The book opens with Indy in the care of Marcus Brody in
Cairo, Egypt.
It was established at the end of Indy's previous adventure,
The Plantation Treasure,
that his father was sending him to
Egypt with an old friend of his.
Marcus remarks that Indy's father is his closest friend.
Marcus has just the one day to purchase a
number of artifacts in Cairo for his museum before he and Indy
head up the Nile to
Luxor.
Brody is said to have curated for several museums during his
life and it's not clear which museum he is working for at this
time. Page 9 states he is assistant curator at whichever museum
is currently employing him.
Indy previously visited both Cairo and Luxor
when he was 8 years old in 1908 in
"My First Adventure", but
it is not mentioned in this novel because the Young Indiana
Jones Chronicles TV series had not been conceived yet when
this book was published in 1990! So, this adventure comes across
as if it were Indy's first visit to this part of the world.
Page 9 describes Marcus in a fashion consistent with his
portrayal in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade, i.e. rather doddering, prone to getting lost, and
bemused about how to get by in the non-English speaking
world.
On page 11, Marcus reminds Indy that Egypt is a protectorate of
England because England is interested in maintaining the
movement of its cargo through the Suez Canal. The
Suez
Canal is an artificial waterway in Egypt on the Isthmus of
Suez which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
Also on page 11, Marcus remarks to Indy that the idea of war is
"unthinkable" in these modern days and that despite England's
worry about the German kaiser, the current kaiser is "quite
progressive" and the last thing Germany wants is a war. This, of
course, is meant to show Marcus' general cluelessness about the
world (other than history and archaeology). World War I will
begin in just one year, with Germany heading the Central powers
and England the Allied powers. The German kaiser at this time
was Wilhelm II.
On page 12, Marcus remarks that archaeologists have been digging
in Egypt ever since Napoleon came there over a century before
and laments there is nothing left to find in the modern day of
1913. French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1798
but (after some initial victories) was forced to
withdraw his army that same year after some defeats in-country and at the
Battle of the Nile for the French Navy against the British Navy.
As for nothing left to find in Egypt, Egyptologist Howard Carter
would discover the nearly-intact tomb of King Tutankhamun in
Luxor in 1922.
Indy visits the Great Pyramids of Giza (which he had already
done in
"My First Adventure").
On page 16, one of the objects found in Indy's pockets is an Ute
arrowhead. The Ute are a Native American tribe that live in Utah
and Colorado. Indy lived in Utah for a time with his father and
also had an adventure in Colorado in
The Lost Gold of Durango.
Indy meets a young Sallah for the first time in this novel, who
will go on to aid Indy in a number of future adventures (Indy
even remarks during their first meeting here, "You know, Sallah,
I've got a hunch that this is the beginning of a beautiful
friendship."). Sallah's full name is revealed as Sallah Mohammed
Faisel el-Kahir. Here, he is shown to speak Arabic, English,
French, German, and Italian, all without a noticeable accent
when he prefers. His American English is so good, Indy jokes
that he must be from Cairo, Illinois instead of Cairo, Egypt.
Cairo is a small city in the U.S. state of Illinois, in the
southern portion of the state; it is also referred to as Little Egypt.
Sallah tells Indy that the pyramids of Giza were once covered by a layer
of polished stone that was later stripped over the centuries for
the construction of other buildings. This is true.
Sallah's description of the ka and survival after
bodily death in Ancient Egyptian religion on pages 22-23 is
essentially correct.
On page 24, Sallah remarks that Osiris was the greatest of the
gods of Ancient Egypt.
Osiris was the god of life, death, afterlife, resurrection,
and fertility in Egyptian mythology.
Sallah has a second cousin named Abdul
who
works at a luxury hotel in Luxor.
Sallah's father died in 1912, making Sallah responsible for
supporting his mother and four brothers and six sisters.
Sallah has a great-uncle who works on the railroad and is able
to get Sallah on the train to Luxor without a ticket.
Marcus' description of the ancient city of Luxor/Thebes on page
35 is largely accurate (from a Western standpoint).
On pages 36-37, Marcus mentions the tombs near Luxor in valleys
for the kings (pharaohs), queens, and nobles. He is referring to
the Valley of the Kings (which Indy "previously" visited in
"My First Adventure") and
the Valley of the Queens. Though the name "Valley of the Nobles"
has occasionally been used, the term "Tombs of the Nobles" is
more common, as these tombs are more scattered. In
addition, the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens
were not designated exclusively for those royal personages; the
tombs in each valley often also held wives, husbands, servants,
and nobles as well.
Page 67 states that Indy is not only afraid of snakes, but any
and all reptiles! Uh, I don't think that's the case.
The tomb that
von Trappen has uncovered and that Indy and Sallah sneak into
turns out to be that of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. When Indy puts
the relic gold-and-jade ring on the finger of the pharaoh's
statue, the statue lights up and the ka of Tutankhamun
speaks to them. The ka also allows Indy to take a ring
that possesses the power of Osiris in order to stop the tomb
robbers and reseal the tomb; the ring later exhibits the power
of some kind of powerful electrical discharge that can cause
immense explosions. This is probably the most overt supernatural
event to have happened to Indy in his life so far, even
accounting for other ghost and spirit events he's crossed paths
with in earlier adventures.
In the real world, many people do believe that Tut's
tomb was cursed, due to a handful of reportedly strange
occurrences and team member deaths shortly after the opening of
the tomb, though skeptics point out that the vast majority of
the excavation team suffered no ill effects and lived normal,
lengthy lives.
On page 78, Sallah speaks German to von Trappen, saying,
"Bitte, mein heri, wir sind nur kinder. Wir sind nicht
schulding," and "Jawohl, mein Herr." These
translate as "Please, sir, we are only children. We are not
to blame," and "Yes, sir."
Von Trappen tells Indy and Sallah he is a secret agent for
Germany and even has a secret agent's proverbial trench coat,
which he has worn in London several times.
London is
the captial and largest city of the UK.
Von
Trappen remarks that when the German war for control of Europe
begins it will be short and sweet. World War I will begin in
1914 and last for over four years.
Von
Trappen says that when Germany emerges victorious after the
coming war, he will wear the Iron Cross. The
Iron Cross is a military medal used by Prussia in the 19th
Century and Germany in the first half of the 20th.
On page 93, von Trappen tells Indy and
Sallah that he paid the American archaeologist Davis, who had
the government concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings, for
his own permission to dig there and Davis had warned him that
there was nothing left there to find. He is referring to
American explorer and businessman Theodore M. Davis (1838-1915)
who did have the digging concession at the time and who became
convinced in 1913 that there was nothing more of significance to
be found in the area.
On page 96,
von Trappen threatens Indy and Sallah
with a Luger pistol. Luger is a pistol design first patented by
Austrian Georg Luger in 1900.
In this novel, young Sallah is able to swim. But in the later
novel The Philosopher's Stone, set twenty years later
in 1933, Sallah indicates he does not know how to swim, having
been surrounded by desert all his life.
Sallah has an uncle who is a policeman.
The description of Tut's burial chamber on page 111 is fairly
accurate of the room as found in 1922.
The angry digger who interrupts Indy and Sallah as they leave
Tut's tomb the second time is found to be afflicted with Bubonic
Plague. As Sallah states, it is a plague spread by fleas and
ticks on infected animals. As Indy says,
it was responsible for the Black Death, an epidemic that swept
Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 14th Century, killing about 50
million people.
At the end of the book, Indy misses
the chance to see
Karnak when Marcus decides they must get out of the city that
night due to the cases of
Bubonic Plague the Germans came down with in Luxor. Karnak is a
complex of ancient temples just outside Luxor.
The tomb of
Tutankhamun is exposed and sealed shut again in this novel, as
Indy and Sallah obey the commands of the pharaoh's ka.
The tomb will not be rediscovered until Howard Carter digs it up in
1922. When he does, he and his team discover it had been previously
broken into and resealed at least twice before, but had not been
completely ransacked. Archaeologists have surmised that the
break-ins occurred not long after Tut's mummy was interred, so
it may have been under observation and thieves could not easily
ransack the entire tomb. This novel seems to hint that at least
one of these break-ins was the forced entry of von Trappen and
Indy.
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