The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [97]
‘I am going to ask you one more time and if you do not tell me the truth I will inflict great pain upon you and then I will go after your family. Do you understand?’
Although barely able to move his head, the rabbi managed what amounted to a nod. Goliath moved his hand away from Tsedaka’s mouth. Tsedaka coughed and sputtered, trying to regain his breath. Then in a low, gravelly voice he said, ‘They’ve gone to the Hebrew University… National Library… Conservation Department…’
‘What for?’
‘To look at the scroll.’
‘Which scroll?’ demanded Goliath.
‘The Book of the Straight.’
Chapter 77
And Pharaoh died and his son became Pharaoh. And the new pharaoh trusted Joseph for he was his father’s loyal servant. And so Joseph became adviser to the new pharaoh.
Daniel looked up from the papyrus at Gabrielle, expectantly. ‘It fits what we know about Yuya. He was vizier to two pharaohs.’
The high priest nodded approvingly. They were overjoyed to learn that Joseph – their patriarch – had tried to influence the pharaoh in the direction of monotheism.
Daniel smiled, pleased that his translation was fulfilling everyone’s expectations. On the outside he was calm, but on the inside he was in awe of the fact that in his hands was a document that was both changing and reinforcing history. He put his head down and carried on reading.
Now Neferayim took a wife and had a daughter by her and her name was Nefertiti. But his wife died when she gave birth and Neferayim took another wife and she was called Tey and they had a daughter. And Tey also became nurse to Nefertiti. And Nefertiti the daughter of Neferayim married the son of the pharaoh.
After many years Pharaoh died. And his son became Pharaoh and Neferayim had his right ear as Joseph had the right ear of his father and grandfather. And Neferayim advised Pharaoh that he should cast away Amun, the false god of Thebes and should worship only Aten, the disk of the sun. And he advised Pharaoh that the priests of Amun were wicked and wished him harm. And he caused Pharaoh to believe that it was not he that was advising him but the Aten himself who was commanding him. And Pharaoh saw the wisdom in Neferayim’s words and he decreed that Aten, the disk of the daytime sun, was the one true god and Amun and the other gods were false. And he changed his name to Akhenaten…
His beloved wife and sister changed her name from Nebetah to Beketaten meaning Handmaid of Aten to show her devotion to the one true god. And in his twelfth year as king she bore him a son, Tutankhaten.
He broke off and looked at Gabrielle.
‘Does that fit the record?’ he asked.
Gabrielle looked stunned and was almost gasping for breath as she replied. ‘Well, we know from DNA evidence that Tutankhamen’s parents were brother and sister. There was a tomb in the Valley of the Kings called KV35, which as well as having the mummy of King Tut’s grandfather also contained the mummies of two women, known as the Elder Lady and the Younger Lady respectively. The DNA tests established that the Elder Lady was Tutankhamen’s grandmother and the Younger Lady was his mother.’
‘But this business about the changing of the names – Nebetah and Beketaten?’
‘It’s been speculated about in the past. Nebetah was never mentioned after the Amarna reforms and Beketaten was never mentioned before them. So it makes perfect sense.’
But Daniel was confused about something else. ‘And why does it say the son was called Tutankhaten, not Tutankhamen?’
‘Tutankhaten was his original name. He changed it later to Tutankhamen when he reversed the Amarna reforms and got rid of Aten and restored the