“But in the eyes of John, my husband was not an ally but a bitter rival and so he would not let him into the city. So Simon attacked Idum who were the allies of John.”
Ted looked at Daniel, puzzled.
“The Edomites. They were a non-Jewish people, indigenous to a nearby region that straddled what is today the Israel-Jordan border. They were supporters of John of Giscala.”
Ted continued translating.
“Now John was afraid of my husband for he had a great army and with my counsel his wisdom in warfare was… immense. So John learned from the ways that Simon had used against the Romans and he attacked… by… I suppose the best way to translate it would be by speed and trickery.”
“An ambush?” asked Daniel.
“Or guerrilla warfare,” Ted replied. “Anyway, the next bit is quite interesting… at least if I understood it correctly. They captured me and my… now this is an interesting word. It could mean my friends, my extended family, my servants or my household.”
“Entourage?” suggested Daniel.
“Yes that’s a good one word translation. They captured me and my entourage. It doesn’t say anything about Simon himself.”
“They didn’t take him prisoner,” Daniel said.
“Oh. This is known history?”
“By and large yes — the battles and fighting I mean. But not the involvement of Boudicca’s daughter and her marriage to Simon Bar Giora.”
“Let’s do the next bit.”
It followed the familiar pattern of transliteration followed by translation.
“But the Judeans they spared and set free.”
Ted looked at Daniel.
“Is that meant to imply that she and her entourage were targeted because she and her people weren’t Jewish?”
Daniel thought about this.
“I suppose that inference could be drawn. Although the Idumeans — or Edomites — were also not Jewish. Go on. You haven’t translated all of it.”
Ted looked down to read the rest of what Daniel had rendered phonetically.
“But Simon became greatly angered and he unleashed great vengeance upon all that were guilty in his eyes and they set me free and my entourage free.”
The next few lines described the civil war between Bar Giora and the other factions and how — when the Romans were closing in — they tried to escape through the tunnels under the Temple Mount taking a supply of food and using stone cutters and how they ran out of food. But then they came to the interesting part.
“So Simon made me swear that I would stay hidden with the others and flee with my mother’s gold and silver jewels to Masada with Eleazer ben Yair, while he alone, dressed in the robes of a king appeared before the Romans.”
This time it was not Ted that Daniel looked at, but Irene. For they both knew the familiar story of Masada all too well. Eleazer ben Yair led the Judeans in their last stand at Masada when they allegedly committed suicide. But according to this manuscript, however, he had been right there in the tunnels with Bar Giora and Boudicca’s daughter, before escaping to the fortress by the Dead Sea.
But Ted had picked up on something else.
“What’s this about gold and silver jewels?”
Irene shook her head.
“As far as I know, nothing like that was ever found. I mean they found coins proclaiming the Redemption of Zion, which are believed to have been minted on the authority of Bar Giora. And they found costume jewellery made with beads and they found mother-of-pearl and ivory. But no precious stones. And apart from the coins, no precious metals.”
“The reason I ask is because we know Boudicca, and the Iceni in general, did have gold and silver jewellery,” said Ted.
To Daniel, this was no mystery.
“Well presumably if she did take it with her to Masada, that would explain why it hasn’t been found in the Temple Mount salvage project. And presumably if the Romans found it at Masada, they would have looted it.”
“Unless they hid it. But that leads me right back to the same question I asked regarding the Domus Aurea Parchment. Why was this left behind at the scene? Why not take the manuscript with her?”
“Presumably because they were so desperate to get out and they couldn’t take anything that wasn’t necessary. They probably had to lie in wait after Bar Giora made his appearance through the opening the stone masons had cut and play possum until the Roman’s left. Remember, even according to Josephus, Bar Giora hid in the tunnels with others. Yet it only records Bar Giora himself being captured. They presumably had find a way of sneaking out undetected. The manuscript would have been a useless liability.”
Irene remained sceptical.
“And yet they took the jewels! And if the events were so important as to transcribe, you’d think the manuscript would be as valuable to her as the jewels — if not more valuable.”
“Maybe her husband made her swear to leave it behind,” Daniel speculated. “Also, if they were captured by Romans, the jewels could be used to bribe their way out of it. A Roman who captured them with the jewels would have received a reward. But why settle for ten or twenty percent when you can have the whole thing?”
“There is another explanation.”
This was Ted.
“Just because Josephus doesn’t record the others being captured doesn’t mean they survived. Maybe they stayed and waited till it was safe but gave out to hunger. Or possibly the stronger fitter ones escaped and the others died there. I’m not saying that happened, but you can’t assume that because they intended to get out of there, that they succeeded. The manuscript doesn’t record the outcome.”
Daniel had a thought.
“Were any bones found amidst the rubble?”
He was looking at Irene.
“Interestingly, no. But that’s a good question. But one can’t even read too much into that because although the Muslims dug twelve metres down into the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, it’s quite likely that the subterranean tunnels extended throughout the whole site. We know that there are hidden chambers there, but it’s doubtful that the Waqf will grant you or any other Jew access.”
But Daniel was remembering something he had been told during a recent encounter in Egypt… and he realized that once again he might be able to draw on his extensive network.
Chapter 70
The soldier was walking along by the side of the road. Officially, Israeli soldiers were no longer allowed to hitchhike, under standing orders designed to prevent kidnappings by Palestinian terrorists. Certain events had made the practice dangerous, even for male soldiers. To back up the rule and stamp out the dangerous practice, Israeli military police had resorted to staging fake kidnappings of soldiers caught hitchhiking, followed by swift military trials and fines.
But despite these measures and the obvious risks, some Israeli soldiers continued to hitchhike nevertheless, unofficially and inconspicuously. The army buses would normally take them as far as bus stops at major junctions and from there, they would make their way home using buses, on which they were allowed to travel free of charge.
So when Baruch Tikva saw the soldier walking along the road near the intercity junction, he knew that he was secretly hoping for a lift. He drove past at a slow speed and stopped just in front, opening the window and leaning towards the man on the asphalt pavement with a smile.
“Are you going to Mevasseret?”
He took a chance on getting it right. Naming a specific destination — a small township outside Jerusalem — would sound less suspicious than asking where he was going. If he got it wrong he could always loop around and try again with another soldier. But there was no need. Soldiers had been warned to watch out for tricks, like Arabs wearing Jewish-style skullcaps and playing Jewish religious music on the CD player. But you can’t beat appearance. Some Arabs can look like some Jews, and vice versa, but Baruch Tikva was pale-faced and so obviously of north European or north American ancestry that there was no way this soldier could doubt him.