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| Ancient Egypt and choking hoards of forbidden gold are inextricably linked in popular imagination. (Scene from the Brendan Fraser mummy movie.) |
(except from THE SMITING TEXTS)
It was a
hall that represented the chest cavity of the god. It was also a treasure chest
of staggering proportions.
“Dear God
of our Fathers!” the Coptic monk Daniel said in a gasp.
“Out of
the magic of its gold, heaven was born,” Anson said.
They were
looking at the amassed hoard of the Neteru.
“Truly
this is the Mother of all Treasures,” the veiled woman whispered.
It struck
his eyes with the impact of an eruption.
It was as
if a mountain of gold had exploded and disgorged rivers of golden magma into
the hall.
Gold
choked the place like a glittering slag heap, spewed from chests in chains and
necklaces, crusted in heaps of gorgets, amulets, cups, urns and crowns, pooled
in dishes and plates, twisted and writhed in a tangle of statues thrown
together like corpses. The excrescence solidified in thrones and tables and
chairs and erupted in great shrines jammed together like a golden shantytown.
Gold winked, flashed, lusted and glowered sullenly in darker corners. A fleet
of golden boats lay in a tangle of masts and oars like the aftermath of a naval
battle among the gods. More boats lay foundered among jeweled caskets.
In the
Book of Revelation, God sat with the firmament beneath Him, and the brilliance
of gemstones sparkling in His presence. Heaven was blinding in its beauty!
There was no heaven after death. Instead, the traditions of a material heaven,
handed down by untold
generations, were true. This was it and his father had found it, stealing the
hopes of all mankind.
A feeling
came over Anson that he was about to vomit.
A sorrow
washed over him with the force of a wave and when the shock receded, an
undercurrent ripped him back to long ago.
My father
left me as a child to chase after this glory. A man-made heaven...
