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PART 1: MOSES | PART 2: THE EXODUS

The Mountain of God | The Location of Mt. Sinai | Serabit al-Kadim
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Like Moses, most people are familiar with the events of the Exodus: Moses' fleeing to Midian, where God revealed Himself as the great I AM, the God who has no name,⁶ from the midst of a "burning bush" on the top of the mysterious Mt. Sinai; Moses' return to Egypt with God's command to free the Hebrew slaves through the use of miraculous signs, and ten plagues, the last of which so unhinged the powerful ego of the megalomaniacal Rameses II that he practically begged for Moses to take the Hebrews out of Egypt; and the parting of the Red Sea, when Ramses' monolithic ego reasserted itself and he attempted to re-enslave the Hebrews, instead meeting his final defeat as the Red Sea closed in and destroyed his entire army. These are some of the highlights of the Exodus event that most people are familiar with.

But the most spectacular, and indeed the central event of the Exodus experience, was the theophany, the appearance of God, upon Mt. Sinai. Israel had come out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and passed south into the Wilderness of Sinai, most likely along the west coast of what is now known as the Sinai Peninsula. There, upon the mountain, which no one but Moses and Aaron could approach lest the power of God "break out" and destroy them, the LORD himself descended in great power, accompanied by lightning, thunder, and a thick cloud of smoke that ascended from the top of the mountain as if from a furnace:

16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
20 And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. (Exodus 19:16-20)

Both the timing of the Exodus, the route of the Exodus, and ultimately the location of Mt. Sinai are also all in dispute, to the point that it is almost as if the LORD, like His true name, did not want it to be known. De La Torre explains the state of the debate: "Many understand that the Exodus is a Late Bronze Age event (occurring within the timeframe of ca. 1560-1200 BC). One date in favor with many conservative scholars is ca. 1446 BC on the basis of 1 Kings 6:1. Many liberal scholars, however, favor a Ramesside era Exodus, ca. the late 13th or early 12th centuries BC (the Late Bronze-Early Iron I eras, Iron I being ca. 1230-1000 BC) on the basis of the mention of the store city built by Israel called Rameses, which they understand is Pi-Rameses, built by Pharaoh Rameses II."⁷

Though the "late date" is hardly a liberal position, liberal critical scholars tending instead to argue that the Exodus event never occurred at all, the enormous amount of written, cultural, and archaeological evidence for the historicity of the Exodus is difficult to dispute even for the most hardened secularist. Those who do believe that the Exodus was an historical event, however, have found numerous potential Mt. Sinais, from the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula all the way to Saudi Arabia.⁸ The top three most popular locations are:

Jebel Musa (lit., "The Mountain of Moses"), the traditional location of Mt. Sinai where St. Catherine's monastery was built as a memorial. Jebel Musa could possibly be the biblical Mt. Sinai, but most scholars now disregard this location;

Har Karkom was popularized by the Israeli archaeologist Emmanuel Anati in his seminal work, The Mountain of God. Har Karkom is one of the more likely locations for Mt. Sinai, due to the substantial amount of Paleolithic artifacts located on and around the mountain, many of which correlate with the biblical text. However, Har Karkom is in faraway Saudi Arabia, the wrong location to correlate with the desciption in the Bible of the location of both Mt. Sinai and the wanderings of the nation of Israel, both of which indicate a location somewhere in the western or southwestern Sinai Peninsula;

Jebel al-Lawz: Another interesting candidate for Mt. Sinai is Jebel al-Lawz, located far away in western Saudi Arabia. The fascinating book, The Gold of Exodus, details how former senator Larry Williams and treasure hunter Bob Cornuke snuck past Saudi security to investigate this mysterious mountain, which also has many characteristics that fit in with the biblical narrative. Unfortunately this mountain is also located in Saudi Arabia, even further away than Har Karkom and thus not a legitimate candidate for Mt. Sinai.

And there are literally dozens of other potential candidates, as the Sinai Peninsula has a great deal of rocky and rugged terrain, particularly in the south, though the previous three locations are among the best supported. However, though these locations are well supported by a great deal of the evidence offered by the Bible, perhaps the most compelling location for the mysterious Mt. Sinai is the mysterious mountain known today as Serabit al-Kadim:

Perhaps the strongest of all of the candidates for the mysterious Mt. Sinai, Serabit al-Kadim was first proposed in 1921 by Lina Eckenstein, a research assistant to Flinders Petrie:

Lina Eckenstein (1921) proposed that Mount Sinai was to be associated with Serabit al-Kadim. She sought a site that had evidence of an archaeological presence of Semitic peoples affiliated with a "holy" or "sacred" mountainous environment. She noted Semitic inscriptions existed near the Egyptian mines about Serabit al-Kadim and an Egyptian built shrine dedicated to two deities: Hathor the patron cow-goddess of Egyptian miners and Sopdu (Sopt), an Asiatic warrior-god associated with protecting Egypt's eastern frontier from Asiatic or Semitic incursions. Hathor was envisioned apparently as helping the Egyptians locate copper and turquoise while Sopdu protected them from the Sinai bedouin. Both deities were worshipped and each had their own sacred cave adjacent to each other. (Lina Eckenstein. A History of Sinai. London. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921.)⁹

On this map, the Hathor Temple-shrine appears as "Temple." To the ESE lies Gebel Ghorabi, biblical Horeb/Choreb? (Gebel Ghorabi on the above map) and Gebal Saniya (Mount Sinai?), both lie just east of Gebel Serabit al-Kadim. Could the high plateau upon which the Hathor Temple sits, bounded by Gebels Serabit al-Kadim, Ghorabi/Gharabi and Saniya be the "Rephidim" (lit., "Place of Spreading Out") where Israel was envisioned as assembled? (Exodus 17:1) Note the wadi which bisects this plain. Could this wadi have been envisioned as the "river" which nourished Israel for one year before Mount Horeb/Choreb/Sinai? The wadi's headwaters begin at Bir Umm Agraf. Could Wadi Agraf preserve the "Reph" of Rephidim? This would make sense as the wadi (river) spreads out here, making it an ideal location for a large encampment that requires a lot of water. A substantial amount of both space and water would have been necessary to accommodate 603,550 people (Numbers 2:32), so this area would have been ideal. (Cf. map titled Abu Zenima. Egypt. Southern Sinai. 1936. Sheet 5. Scale: 1:100,000. Survey of Egypt).11

Serabit al-Kadim (lit. "The Refinery of the Hidden Gold" or "The Place where the Rebellion Began"¹⁰) is actually the most prominent of three major mountains in the immediate area: Serabit al-Kadim, Jebel Saniya, and Jebel Ghorabi. And though Jebel Saniya's name is linguistically closest to the biblical Mt. Sinai, and Jebel Ghorabi's name is closest to Mt. Horeb — Mt. Horeb being so closely associated with Mt. Sinai in the Bible that the two are not always easily distinguishable — Serabit al-Kadim is the most prominent of the three peaks, its twin peaks making an outstanding impression to anyone visiting the region. But which of these three mountains, if any of them, is the biblical Mt. Sinai, is not clear.

As Eckenstein pointed out, besides fulfilling the geographical criteria as laid out in the Book of Exodus, the Serabit al-Kadim area also has many other outstanding features that the other locations do not share, including 1) the first recorded Semitic inscriptions, 2) a pre-existing temple complex (the Temple of Hathor, built over an even older Semitic temple), 3) a complete mining and manufacturing facility including substantial living quarters, and 4) a metallurgical facility including specialized tools, workstations and a crucible — all of which would have been necessary for Moses to have built the ark, the tabernacle and the associated furniture.

A view of the area around Serabit al-Kadim, including what are probably the biblical mountains Sinai and Horeb, as well as a very ancient Semitic temple that was later turned by the Egyptians into a Hathor Temple. No other location for Mt. Sinai has so many significant features. Mysterious World staff has posted several .kmz files of the major features in this area in Google Earth for your edification. (Installation of Google Earth application is required to view locations.)

The first and one of the most important proofs for the location of Mt. Sinai being either Serabit al-Kadim or one of the nearby mountains is the large amount of Semitic-style inscriptions that are unique to this area. This style of writing, called "Proto-Sinaitic", is a precursor to biblical Hebrew, and is believed to be the language used by Moses to write the Ten Commandments on the two tables of stone. This form of writing was first found in this region, and is believed to the oldest example of this style of writing in the world.¹²

The first Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions were discovered by Flinders-Petrie in 1905, in a temple adjacent to turquoise mines at Serabit al-Kadim in the Sinai, and have been dated to 1700 BC. The glyphs are mostly pictographic in form, resembling crude hieroglyphics. The best known Proto-Sinaitic inscription is on a sandstone sphinx, deciphered by Alan Gardiner in 1916. Gardiner hypothesized that the language of the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions was Northwest Semitic, not Egyptian, and that the script was a consonantary like the West Semitic alphabet. He further hypothesized that the basis for the association between pictograph and phoneme was acrophony; each glyph represented the initial segment of the Northwest Semitic word corresponding to the pictograph. For example, "serpent" stands for the "n" of Northwest Semitic naxal, "serpent". On this basis, Gardiner interpreted the sandstone sphinx inscription as lba alat, 'for the goddess'."¹³

Most scholars believe the original Ten Commandments were written down in this primitive, Proto-Sinaitic dialect, which is a sort of "transitional alphabet" that incorporates aspects of a pictographic language such as hieroglyphics, and an alphabetic language, such as biblical Hebrew. Inscriptions of this type can actually be found all around the Hathor temple and the surrounding mining facilities in the region around Serabit. This is very strong evidence for Serabit being Sinai, as in order to be able to write in this language, Moses would have to have had some familiarity with this region, as this dialect would not have been commonly known in Egypt proper, or indeed anywhere else in the world, being unique to this region.¹⁴

The goddess Hathor, from the Luxor Museum. Hathor was among the most ancient of Egyptian deities, hailing back to primeval times, and was almost always shown wearing the distinctive "Eye of Ra" headdress, a symbol of divinity. Image from The Domain of Het-Hert.

The hieroglyph of Hathor's name, 'Hat-Hor', which means 'House of Horus', revealing her primary role as the divine mother of the Egyptian gods. This hieroglyph may be at least in part the inspiration for Solomon's hidden wisdom to be found in the Proverbs, in this case Proverbs 25:24.

Another important reason for believing that Serabit al-Kadim is the biblical Mt. Sinai is the fact that there was already a substantial community of people there, including infrastructure available for re-use. This is because, at Serabit al-Kadim, there had been a temple to the goddess Hathor for many centuries, if not thousands of years.¹⁵ If true, this may account for part of the "mixed multitude" mentioned in Exodus 12:38 that accompanied Israel into the wilderness.

Hathor's name means, literally, "House of Horus", indicating that she was seen as a "mother goddess" figure who gave birth to Horus, all the other gods, and possibly even to the universe. In prehistoric times mother goddesses predominated, as women held the power of fertility and, by extension, life, which was an all-important attribute in the early stages of mankind's history when the ability to breed many healthy children often made the difference between life and death for a community. However, as mankind multiplied and the land became more crowded, male gods began to predominate as the focus shifted from the need for fertile women to reproduce large numbers of children to multiply and subdue the empty land, to the need for powerful warriors to defend established tribes from incursions from other tribes. Thus Hathor's original name, Mehet-Weret, "Great Flood", was then changed to Hat-Hor, "House of Horus", indicating the change in focus to giving birth to enormous amounts of children (the term "great flood" being a metaphor for the breaking of the water before birth, among other things) to smaller amounts of strong, heroic, semi-divine god-kings who could then lead their tribes to victory over other tribes. Horus was of course the name of the greatest of these god-kings, who eventually conquered all of the other tribes of the land that would eventually be known as Egypt, and became the king of all the gods, founding the first dynasty of Egypt. Thereafter, every pharaoh claimed descent from Horus, the original god-king who founded the first dynasty, proclaiming themselves to be a descendant of the original "hero", Horus.¹⁶

Hathor was conceived as being the everlasting night sky, and the Milky Way was seen as being her divine milk with which she sustained not only the gods, but the universe. Hathor could appear either as a beautiful woman or as a cow speckled with stars, occasionally shown feeding the pharaoh with her divine "milk". Note the rising "sun" between the two horns - indicating that the Hathor temple was located between two mountains? Could this Hathor temple be the primeval source of ancient Egypt? Note also the "star-spangled" pattern on Hathor. The hieroglyphics mean, reading from top to bottom, left to right: "The house of Horus, the house of bread, for the mouth of man [i.e., food], bread from the body of the goddess." Thus the "divine milk" of Hathor that gives life was also thought of as "divine bread". Image created from various actual Egyptian Hathor representations by Dale R. Broadhurst. To learn more about Egyptian hieroglyphics, visit GreatScott.com and Caroline Seawright's Learning Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

As such, over the millennia Hathor, and other fertility goddesses like her who were once universally worshiped, began to take a back seat to these new, vigorous male gods who then divided up the rulership of Egypt between them, Horus being elevated from being the divine ruler of the second nome of Upper Egypt to being ruler over all of Egypt — not unlike the governor of a state, for example, Texas — being elected President. However, though Hathor was no longer pre-eminent, taking a back seat to these newer, more vigorous male sky gods, she was not forgotten, but remained a perennial favorite of the Egyptian people for thousands of years, being the goddess not only of women and fertility, but also of music, dance, wine, song and celebration.¹⁶

The handle to a sistrum once used in the worship of the goddess Hathor. Hathor in her human form was sometime given cow's ears, and was usually depicted with this distinctive hairstyle. Image from TheKeep.org.

"Generally, Hathor is pictured as a woman with cow's horns with the sun between them (Eye of Ra, Golden One), or as a beautiful woman with cow's ears, or a cow wearing the sun disk between her horns, or even as a lioness or a lion-headed woman (destruction and drunkenness). She often is seen carrying a sistrum, an ancient musical instrument (hence a goddess of music). The sycamore was sacred to her (Lady of the Southern Sycamore). She is said to be the mother of the pharaoh, and is often depicted in a nurturing role, suckling the pharaoh when he was a child (hence a goddess of motherhood)."¹⁷

Hathor is believed to originally have been a sky goddess who was also associated with cows, and by extension, fertility, probably because prehistoric Egyptians relied almost exclusively on the cow for sustenance before the rise of agriculture. She was specifically associated with what is now called the Milky Way, which was believed to be a river of divine milk from the heavenly udders of the sacred cow. Thus her original title Mehet-Weret, "Great Flood", indicated not only the water breaking before birth, but also the Milky Way and its earthly mirror, the Nile.¹⁸ She was also associated with Sekhmet, the goddess of destruction, as well as being the living incarnation of the Eye of Horus.¹⁹ But most importantly to our present study, Hathor was also known to the ancient Egyptians as "the gold of the gods".

The Hathor Temple at Serabit al-Kadim is one of the few significant pharaonic monuments to be found in the Sinai Peninsula. The temple was discovered in 1904 by the legendary Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie buried under many layers of dust and sand. Almost totally destroyed almost as if it had been done purposely, the temple remains largely as a jumble of rocks punctuated by a series of double stelae that lead to an underground chapel that had once been dedicated to Hathor.Next to this underground cave is another underground cave which was dedicated to her male counterpart, Sopdu. The peak of the temple activity was during the 12th dynasty of Egypt, that reigned over Egypt from approximately 2000-1800 b.c., though archaeologists believe that the temple originally had been a Semitic temple for thousands of years before it had been taken over by the Egyptians. Image from TourEgypt.net.

The temple of Hathor in Serabit al-Kadim is one of only a few Egyptian monuments to be found in the Sinai, and the only significant Hathor temple. It was likely built here to accommodate the spiritual needs of the miners, who had been mining turquoise, copper, and other minerals here as early as 6000 b.c., though it was actually built over the remains of a much older Semitic temple. Dunn explains,

The Hathor Temple at Serabit al-Kadim seen from the northwest. The original Hathor and Sopdu chapels were simple caves (located in the upper left above the "old section of temple" that had been built up upon over thousand of years (see next). Note the twin pylons added during the New Kingdom Period. Image from TourEgypt.net.

The Serabit al-Kadim temple looks like a double series of steles leading to an underground chapel dedicated to the Hathor goddess. Much of the temple's large number of sanctuaries and shrines were dedicated to Hathor, who among her many other attributes, was the patron goddess of copper and turquoise miners. It is the only temple we know of built outside mainland Egypt and mostly dedicated to Hathor. The earliest part of the main rock cut Hathor Temple, which has a front court and portico, dates to the 12th Dynasty. The temple was probably founded by Amenemhet III, during a period of time when the mines were particularly active. The 12th Dynasty was a period of considerable mineral wealth for Egyptians and some of the finest jewelry from Egypt's past has been discovered in the tombs of 12th Dynasty women.²⁰

Starting off as two underground caves (far right), one for a male deity (Sopdu during Egypt's dynastic period), another for a female (Hathor), the Hathor Temple at Serabit al-Kadim was greatly expanded upon over the millennia (right to left), the most building taking place during Egypt's 12th dynasty, that ruled Egypt from approximately 2000-1800 b.c. Archaeologists believe, however that the site of the Hathor Temple had originally been a Semitic temple for thousands of years before it had been taken over by the Egyptians and greatly expanded upon. Could these caves actually commemorate the original "birthplace" of Adam and Eve, the understanding of which was literally buried under thousands of tons of Egyptian statuary and architecture? Image from TourEgypt.net.

The site is still interesting, and the surrounding terrain has a rugged beauty, but the vast majority of the artifacts from this mysterious site now reside in various museums around the world, safe from plunder but their absence making the site appear to be somewhat empty. There are some stelae and small statues remaining, as well as the primary infrastructure. These are still interesting, but not nearly as spectacular as sites to be found in Egypt proper. That, combined with the still-remote character of the site, as well as extreme temperatures and aridity with no formal facilities or water sources (save local wells), Serabit al-Kadim is a tourist destination only for the rugged traveler.²¹ Much more interesting is the actual use of the site, not only as a center of worship, but as a center of mining, commerce and, some believe, high technology left over from previous ages of mankind.

Turquoise and copper were mined throughout the Serabit al-Kadim region of Sinai since ancient times. So associated with turquoise was this region that one of Hathor's most prominent titles became "Lady of Turqoise". Image from Wikipedia.

Serabit al-Kadim had actually been used as a mining and processing facility for turquoise and copper mining in the region of Sinai for thousands of years before even the time of Moses. By the time of Moses, the mining facility had been integrated in with the Hathor Temple as part of a larger complex.

It has been long known by archaeologists that some early settlers within the Sinai were miners. Finding abundant near-surface copper and turquoise deposits, colonies of miners slowly moved southward, working these veins until the extraction became too difficult from one. Around 3500 BC, the massive turquoise veins of Serabit al-Kadim had been discovered. In the same era, the early kingdoms of Egypt united under its first pharaohs, and

Sopdu was actually a Semitic deity that had been appropriated by the Egyptians and added to their pantheon, given the was scepter that symbolized power, and the ankh which symbolized life. Sopdu was believed to be the divine guardian of the Serabit al-Kadim temple complex, his worshipers being his divine "army". The fact that his headdress is made up of two feathers may indicate his linkage with the two-peaked mountain of Serabit al-Kadim. Image from Linkclub.or.jp.

these great rulers soon turned their eyes eastward. By about 3000 BC the Egyptians had become masters of the Sinai mines, and at Serabit al-Kadim they set up a large and systematic operation. For the next two thousand years, great quantities of turquoise were carved from Serabit al-Kadim, carried down the Wadi Matalla to the garrisoned port at el-Markha (just south of Abu Zenima), and set aboard boats bound for Egypt. For the Egyptians, the brilliant blue-green stone served myriad purposes: scarabs were carved from it, and the bright mineral enamels of powdered turquoise were used to color everything from fine statuettes to bricks.²²

Hathor, in this region, became known as the "Lady of Turquoise", being known for her turquoise necklace, the menat, which doubled as a musical instrument. The blue-green turquoise was so important to her that it became her official color, though she is sometimes portrayed in red. Hathor was worshiped by the miners alongside a West Semitic warrior god named "Sopdu", each of these deities having their own separate caves in which they were worshiped — Hathor, for providing the turquoise, and Sopdu, for providing protection from the local bedouin tribes and other invaders. Probably Hathor's priestesses also served as "comfort women", and the "priests" of Sopdu were warriors stationed there by the Pharaoh to protect the complex from being plundered.²³ Sopdu was associated with the star Sirius, which the ancient Egyptians called either Sopdu or Sothis, the Hebrew name being Shichor. It is interesting that the facility was deemed important enough to justify the stationing of what was essentially a substantial garrison, possibly even a small army. The facility also was unusual in that there were found written records of the names of individual miners written in the unique Proto-Sinaitic script, including tallies of their daily work and related information. Overall, the mining facility appeared to have been uniquely advanced for its time, despite the fact that it was extremely old.

Over and above the fact that the Serabit al-Kadim complex had a substantial and well-ordered mining facility is the fact that it was also equipped with a crucible and other tools and implements indicating a fairly advanced ability to process not only stone, but also melt down, purify and process metals. In fact, when Petrie surveyed the site in 1904-05, as related in his seminal work, Researches in Sinai, he found a site that was very different than the numerous other sites he had explored throughout Egypt. Katheryn Bard in her critical work, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, confirms the existence of a crucible and related smelting facilities at the Serabit al-Kadim complex:

"Egyptian Goldsmith Workshop in the Pyramid Age". During the pyramid age human breath was used to increase the heat of the crucible in order to achieve the melting point of gold, copper, and other materials used by the Egyptians. Later innovations (or perhaps remembrances of earlier, more advanced techniques), such as bellows, were used to increase the heat even further and make it more even and useful for large-scale commercial smelting. The most advanced techniques of smelting were actually found at Serabit al-Kadim, where Petrie found the most advanced, intact smelting facilities ever found from the ancient world. Image from Crystalinks.

It has been claimed that human breath, blown onto a fire, could not produce the temperatures necessary for smelting copper ore or for melting metallic copper, which required a higher temperature than smelting, but more recent studies have demonstrated that both processes would be possible, at least on a small scale. These scenes must depict the melting of metallic copper in a crucible; there is very little evidence that the Egyptians themselves were ever engaged in extractive copper metallurgy. At the Nubian fort of Buhen there is actual evidence of an Old Kingdom copper smeltimg "factory". This consisted of three furnaces and some quantity of malachite ore. Middle Kingdom copper smelting installations are also reported from the Nubian fort of Kuban, a site that had an estimated 200 metric tons of slag. The "furnaces" depicted in the Old Kingdom tomb scenes consisted either of a single crucible (tomb of Wepemneferet) or of two crucibles placed back to back (tomb of Mereruka). In the latter scene the crucibles are of the type which provided the model for the hieroglypic sign that Egyptologist Alan Gardiner identified with an ingot of metal, but which must represent a crucible. This type of crucible is known from actual examples found in the Sinai (Serabit al-Khadim), in Syria (Tell el-Qitar) and in Mesopotamia (Tell al-Dhiba'i). Such crucibles tend to be associated not with blowpipes, but with the innovation in smelting/melting technology brought about by the introduction of the pot bellows. With a pair of foot-operated pot bellows, it was possible to reach higher temperatures and to maintain a more controlled atmosphere in the furnace through the use of ambient air rather than human breath.... The best collection of metallurgical paraphernalia associated with the pot bellows actually comes from the metal workshop found at Mine L at Serabit al-Khadim in the Sinai.²⁴

So not only did Petrie find metallurgical facilities, he found the most advanced metal processing facilities to be found anywhere in the ancient world. Laurence Gardner in his groundbreaking work, Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, gives a very good summary of exactly what Petrie found when he first came to the mysterious Serabit al-Kadim facility:

Built over an expanse of some 230 feet (c. 70 m), extending from a great man-made cave, they found the ruin of an old temple, with inscriptions dating it back to the time of the 4th-dynasty Pharaoh Sneferu, who reigned about 2600 BC. Subsequently, Petrie wrote, "The whole of it was buried, and no one had any knowledge of it until we cleared the site." It would perhaps not have surprised them to find a Semitic altar stone, or some other ritualistic landmark, but this was a vast Egyptian temple and clearly of some importance....

Petrie's logs were collated by him into a fairly substantial book entitled Researches in Sinai. This was published by John Murray of London in 1906, but it was not long-lived and copies are now very hard to find. Much later, in 1955, the newly styled and rather more inspired Egypt Exploration Society (in association with Oxford University Press) published their own edition concerning the Sinai reliefs and inscriptions�. From what can now be ascertained, some 463 items were officially removed from the mountain temple-everything from large obelisks and stelae to small wands and bowls....

Dedicated to the goddess Hathor throughout its operative life, the Ser�b�t temple appears to have ceased all function during the 11th century BC, when Egypt fell into financial decline and to outside influence, leading eventually to the Greek rule of the Ptolemies. It was, however, fully operational before the Giza pyramids were built, and continued in service beyond the eras of Tutankhamun and Rameses the Great — throughout the magnificent periods of the Lotus Eaters and the God-Kings. But why would there have been such an important Egyptian temple hundreds of miles away from the pharaonic centers, across the Red Sea gulfs at the top of a desolate mountain?...

In the courts and halls of the outer temple were numerous stone-carved rectangular tanks and circular basins, along with a variety of curiously shaped bench-altars with recessed fronts and split-level surfaces. There were also round tables, trays, and saucers, together with alabaster vases and cups — many of which were shaped like lotus flowers. In addition, the rooms housed a good collection of glazed plaques, cartouches, scarabs, and sacred ornaments, designed with spirals, diagonal-squares, and basketwork. There were wands of an unidentified hard material, and in the portico were two conical stones of about 6 inches (15 cm) and 9 inches (22.5 cm) in height respectively. The explorers were baffled enough by these, but they were further confounded by the discovery of a metallurgist's crucible and a considerable amount of pure white powder concealed beneath carefully laid flagstones.....

Subsequent to the event, Egyptologists began to argue over why a crucible would have been necessary in a temple, while at the same time debating a mysterious substance called mfkzt (sometimes pronounced "mufkuzt"), which had dozens of mentions in the Ser�b�t wall and stelae inscriptions. Some claimed that mfkzt might have been copper, while many preferred the idea of turquoise, since both were known to have been mined in the lower country beyond the mountain. Others supposed it was perhaps malachite, but these were all unsubstantiated guesses, and there were no traces of any of these materials at the site. If turquoise mining had been a primary function of the temple masters through so many dynastic periods, then one would expect turquoise stones to have been found at the site, and in abundance within the tombs of Egypt — but such has not been the case.

In the course of the debate, it was ascertained that enquiries about mfkzt had been raised before by the German philologist Karl Richard Lepsius, who had discovered the word "mfkzt" in Egypt back in 1845. Indeed, the question was posed even earlier by the French scientist Jean Fran�ois Champollion who, in 1822, found the key to deciphering the Rosetta Stone and pioneered the art of understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. It had, in fact, been decided some time prior to the Petrie expedition that mfkzt was neither turquoise, copper nor malachite. It was ascertained, however, that the word signified some form of "stone" which was extremely valuable and regarded as being in some way unstable. Numerous lists of substances considered precious by the Egyptians included mfkzt, but by virtue of the other gems, minerals, and metals in those same lists, it was known to be none of them. After more than a hundred years of research and investigation, when studying the lists in 1955, the best that the debating Egyptologists could determine was that "mfkzt was a valuable mineral product."²⁵

Upon reading this, I found the idea of the temple floors being filled with some sort of magical "white powder" to be fairly ridiculous. But being the open-minded sort, I checked Petrie's book Researches in Sinai (excerpts of which are available online), and found that this was indeed true, that Petrie had found significant quantities of what he initially thought to be "white wood-ash" beneath the temple floors, and spread here and there throughout the complex, though he himself said that he did not actually know what it was:

Of this period a very interesting result was found beneath the later temple. Over a large area a bed of white wood-ashes is spread, of a considerable thickness. In the chamber O there is a mass, 18 in. in thickness, underlying the walls and pillars, and therefore before the time of Tahutmes [Thothmoses] III. In chamber N it varies from 4 to 15 in. thick; west of the pylon it is from 3 to 12 in.; and it is found extending as far as chamber E or F with a thickness of 18 in. Thus it extends for over a hundred feet in length. In breadth it was found wherever the surface was protected by building over it. All along the edge of the hill, bordering on the road of the XIIth dynasty past the steles, the ashes were found, all across the temple breadth, and out as far as the building of stone walls of chambers extends on the south, in all fully fifty feet in breadth. That none are found outside the built-over area is to be explained by the great denudation due to strong winds and occasional rain. That large quantities of glazed pottery have been entirely destroyed by these causes is certain; and a bed of light wood-ash would be swept away much more easily. We must, therefore, suppose a bed of ashes at least 100 x 50 ft., very probably much wider, and varying from 3 to 18 in. thick, in spite of all the denudation which took place before the XVIIIth dynasty. There must be now on the ground about fifty tons of ashes, and these are probably the residue of some hundreds of tons. The age of these ashes is certainly before the XVIIIth dynasty. And on carefully searching a part of this stratum for pottery embedded in it, I found pieces of thin, hemispherical cups, of thick, large, drop-shaped jars, and of rough white tube-pots, all of which belong to the XIIth dynasty. We have just seen that the XIIth dynasty was the most flourishing time in the early history of the place, and this agrees with the date of these remains.

What, then, is the meaning of this great bed of ashes? One suggestion was that it was the remains of smelting works. But smelting elsewhere does not leave any such loose white ashes; on the contrary, it produces a dense black slag. Also, there is no supply of copper ore at that level, nor within some miles' distance, and the site is very inaccessible for bringing up materials. Moreover, there is no supply of fuel up on the plateau; whereas the ore has been elsewhere transported to valleys and plains where fuel could be obtained, as at the Wady Nasb, Wady Ghar�ndel, and El M�rkha. The statement of Lepsius and others that there are beds of slag near the temple is an entire mistake, due to ignorance of mineralogy; the black masses are natural strata of iron ore, and not artificial copper slag. Another suggestion was that they were like the beds of ashes near Jerusalem, which were supposed to have originated from the burning of plants to extract alkali. But, again, this is the most unlikely place for obtaining a supply of plants. Neither of these suggestions can be an explanation. Again, these ashes were supposed to be from workmen's fires; but if workmen continually burnt great fires in front of the shrine, we must suppose some religious motive for it.²⁶

Though initially skeptical (yet strangely intrigued), the confirmation from his own writings that Petrie did indeed find an enormous amount of fine, white powder of unknown origin not only underneath the flagstone floors of many of the inner rooms of the Hathor temple, but also scattered throughout the complex, pretty much swept away much of my remaining doubt. More than this, there was obviously very much more of this mysterious white powder in the temple than even Gardner had claimed, tens of tons there when Petrie found the complex and, he estimated, hundreds of tons originally. It hardly seems likely that the priests would have allowed any wood ash at all to profane the inner chambers, let alone hundreds of tons of it. Moreover, purposely placing wood ash beneath the floors was not an Egyptian practice, nor would it make any sense under any circumstance. One online writer argues that it was simple white sand, that he believes was routinely placed under Egyptian temples²⁷, but Petrie had seen white sand before²⁸, and really, even a child could tell the difference between sand and the sort of fine powder that Petrie described.

And there are many other arguments against the fine white powder being wood ash. For one, the very arid Sinai Peninsula is very sparsely forested, having only a relatively few small bushes, such as the acacia bush, scattered here and there, not nearly enough to provide even one or two tons of ash even over many centuries of time. In fact, the only substantial source of trees in the region was (and is) in faraway Lebanon. Also, Petrie found no remnants of partially burnt branches, leaves, or any vegetable residue within the powder whatsoever, and he checked very thoroughly. Nor did he find any animal bones that might have evidenced that it was the result of animal sacrifices, the only reason to have sacrificial fires in the first place. And on top of that, the ancient Egyptians did not even practice animal sacrifices until the Ptolemaic period, many centuries after the Hathor Temple at Sinai had been abandoned. This mysterious white powder was literally as pure as the driven snow, and as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Interestingly, there were upwards of 50 tons of this fine, white powder there when Petrie inspected the site, both scattered around the complex, and buried underneath the temple floor, yet today there is none to be found anywhere at all. If 3,200 years of desert winds could not remove all of this powder, how could 100 years? Some say that by opening up the floors to the desert winds, Petrie allowed the remaining white powder to blow away. Yet even then, some powder should remain in some faraway corner, but apparently not one grain of it has been found anywhere on or under the temple complex, impossible unless a very vigorous cleaning job was done by some very careful people. Could it be that the powder was cleared out with all the rest of the important artifacts and carefully hidden, Smithsonian style? And why would they do that, if it was just worthless, "white wood-ash"? Clearly there is something hidden here.

Serabit al-Kadim, though remote and fairly inhospitable, was until recently a reasonably safe journey, requiring only good health, good planning and the hiring of a local Arab guide. The recent increase in terrorist activity in Egypt, however, which has been specifically targeting the tourist trade in the Sinai Peninsula, makes a journey to Serabit Al-Kadim an unwarranted gamble except by a large, well-equipped and well-guarded professional expedition. Individuals and even small groups should definitely not visit Serabit al-Kadim or the surrounding area until the terrorist threat in this region dies down, which may not be for some time. Frankly, unless Egypt takes its internal security seriously in this region, or a foreign power takes over the region and secures it, travel to anywhere in Sinai except for the most heavily guarded tourist areas should be avoided, particularly by American and Israeli tourists. A stealthy approach to the mountain would be unwise also, as much of the Sinai Peninsula is littered with land mines left over from previous incursions by both Israel and Egypt. Though tensions have died down between these two countries, both the literal and emotional landmines they laid down remain deadly. As such, Serabit should only be approached on a well-paved road, of which there is only one approaching the area.

Despite the danger, many tourists, particularly Israeli tourists, love the Sinai beaches so much that they are apparently worth the risk. The Sinai Peninsula does indeed have a rugged beauty, and its beaches an exotic flavor. Sinai's beaches are beautiful and popular, with excellent coral diving and snorkeling opportunities in the Red Sea, not to mention taking a jeep or camel safari into the mountains. You can also go on foot into the mountains, but this is best done during either spring or fall, as the extreme heat make this dangerous in the summer, and the cold and snow at higher altitudes makes it dangerous in winter. During the summer you will need a high-factor sunscreen and a head covering or risk sunstroke. You will also need to bring (and drink) at least four to six liters of water per day of travel. Even in winter the region is still dry, so water should always be a high priority. And though Serabit al-Kadim may be a dangerous proposition, a safer alternative may be Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula which, with the nearby hospitable St. Katherine's Monastery, may be the best bet for the average traveler. Other safer areas to visit include nearby Sharm el-Sheikh, the major tourist hub of the peninsula, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Middle East as well as one of the best diving spots in the world. This is probably the best destination for the typical traveler; Dahab, an inexpensive but beautiful resort town popular with backpackers; Nuweiba, a port city on the east coast of Sinai, which is being built up as another exclusive resort area that may be worth a look; Port Said, a port city on the northwestern edge of the Sinai peninsula, that sits on the entry point between the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea; and Taba, on the eastern side of the peninsula towards Israel facing the town of Eilat, which made its bones on the casino located inside the Taba Hilton. These locations, despite the rising tide of terrorism in this region, may be the best bet for a safe and enjoyable Sinai vacation, but not necessarily the most enlightening.

If you enjoyed Parts 1 & 2 of The Exodus Revelation, you will love parts 3 and 4, where we will begin to delve into the ancient technological secrets that were rediscovered by Moses during the Exodus. Parts 3 and 4 will be presented in next quarter's issue of Mysterious World Journal, so if you wish to be alerted when our next journal comes out, please sign up for our Hall of Records newsletter.

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¹ Though the exact dating of the Exodus is not clear, for the purposes of this essay we will be taking what is known as the "late date" as the time of the Exodus, which would place it around 1212 b.c., give or take a few years. This is based upon numerous assumptions too elaborate to get into here, but in this scenario Pharaoh Rameses I (regnal years 1292-1290 b.c.), was probably the pharaoh behind The Slaughter of the Innocents (Exodus 1:15-22), and Rameses II (regnal years 1279-1212 b.c.) was the pharaoh of the Exodus. This conclusion is supported by the fact that Moses was around 80 years old when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and there were approximately 80 years between the beginning of the reign of Rameses I, when the infant Moses was nearly killed by Rameses I's killing of the firstborn, and the end of the reign of Rameses II, when Moses led Israel out of Egypt. Rameses I was the first pharaoh of Egypt's nineteenth dynasty, and was not of royal blood, but had, like Pharaoh Horemheb before him, risen in the ranks of the army, serving as vizier to Horemheb and helping him to quell the chaos that had ensued after the precipitous decline of the eighteenth dynasty (caused by the "monotheistic heresy" of Pharaoh Akenaten's worship of the Aten). Horemheb had had no male heir, so he had anointed Rameses I as his successor, essentially raising a commoner (like himself) to the level of royalty. As such Rameses I was probably much less forgiving than his predecessors might have been about a foreign presence in the land such as the Hebrews, who since the time of Joseph (who lived ca. 1900 b.c., probably sometime during Egypt's 12th Dynasty) had "increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7). In context, the description of pharaoh's treatment of the Israelites in Exodus 1-2 sounds much like the actions of a new king faced with a potentially disastrous situation. Needing to prove himself, and seeing the potential danger of such a large foreign presence in one of the richest provinces of Egypt, Rameses I acted like any other clueless, brutal military dictator would do — enslave the foreigners, and then systematically murder them starting with the firstborn males. The fact that Rameses I reigned for less than two years indicates that he probably was cursed by God for his actions against Israel, much like the fate of Herod, who died horribly after his massacre of the innocents in his attempt to kill the newborn King Jesus as described in Matthew 2. See Wikipedia's handy timeline to see a complete overview of the regnal years of all of the New Kingdom monarchs.

² Echoing the revelation of God as "I AM" in Exodus 3:14, and Paul's later concept of the "unknown god" in Acts 17:23. This is remarkably similar in concept to the Egyptian god Amun, who was also thought of as a deity associated with the ram, who created the universe and who was seen as being transcendant and external to the universe, as well as being hidden, a concept reinforced by the fact that the meaning of the name "Amun", means "the hidden one". Amun was also known as "Amen", which may have been the origin of the word "amen" in Hebrew language and religion. Amen was a dominant deity throughout Egyptian history, indicating possibly that much of the theology behind Amen was inspired by Joseph and later Hebrew thinkers until the time of the Exodus. Some scholars think that Joseph actually may have been Pharaoh Amenemhat IV, or more likely, Mentuhotep, the vizier of Pharaoh Sesostris I. He may also have been Pharaoh Mentuhotep IV, the last king of the 11th Dynasty. Mentuhotep IV was an obscure king who, like Joseph, was associated with a seven-year period, though according to the biblical record, Joseph never rose above the rank of vizier — the chief of pharaoh's advisers and the second man in Egypt. These possibilities also assume the early date for the Egyptian sojourn (and the Exodus), which posits that the Israelites lived in Egypt from around 1900 b.c.-1500 b.c., +/- 50 years or so. See http://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a016.html for an informative analysis of this question.

³ Illuminations, "Moses and the Egyptian Priesthood" (Illuminations: http://www.mystae.com).

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ God's revelation of Himself as I AM has enormous theological implications. Not only does that mean that he has no name, as we understand it, or even that his name cannot be pronounced by mere mortals, but the implication of this boldest of statements in context is that not only is God the greatest name under heaven, but that He is indeed the only thing that truly exists, the material world being illusory by comparison. The "realness" of the universe is only truly real while one is within the universe within a fleshly body that is subject to its rules. However, from the perspective of a higher order of being such as God, a "spirit", the universe would be seen as virtual in nature, a transitory thing that is highly unstable and inevitably illusory in nature by comparison to God, who is constant, unchanging, and existed before the universe was even created. As such, by naming Himself I AM, God is essentially saying, I am the only being that exists — all else is illusion. Cf. Ecclesiastes 1:1)

⁷ Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, "Various Map Proposals for the The Route of the Exodus" (Bible Origins: http://www.bibleorigins.net).

⁸ Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, "Various Site Proposals for the Location of Biblical Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb" (Bible Origins: http://www.bibleorigins.net).

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ The name Serabit al-Kadim may come from the Hebrew sarav (samech-raysh-vet), "rebel, rebellion" and qadeymah, "beginning, origin, earliest times", and/or qaydemah, "east" - as in East of Eden? It may also be that this place was the place of Israel's murmurings in Exodus 17:5, when Moses struck the rocks and water came forth, afterwards naming the rocks Massah ("temptations") and Meribah ("striving"). Together the two mean "wrestling with temptation", which might be a good name for Serabit al-Kadim, which appears to be a large pair of breasts, like the twin Paps of Anu in Ireland or the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. The nearby Hathor temple probably was built in their shadow for that reason, Hathor being a fertility goddess, so Moses' renaming of the twin-peaked mountain in this way would be appropriate, as Israel had not yet completely left behind their love of the ways of Egypt. Also, the original Egyptian name probably was pornographic in nature, and therefore unusable. Another answer is that Kadim is based upon the Hebrew word ketem (caph-tav-mem) which means "hidden gold". This is probably the true root word, giving the meaning, "hidden gold of the rebels". And though sarav might be the root of the word Serabit, a better word would be tsarephat (tsade-raysh-phey-tav) - literally, "workshop for refining gold". Along with el-katam, "the hidden gold", together the most likely meaning of Serabit al-Kadim is "The Refinery of the Hidden Gold."

¹¹ Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, "The Route of the Exodus" (Bible Origins: http://www.bibleorigins.net).

¹² Lawrence Lo, "Proto-Sinaitic" (AncientScripts.com: http://www.ancientscripts.com).

¹³ The University of Western Australia Linguistics Dept., "Introduction to Semitic Languages: Chapter 2: Semitic Writing Systems" (The University of Western Australia: http://www.linguistics.uwa.edu.au).

¹⁴ Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, "Has Archaeology "Found" Moses' Shattered Ten Commandments on Tables of Stone?" (Bible Origins: http://www.bibleorigins.net).

¹⁵ Dale R. Broadhurst, "The Origins of Hathor" (Bible Origins: http://sidneyrigdon.com/DRB/BEGIN/begin.htm).

¹⁶ The term "hero" may have actually been derived from the word "horus". The rise of the Horus King, and others like him, may be linked to the rise of the Rephaim giants after the Flood, and may also be linked to the mysterious Nimrod of the Bible.

¹⁷ Caroline Seawright, "Hathor, Goddess of Love, Music, Beauty ......" (Tour Egypt: http://touregypt.net).

¹⁸ Broadhurst, "The Origins of Hathor".

¹⁹ Stephanie Cass, "Hathor" (Encyclopedia Mythica: http://www.pantheon.org).

²⁰ Jimmy Dunn, "The Temple and Mines at Serabit el-Khadim In the Sinai" (Tour Egypt: http://www.touregypt.net).

²¹ Wikipedia, "Serabit el-Khadim" (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org).

²² Gary McKay, "The Mines of the Pharoahs - Serabit El-Khadim, Sinai, Egypt" (Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh: http://www.arcl.ed.ac.uk/).

²³ Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, "The Hathor Temple at Serabit el Khadim in the Southern Sinai" (Bible Origins: http://www.bibleorigins.net).

²⁴ Katheryn A. Bard, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (Oxford: Routledge, 1999), 524.

²⁵ Gardner, Laurence, Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark (Great Britain: Element Books, 2003), 4-9, excerpted.

²⁶ William Flinders Petrie, "Researches in Sinai: Chapter VII, History and Purpose of the Temple" (Serendipity: (Extracts from Researches in Sinai) http://www.arcl.ed.ac.uk/), emphasis mine.

²⁷ Andrew Bayuk, "Gold Powder" (Guardians Ancient Egypt Discussion Board: http://egyptologist.org).

²⁸ Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards, "Pharaohs Fellahs and Explorers" (University of Pennsylvania Digital Library Projects: http://digital.library.upenn.edu).

Jewish Encyclopedia: Moses
Jewish Virtual Library: Moses
Catholic Encyclopedia: Moses
Wikipedia: Moses
Answers.com: Moses
Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus
Biblical Artefacts and Studies: The Chronology of Egypt and Israel
Tour Egypt: The Traditional Route of the Exodus
Tour Egypt: On the Trail of the Exodus
Bible Origins: The Route of the Exodus
Jewish Encyclopedia: Levi
Jewish Encyclopedia: The Levites


Wikipedia: The New Kingdom of Egypt
Wikipedia: Pharaoh Thutmose III
Wikipedia: The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Wikipedia: Pharaoh Ramesses I
Wikipedia: Pharaoh Ramesses II
Tour Egypt: The Nomes (Provinces) of Ancient Egypt
Egyptology Online: Manetho and the King Lists
Kunoichi's Home Page: Hathor, Goddess of Love, Music and Beauty...
THE SISTRUM IN THE SINAI: Essays on Hathor and the Biblical Exodus
Tour Egypt: Hathor
Tour Egypt: Hathor, Lady of Beauty
The White goddess: Hathor
Ancient Egypt Online: Hathor
Egyptian Monuments: Dendera
Wikipedia: Sopdu
Egyptian Dreams: Sopdu
Tour Egypt: Sopdu
Catholic Encyclopedia: Amalek


Tour Egypt: Sopdu
BiblePlaces.com: Jebel Musa (Mt. Sinai?)
Tour Egypt: Mount Sinai and the Peak of Mount Musa (Mousa)
DrBarrick.org: A Brief Response to the Alternate View Placing Mount Horeb in Midian
Tour Egypt: The Temple and Mines at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai
Answers.com: Serabit el-Khadim
Wikipedia: Serabit el-Khadim
About.com: Serabit el-Khadim
Geographia.com: Serabit el-Khadem
The Megalithic Portal: Pictures of Serabit el-Khadem
Ancient Egypt: An Introduction to Its History and Culture: Mining


Wikitravel: Sinai
Sinai4You: Nuweiba
Trip Adviser: Red Sea and Sinai
Atlas Tours: Welcome to Sinai (Egypt)
Atlas Tours: Sinai (Egypt) Tourist Information
Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh: Serabit El-Khadim, Sinai, Egypt - Site Information
Travel-Budget.com: Sinai Holiday Travel
Egypt Magic: Tour Sinai
Travelotica.com: Sinai Travel Guide
St. Katherine's Monastery
GoRedSea.com: Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa)
Travel Advisories:
U.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of State: Background Note: Egypt
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
World Travel Watch
AllSafe Travels: Egypt


Harvard Semitic Museum
University of Chicago Oriental Institute
University of Chicago Oriental Institute


Geographical info
NASA Images from space
Google Earth: Hathor Temple @ Serabit al-Kadim

Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark:
Amazing Revelations of the Incredible Power of Gold
Laurence Gardner
Rating:
In Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, Gardner follows up on his groundbreaking research on the subject of mfkzt, the mysterious "white powder of gold" that he argues cogently is actually a monatomic form of gold that some ancient priesthoods, including most prominently the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews, used in their religious rituals in order to create a gateway between the material world and the spiritual world. Eaten in bread form the monatomic gold, Gardner argues, was used by the ancient priesthoods to bring health, long life, and spiritual insight. Used in the famous Ark of the Covenant, the white powder of gold could be used for communion with God, for healing, or for destruction. Though Gardner's research hardly qualifies as "scholarly", he does demonstrate a substantial grasp of both scriptural, esoteric and even related scientific disciplines and harmonizes them beautifully in a way that has to be read to be believed. Though his scientific proof for the existence of monatomic gold is not well supported, the concept of ORMEs (Orbitally Rearranged Monatomic Elements) is, so his thesis is not without credibility. And if monatomic gold is in fact a scientific reality, the existence of which would indeed answer very many questions about some of the most mysterious concepts presented in the Old Testament, then Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark could be considered one of the most important books ever written in the field of Old Testament research, particularly research regarding the Ark of the Covenant. And though Gardner wastes several chapters on the ridiculous and unsupportable Magdalene heresy, which by itself reduced the rating of this book from 5 "breads" to four, the material on the white powder of gold is literally worth its weight in gold. (Review by Mysterious World)
Click here to buy this book.


Researches in Sinai
William Matthew Flinders Petrie
Rating:
This is the classic text of the legendary Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie's 1904-1905 survey of all of the Egyptian monuments to be found in the Sinai Peninsula. Largely overlooked as one of his lesser works, Researches in Sinai may actually hold hidden clues revealing the most important secrets regarding the most ancient mysteries of mankind, including the true location of Mt. Sinai, the location of the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and possibly even the entrance to the Underworld. A must-have for any serious Egyptologist, particularly one interested in the writings of Petrie. (Review by Mysterious World)
Click here to buy this book.


A History of Sinai
Lina Eckenstein
Lina Eckenstein, who traveled with the legendary Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie as his assistant, records her discoveries and analysis thereof in this little known but important book that may help uncover the secrets of the true Mt. Sinai. (Review by Mysterious World)
Click here to buy this book.


Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
Kathryn Bard
Rating:
This outstanding work is prepared by scholars for serious students of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. Egyptologists, philologists, historians, classicists, art historians, and anthropologically trained archaeologists helped write it. Margaret Bunson's Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Facts On File, 1991) is much more accessible and more reasonably priced for public, middle-school, high-school, and college undergraduate libraries. Her black-and-white illustrations are strong and definitions are brief and clear for term-paper purposes. There are entries for such familiar topics as Nefertiti and Tuthmose (spelling used by Bard), which are accessible in Bard only through the index as part of more complex, but thorough, discussions. Bard's work, however, is well worth the cost and belongs in all college and university libraries and other libraries supporting research in ancient archaeology. (Review by Booklist)
Click here to buy this book.


The Mountain of God (Hardcover)
Emmanuel Anati
Rating:
The author, who has directed the expedition at Har Karkom in the Negev for the past five years, presents his findings along with the hypothesis that the mountain is, in actuality, Mount Sinai, the mountain of Moses and the Exodus. Anati himself points out two major obstacles to his theory that the mountain is nowhere near current versions of the route of the Exodus and that no finds from the site date to the accepted chronology of the Exodus. Anati, however, suggests a much earlier date for the Exodus, in the mid-third millennium B.C. This latter aspect of the book will be extremely controversial among specialists, to say the least. But the site, with its rock art and other aspects of material culture, is of definite interest. A lavishly produced book for archaeology collections.
Click here to buy this book.


The Gold of Exodus
Emmanuel Anati
Rating:
When a millionaire adventurer goes in search of the true Mount Sinai, he gets more than he bargained for. Spies, missiles, and secret military installations are just some of the obstacles that Larry Williams and his sidekick Bob Cornuke must confront in their unprecedented journey to find the lost treasures of Moses. In The Gold of Exodus, award-winning journalist Howard Blum records a page-turning story of an adventure that makes history. While risking their necks by sneaking into the xenophobic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, amateur archaeologists Williams and Cornuke become pawns in a game of international espionage that eventually leads them to the top of the most sacred mountain in the world, and into the hands of shotgun-wielding Bedouins. The Gold of Exodus is a true story that is too unbelievable to be fiction, too suspenseful to be put down, and too significant to soon be forgotten.
Click here to buy this book.


Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant
Graham Hancock
Rating:
English journalist Hancock retells the circumstances and thoughts that led to his discovery that the Lost Ark of the Covenant really exists. Hancock traveled to Ethiopia in 1983, having been hired by the Ethiopian government to write and produce a coffee-table book extolling the ancient glories of their country. He was greatly surprised when he learned that he was not allowed to document Ethiopia's population of Falasha Jews, because they offiically "did not exist", and that many people could land in jail, or worse, if he went around photographing such nonexistents. Despite this he continued on to Axum, deep in the desert, where he witnessed the temples and statuary of the Black Jews of Ethiopia. After following a trail of religious and ethnographic clues reminiscent of a detective story, Hancock finally located a sect that claimed to have the original Ark of the Covenant, though they refused to let him see the holy artifact in order to prove their claim. Refused entrance to the sanctuary of the jealously guarded Ark, Hancock returned home, where he saw Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, which inspired him to investigate the history of the Ark. Hancock's theory is that the Ark was stolen by King Solomon's son Menelik, the offspring of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who took the Ark south to Ethiopia where it has been kept to this day by faithful Falasha descendants of the original Jewish emigrees. The Sign and the Seal is a definitive, groundbreaking classic of the genre of ark research, and a fascinating read. (Review by Mysterious World)
Click here to buy this book.


From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge
A rich, detailed survey of Egyptian conception of "God" and gods, magic, cult of animals, Osiris, more. Also, superb English translations of hymns and legends. 240 illustrations.
Click here to buy this book.

Voices
Vangelis
Rating:
One of Vangelis' lesser-known works, Voices offers a variety of genres in one long, dreamlike revelation that has to be experienced fully before understanding that it is in fact one of his best. The voice chorus at the beginning works well with the "Exodus" motif in this series. (Review by Mysterious World)
Click here to buy this CD.


Raiders Of The Lost Ark [SOUNDTRACK]
John Williams
Rating:
The first of the three Indiana Jones scores, Raiders established the popular Raiders March Theme as an instant classic in the world. As easily recognizable as the Star Wars fanfare, John Williams' Raiders March is the first track on this expanded edition of the Raiders soundtrack, from there it becomes a great thrillride that follows Indy's adventures to find the Ark. Along with the standard music there are some bonus tracks that were not previously published before. The insert has an interview with John Williams, pictures from the making of the movie and a break down of the tracks. This is a superior soundtrack recording and unlike the more mature sound to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, has many more instances where the Raiders March is used. Other themes to listen for include the ark theme, which makes a brief reappearance in Last Crusade, is used many times here as well as the love theme for Indy and Marion. 1995 reissue. 30 additional minutes have been interwoven which were deleted from the original 1981 release, totaling 74 minutes of pure listening pleasure. Re-mastered including a special 24 page booklet containing an interview with John Williams, as well as liner notes, rare photos and sketches not included with the original release. Standard jewel case housed in a slipcase. Top notch.
Click here to buy this book.

Passion: Sources
Peter Gabriel/Realworld Music
Rating:
This excellent CD is a compilation of much of the source recordings that Peter Gabriel used for Passion. A must-have for lovers of world music, especially African and Middle-Eastern music.
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The Musicians of the Nile: Luxor to Isna
Musicians of the Nile
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Life in the villages spread out along the Nile hasn't changed in a thousand years; nor for that matter has the traditional music of the region which has remained impervious to outside influences, even Islamic ones. The recordings here weren't collected on site but captured live at a Paris concert and in Real World's own studios in darkest Wiltshire. No concessions are made to Western ears, however, other than upping the playback quality of the intricate tabla rhythms as they tangle with ancient instruments like the rababa, the droning oboe-like mizmar and the flutish arghul which goes all the way back to the Pharaohs. Not so much a record, more like an adventure in sound. This soundtrack is highly recommended by the publisher.
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The Adventures of Indiana Jones - The Complete DVD Movie Collection (Widescreen Edition)
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As with Star Wars, the George Lucas-produced Indiana Jones trilogy was not just a plaything for kids but an act of nostalgic affection toward a lost phenomenon: the cliffhanging movie serials of the past. Episodic in structure and with fate hanging in the balance about every 10 minutes, the Jones features tapped into Lucas's extremely profitable Star Wars formula of modernizing the look and feel of an old, but popular, story model. Steven Spielberg directed all three films, which are set in the late 1930s and early '40s: the comic book-like Raiders of the Lost Ark, the spooky, Gunga Din-inspired Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the cautious but entertaining Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Fans and critics disagree over the order of preference, some even finding the middle movie nearly repugnant in its violence. (Pro-Temple of Doom people, on the other hand, believe that film to be the most disarmingly creative and emotionally effective of the trio.) One thing's for sure: Harrison Ford's swaggering, two-fisted, self-effacing performance worked like a charm, and the art of cracking bullwhips was probably never quite the iconic activity it soon became after Raiders. Supporting players and costars were very much a part of the series, too--Karen Allen, Sean Connery (as Indie's dad), Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, Denholm Elliot, River Phoenix, and John Rhys-Davies among them. Years have passed since the last film (another is supposedly in the works), but emerging film buffs can have the same fun their predecessors did picking out numerous references to Hollywood classics and B-movies of the past (Review by Amazon.com)
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The Search for the Real Mt. Sinai with Free Expedition Map
Two Explorers take an incredible expedition into the blistering Arabian Desert and turn up what many scholars believe to be one of the greatest discoveries in history...the real Mt. Sinai, the holy mountain on which Moses received the Ten Commandments. This program tells their amazing story how they crawl into forbidden military installations, and use night vision goggles to avoid being detected as they pursue their mission and discover over a dozen significant remnants still remaining at the site. The explorers embark on a journey that would change their lives forever..finding remarkable evidence that confirms the Bible as historically accurate. Weaving together real life adventure historical research and exclusive never-before-released footage, this exciting adventure leaps off the screen to document a story you'll never forget. (Review by Amazon.com)
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