The Lost Ark of the Covenant: The Remarkable Quest for the Legendary Ark

Once the Israelite slaves had managed to evade Pharaoh’s army, which was dramatically engulfed by the waves of the Red Sea, Moses recited a poem of triumph known to be one of the most ancient passages in the Bible: ‘I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea…’ Then his elderly sister Miriam takes the stage. Like Maryam here in the City of the Dead, she had a drum (tof ) in her hand - an instrument that the Israelites had encountered and adopted for their own purposes in Egypt - and started to dance, no doubt triumphantly.

As the woman strutted in front of the emancipated slaves, one can imagine the gestures she made in the direction of Egypt.

But the unfragrant widow was no longer dancing triumphantly; she was dancing sexily. To o sexily for my taste, and far too close. I imagined that she was a prostitute of some sort. She was rather handsome and had a lithe, curvaceous body. But this was not for me. Predictably she was holding her hand out for money.

‘She invites you to rest your weary body in her humble tomb. Or do I mean womb?’ whispered Daud, giggling.

‘Er no thanks,’ I said.

‘If the widow is not your style,’ said Daud huffily, ‘I can assure you that she is mine. Very much mine. Perhaps you could lend me a few pounds?’

He was swinging his cross with a circular movement of his hand, one of his eyebrows raised expectantly.

‘You loathsome little Copt,’ I muttered.

Dusk was turning to night and the fruit bats were starting to swoop and circle in the half-light, making their typical highpitched buzzing sound. I had a flight to London the following morning and I was looking forward to an early night. I had little desire to walk back through the City of the Dead alone, nor did I wish to wait around here while Daud had his way with the widow. Shaking my head I stood up to leave and gave the woman a few well-worn Egyptian notes.

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