“‘Can you see anything?’ Lord Carnarvon asked. ‘Yes,’ replied Howard Carter, peering through the small hole with the aid of a candle, ‘Wonderful things!’ Although this sounds like the beginning of a 19th century thriller, these words marked the culmination, in 1921, of a 10-year search for the tomb of King Tutankhamun…” An excerpt from an article called Viewpoints: Art and Artists: Tut: Uncommon by Harry Herbert Sloane and featured in the winter 1978-1979 issue of GQ magazine.
Candlelight seems always to be the best illumination when trying to unlock the mysteries of the ages. Now it would be easier to bring electric torchlight to help us to see through the opening of a tomb at an archaeological dig, but it just wouldn’t have the same effect…
Our images of those who deciphered the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians in the flickering light of a candle seem to be imprinted on our minds, much like the after-image burn that the candle leaves. Any other light just doesn’t seem “right” for the translating of the lore and secrets of an ancient society.
Indiana Jones in Raiders Of The Lost Ark would have been just as surprised at the moving floor below him, as he peered down through the opening, if he had tried to illuminate the interior with a simple candle.
Long before there was electric light, it was either the weak light of a lit candle or firelight that helped to banish the darkness in a home. I’ve often said on the radio show that a candle’s flame can be almost as mesmerizing as the light generated by a fireplace. It’s very relaxing to sit back and watch a candle burn slowly, even if you’re only savouring the moment alone. It can transform one’s mood on long, dark winter nights. And if you’re really quiet, not only is the visual effect soothing, the sound of one burning can also be heard.
This is a quote from the 1989 edition of The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, published by D. C. Thomson and Company. Gay tells us of a famous lamp. “…the famous gold lamp designed by the sculptor Callimachus over 2,300 years ago, and which used to stand at the Acropolis in Athens. Once filled with oil, it was said that it would burn for a whole year. There are various things which can burn for us many months–if we will let them, and they will lighten our whole life–faith, hope, and love, for example.”
This is a poem that was posted on a few web sites. It’s author is Unknown. “In my hands I hold a candle / Whose flame is small to see / And if I give but one light to you / My life is filled for me. / But … / In your hands you hold a torch / For many eyes to see, / So hold it tight that they may light / Their candlewicks from thee.”
More than 3,000 years after the youngest king to rule Egypt was wrapped in linen and buried in his gold death mask, his face was finally revealed to the public. It was unveiled earlier this month. King Tut now lies in a climate-controlled glass case instead of a quartz sarcophagus in order to better preserve his fragile remains. Thousands of tourists visit the tomb every month and experts feared the body would eventually crumble to dust. Two years ago, scientists began restoring the mummy that had been damaged when Carter first discovered and opened the tomb 85 years ago. Zahi Hawass, in charge of Egyptian antiquities, described King Tut’s face this way, as he stood in the hot tomb: “It has magic and it has mystery.”
Merle Shain in her book, Hearts That We Broke Long Ago, a Seal Book published by arrangement with McClelland & Stewart, Limited wrote, “It is better to light candles than to curse the darkness.” Some lines later she continues, “We can be lights for each other, and through each other’s illumination we will see the way.”
Speaking of curses…
The most famous curse, that seems to have little or no merit, would have to be the one that was associated with the opening of the tomb of King Tut. “Death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of the Pharaoh.” That was a hieroglyphic inscription supposedly found inside the tomb. In the Reader’s Digest Almanac Of The Uncanny, there is a whole section devoted to the question about animals being psychic. There might be more truth to this phenomenon than any ancient curse. “In 1923, four months after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt, as the expedition’s sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, died in Cairo, his dog–5,000 kilometres away in England–yelped once and died.”
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Don Jackson
