The group made their way down the mild gradient leading to the side of Dominus Flevit, the church’s wrought iron gate open, and the wonderfully presented grounds warm and inviting. When they reached the bottom, they stopped before a row of grilled archways set against the foundations.
The sun lit the cavern underneath the church in a warm, orange glow that radiated off the un-tooled floor. The walls and ceiling, expertly constructed from local stone, providing mooring points for a wooden frame, which attempted to provide stability. Dozens of stone boxes lined the floor, each a foot long and about half a foot wide. Some bore flat, casket style tops, while others sported lids fashioned like the roofs of houses. Beautiful carvings and etch work adorned them, and filled the space with an air of artistic beauty.
“We’ve come halfway round the planet to look at stone boxes?” asked Chris, completely unmoved by the sight.
“I’ve explained why we’re here already and it’s a lot more involved than that.” said Carl.
“Whatever.” said Chris, shaking his head. “So what do we do now?”
Leaning against a gated doorway to the subterranean cavern in a rickety chair was a lone guard wearing the garb of the Israeli police. Carl glanced from the man to Louisa and smiled.
Louisa heaved a sigh, walking over to the man and giving him a smile, before pointing inside the room. She opened her purse, handing over a fifty Euro note, and flicking her eyelashes seductively. The guard almost fell of his seat, as he looked at the cash. He glanced about and then took a few strides away from the door. Turning to face the arches, he tapped his watch and held up five fingers.
With no more invitation required, the group made their way into the musky smelling interior.
“Don’t touch anything you don’t have to. Call out any items you see that might be of interest.” said Carl, walking over to one of the finer examples.
“How are we supposed to know what we’re looking for?” asked Louisa, as she moved toward one of the side tunnels that fed the other chambers of the system.
“I’m going off a hunch here. These ossuaries are covered in symbols and drawings. One of them may have something on it that may be of use.”
“A hunch?” said Chris. “This is Jerusalem! You know better than to bring us to a volatile country based on a hunch.”
“Look, Dave hardly gave me a lot to go on. All I know is what you do. So, you can follow my hunch, or we can leave.”
Chris considered continuing the argument, but thought better of it. They were here now and they only had a few minutes left. If they found something, they would stay and be one step closer. If they could not find anything, they would leave. Either result was good.
“Is there anything particular you want us to look for?” said Louisa, from the far wall.
“Just things that match what we’ve talked about.” said Carl, scanning the ossuaries near him. “Serpents, arks, crosses, maps, or even just strange symbols. Try to remember these were basic people. They simplified their symbols extensively, so don’t think your carvings are going to be exact.”
“I’ve got circles surrounded by triangles all over the ones near me.” said Justin.
“Standard sun symbol. You should have two to a side. They show birth and death; sunrise and sunset.”
“I’ve got what look like cubes with a hatch pattern on them.” said Chris.
“That’s a depiction of mausoleums. They drew them on their ossuaries if they couldn’t afford to be buried in them. It’s a transference thing.”
“I’ve got circles covered by chevrons.” said Louisa. “The symbol appears on quite a few near me.”
“The chevron is an ancient symbol for masculinity. Some people think it depicts a fish’s tail, which is why they can link these ossuaries to the early Christians. There’s also a possibility that…” Carl stopped, slowly rising from his hunched position. “Circles under chevrons?”
“Yes. If it’s a simplistic version of a fish, it’s not a very good one.” said Louisa, puzzled.
“That’s because it’s not!” said Carl, as he knelt down beside her. “Oh my.”
“What have you got?” asked Chris, stopping what he was doing and coming over.
“I’ve got us the next step.” said Carl, as he started heading out of the room. “And I was way off. I thought we were here to find out about the tablets, that the originals might lead us to the Ark. It never occurred before now, but the story is so much simpler than that. The Bible even describes making the damn copy Dave was talking about! We’re not here to locate the tablets at all. We’re here to find out about the Ark directly.”
Carl’s flights of reasoning were beginning to wear a little thin, and Chris tried to calm his temper, knowing it would not help the situation, as he caught up and grabbed his arm. “I knew we were after the Ark before we left Amsterdam. That does not explain why we are in Jerusalem.”
Carl turned, catching the confused looks of the group. He knew he was not helping anyone by not explaining his thoughts as he went.
“As I’ve said before, the Ark of Ra was removed from Egypt by Moses and the Ark of the Covenant is the Ark of Ra.” said Carl, his words methodical, as he attempted to convey everything he was thinking. “It turns out I was wrong. The Bible describes the manufacturing steps required to make the Ark of the Covenant in detail, twice. Once when God is giving Moses the instructions on the mount in Exodus twenty-five, and again when Bazaleel actually makes the Ark in Exodus thirty-seven. The tablets were not the copy Dave described. The Ark of the Covenant made by Bazaleel in the Bible is the copy; a copy of the Ark of Ra described by Moses earlier in the story. Dave gave us the information he did, so we could get here, to track down the circle under the chevron. It’s time to stop following the copy and understand Dave’s Templar’s Dollar reference.”
“I take it we’re here to discover what the Templars found when they excavated the Temple of Solomon after the crusades.” said Justin.
“You’ve been watching too much romantic TV, kid.” said Carl.
Chris knew that the Templars had been in Jerusalem, and had read enough books to know that there were many myths around about their activities here. They certainly seemed like a decent starting point. “You’re telling us the Templars have nothing to do with this?”
Carl frowned. He did not do it often, and every time Chris had seen it, some kind of tirade at the ignorant followed.
“Let’s start by dealing with King Solomon; the supposed basis of the Templars and of Freemasonry.” said Carl, trying to stay calm. “First and foremost is the fact there is no evidence to show he ever existed. Solomon was probably a title, like all the other Old Testament names. Think about what he was. Solomon was a wise and powerful old man, related to gold and thus the sun. How would you name a man like that to make him relevant to your target audience of Romans and Egyptians? Logically, you would pick relevant things and combine them together to form and amalgam. Therefore, ancient storytellers probably took Sol, the Roman word for our sun, and Amun, the Egyptian Sun God, and got…?”
“Sol-Amun” said Justin.
“Thus, you have a wise, deified, figurehead leader, who is forever linked to the sun and thus to gold. That also deals with the Templar myth. It is true they were here in Jerusalem for many years, and it is true that once they left the Holy Land they turned away from the church. However, you should ignore the myths and look at the facts. The Knights Templar left the Holy Land so rich they setup a new business empire; banking. They lent so much money to people that entire nations got into debt. Philip the fourth of France actually owed so much to the Templars it was cheaper for him to have them rounded up and slaughtered than it was to pay them back. So, that’s exactly what he did. That’s as romantic as the Templar story gets. People sometimes wonder what the Templars found in the Holy Land that made them turn their back on the church, and that does have something to do with King Solomon; nothing.”
Chris scrunched his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Carl was making
no sense at all. What did any of this have to do with the Ark? If the conversation did not provide something useful soon, he would have to ask him to be quiet.
“The Templars didn’t find the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant or even a single stone with the name Solomon on it; they found nothing. That’s what turned them against the church. They discovered the lie at the heart of their religion and went off to enjoy their lives, and their money.”
“So why did Dave say Templar’s Dollar?” asked Chris, trying to steer Carl back to something useful.
“I think Dave was being cryptic when he spoke to us.” said Carl, gesticulating as he spoke. “The Templar’s Dollar he referred to is the Dollar Bill. It’s covered in Masonic symbols.”
“You’re talking about the All Seeing Eye, aren’t you?” said Justin.
“Yes I am.” said Carl, surprised. “On the one dollar note you’ll see a flat-topped pyramid with a triangle above it. In the triangle is an eye.”
“What does it mean?” asked Louisa.
“That’s the interesting part. I, like so many others, believed it was an image of God’s eye looking out of the heavens and watching over mankind. The triangle in which the eye sits is thought of as the Holy Trinity. If you ever visit the Vatican, you can see the symbol everywhere. It’s an extensively used piece of Christian iconography. The problem is that is not what Dave thought, or knew it meant. He used the words Templar’s Dollar. Yet again, he was leading me to see the real truth. The simplified version is the circle under the chevron.” Carl turned, heading back out of the church’s grounds. “Come on. Let’s back to the heart of the city. I know where we need to go next.”
Chapter 31