Christopher Golde

  Date:               17th March 1966                                Location:        Nubia, Egypt      

         

         Nigel looked up as the crane lifted the giant face of Ramesses II from its head. Even this, the face alone, dwarfed the man that hung precariously next to it, directing the crane driver.

            “These statues were carved from a single block of stone,” said Shamir proudly, as he stood next to Nigel, “and prior to us disseminating them, they were the largest single piece carvings of their kind anywhere in the world. A shame really, but there was no other way to move them.”

            Nigel had seen many pictures of the statues that guarded the temple Abu Simbel, but he had never expected to be so awed by their presence. Shamir directed him to the bank of the river, away from the massive statues, towards another smaller group that had been carved into a large rock edifice.

            “This will be all covered in water once the dam rises to its fullest level,” Shamir said, pointing to the rock face in front of them. “We are shifting the temples up the bank a height of two hundred feet, and then back about another six hundred feet. There, they will be mounted on a manmade copy of this mountain of rock. We can look at that after if you like.”

            Nigel cared nothing for the manmade aspect of the project, he just felt honored to see it now, as it was originally built, nearly three and a half thousand years ago. As they approached the smaller temple, Nigel could see six giant figures cut into the rock face. These were somewhat smaller than those of the other temple, but they were still extremely large rock sculptures.

            Coming to the entrance of the smaller temple, Nigel noticed that armed men stood either side of the passageway. They wore traditional desert clothes and each embraced a large rifle in their arms. It was somewhat intimidating to Nigel but he guessed tomb robbers were probably still a concern; especially when a new tomb had been discovered.

            He looked up at the sculptures as they approached the smaller temple and saw that workmen had begun cutting into the rock face, removing large pieces for transportation. As they entered the impressive temple hallway, Nigel saw that it was lined with giant pillars and noticed that most of the original floor had already been removed. Ahead of them, a large canvas tent had been erected and once again, more armed guards stood obediently waiting as they approached.

            Shamir said something to the guards in what he assumed was their native tongue, and then entered through a raised flap of the tent. Nigel followed and once inside saw a large square hole cut neatly into the solid rock of the temple floor. Stairs, also perfectly cut from solid stone, disappeared down into darkness.

            ‘This,’ thought Nigel ‘was obviously the entrance to the new burial chamber’.

            “Well here we are Mr. Stansen, our hidden burial chamber,” Shamir proclaimed, with an air of mystery, as he pointed to the hole in the floor. “Shall we,” he asked, as he indicated for Nigel to enter?

            As Nigel began to walk towards the entrance, Shamir held out a torch for him to take, and then jumped in front of him, leading the way. Nigel eagerly followed Shamir into the small entrance to the staircase.

            ‘If I get any more excited I am going to faint, fall down the stairwell and break my neck,’ he thought, as they descended into the uncharted depths of the temple.   

            The stairway was steep and dark. Off in the distance, he could see what looked almost like a faint flickering star. For what seemed like an eternity, they descended, and gradually, each time he caught a glimpse of the distant light, it became larger and brighter.

            Finally, the light of the chamber was such that they no longer needed their torches, and shortly thereafter, they stepped out of the stairway into a world long past. Nigel stood breathless. He was not sure what he had expected, but now he could hardly believe his eyes.

 

A treasure placed in a temple by Hesperian citizens
Therein withdrawn to a secret place  

The hungry bonds to open the temple 

Retaken, ravished, a horrible prey in their midst. 

Century X Quatrain 81                     -Nostradamus

      Chapter fifteen
        The Chamber