The Egyptologist - Arthur Phillips [152]
Friday, 8 December, 1922
Journal: Cats. Bank and post closed.
WALL PANEL J: “ATUM-HADU CONSIDERS HIS APPROACHING IMMORTALITY”
Text: The Hyksos had become like a swollen river and could not be kept from overflowing the banks. In one respite, Atum-hadu walked alone in the night, high upon a cliff across the Nile. There would be no king after him; Horus would not reside in the palace. How to preserve the writings recorded for eleven floodings, and his goods to stock his boat? Where is his queen? Where is the Master of Largesse? Seth appeared, and twelve vultures carried the king down the cliff to the ground. With bursts of fire from the vultures’ mouths, Seth cut the rock. “Here, my son, you shall make your crossing in safety, and this land shall be remembered for a million million years.”
Illustrations: In a series of pictures, Atum-hadu is shown standing atop a ridge of earth that is unmistakably the cliff wall separating what is now the Valley of the Kings from Deir el Bahari. The king is alone, it is night (the goddess Nut, covered in stars, stands beside him). He is lost in thought. Here he looks down on the Valley, there on Deir el Bahari, as if debating where to start his tomb and hide his immortality. In the distance, battles rage. Seth, his mythical father whose mysterious head now resembles an anteater’s, and twelve magic vultures appear to the king and hoist him down to what appears to be the very path outside this very tomb. And here the vultures, spitting fire, cut an opening into the stone of Egypt itself. Seth leads Atum-hadu into the passage, unmistakably Door A and the Empty Chamber. The final drawing is of Atum-hadu standing back outside, a floor map of the tomb glowing magically on the cliff face. It is, as far as we have so far opened this tomb, unmistakably a map of the complex I am standing in at this very moment.
Analysis: We must see past the myth to the historical facts. One specific day the war was clearly and unmistakably a lost cause. And in that time of palpable but still unconsummated doom, the king most certainly realised that he needed a tomb built in secret. I would hypothesise that he—no doubt travelling alone and incognito—scouted areas where he might make safe passage to the underworld, with whatever furnishings and baggage he could efficiently transport all by himself. And, though this is plainly speculation, it seems possible that the story on the wall should be read as the happy “miracle” of Atum-hadu stumbling one night onto an open tomb, built and rejected some years earlier for some other forgotten soul, or perhaps a tomb that had been plundered and left bare, perhaps storage caverns used by another dynasty’s architects or workmen, perhaps a hermitage occupied only by easily slaughtered hermits. There are several possibilities, but it seems quite likely that Atum-hadu, when he needed it most, found a suitable space that could be quickly converted to his needs, without the time, trouble, and risk [see essay on Tomb Paradox] of architects, workmen, or daylight operations. I can easily imagine Atum-hadu feeling that such a fortuitous discovery could only have been effected with the timely and loving assistance of a god-father.
Journal: As soon as this chamber is completely transcribed into these notebooks, the hieroglyphs fully copied and translated, I will take the Earl of Carnarvon on a private tour, and the neat trick of changing horses in midstream will be gracefully and drily executed.
The twelve pillars of the History Chamber support marvellous illustrations as well, covering each pillar nearly from floor to ceiling in a single, giant depiction of a discrete event, with a short explanatory text. Now, observe: if the pillars were executed by the same artist as the wall panels, he had clearly grown far more confident of his abilities and materials, as they are of an altogether grander dimension and mastery than the wall histories.
PILLAR ONE, TEXT: THE BOY ATUM-HADU SETS HIS ENEMIES AGAINST