Quest for the Lost Ark
Egyptian connection
One strange theory is that the Ark of the Covenant lies buried under the Sphinx in Egypt. This is reminiscent of Indiana Jones’ hunt for the Ark in the city of Tanis, which was consumed by the Egyptian desert. It’s more likely, says Parfitt, that the original Ark was based on designs for chests used by the Egyptians at the time when the Israelite slaves fled.
The Bible gives very precise details: the Ark was made by Moses and the artist Bezalel from acacia wood, lined with gold, with two cherubim on the top, and carried on poles. There are images of similar chests in the Temple of Luxor, and an image of Tutankhamen’s chest tallies with this, but has a jackal on top rather than cherubim. So it is possible that the Israelites were influenced by Egyptian designs of the time.
The professor follows another lead, down the Nile to the church of St Mary of Zion in Axum in Ethiopia. The tradition of the people here is that some 3,000 years ago, the Queen of Sheba bore King Solomon’s son, Menelik, and that he brought the Ark of the Covenant to this place and became the first leader of the Ethiopians. They say the Ark is still here, but because only one monk is allowed to see it Tudor Parfitt cannot verify its existence. According to archaeologist Haggai Erlich the first reference to this Ark appears only in the 14th century.
