The Phoenician Code

by Karim El Koussa

  Each of the twenty-two letters has a physical denotation. Each of the twenty-two letters has a spiritual meaning. Youmna remembered the mysterious words mentioned on the first page of the book.

  “What do you know about the Phoenician Alphabet, Paul?” she inquired with enthusiasm as she came out of her reverie.

  Paul glanced at her, pretty indeed, that Alchemist in front of him with her lovely face crowned by blond hair, flowing down her shoulders like a profuse waterfall, her green eyes probing, peaceful and warm. As a long-time researcher on the Phoenician Alphabet, Paul felt a keen energy inside him to generously expose his life’s interest in Ancient History & Religion to these remarkable girls, standing in wait for him.

  “I think the early Phoenicians had developed both the Mesopotamian Cuneiform and the Egyptian Hieroglyphs into a more advanced system of writing, the Phonetic Alphabet,” he informed the girls with a note of pride for their Ancestors. “Mr. Saiid Akl, however, advanced that the Phoenicians had invented an entirely new Alphabet, based on audible perception. The other forms of writing relied only on the visual senses, based on images. The Greeks, according to Mr. Akl, adopted the Phoenician system for its practicality. Undeniably, this new method presented a more practical and easier way to write history.” He paused for a moment, looked around him, and added, “In fact, that was the main reason, which compelled Mr. Wil Durant, the American historian and thinker, to declare that the Alphabet was indeed the biggest gift ever offered by man to mankind.” He took a glimpse at them, weighing their level of interest, and the glint in their eyes encouraged him to proceed. “As we all know, Mr. Saiid Akl, a notorious Lebanese figure, is a contemporary poet and thinker, who followed the footsteps of our great ancestors. He invented a new writing method for the Lebanese language, based on the Phoenician letter system. It differs from the Arabic system used in the region. In fact, it is a combination of both, an Arabic dialect and Latin letters.”

  Maya nodded in agreement, to what he had just said. Of course, as an Archaeologist, she must have learned this at the University, while studying some History courses, since History and Archeology are identical twins. Youmna, in turn, did not issue a comment. She appeared confused and withdrawn, as if her concern lay somewhere else. Although she seemed to appreciate the topic of Paul’s conversation, the persistent brightness in her eyes, and the curiosity her face expressed said it all. Indeed, she wanted to know more… much more than that.

  “How interesting to know that…” Youmna acknowledged with a smile, as she looked back at Paul. Her tactful response was aimed at sparing his feelings, since it seemed she had already been acquainted with the information he had provided. The crucial question she posed, confirmed this, “What are the odds of finding secret codes for the letters inscribed on the Stone?”

  “I’m not quite sure, but the chances are quite slim, as you’ve previously pointed out; that bizarre Stone held some unfamiliar Phoenician writing,” Paul promptly replied to her ardent query with apparent excitement.

  He then looked well all around him. Making sure no one was approaching the tent; he came closer and closer to the girls, and whispered into their ears. “Other than the mission entrusted to us by Padre Joseph, to find any direct clues related to the murder of the Architect, Hiram Melki,” he paused, looked into their curious eyes, found them trustworthy, and added, “I am actually here to also investigate an interesting theory I had read about a long time ago. It concerns the Phoenician Alphabet,” he revealed avidly. “Please keep this between us,” he ended.

  “Oh sure… I see… and what is it about?” Youmna inquired.

  “It’s deeply connected to what the book is saying,” he grinned, secretly amused by the eagerness he saw glowing in their beautiful eyes. “Let’s explore it, shall we?” His final declaration was in fact nothing but an invitation to start the search without delay.

  “What shall we do with the book?” Youmna asked in anxiety.

  “Hide it,” Paul rejoined automatically.

  “Yes, Youmna, I totally agree with Paul… please hide it,” Maya declared in confirmation. “Thank God, Zago was not here to see what we have seen, I mean, what the book has revealed.” She smiled widely and added, “If he laid hands on the book, he may think we’re into witchcraft.”

  Youmna laughed to herself; at last, feeling somewhat relaxed from the burden Padre Joseph had put over her shoulders, by sending her the mysterious book.

  “Who’s Zago?” Paul asked, interested.

  “Well, Zago is my assistant,” the Archaeologist answered with a smile still on her face. “He is another story, truly. You might say he is a true believer of superstitions, due to his great fascination with the Occult. Anyway, you will find out who he is, when you meet him soon,” she said in a tone that amused Paul.

  The discussion continued fervently for a while inside the tent. It became more focused now on the dazzling theory that had been laboring inside their minds, concerning the hidden knowledge within the Ancient Alphabet.

  “Oh, by the way, Paul,” Maya seemed to have recalled something, as she searched his eyes, “I intended to ask you this before. Have you communicated any of this to your friend, Jim, the artist?”

  “Not at all.”

  .12.

  A Strange Stone with dazzling beauty

  Wednesday, October 20, 10:27 AM

  Obviously, it was not by coincidence that they had met there, at the Archeological Site of Gebel, but rather, a crying voice of the Ancients, beckoning their subconscious. Paul had been reasoning with himself, Is it by chance that people meet in life? Is it really by random decisions that we find ourselves in the company of others, who have the same urge for discovering the mysterious and the unknown?

  Moments later, Paul and Jim joined the girls working inside the pit. “Any ideas yet?” Paul broke into their thinking process, nosily asking Maya, who was carefully observing Youmna, totally engrossed in the Stone ahead of her, moving her fingers smoothly over the letters, in an attempt to decipher them.

  “We have unearthed many objects and stones during our 16 days of work here, since October 4, but none as peculiar as this Stone. The writings on the objects and stones were easily read, but this one…” Youmna corroborated, and Maya nodded in agreement. “The inscription is really bizarre. The way the letters are lined up next to each other, beneath and above each other, in mixed up lines that look like a configuration of some kind do not make sense at all. I believe this could be… way older than the common form we know,” she explained in puzzlement. “I’m afraid my knowledge is limited, concerning that ancient form of writing,” she confessed.

  “A configuration of that sort is relatively impossible in Phoenician inscriptions, I believe,” Paul said. “You might be totally right. That could be very old.”

  Youmna nodded. Maya looked for a solution. Jim lingered expectantly.

  “Maya, could you please brush away the surface of the inscriptions, and try to get rid of any residual substance that might still be adhered to the central part of the Stone?” she asked encouragingly, as if trying to come up with a last recourse to solve the riddle, before she could ultimately give up. The Archaeologist complied at once with renewed energy, hoping this might reveal hidden lines within the inscriptions.

  “Anything?” Paul inquired.

  “Nothing,” replied Youmna. “But… wait… wait a second...” she scrutinized a bit longer, lifting an eyebrow. “This hazy configuration reminds me of something I think I know.”

  “Really?” Maya exclaimed.

  “Yeah, but I can’t remember what it is,” she pondered, as she brushed a strand of her golden hair behind her ear.

  “May I ask exactly what you’re looking for?” Jim suddenly questioned, looking at the Alchemist, who looked at Maya in confusion.

  “Nothing… nothing in particular,” Paul hastened to answer his friend, who all of a sudden sounded interested in the ancient Stone and its bizarre inscription. He felt compelled to keep him from
knowing their exact mission. “It’s part of the habitual work Archaeologists come across on ancient sites,” he added.

  “I see. May I then have a look?” Jim addressed Maya, who in turn looked at Paul. The Historian nodded in agreement.

  “Very well, Jim. Go ahead,” Maya welcomed the artist inside the pit.

  After looking at the inscription for a few minutes, the trained eyes of the artist seemed to have captured something within the inscription. He left the pit, opened his backpack, and retrieved a transparent piece of paper, used mainly for certain kinds of drawings.

  Back inside the crater, a few moments later, Jim drew the inscription meticulously on the paper, in the exact position as it showed on the Stone. Outside the trench, Paul and Maya stood still, carefully observing what he was doing. Still inside the pit, Youmna moved closer in his direction. He stepped back after he finished the drawing, and looked at the Stone from about a meter away, to get an overall look at it. He seemed very surprised.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Jim didn’t respond; he just kneeled over the Stone, and placed the transparent paper with his drawing precisely over the inscription. “Typical match!” he uttered in excitement, turned his head to Youmna, and looked at Maya and Paul, who waited in great anticipation. “You will be very surprised,” he revealed. “This inscription, my friends, depicts the exact pattern of one of the Constellations in the sky, the Constellation of Taurus,” he conveyed.

  “Constellation of Taurus!?” Maya inquired in confusion. Her eyes focused on the Stone, as she approached it little by little.

  “The Constellation of Taurus,” Paul muttered under his breath.

  “That’s what I thought I knew,” the Alchemist revealed energetically, as the ancient inscription began to surface in the shape of the Taurus’ Constellation clearer and clearer for all to see. “Quite amazing,” she sighed.

  “May I ask what this could lead us to?” the Archaeologist inquired. “I mean, could you do the reading now, Youmna?”

  Youmna did not find a quick answer. She was not sure she could do it. Although the secret of the configuration, which made the inscription look bizarre to Youmna and to the others, had been finally revealed, the inscription itself was still a mystery.

  “Excuse me, Maya?” the artist interjected. “Before Youmna does the reading, I think it’s imperative to know what the Constellation of Taurus means.”

  “And do you know the meaning of it?” she stared at him.

  He nodded.

  “Really?” Youmna exclaimed at Jim in clear excitement. Maya stood still and gawked at Paul, who did not comment. He knew Jim had a vast knowledge of the ancient world.

  “Sure, I learned the celestial shapes years ago… eh…” Jim hesitated and blushed, then confided evenly with a smile, “Well, it was during my studies and research as an artist.”

  “This is great!” Youmna expressed delightedly, “Tell us about it!”

  “Phoenicians, as well as ancient Egyptians, considered this very Constellation of high religious significance,” Jim stated. “The Phoenicians thought it to be the place from where the Divine Messenger, Enoch-Taautus, came to them, and became a Metatron—the chosen one, who stood before God. The Egyptians, however, related the Constellation to their god Osiris,” he informed them, referring back to his historical studies and religious knowledge about these great Civilizations from the past.

  “Exactly so,” added Paul in confirmation. “This is the celestial sign of Thot-Taautus, also known as Enoch or Thor, the inventor of the Alphabet. This Stone could really be much more than just a mere piece of rock with an inscription on it. We might be close to what we’re searching for, Youmna. I believe I now know how we should read the Inscriptions.”

  “And how’s that?” Maya inquired at once.

  “We can only interpret them according to Thor’s formula, and that is very ancient.”

  “Do you know how?” Youmna asked Paul, surprised by his knowledge of Thor.

  “I know someone in London who might: Dr. Jane Fraser. I met her accidentally in Geneva, while I was participating in the seminar. I can get in touch with her right away,” he conveyed eagerly, looking past them, half-closing his eyes, biting on his lower lip, as if trying to remember something. “I may have the notes with me, on my laptop. It’s in the Jeep… Wait for me,” he uttered, as he hurried through the ruins, and disappeared out of sight.

  The girls smiled in anticipation, as Jim took some shots of the Stone, after asking them if it was all right to do so. Minutes later, Zago arrived at the ditch, and Maya introduced him to Jim, who greeted him with a smile.

  “Anything new?” Zago asked excitedly.

  “Yes. The Stone revealed an outline of the Constellation of Taurus. Paul and Jim believe the Constellation was deemed to be of high significance in both Phoenician and Egyptian Religious systems,” Maya informed her assistant, who gazed at Jim with a grin.

  “It is the celestial sign of the Egyptian god Osiris and of Thot-Taautus, also known as Thor the Geblite, the inventor of the Alphabet,” Jim added. These words seemed to appeal to Zago.

  “Very Interesting! And… who is Paul?” he asked amiably.

  “The Historian I told you about,” Maya responded.

  “You’ll meet him soon,” Youmna added in a different tone. “Ah, here he is,” she pointed at Paul, walking along a path, amidst the ruins. Moments later they were introduced to each other.

  “I have heard so much about you, Zago,” Paul expressed, and the girls repressed their amusement. Of course, Paul would keep private what Maya had revealed about Zago. He probably wanted to get to know the man he had just met, in due time.

  In turn, Zago gave no response; he just grinned at Paul, who had found a flat stone near the ditch to sit on, took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it quietly. After the first two drags, he turned on his laptop, and began searching for the information he wanted so badly… Thor’s formula.

  Thor’s formula… they all thought about it.

  “Here it is,” announced Paul, a few minutes later. “Come close so I can show you a picture of the Constellation of Taurus in a clear sky,” he added energized.

  Youmna was the first one to draw closer to Paul and his laptop; Maya and Jim followed her immediately. As for Zago, he stayed a bit a ways, shrugging off his shoulders, acting somewhat indifferent, yet his voice quavered when he asked, “Could you possibly think a modern picture of the sky could decipher an ancient inscription on a Stone?” His words, meant to explain his nonchalance, came out of his mouth with a nostalgic soreness for an unknown past.

  Paul was just extinguishing his cigarette, when he heard Zago’s comment. He glanced at the picture on his laptop, weighed the important discovery of the Stone the girls had made—while excavating the ruins of the Great Phoenician Temple—and looked at Zago squarely in the eyes, despite the powerful sunrays blurring his vision.

  “Yes Zago, it can,” he confirmed. “The picture of the Taurus’ Constellation has not changed through time. It has ever been the same, now and thousands of years ago. Let me show you.”

  Zago didn’t comment, he simply came closer, to see what a picture of the sky could reveal.

  “This is one of the 13 Constellations of the Zodiac,” Paul began. “It was the Ancients who invented Astrology, relating animal and human shapes to the stars glowing in the night sky. No one really knows when it happened. However, most researchers believe that it started somewhere in Phoenicia and/or Egypt, since both cultures shared a deep connection. Few others believe that it all began in Mesopotamia.”

  “The Ancients considered Taurus as one of the many animals hunted by Orion, the Hunter—located to its left—for reasons only known to Phoenician and Egyptian priests!” Paul paused for a breath, probably still thinking about that mystery, and then continued, “Now, if we look at the celestial map, we find that Taurus, the Heavenly White Bull, is situated between Gemini, on the left, and Aries, to its right, topped by the Pl
eiades.”

  “Alpha, Aleph, is the first letter in the Phoenician language. It meant both Ox or Bull, and a letter or a sign describing God!” he gave a quick but evocative look at Maya and Youmna, as if trying to revive in their memory the vision they had experienced at the base camp, from the mysterious book sent by the Padre, The Alchemy of the Letters…

  Sitting all alone, in the silent part of the base camp, Youmna had earlier opened the book on the page describing the secret meaning of the second letter, Bet(h).

  “Be it!” God ordered solemnly. “Let me be... physical.” The godly voice resonated up in the Heavenly Kingdom. Instantly, numinous sounds and divine harmony beckoned the Cosmic Energy and Cosmic Matter out of chaos and void.

  Creation…

  Creation of the indivisible essence and of the divisible substance resulted from the union of the will of the Eternal Energy and the faith of the Eternal Matter. The odyssey of physical life began, following an order of broken Divine origin! The One manifested, and became two. Far distant galaxies and stars beamed, one after the other, in the dark-blue sky…

  And yet, God held time captive in His hands.

  A holy moonlit night turned into day, when the Sun appeared from the bosom of the Light—the Most High. The Sun became the Son of God. It stood as the Master in the center of its own system, radiating energy in all directions, towards and throughout the circumference. In that circle, the planets—disciples of the Sun—followed an order of strict consistency. They breathed in its heat, and looped around it in an act of worship.

  Earth moved quickly… It rotated around itself and around the center: the Sun. Billions of years passed to transform it, evolve it, bit by bit. Volcanoes erupted, floods took place, and a change in temperature cooled its atmosphere. Earth lost its virginity, and was ready to deliver. The birthing labor ceased in due time. Organic life would appear anytime now, somewhere within its womb.