Wayward Son (18 page)

“Syria’s loss is Egypt’s great fortune. Kha ’ten, may you long remain our guest here in Memphis!”

CHAPTER 19

Egypt, circa 3100 BC

CAIN’S NEW VOCATION SUITED him perfectly.

Initially, Menes arranged for him to collaborate with his chief engineers to assist in refining the design of the earthen dike. After about two months of work, the team settled on the main parameters, and Menes approved a project that would be two miles in length, with a thickness of two hundred feet and a height of fifty feet.

However, a debate continued to rage between the advisors about the proper composition and layering of materials. When Cain proposed a solution that all agreed was both structurally and economically sound, Menes became convinced that the newcomer’s abilities would help to make his vision a reality, and so he appointed Cain the overseer for the entire project. The post assured Cain of a handsome wage, payable in grain, and secured for him a healthy social status in Memphis as well.

Eight months later, Cain and Snefru were again invited to Menes’s compound. Cain assumed that his employer would want a thorough report on the progress of the dike. But when he raised the subject, Menes merely asked Cain to provide a time frame for the dike’s completion so that he could consult with the priests about an auspicious date for the dedication ceremony. Other than that, he showed little interest in the details.

“I know you will master the challenges, Kha ’ten. What I wish now to discuss, my friends, is an even more ambitious goal.”

“Just tell us, cousin, and we shall be at your side in full support,” Snefru declared.

“You have heard, I assume, that Nubian forces have lately threatened the independence—the very livelihood, even—of dozens of communities in Upper Egypt. I have weekly reports from my contacts in the region. The towns to the south are being pressed hard.”

Snefru and Cain listened attentively.

“Now is the time,” said Menes, “for all Egyptians to stand united. We are people with a common culture: the same gods, the same customs, the same writing system, and basically the same economy. I believe, with all my heart and mind, that the moment is right for an alliance between Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. Perhaps even for a union of the two.”

Menes held his right hand aloft, extended with the index finger pointing upward, as if he were addressing a wider audience. Snefru and Cain maintained a respectful silence.

With a meaningful glance at Cain, Menes pronounced, “And, when our dike project is completed, Memphis will be ideally situated to be the capital of this alliance—and the crown of all Egypt!”

The rest of their meeting was devoted to a more personal matter. Menes informed them of the sudden, grave illness of his younger sister, Cena. Her doctors suspected she had contracted some type of malady from the river. Both Cain and Snefru expressed their concerns, although Cain remained politely quiet as Menes and Snefru then offered up prayers to various healing gods.

After two hours or so, Snefru and Cain took their leave, returning to their respective houses by the river. “So Menes has dynastic aspirations after all,” thought Cain, as he strolled beside the other man. In this visionary’s mind, the city’s glory was harnessed to his own ambitions for power. Cain had seen such aspirations in Enoch. Indeed, he had lived them. But Memphis was tiny compared to Enoch, and now it was another leader’s turn. Cain had tasted all he wanted of political power.

On entering his house, Cain reflected on the dour news concerning Cena. Despite his best efforts to remain upbeat and encouraging in front of Menes, he’d learned that death was an ever present fact of life in this new land. Cain calculated that perhaps a third of the children here died in infancy. The great majority of adults did not live past thirty-five. A people who lived by the river also died by the river—not only from waterborne diseases, but also from the jaws of hippos and crocodiles. What a contrast to the long-lived generations Cain had known before the flood!

Cain pondered the deeper reasons, if any, for this contraction of the human life span. Was God, offended by the rampant paganism and idolatry of Egypt, once again showing his displeasure with mortal beings? Was another flood, perhaps, on the way? What had happened to the pious preaching of Noah and his warnings on the subject of false gods?

Again, Cain confronted the recurring dilemma of his own longevity. Here in Egypt his immunity to the ravages of time would become obvious much faster, and would likely cause suspicion, envy, or hostility. For some time now, he had debated the issue within himself. On the one hand, he had no wish to leave the safety of Egypt. Although very different from Enoch, Egypt had achieved an enviable level of prosperity and culture. Cain could see that there were vast opportunities here. Thanks to the Nile, agriculture was thriving and transportation was relatively easy. Shipbuilding and weaponry had reached the point where it was indeed possible to imagine Menes succeeding in making Egypt the preeminent power in its region. It was surely tempting to abide near his new patron.

On the other hand, if Cain remained in one community for even a relatively short time—say a decade or two—suspicion would inevitably grow about him. After all, he appeared to be in his late twenties—senior citizenship for an Egyptian. He had never forgotten his first wife’s treachery in Enoch, and he had no wish to suffer a repetition.

He walked outside and stared at the late evening colors dancing on the Nile. He was intimately acquainted from his wandering with the river’s vast extent: four hundred miles and more from his house at Memphis, upriver to the Nubian region, and then many hundreds of miles again, ever southward, thrusting up to the ultimate source in a mountain lake deep in Africa.

Then it occurred to him. As with so many things in Egypt, the great river offered an answer. After fulfilling his obligations to Menes, he would become a nomadic trader, with the Nile as his lifeline.

CHAPTER 20

Egypt, circa 3100 BC

AFTER THREE AND A half years of steady labor by four thousand slaves and hundreds of citizen supervisors, Cain was in a position to promise Menes that the dike would be completed before the next flood season, and he was as good as his word.

All of Memphis and many of its neighbors crowded to attend the dedication ceremony, which was conducted by dozens of priests in splendid regalia. Special reverence was accorded to the god Ptah, who was worshipped in Memphis as the patron of craftsmen, particularly of those who worked in stone. A giant image of the deity was unveiled, revealing him with his trio of sacred symbols: the
ankh
representing life, the
was
representing power, and the
djed
, standing for stability.

In the interim since the past fall, Menes had steadily promoted the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. Everyone in Memphis knew that, were this alliance to come to fruition, Menes himself would emerge as the new nation’s leader. So Cain was not surprised when, at the dedication of the new dike, he glimpsed Menes wearing headgear that blended symbols associated with the two regions. Although Menes did not call himself pharaoh, he had become king in everything but name.

The mutual benefits of the friendship between the two men grew steadily. Just as Cain had proved a helpful resource for Menes, the new ruler offered useful counsel to his deputy. Unlike most citizens of Memphis, Menes had traveled widely. In this, of course, he unwittingly resembled Cain. The two men found common ground in their knowledge of, and appreciation for, distant regions. Menes had begun to encourage Cain to consider his next endeavor following the dike’s completion. Although he was somewhat surprised that Cain seemed interested in trading as opposed to further engineering pursuits, Menes was nonetheless happy to provide Cain with extensive insights into the commerce of the day. Menes possessed an intimate knowledge of the great river, and he described its various bends and currents with a facility that even Cain, with his flawless memory, had to admire.

***

During the summer flood season, Cain personally inspected the new dike several times each day. The thousands of slaves had done a commendable job of layering several types of alluvial sand, clay, and loose gravel on the structure, finally positioning large rocks on the dam’s face to prevent erosion.

But ceaseless work had eventually become tedious for Cain. For companionship, he took a young wife, the niece of Snefru, whose first husband had been killed in a skirmish with the Nubians to the south. Her name was Layla. When she shyly inquired about his earlier life, he told her the same narrative he had used with Snefru and Menes. He regretted lying to her, but what choice did he have?

Cain was surprised by the necessity to sign a marriage contract. In contrast to Enoch, where women had few rights, in Egyptian society women were virtually equal to men under the law. They could own and sell property, receive inheritances, divorce, and appear in court to pursue legal disputes. The marriage contract protected Layla by establishing Cain’s financial obligations to her and to their offspring, if any, should the marriage end in divorce. Thinking it unlikely that he would remain in Memphis for long, and knowing that Snefru would provide amply for her in any case, Cain gladly signed.

A month or so after their wedding, Cain discovered that Layla was a most unlikely mentor. He had long known that both women and men in Egypt made liberal use of cosmetics. But he never suspected that his new wife, at the tender age of eighteen, was a fountain of lore on the subject. When she suggested that the crow’s feet developing at Snefru’s eyelids could be more effectively concealed with a new variety of kohl, Cain listened intently. After Snefru had permitted Layla to make a preliminary application, Cain took her aside and quizzed her extensively on the sources, composition, availability, and effects of Egyptian makeup preparations.

Cosmetics were a way of life for all Egyptians—even the dead had to be mindful of how they would look at the last judgment. The Egyptian penchant for good hygiene complemented the widespread interest in products such as kohl, which was both decorative and practical. In the glare of the desert sun, cosmetics helped soften the fierce light, and also helped to repel flies, the source of much disease. It was no wonder, thought Cain, that magical powers were often attributed to cosmetics.

While most Egyptians used makeup to appear younger, however, Cain wondered if cosmetics could help produce the opposite effect. If he could make himself appear older, Cain reasoned, it might help him prolong his stays.

***

After the annual flood of the Nile came the planting season—and Cain’s dike held. A jubilant Menes asked Cain to supervise one more project: the construction of the largest river barge ever built in Memphis, a vessel measuring 250 feet from stem to stern. The barge would have three masts outfitted with lateen sails, equipped to take advantage of the prevailing northerly breezes in wintertime in order to make good progress upriver with cargoes of grain for Upper Egypt. Cedar logs imported from the Levant would be used for construction.

Cain agreed to the undertaking, thinking that at the very least he would profit from on-the-job experience. He could use the nautical construction techniques he had seen on the ark to build the greatest riverboat ever to grace the Nile. When Menes asked him in November when he thought the barge would be ready, Cain promised it for the beginning of April.

Once again, Cain did not fail his patron. By March, the beginning of the harvesting season, the vessel was nearing completion. One evening Cain traveled through the city to Menes’s residence, which now resembled a palace, to present a report.

“My architect!” exclaimed the ruler of Memphis and, though it was not often publicly declared yet, of all Egypt.

“At your service, Pharaoh.” Cain used the new term of respect, which meant literally “great house.”

“Snefru tells me you will soon be a new father?”

“Yes, indeed,” Cain replied. “The baby should be born in less than a month. Layla and I are overjoyed.”

In reality, however, he was conflicted. With people’s much shorter lifespans evident since the flood, Cain knew he would be facing much sooner the pain of abandoning or burying each of his offspring.

“That is wonderful news,” said Menes. “May all your children bring you great joy. Now, please tell me about the progress with the ship.”

“It will be finished by the very next new moon.”

Menes rubbed his hands. “Excellent, Kha ’ten. You have never failed me. The dike holds. Memphis grows rapidly. Our people prosper. Now I wish to announce news to you.”

Cain’s brow furrowed. What had Menes held back from him?

“When the ship is finished, load her with emmer wheat and barley. Then, with the crew I shall provide, set sail for Upper Egypt before the flood. I will give you a list of ports. Trade well, great architect. You are a river merchant now. She is yours!”

It took Cain a few moments to fathom the man’s lavish generosity. Menes was giving him the ship!

“We Egyptians believe that loyalty is a virtue given by the gods. You have been faithful to me and to Memphis, your adopted city, Kha ’ten. How can I not repay you? Your contributions to Memphis are plain for all to see. Now it is high time for you to build your own personal achievements, for yourself and your family. I have no doubt that those accomplishments will be profound.”

Cain was at a loss for words. Placing his hand over his heart, he bowed deeply. Menes approached him and placed both hands on his shoulders.

“May the great river keep you in her care!”

CHAPTER 21

Rome, Near the Vatican: Present Day

CARDINAL ALESSANDRO RAVATTI, PRESIDENT of the Vatican’s
Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology
, was seated comfortably at his desk in the cavernous office on Via Napoleone III when the call from Silvio came in.