Rarer Than Gold

Lying in a funerary chamber of white limestone, the mummy was covered from head to foot with gold ornaments. On its face was a gold mask in the shape of a hawk's head. Two badly decomposed skeletons nearby, one wearing a carnelian necklace, were presumed to be those of servants. The mummy itself reposed in a silver coffin, the first ever found in the burial chambers of the Pharaohs. In ancient Egypt silver was called "white gold," and, because it was rarer there than real gold, was held more precious.

This archeological find, made at San-el-Hagar on the Nile Delta, was announced early last week by Professor Pierre Montet of Strasbourg who is excavating the site of ancient Tanis. Unlike many Egyptian tombs which have been despoiled by robbers, this chamber, reached by boring through a heavy wall, was found intact.

The name "Psou-Sen-Nes" was inscribed on the chamber walls, and the diggers at first thought the mummy was that of this king, who had the mild distinction of being one of the several hundred fathers-in-law of King Solomon. Later, however, they decided that the mummy's real name was "Sheshonk," because this name was found on the ornaments in the silver coffin. In the presence of Egypt's young King Farouk,* an archeological devotee who rushed to the spot by automobile, three canopic vases (vases with covers in the shape of human or animal heads) were opened. Each of these contained a silver box shaped like the mummy and bearing the name of Sheshonk. In one corner was a tall conical jar sealed with mud. This, not opened at latest reports, was expected to contain papyri or weapons.

There were five Sheshonks who ruled Egypt during the 22nd Dynasty, founded about 950 B.C. If this long-dead king is the first of the Sheshonks--which further exploration may show him to be--then he is the same as the conquering, rapacious "Shishak" referred to in I Kings 14: 25-26: And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

If Professor Montet's mummy turns out to be the Biblical Shishak, /- the find will be of more importance historically than the late Howard Carter's highly publicized discovery of Tutankhamen in 1922--since Tutankhamen was a footling little king who made no great impact on the affairs of his time.

* King Farouk does not claim to be descended from the Pharaohs. His ancestors came out of Albania in 1802.

/- Not to be confused with the Babylonian fire-walker, Meshach, of the famed firm of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego (Daniel 3).

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