Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly [81]
‘The Hanging Gardens of Babylon couldn’t be exactly replicated, since no-one knows what they looked like, so a special rambling garden was built and tended in their honour at the White House,first by George Washington, then Thomas Jefferson and later, Franklin Roosevelt. The Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, tried to rip the garden up, but he never managed it entirely. And while he didn’t survive, the garden did. It’s had many names over the years, but we now call it the Rose Garden.’
Big Ears folded his arms. ‘What about the Great Pyramid, then? I don’t know of any monumental pyramids in the US.’
‘That’s true,’ West said, ‘there are no giant pyramids in America. But when the Egyptians stopped building pyramids, do you know what they started building instead?’
‘What?’
‘Obelisks. The obelisk became the ultimate symbol of Sun-worship. And America does indeed possess one colossal obelisk: the Washington Monument. Interestingly, it is 555 feet tall. The Great Pyramid is 469 feet tall, 86 feet shorter. But when you take into account the height of the Giza Plateau at the point where the Great Pyramid stands—86 feet—you will discover that the peaks of both structures sit at the exact same height above sea-level.’
While this conversation was going on, Wizard was gazing at the text in the notebook.
‘The only temple that bears both their names. . . ’ he mused. Then his eyes lit up. ‘It’s Luxor. The Temple at Luxor.’
‘Oh, yes. Good thinking, Max. Good thinking!’ Zoe clapped him on the shoulder.
‘It would certainly fit. . . ’ West said.
‘What would fit?’ Big Ears asked, again not understanding this code they were using.
‘The Temple of Amun at Luxor in southern Egypt, more commonly known as the Temple at Luxor,’ Zoe said. ‘It’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in Egypt. The famous one with the giant pylon gateway, the two colossal seated statues of Rameses II, and the lone obelisk out the front. It stands on the east bank of the Nile in Luxor, or—as it used to be called—Thebes.
‘The Luxor Temple was built by several older pharaohs, but Rameses II comprehensively rebuilt it and so claimed it as his own. It was also augmented, however, by none other than Alexander the Great. Which is why—’
‘—it’s the only temple in all of Egypt in which Alexander the Great is recorded as a pharaoh,’ Wizard said. ‘At Luxor alone, Alexander’s name is carved in hieroglyphics and enclosed in a ringlike cartouche. The only temple that bears both their names: the Luxor Temple is indeed the only temple that bears both the names of Rameses II and Alexander.’
Big Ears said, ‘So what about threading the power of Ra through the eyes of Great Rameses’s towering needles?’
West said, ‘Towering needles are usually obelisks. The power of Ra, I’m guessing, is sunlight. Dawn sunlight on Judgement Day: the day of the Tartarus Rotation. This verse is telling us that on the day of the Rotation, the morning Sun will shine through two matching holes in the obelisks to reveal the location of the tomb.’
Big Ears turned to Zoe. ‘But I thought you said there’s only one obelisk still standing at Luxor.’
Zoe nodded. ‘That’s right.’
‘So we’re screwed. Without the two obelisks, we can’t see how the Sun shines through them, so we’ll never be able to find Alexander’s Tomb.’
‘Not exactly,’ Wizard said, his eyes gleaming at West and Zoe.
They both smiled back at him.
Only Big Ears didn’t get it.
‘What? What?’
Wizard said, ‘The second obelisk from the Temple at Luxor still exists, Big Ears, just not in its original location.’
‘So where is it?’
Wizard answered him. ‘Like many of the obelisks of ancient Egypt, it was given to a Western nation. Thirteen obelisks went to Rome, taken by the Sun-worshipping Catholic Church. Two went to London and New York—the pair of obelisks known as Cleopatra’s Needles.