls of a small
step pyramid built for that purpose inside the temple
complex in an archaic form of our language we no
longer understand. Later they translated it into
contemporary hieroglyphics. The ancient pyramid texts
described he scriptures we revere today as the holy Book
of The Dead. I wonder if their ancient wisdom will
survive?
“I fear their true message is already lost. Most
people are illiterate. They use the holy texts to decorate
houses and tombs. Egypt relies on false, corrupt priests
who claim to be the messengers, interpreters, and
guardians of the holy texts. They sedate the illiterate
masses into submission with false hopes, sermons, and
fear. They satisfy the lazy masses’ spiritual thirst, as well as the ruling establishment’s needs. We make little statues of mythical gods as ornaments—portable, convenient, pretty. Jewelry, decoration, toys. No one even acknowledges or understands the wisdom of the sacred texts. Nowadays you can lead an evil life, then buy a ‘holy’ blessing, write a few passages from the scriptures on your coffin, and hope to go to the heavens to dwell with the gods. People do not see even the
reflection on the surface, let alone what lies beyond.” Tutankhamon nodded sadly. “Father, tell me
about the resurrection after death mentioned in The Book
of the Dead.”
“Look, son. The night is dark. The sun, the
Aten’s sacred manifestation, seems to have disappeared,
but you can still see its reflection from the moon. My
beloved son, realization requires imagination, thought,
conscious effort, and discipline. Unguided, humanity
tends to laziness, leisure, and selfishness. Effort and
discipline are not our virtues. For thousands of years, we
have recited the sacred texts without understanding their
true message. What the scriptures call Ka or spirit, every
living being’s essence, is the sun in all of us. The
priesthood promotes the belief that only faithfulness
assures us of a heavenly abode after death. But blind
faithfulness, or the money paid for mummification,
trinkets, or blessings, doesn’t lead to a lofty afterlife.
The priesthood establishment has a monopoly and a high
price for mummification and blessings. So apparently,
only the rich have any chance of attaining immortality.
That is not the ancients’ message.”
“I believe the sacred message reveals that the
breath of Aten–Ka, the sun in all of us-gives us life in
this world and in the next. Everyone has a Ka that
survives death. Like Aten, the Ka is beyond physical
worldly existence. That is the essence of the Ka. The Ka
is immortal by nature, because it is part of Aten. That is
what I believe and what I preach.”
Akhenaten pointed at the statue of the god