The hieroglyphs that appear as a heading through this novel are taken from the Israel Stele in the Cairo Museum, mentioned above, and show the ancient Egyptian word for Israel. Of the quoted material in this novel not already attributed, the wording of the fictional inscription found under Jerusalem in Chapter 17 is based closely on the Siloam Tunnel inscription, in the Archaeological Museum, Istanbul. The Amarna Letter quoted by Rebecca in the same chapter is no. 287: 60–64. The text of the fictional papyrus document shown by Aysha in the Epilogue is inspired by a translation of passages of the Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus, the Book of Wisdom) by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole in Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza (2011, pp. 53–54), also the source of the pithy quote at the beginning of this note.
Since completing Pharaoh, I have discovered a fine contemporary watercolor depicting the Beatrice a few years before her loss, and you can see that, a drawing by Colonel Vyse’s draftsman Edward Andrews of the sarcophagus of Menkaure in the pyramid before he removed it, the photo of Solomon Schechter with the Geniza archive, Corporal Jones’ medals, and many other images related to the novel and the facts behind the fiction at www.davidgibbins.com and Facebook.com/DavidGibbinsAuthor.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID GIBBINS has worked in underwater archaeology all his professional life. After earning a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, he taught archaeology in Britain and abroad, and is a world authority on ancient shipwrecks and sunken cities. He has led numerous expeditions to investigate underwater sites in the Mediterranean and around the world. He currently divides his time between fieldwork, England, and Canada, and is at work on a new novel about the further adventures of Jack Howard and his team in Egypt.
www.davidgibbins.com