''Kitab al Kanuz'' (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: كتاب الكنوز), sometimes called ''The Book of Hidden Pearls,'' is a lost medieval

manuscript from the 15th century. The manuscript is allegedly a treasure hunter's guide noted for its mention of the Zerzura

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

. The author and exact dating of the manuscript are unknown.

Content

The ''Kitab al Kanuz'' is a collection of mystical fables. It lists over four hundred sites in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

that hold hidden treasure, and details the incantations needed to ward off the evil spirits who guard the treasures. The guide provides a specific plan for obtaining the treasure without alerting the royalty, which includes retrieving the key from a unique location and using it to access the wealth. This approach allows the hunter to avoid any potential danger or complications that may arise from encountering the King and Queen directly. ''

The Egyptian Gazette ''The Egyptian Gazette'' is an English-language Egyptian daily, part of El Tahrir Printing and Publishing House. First published on 26 January 1880, it is the oldest English-language newspaper in the Middle East. Eyad Abu El Haggag is chairman o ...

'', an English newspaper published in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, printed a purported translation of a fragment of the manuscript relating to the Sphinx of Giza in 1904. They mistranslated the name, referring to it instead as the "Kitab el Kanoor". They stated that the manuscript was highly valued among Maghrebi treasure seekers, only a few copies existed and was at least a few centuries old. The translation went as follows: "Go to the Sphinx and measure from its face south-east twelve Maliki cubits, that is to say, each a cubit and a half of the greatest cubit. Search there and you will find two

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

s of stone and stones scattered around them. Dig between the two mastabas about a man's height, and you will find a plate ''(? flagstone)''. Clear it from sand well, and raise it and pass to the door which is the door of the

Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, ...

. Cross the threshold of the door and beware of the wells on the right and left, which are closed wells. Pass straight on and take no notice of the wells, and you will find in the breast (front) of the wall a great stone ''(? turning)''. Open it and pass on, and you will see many cells on the right and left, and before your face a great cell with the (great) king of the former kings of Egypt, and kings with him and his son, around him, wearing their kingly robes adorned with

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, and you will see their treasures and their

emeralds Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. ...

, and pearls and ornaments of gold and silver...."

History

E.A. Johnson Pasha, a member of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, claimed in 1930 to have had the manuscript in his possession "for many years," and to have loaned it to the Department of Antiquities in 1905 or so. László Almásy of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

also read the manuscript and became enchanted by its Zerzura tale, which inspired him to help British explorers make expeditions into the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

desert for the Zerzura oasis in the 1930s. It is unknown whether the ''Kitab al Kanuz'' still exists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitab Al Kanuz 15th-century Arabic books Arabic grimoires Lost books