No matter how much of a hurry the others were in, he was going nowhere fast in this heat.
The drive that followed seemed to last an eternity. Daniel couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to walk it, especially in this midday heat – the worst possible time to be doing this. And when Mansoor finally pulled up and they all got out of the jeep, it was clear that there was still a distance left to walk.
‘The tomb we are about to visit,’ Mansoor explained, ‘is one of only four in this part of the valley. These are all tombs that are in one way or another associated with the Amarna period.’
Mansoor was referring to the brief period between 1341 BC, when Akhenaten moved his court to the purpose-built city, and 1331 BC, when his son, who was then called Tutankhaten, ended the religious reform, restored the cult of Amun and moved the capital back to Thebes. To signify the end of his father’s experiment, he changed his name to Tutankhamen and completely abandoned the city of Akhetaten or “Horizon of Aten”, which his father had built. It was the modern name of the location – Amarna – which was now used to describe not only the location itself, but also that turbulent period in Egyptian history.
‘Which four tombs?’ asked Daniel.
‘The first two are Akhenaten and his father.’
‘I thought Akhenaten’s tomb was actually in Amarna.’
‘It was, although ultimately his mummy ended up in KV55 in the main valley because of vandalism and tomb- raiding by those who sought to wipe out his memory in the counter-revolution against his reforms. But his original tomb was prepared here in the western valley, and in fact it’s quite large and complete. But in any case, that tomb is closed, as is his father’s and also a third tomb here that appears to have been used as a storage area. However, it is the fourth tomb that we are here to see.’
They walked on a bit until they arrived at the entrance.
‘This is the tomb of Ay, son of Yuya. He was the father of Nefertiti, who became one of the wives of Akhenaten. He was also the brother of Tiya, the wife of Amenhotep the Third. Tiya and Amenhotep were the parents of Akhenaten. Therefore Ay, although not of royal blood himself, was a closely related in-law to the royal family of the Eighteenth Dynasty.’
Daniel realized from the way in which both Mansoor and Gabrielle were staring at him that his face must be showing the awestruck feelings that he harboured on the inside. This was one of the great tombs that he had always wanted to see. But Mansoor wasn’t a mind reader, and he was not the sort of man to indulge Daniel’s wishes for the sake of it. Mansoor had an agenda. And everything that he had shown Daniel so far had something to do with this project.
‘Would I be jumping the gun if I were to ask where this tomb fits into the big picture?’ Daniel asked, looking from Gabrielle to Mansoor, wondering which one of them was going to speak first.
It was Mansoor. ‘They found, in this tomb, a papyrus written in Proto-Sinaitic script. It is kept in the museum archives in Cairo.’
‘Then why bring me here?’
‘I wanted you to see this tomb first, to get some sense of the importance of it all.’
‘And then you want me to translate the papyrus?’
‘Yes, although we don’t need to go to the museum. I have a copy in my office at the SCA. But we have more to see here first.’
He led them down a long staircase, through an entrance passage with unfinished walls. In the middle of the chamber floor stood Ay’s red quartzite sarcophagus. Daniel walked up to it for a closer look and then, gripped by an intense curiosity, proceeded to walk round it, admiring its engraved decorations: winged females, wrapping their wings around the corners.
‘It used to be at the antiquities museum,’ Mansoor explained, ‘but it was returned here a few years ago, after some intensive restoration work.’
‘These corners…’ Daniel trailed off.
‘Goddesses,’ Mansoor replied. ‘Protecting Ay on his journey into the afterlife. Isis, Neith, Nephtys and Selket.’
Daniel looked up and noticed a decorated doorway leading off the main chamber. Above it was a painted illustration of four figures with animal heads, wearing crowns sitting at a table. But these figures were clearly male.
‘The four sons of Horus,’ said Mansoor, again reading Daniel’s mind.
In response to an encouraging nod from Mansoor, Daniel walked into the side chamber, but found it strangely disappointing. Its walls were unadorned and it did not even contain the Canopic jars with Ay’s internal organs. Noticing that neither Gabrielle nor Mansoor had followed him, he returned to the main chamber and looked at the painted walls. Before him was a scene showing Ay in a swamp with twelve wild birds, probably ducks, rising out of it. Ay appeared to be hunting and his wife was also present in the scene. Ay’s image had been defaced, apparently delicately.
Once again, Mansoor provided the commentary to Daniel’s thoughts. ‘It is widely believed that this tomb was actually built for Tutankhamen, but that Ay appropriated it and had King Tut buried instead in the small tomb that Howard Carter found. At any rate, there are similarities between the paintings here and those in Tutankhamen’s tomb. They were probably the work of the same hand.’
Towards the top of one of the walls were two illustrations of boats. Daniel looked around at some of the other wall paintings and noticed that parts of the image – presumably Ay himself – had been erased. This was not in itself a surprise to Daniel. He knew that there had been a power struggle between Ay and his successor Horemheb and that the latter had launched a campaign of damnatio memorae against several of his predecessors. The ‘cartouches’ – or royal symbols – had been targeted particularly vigorously as had the image of Ay.
Daniel stopped before the image of the baboons. After a few seconds he noticed Mansoor’s presence beside him. And Mansoor was smiling.
‘These are the baboons that gave their name to this tomb, and possibly also to the entire valley.’
Daniel nodded, but he was confused. ‘The thing that I was most interested in is the Great Hymn to Aten.’
‘That’s at his old tomb.’
Daniel looked at Mansoor for an explanation.
‘Ay originally prepared a tomb for himself at Amarna. But when Amarna was abandoned by Tutankhamen, it became impossible to use that one, so instead he prepared a new tomb for himself here. But it was the tomb in Amarna that had the Great Hymn to Aten.’
‘I see,’ said Daniel.
He was distracted by the look on Gabrielle’s face.
Chapter 34
Goliath had decided not to take the taxi across the spur road to the western valley. That would have created one more witness and thus one more person to kill. Instead he had walked across. This was not something forbidden, or even discouraged. Indeed, tourists were told that it was the best way to enjoy the view. However, they were warned that the walk there and back would take two to three hours and they should only attempt it if they were fit. Most important of all, they should bring plenty of water and drink it regularly.
Goliath knew that he was fit enough to make it easily, and his height and long strides meant that he could do the walk quicker than most. He knew also that Akil Mansoor was a very determined man and there was presumably a lot that he wanted to show Daniel Klein. This offered him a perfect opportunity.
As he approached, he saw an old man in traditional Bedouin costume sitting idly by a hill smoking a hookah pipe.
What on earth…?
Then he realized when he saw a jeep parked only a few yards away. The hill wasn’t just a hill, it was a cave… a tomb. And this man was the guardian of the tomb.
They’re in the tomb!
And that meant a perfect target.
