Scene II

The vicinity of the Royal Great House, Egypt, 2375 B.C.

Music No.2: Egypt - Story Of The Empire.

(Ostinato) Kai-yah, Kai-ay-eh.

Chorus

It was only as the Day was dawning in our land,
It was only as the sun rose on the Nile,
It was as the Pyramids stretched upward to the light,
That the story of our Empire had begun.

It was only as each Pharaoh led both of our lands,
It was only with the blessing of our gods,
It was by the smiling providence of Amon-re,
That the story of our Empire had been won.

Cast break into bustling crowd, music continues. Crowd gathers at the feet of the Pepi I.

Pepi I

People of Egypt. My son, the heir has arrived. I, your god, with the authority vested in me (lifts up crook and flail) and wearing the crown of united Egypt, name him Ramkhamun.

Loud cheer.

Let the festival begin.

(Ostinato) Kai-yah, Kai-ay-eh.

Chorus

It was only as the Day was dawning in our land,
It was only as the sun rose on the Nile,
It was as the Pyramids stretched upward to the light,
That the story of our Empire had begun.

It was only as each Pharaoh led both of our lands,
It was only with the blessing of our gods,
It was by the smiling providence of Amun-re,
That the story of our Empire had been won.
The story of our empire had been won.

As song ends, the crowds disperse into festival. Master of Building works approaches Pepi I, bowing and kissing the ground.

Pepi I

Rise, Master of Building Works. The Grand Vizier has sent you?

Building

(crawling) With good news on your pyramid, lord. The white limestone reflects the rays of Amun-re. The art of the mortuary temple is exquisite and fine. The royal statue and icon are also well underway. Your pyramid adorns the land with grace and glory.

Pepi I

Welcome news. Things are as they should be. You have done well.

Gives gift – bracelet – to master of Building works. Action moves across stage to…

High Priest

(obviously long-winded)... and it hardly seems to bother them. Yet, I am sure the gods would be displeased by changes to our tradition. This is what comes of educating the scribes too highly.

Vizier

(bored) You think so?

High Priest

(agitated) What else can it be, Vizier? These new funerary texts are suddenly very popular - at some gain to the scribes! The Book of the Dead is scripture and is not to be interfered with. The scribes have no respect.

High Priest accidentally knocks an urn off of a display nearby as he emphasises his words. The Vizier catches and replaces it carefully.

Vizier

(calm) Hmm. They have to protect their earnings. Perhaps you are too protective of your sacred mysteries?

High Priest

I represent the Pharaoh, and he represents the gods!

Vizier

There was no insult intended, to the gods, the Pharoah (slight pause) or you. But don’t you feel that religion needs to move with the times...

Nomarch

Yes. It’s good to be in the palace again. (points out the standing urn) Is it me, or is the Pharaoh getting more decorative lately?

Treasury

Well, (coughs) our economy is improving, my taxmen are very efficient. Their report makes it clear that our united lands prosper.

Nomarch

Our economy? Your economy, I think. If the economy is doing so well, why are the taxes kept so high? The people of my region struggle to keep up.

Over Gran

The floods have been good this year and you’re not losing, but gaining in wealth yourself, Nomarch. Do your people know this?

Nomarch

Even so…

The chiefs laugh and cross the stage. All rise as Queen enters. She bows to Pepi I and sits with him. Pepi I is busy being served food by servants.

Pepi I

(jovial) And how is the commander of the Royal harem today?

Queen

Well recovered from the birth of our son - thank-you. The ankh that you hold is truly a symbol of life. It may be a while until I feel…

Pepi I

(interrupting) Good, good. We have our son, the pyramid is almost finished, and Egypt excels in wealth and beauty over all her rivals. The Vizier reports that trade is well. I am as rich today as Egypt, and Egypt has never been richer.

High Priest

You know, I’ve said a thousand times not to exaggerate, my lord. We wouldn.t want to compete with Osiris now, would we?

Pepi I

Hmm. A wise reminder.

Queen

Yes. A wise reminder.

Pepi I

(looks at Queen) You are displeased with something, my wife? Come, let us cheer your heart. (to Servants) Call the Chief of the Royal Barge to prepare us a journey. And, music, of course.

Music No.3: Story Of The Empire (reprise)

Chorus

It was only as the Day was dawning in our land,
It was only as the sun rose on the Nile,
It was as the Pyramids stretched upward to the light,
That the story of our Empire had begun.

Pepi I and Queen exit, followed by Egyptian cast. Music continues into scene.

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo, 1659 A.D.

Jacob

(journal) 1^st September, 1659. Leaving Dahlia and Isaac to continue work on the Temple in Aswan, we’ve travelled for two days up to Lower Egypt to Cairo, visiting the Egyptian museum. The weather here is welcome relief, only 23 degrees. We figured this was the best place to come in trying to learn more about the ‘Pharaoh who was not’.

Music ends. Lights up on catacombs in library, the team are looking at various records. A Librarian is hovering close by.

Eunice

(leaning over a bound book) This is interesting.

Jacob

(coming over) You’ve found something?

Eunice

It seems that the mummified cat they have on display upstairs wasn’t a mummy! It was a daddy!

Reuben

(dryly) Very funny.

Eunice

Ah! The old jokes are best.

Reuben

Yes, best left in the past!

Continues searching. The others join him, and work together, leafing through several volumes.

Hmm. There’s a collection of notes here from a group working in our area of the Nile valley at Aswan, at the time of the original dam, dated 1602.

Jacob

Here! Look, they catalogued our temple

Rueben

They also noticed the Ramkhamun text, believing that the hieroglyphs held vital clues on his pyramid’s location. And here it says they planned a northward expedition to find it.

Eunice

Well? What then?

Reuben

(turning the page, and, after showing slight surprise, holds up an empty book) Nothing. There are no more entries from that group at all.

Eunice

Freaky.

Ominous silence. Librarian comes across.

Librarian

I’m a Librarian, can I help? The records are quite exhaustive and it can take some time to find things. Have you found what you seek?

Eunice

(nods) Actually, we..

Reuben

(interrupting) Haven’t found a thing yet, (turns to others) have we?

Jacob

Ah. No. Not a thing.

Librarian

(surprised) Really? (moves toward book) What is that volume you have been looking at?

Reuben

(snatches up book, closing it in the process, and then gives to Librarian with an unconvincing smile) This? It’s just a work record from a survey in 1602.

Eunice

It’s quite disheartening really – apparently our work at Aswan has been done before.

Jacob

Speaking of which, we really must be getting back there.

Librarian

Getting back?

Reuben

Yes, well. You know, tight schedule and all that. Dams to visit, temples to catalogue. We really must be on our way.

Librarian

(stands in the way – fixed smile) No, really I insist.

Eunice

(stops a little startled, and then pushes past) We’re fine, thanks. Honestly. Everything’s great. Okay. Thanks. Bye.

The team exit as Librarian stares after them.

Librarian

Librarian flips thorugh the same pages as the team, then hurriedly exits after them. Jacob enters.

Music No.4: Act One Scene 3 incidental.

Jacob

(journal) 3^rd September. Back at Aswan. The Nile seems further away, with it’s receeding flood level. I guess the Dam will change all of that, drowning our temple and halting the flood waters forever. Still, tonight, we have more pressing things to be concerned with.

Music ends. Lights ‘up’ on temple site at dusk. Jacob joins his team around a table.

Dahlia

With the rough translation Isaac and I have made, and your information from Cairo, I really hope we can find it.

Reuben

Wow! An undiscovered Pyramid, think of all the treasure.

Eunice

Calm down Reuben! Most of them are piles of rubble by now.

Isaac

(nodding) And even if it were still there, it would require strict scientific method. It could take years to fully explore.

Reuben faces audience and, horrified, mouths the word ‘years?’

Eunice

(wistful) It would be nice though.

Dahlia

Okay. Let’s start with the ‘Pharaoh who was not’.

Jacob

Ramkhamun.

Eunice

He seems to be the true heir to Pepi I, between B.C. 2395 and 2360. I’d suggest that when Pepi I died, Ramkhamun was somehow skipped over, so that the second son Pepi II succeeded him. Pepi II’s reign mysteriously began at the age of five, after his father’s sudden death.

Isaac

We know that Ramkhamun ‘fled to the Nomarchs for help’. Now, he didn’t recover the throne, so what went wrong?

Reuben

The Nomarch base was around Thebes. Because the Nomarchs were lower class, the Pharoah’s kept away from them, so there aren’t many pyramids there.

Dahlia

And none in the shadow of a mountain, which is what I think the text means when it says Ramkhamun ‘rests under the mountain of the pyramid.’

Reuben

Like other pyramids, it should be on the Nile’s west bank, keeping the religious symbol of the sun setting in the west.

Jacob

The library records suggest that the team headed north from here in search of the Pyramid. (tracing with his finger)Looking at the map, heading north, on the west bank of the Nile and away from the capital - and we’re back at Thebes!

Isaac

Completely unsuitable! Too many mountains – that’s where they later made the valley of the Kings. You don’t get Pyramids in valleys! Everyone knows that!

Reuben

What was that? Of course! (he grabs the translation)

Dahlia

What?

Reuben

Don’t you see. Ramkhamun’s pyramid isn’t by a mountain. You said it was by, but your translation says under.

Isaac

Good grief! Reuben’s right! The tomb of Ramkhamun is hidden, hidden ‘under the mountain of the pyramid’, to be precise. There is one mountain in Egypt that looks like a pyramid.

Reuben

At the Valley of the Kings, at Thebes!

Eunice

But that’s entirely the wrong dynasty. The Valley was used by the New Kingdom Pharaohs, several hundred years after Ramkhamun.

Isaac

Precisely. The valley was used. Not the mountain.

Dahlia

(excited) We’ve got to go there and find out.

Dahlia breaks away from group, walking to stage front, apparently peering into the night sky.

Music No.5: Can you imagine?

Dahlia

Can you imagine?
Out there somewhere
Waiting forever,
Waiting without a care,
A Pharaoh
Lies in his tomb
Asleep.

Isaac

Can You Imagine?
Out there somewhere
Waiting forever,
Waiting without a care,
The secrets
Lost in the past,
Till now.

Chorus

From Ages that have long since passed,
From times that won’t return,
The glory of a kingdom lost,
Awaits to rise again.

Reuben

Can you imagine?
Out there somewhere
Waiting forever,
Waiting for us to get there,
The treasure,
Such untold wealth,
as ours.

Team

We will hike through the valley at Thebes,
We will conquer the mountain atop,
We will open the tomb of Ramkhamun,
And discover all that has been lost.

Chorus

From Ages that have long since passed,
From times that won’t return,
The glory of a kingdom lost,
Awaits to rise again.

Dahlia & Eunice

Can you imagine?
Out there somewhere,
Waiting forever,
Waiting without a care,
Is it right
We should go there?
Imagine.

Team exit. Lights down. Music changes into next scene.