Secrets of the Tomb

Secrets  Of The Tomb
 (Opening Attempt- will probably change)

Public Domain Image from WikiCommons

Prologue:

Our story begins on a hot afternoon in the Egyptian sand. Far across the Nile River is modern day Thebes, bustling with activity. The Valley of the Kings is also full of excitement for right in front of the tomb of Ramesses VI Archeologist Howard Carter and his team believes they have found the tomb of Tutankhamun Heqaiunushema Nebkheperure (which means Living image of Amun, ruler of heliopolis, lord of manifestations is Re). In other words, they believe they have found the tomb of King Tut!

As they dug the limestone chippings out of the downward sloping corridor, Carter realized that the tomb's layout was not like the layout of all the other pharaohs' tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Was this really Tutankhamun's tomb after all?

After about 30 ft of digging, they came upon a second stone sealed doorway. Cautiously Carter broke a small hole in the second doorway and pushed a rod through. Feeling nothing on the other side Carter made the hole bigger and peered in with a candle.

Lord Carnarvon, the sponsor of the dig anxiously waited behind Carter. Carter's face lit up with excitement at what he saw. He hurriedly dug out more of the entrance and Carter and his three acquaintances stepped inside the small room examining all of the glittering treasures piled inside. Mysteriously though, the walls here were blank with no hieroglyphic descriptions or paintings.

Realizing that the coffin was not in this small room and that this particular room must only be an antechamber, he then turned his attention toward the strange sealed door to his left. Two life-size statues of Tutankhamun guarded the sealed door as if to ward off intruders. As Carter slowly broke through the sealed doorway, he was faced with what looked like a solid wall of gold.

As he climbed inside the room, he found that this was the Pharaoh's burial chamber. This room was mysteriously the only one covered in hieroglyphics. The traditional paintings on the wall were apparently done in a hurry as random splashes of paint marred the wall. Carter found it odd that no one had ever cleaned it up. The large wall of gold was actually one of four shrines one inside the other which housed the carved, stone sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.

They found just two more rooms in the strange tomb both packed with treasures. However neither rooms were painted, which left the small tomb with an unfinished appearance… They also found evidence that Tutankhamen had died young and without warning. To this day, no one really knows how or why…

On a hot afternoon in the Egyptian sand, far across the Nile River is modern day Thebes, bustling with activity. The Valley of the Kings is also full of excitement for right in front of the tomb of Ramesses VI Archeologist Howard Carter and his team believes they have found the tomb of Tutankhamun Heqaiunushema Nebkheperure (which means Living image of Amun, ruler of heliopolis, lord of manifestations is Re). In other words, they believe they have found the tomb of King Tut!

As they dug the limestone chippings out of the downward sloping corridor, Carter realized that the tomb's layout was not like the layout of all the other pharaohs' tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Was this really Tutankhamun's tomb after all?

After about 30 ft of digging, they came upon a second stone sealed doorway. Cautiously Carter broke a small hole in the second doorway and pushed a rod through. Feeling nothing on the other side Carter made the hole bigger and peered in with a candle. Lord Carnarvon, the sponsor of the dig anxiously waited behind Carter. Carter's face lit up with excitement at what he saw. He hurriedly dug out more of the entrance and Carter and his three acquaintances stepped inside the small room examining all of the glittering treasures piled inside. Mysteriously though, the walls here were blank with no hieroglyphic descriptions or paintings.

Realizing that the coffin was not in this small room and that this particular room must only be an antechamber, he then turned his attention toward the strange sealed door to his left. Two life-size statues of Tutankhamun guarded the sealed door as if to ward off intruders. As Carter slowly broke through the sealed doorway, he was faced with what looked like a solid wall of gold.

As he climbed inside the room, he found that this was the Pharaoh's burial chamber. This room was mysteriously the only one covered in hieroglyphics. The traditional paintings on the wall were apparently done in a hurry as random splashes of paint marred the wall. Carter found it odd that no one had ever cleaned it up. The large wall of gold was actually one of four shrines one inside the other which housed the carved, stone sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.

They found just two more rooms in the strange tomb both packed with treasures. However neither rooms were painted, which left the small tomb with an unfinished appearance. Three years later, experts would find out that the reason for this. They found evidence that Tutankhamen had died young and without warning. To this day, no one really knows how or why… Or is this realy tutankhamen's real tomb? What really happened to the boy king? And why did his widowed wife only 22 at the time mysteriously disapear only three years after her husbands death? Her tomb has never been discovered...

Chapter 1:

Worship in Kemet – the black land (now known as Egypt) started toward a drastic change in the fifth year of Amenhoteb IV rule as Pharoah. He declared that all the other gods had failed and therefore no longer existed. There was now only one god, Aten, the god of the sun-disk. Then Amenhoteb did something astounding- he changed his birth name to that of Akhenaten which means servant of the Aten to signify the change to the one god religion and that he was the one and only consort for this one god.

Pharoah Akhenaten

Nomens (born name): Amenhoteb (Amun is pleased)

Adopted name: Akhenaten (Servent of the Aten)

Prenomens (throne name): Neferkheperure

(Beautiful are the manifestations of Re)

Ruled:1353 Died: 1331

Wives: Nefertiti (beautiful one), Merytaten, Kia, Mekytated, Ankhesenpaaten

Children: Merytaten, Mekytaten, Ankhesenpaaten-tesherit, Merytaten-tasherit,

Smenkhkare (vigorous is the soul of Re), Tutankhaten (Living image of Aten),

Pharoah Neferkheperure Akhenaten started work on his new city Akhetaten (now known as Amarna) and commanded all the old temples destroyed. The now jobless priests of all the other 'old' gods had no other choice but to abandon their lives work and return to their homes.

In the 11^th year (1342 BC) of Pharoah Neferkheperure Akhenaten, after finding himself out of his job and sent home, the priest Anok Sabe' was walking out by one of the ancient pyramids hoping that the ancient Pharoahs would send him a sign that things would get better. He sat in the shade of one of the tall pyramids; he woke up three days later after a horrible dream.

Quickly heading back home, he avoided everyone who tried to talk to him in the streets of Thebes. The (once) high priest pushed aside the cloth hanging in the front entrance to his home. Finding that his wife and son were not home, he climbed the stairs to his roof. As it had been quite hot and dry this season, his wife had arranged the roof as the central room of the house. Pillows littered the center as a central seating place and beds lined the floor against the four-foot tall mud brick border around the edge of the roof. Anok Sabe' sat down on one of the pillows in the center; thinking hard about the vision that the gods had given him. One phrase in particular kept repeating in his mind

"Lo,in the land of Kemet (Egypt) The Servent of the Aten bows for soon he will ascend. The Living Image of Amun will come to rule but alas the mighty asp (a snake) waits to take hold in the ninth year of The Living Image of Amun before the Heriu-renpet (a festival on the last five days of the year)"

Anok Sabe' employed a young boy to hold his secret and pass it along to a few of the other High Priests and Priestesses in the land whom he knew he could trust. He personally requested an audience with Aye, Grand Vizier to Pharaoh Akhenaten whom he also knew to disagree (albeit only in secret) with the pharaoh's new ideas. Five nights later, they met in secret on the roof of Anok Sabe's home.

"Do we know what this means?" High Priest Adio asked.

(Adio is the High Priest of Amun – ruler of what cannot be seen; god of wind and air; father of the gods and creation)

"The Servent of Aten seems to refer to Pharoah Akhenaton… his ascension of course being his death," High Priest Mesi said.

(Mesi is High Priest for Tefnut the goddess of moisture)

"Yes and 'the mighty asp waits to take hold in the ninth year' may mean that someone will try to poison the new pharaoh before the end of his ninth year of reign." Anomre, High Priest of Ra said.

"Perhaps we can use this to our advantage," Adio replied, "We want the old religions to be reinstated and a new pharaoh would most certainly not want to die. Perhaps we can work together."

"Now, now, Adio, we are not in this for ourselves but to help out a young Pharaoh." Hasina, High Priestess of the Goddess Isis, reminded.

"Young Pharaoh? Then you know who he will be? Akhenaten has not yet named his successor." A man named Aye, the Grand Vizier to Pharaoh Akhenaten, exclaimed in excitement.

"On the sixth day of last month, in this the 11^th year of Pharaoh Akhenaten's rule a baby boy was born to the Pharaoh's 2^nd royal wife Kia." Adio replied, "not many know this but the pharaohs 2^nd royal wife Kia has not truly embraced the pharaohs new idea of religion… she called on me on her birthing day to tell me that she wanted her son secretly taught about the old gods and to be dedicated to the god Amun."

The priests gasped in shock.

"The Pharoah would certainly never allow it!" Priestess Hasina exclaimed.

"Ah but that is the beauty of the plan I believe," Grand Vizier Aye stated, "Adio came to me with Queen Kia's last request after having just gave birth and laying on her deathbed. We finaly decided to tell the pharaoh that Kia had designated Adio's wife to be the baby's wet-nurse."

"We had expected some sort of disagreement from the Pharoah on hearing that his first born son was going to be raised away from Akhetaten. Later we found out from one of the servants that the Pharoah had an argument with Queen Kia when she threatened to denounce the new religion. Shortly after that she became ill… her illness took her life during the birthing." Adio explained.

"As of now, all cartouches bearing the name of Kia are being desecrated. I think to have Kia turn her back on what he believed in hurt the Pharaoh very much… he does not want anything to do with the boy right now." Aye replied solemnly, "He has instead adopted one of his wife's brothers as his own son to be trained to rule."

"Who? Smenkhkare, that papyrus reed… you jest!" Priestess Hasina said, "He's been sick since birth and will never be fit enough to rule by himself!"

"The Pharoah plans on giving him practice with a coreagency and then plans for him to take over as pharaoh when it is time for Akhenaten to pass on." Aye replied.

"Well I thing Kia's son should be taught the ways of the pharaoh just in case," Anok Sabe said, "What is his name Adio?"

"Tutankhamun."

**********

(This is what I have so far... Keep checking back as I will continuously add to the story!... Oh, and feel free to leave any comments or critisizm in support!)
To see a possible ending to the story go to Blog Post "Central Question Exercise (college work)"