CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 38

THE MAIN SUITE OF THE HOTEL afforded a privileged view to its distinguished occupants: in the foreground was the five-star Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome, located a short walk from Termini central train station, in the impressive setting of Piazza della Repubblica.

Situated in Rome's main tourist area, the hotel is close to local tourist attractions including Piazza di Spagna, Trevi Fountain and the main Opera House. The hotel has 238 elegantly decorated rooms, including a number of suites, as well as free access to the gym, spa and rooftop plunge pool. Guests can enjoy an array of dining options, with a breakfast buffet and a gourmet menu of Italian and Mediterranean dishes served in the hotel's two main restaurants.

The hotel's Posh Sky Terrace Bar Lounge & Restaurant allows guests to dine with panoramic views of Rome's skyline, and a range of original cocktails are served in the Lobby Bar and Champagnerie.

GREGORY EVANS JOINED Nicole at the table, who was now recovered from emotion.

— Nick — said Greg — it's thanks to you that we got here, so it's only fair that the chest is opened by you.

She nodded.

— I don't want to do this alone.

— You're not alone, I know how hard it is to have lost your grandfather, but you'll have to finish what he started.

Then they went up to the bedroom.

THE YOUNG WOMAN TAKEN the small chest, and with a switchblade offered by Greg, broke the fragile padlock that protected it. Upon opening it, she removed a small statue from an Egyptian sarcophagus covered by a paper with some inscriptions, whose content the young woman then read to those present:

Tempus transit in mundum.

Ac vetus succedit Novo, et mantica, bursa.

Vitulus, Taurus, et Rex, qui contradicet ei?

Deumne?... hominem?

Marmoreo manibus munita Caesaris.

— It's Latin...

They immediately looked at the priest:

— I hope your Latin is up to date, Roman.

The priest laughed.

— It was my favorite subject in seminary...

He then translated...

Time passes in the world.

And the old succeeds the New, and the bag, the Purse.

And the calf, the Bull, and a king, who can oppose him?

A god?... a man?

Eternalized in marble by the hands protected by a Caesar.

After reading the riddle, Nicole Hulmann took a photo and sent it to her mother, Victoria, who pored over it, in an attempt to find something, like the other time, something that fit her grandfather's past, indicating the way to go through in the interpretation of that new challenge.

— Once again we have a reference to the past — said Victoria via video call — look at that first sentence:

Time passes in the world!

— Yes — added Gregory Evans:

And the old is succeeded by the new also indirectly makes a reference to the past!

— The other two sentences that follow also give an idea of time — Victoria concluded: saddlebag is something older than a purse; and calf is the first stage of the animal to become a bull only later.

Roman, who until then had remained silent looking at the figurine, finally asked:

— And the Egyptian sarcophagus?

Nicole interfered:

— Roman's right… We're forgetting the statuette. All interpretation of the riddle must be done in harmony with the Sumerian figurine!

Encouraged by Nicole's observation, Roman continued:

— From the inscriptions on the figurine, it represents some Pharaoh, therefore, he must be the king referred to in the fifth sentence: and to a king, who could oppose him?

Victoria smiled at the insight of her security guard:

— Your reasoning is perfect, Roman, but as a pharaoh lived in constant war against the other monarchs of the region, so he had many opponents. How, then, could we identify which of them the enigma refers to?

— That's true, Mother — Nicole interrupted — but look, the fifth sentence must be interpreted in line with the sixth:

A god?... a man?

— Who among them was considered a god? — As far as I know about history, the peoples of the time, not only Egypt, but Babylon also considered their ruler to be a god. The opposition should then be made by another ruler perhaps.

— But that's impossible, Nick, the only time Egypt had two pharaohs was tens of centuries before his existence, in the time before Menes unified Upper and Lower Egypt!

— Then he would not be a pharaoh — concluded Gregory Evans — but who would be this opponent who was considered as a god?

Victoria was meditating on Gregory's last words when she remembered a movie she had watched a long time ago:

— A long time ago I watched a film in which Pharaoh Ramses II tried to stop the Jewish people from leaving Egypt...

Her face lighting up, Nicole suddenly turned to her:

— Is that the name of the Pharaoh who was Moses' brother?

— Yes — replied the woman — even many historians recognize this pharaoh as the Egyptian ruler at the time!

Nicole was beaming:

— I think you just untied the first knot so that we can decipher this riddle!

— Did I just untie the first knot? — What do you mean, Nick?

Everyone looked at the young woman, who, smiling, continued:

— You identified Ramses II as the pharaoh who tried to stop the Jews from leaving Egypt, as I am not yet a trained historian, but a student, I remembered a biblical passage that refers to the Jewish leader who, when God ordered Moses to lead the withdrawal of the Jewish people from Egypt, declares that the Hebrew patriarch, should be considered as God, while his brother Aaron, would be his prophet.

— That means, then...— Victoria was excited.

— It means — concluded the young woman — that Moses is the answer to the fifth and sixth sentence of the riddle!

— You were brilliant again, Nick! — exclaimed a mother euphoric and proud of her daughter.

— No, mother, the merit is yours! If you had not remembered the film that associated Ramses with the pharaoh at the time of the departure of the Jewish people from Egypt, we would never have gotten to Moses.

— That was really brilliant — recalled Gregory Evans — but what about the last sentence: Eternalized by the protected hands of a Caesar?