Guardians of the Covenant
Dear reader,
I write the kind of books I love to read.
What books are that, you might wonder. Well, books that intrigue me, books that excite me, books that challenge me, books that teach me new things, books that scare me, books I simply can't put down.
Guardians of the Covenant is a novel about issues that fascinate and intrigue me to no end. The Viking Age. Ancient Egypt. Stave churches. Codes and ciphers. Theology and mythology. The origin of the Bible.
My newest novel is about an archaeologist who uncovers an historical sensation: AD 1013 Norwegian vikings – led by the patron saint of Norway, the later Saint Olav – robs a secret Egyptian tomb. The mumie and the papyrus manuscripts they bring with them back to Norway, turn out to be the Old Testament's most revered prophet – Moses – and the papyrus manuscript originals reveal not only an unknown Sixth Book of Moses, but also show how the Torah was manipulated into its current form.
Basing my research on real scientific theories about the origin of the Moses myth and the true nature of The Books of Moses, I hope my readers gain new insight in the creation of the Old Testament.
Yet - Guardians of the Covenant is not a scholars' book. It's a thriller. A thriller where my protagonist slowly uncover these ancient mysteries. His research brings him from Norway to Iceland, from London to Rome, from Egypt's Luxor to Washington, D.C. and finally to Santo Domingo in the Caribbean Sea. My archaeologist albino anti-hero Bjørn Beltø is not the only one interested in finding answers. A mysterious group of assasins – killing two of Bjørn's priest friends and threatening Bjørn's life over and over again – are lurking in the shadows.
Research has brought me from stave churches in Norway to the wildness of Thingvellir on Iceland, from dusty book stores and archives in Rome to the blistering Valley of the Dead in Egypt. It's been great fun, in other words.
I hope my book conveys all the fun I had researching and writing it.
Below, you'll find some information about some of the topics my novel deals with.
All the best
Tom Egeland
Vikings
Vikings - famed for the fast longships - were feared all over the western world. The term "viking" refers to a member of the Scandinavian seafaring traders, warriors and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and reached west to Vinland (America) and east to Russia and Constantinople.
Leif Eriksson, known from Icelandic sagas as a descendant from a line of Viking chieftains who had established the first European settlement in Greenland in about 985, was most likely the European discoverer of America in about 1000.
In England the Viking Age began dramatically on June 8, 793 when heathen Norsemen destroyed the Abbey church on Lindisfarne, a centre of learning famous across the continent. Monks were killed in the abbey itself, thrown into the sea to drown or carried away as slaves along with the church treasures.
The term Viking first meant a man from the Vik, the bay that lies between Cape Lindesnes in Norway and the mouth of the Göta River in Sweden. The term has also denoted entire populations of Viking Age Scandinavia and their settlements, as an expanded meaning.
Viking voyages decreased and ended with the introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia in the late 10th and 11th century.
Snorri
Renowned historian, poet and politician Snorri Sturluson was born in 1178 and was assasinated in 1241. This Icelandic gigant was the author of several of the Norse sagas. He was the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history (one of Tolkien's inspirations when he wrote The Lord of the Rings). He wrote The Prose Edda, a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skáldskaparmál, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal, a list of verse forms.
As a historian and mythographer, Snorri is remarkable for proposing the theory that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults. Eventually, the king or warrior is remembered only as a god.
He was twice lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. Snorri was murdered by his ex-son-in-law acting on orders from the Norwegian king.
In Tom Egeland's novel, Snorri is one of the Norse "Guardians of the Covenant".
Saint Olav
King Olav Haraldsson was the king who became the patron saint of Norway.
He was born in 995 and died at the battle of Stiklestad on July 29, 1030. He was king from 1015 to 1028. After his canonization he was known as Saint Olav - Olav den hellige (Olav the Holy). Olav is generally held to be the driving force behind Norway's final conversion to Christianity. He left Norway at the age of 12 as head of a viking fleet and returned in 1015 to be king.
Olav is the king who leads the viking army down the Nile in Tom Egeland's novel.
Runes
Runes seem - to us - magical and mysterious. But to our forefathers, they were simply letters.
The Runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters (known as runes), formerly used to write Germanic languages before and shortly after the Christianization of Scandinavia and the British Isles. The Scandinavian variants are also known as Futhark (derived from their first six letters: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant as Futhorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same six letters).
The earliest runic inscriptions date from ca. 150, and the alphabet was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet with Christianization, by ca. 700 in central Europe and by ca. 1100 in Scandinavia. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Scandinavia, longest in rural Sweden until the early 20th century (used mainly for decoration as runes in Dalarna and on Runic calendars). The three best known runic alphabets are:
the Elder Futhark (ca. 150–800)
the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100)
the Younger Futhark (800–1100)
Hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs was a writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements. Cartouches were also used. The variety of brush-painted hieroglyphs used on papyrus and sometimes on wood for religious literature is known as cursive hieroglyphs.
Hieroglyphs emerged from the preliterate artistic traditions of Egypt. For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from circa 4000 BC resemble hieroglyphic writing.
The first full sentence written in hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on a seal impression found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qa'ab, which dates from the Second Dynasty. In the era of the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom, about 800 hieroglyphs existed. By the Greco-Roman period, they numbered more than 5,000.
Hieroglyphs consist of three kinds of glyphs: phonetic glyphs, including single-consonant characters that functioned like an alphabet; logographs, representing morphemes; and determinatives, which narrowed down the meaning of a logographic or phonetic words.
The Sacred Symbols
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from the Greek word pentagrammon, meaning roughly "five-lined".
Throughout the world, the pentagram is connected to sacred geometry.
The term sacred geometry is used for geometry which is employed in the design of sacred architecture or art. The underlying belief is that geometry and mathematical ratios discoverable from geometry also underly music, cosmology, and other observable features of the natural universe. This belief was held from ancient times through the Renaissance and influenced the construction of temples and churches and the creation of religious art.
Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The Pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Jews think the pentramgram represents the five books of Moses, Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus, and it also has associations within Freemasonry.
The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus, and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is also associated with the Roman Lucifer, who was Venus as the Morning Star, the bringer of light and knowledge. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers. When viewed from Earth, successive inferior conjunctions of Venus plot a nearly perfect pentagram shape around the zodiac every eight years.
A pentagram in Christianity: The pentagram was used as a Christian symbol for the five senses. Medieval Christians believed it to symbolise the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram was believed to protect against witches and demons. The pentagram figured in the heavily symbolic Arthurian romances. Probably due to misinterpretation of symbols used by ceremonial magicians, it later became associated with Satanism and subsequently rejected by most of Christianity sometime in the twentieth century. The symbols derived from traditional morning star pentagrams are no longer commonly used in mainstream Christianity.
A pentagram in Judaism: The pentagram was the official seal of the city of Jerusalem for a time.
A pentagram in Satanism: Satanists use a pentagram with two points up, often inscribed in a double circle, with the head of a goat inside the pentagram. This is referred to as the Sigil of Baphomet. They use it much the same way as the Pythagoreans, as Tartaros means Hell in Christian terminology. The Pythagorean Greek letters are most often replaced by the Hebrew letters forming the name Leviathan. Less esoteric LaVeyan Satanists use it as a sign of rebellion or religious identification, the three downward points symbolising rejection of the holy Trinity.
Ankh, ty and cross
The sign combination ankh, ty and cross in this novel signifies the union of ancient Egyptian mythologi with Norse and Christian mythology.
The ankh was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that stood for the Egyptian word "life". Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. It is also known as the Egyptian Cross, the key of life, or as crux ansata, Latin for "cross with a handle". It has been taken as a symbol by many Neopagans.
Ty is the Old Norwegian rune letter connected to Tyr, the god of single combat and heroic glory in Norse mythology. Corresponding names in other Germanic languages include Tyz (Gothic), Ti (Old Swedish), Tiw, Tiu, Tio, and Tig (Old English), Týr (Modern Icelandic and Faroese), Ziu and Zio (Old High German), and possibly, even Teiw in Proto-Germanic.
The cross is one of the most ancient human symbols, and is used by many religions, most notably Christianity. It is frequently a representation of the division of the world into four elements, or alternately as the union of the concepts of divinity, the vertical line, and the world, the horizontal line.
Stave churches
Towering towards the sky in grandeur, Norse wooden stave churches are a majestic sight.
Stave churches were once common in Northern Europe. In Norway alone, a total of about 2000 churches are believed to have been built.
In Norway, 29 historical stave churches remain standing.
Archaeological excavations have shown that stave churches, best represented today by the Borgund stave church, descend from palisade constructions and later churches with earth-bound posts.
Buildt in an era where runes were still in use, you can still find legible rune messages carved into the stave churches' walls, floors and ceilings.
A stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing. The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. The load-bearing posts have lent their name to the building technique. Logs were split in two halves, rammed into the ground and given a roof. This was a simple construction yet very strong. If set in gravel the wall could last for decades, even centuries.
The mysterious cross
As revealed in Tom Egeland's novel, the position of four Norwegian stave churches – all erected between 1130 and 1280 – form a perfect Christian cross. These stave churches – still standing and visited yearly by tens of thousands of tourists – are Urnes, Lom, Flesberg and Ringebu.
The world's remaining old stave churches:
The majority of existing stave churches are found in Norway, but related church types were once common all over northwestern Europe.
Norway:
Borgund stave church, Sogn og Fjordane, — end of the 12th century
Eidsborg stave church, Telemark, — the middle of the 13th century
Flesberg stave church in Flesberg, Buskerud, built around 1200
Fåvang stave church in Ringebu, Oppland, rebuilt in 1630 (two old churches rebuilt as one)
Garmo stave church, Oppland, — around 1150
Gol stave church in Gol (now at Norsk Folkemuseum), Buskerud, built 1212
Grip stave church, Møre og Romsdal, second half of the 15th century
Haltdalen stave church, Sør-Trøndelag, — 1170 - 1179
Hedal stave church, Oppland, — the second half of the 12th century
Heddal stave church, Telemark, — the beginning of the 13th century
Hegge stave church, Oppland, — 1216
Hopperstad stave church, Sogn og Fjordane, — 1140
Høre stave church, Oppland, — 1180
Høyjord stave church, Vestfold, — second half of the 12th century
Kaupanger stave church, Sogn og Fjordane, — 1190
Kvernes stave church, Møre og Romsdal, — second half of the 14th century
Lomen stave church, Oppland, — 1179
Lom stave church, Oppland, — second half of the 12th century
Nore stave church in Nore og Uvdal, Buskerud, built 1167
Øye stave church, Oppland, — second half of the 12th century
Reinli stave church, Oppland, — 1190
Ringebu stave church, Oppland, — the first quarter of the 13th century
Rollag stave church in Rollag, Buskerud, built second half of the 12th century
Rødven stave church, Møre og Romsdal, — around 1200
Røldal stave church, Hordaland, — first half of the 13th century (could be a post church)
Torpo stave church in Ål, Buskerud, built 1192
Undredal stave church, Sogn og Fjordane, — the middle of the 12th century
Urnes stave church, Sogn og Fjordane, — first half of the 12th century (On UNESCO’s World Heritage List)
Uvdal stave church in Andebu, Buskerud, built 1168
Poland:
Vang stave church moved to Poland (no longer on the official list due to the reconstruction)
Sweden:
Hedared stave church in Sweden, — ca 1500 on the site of an earlier stave church (not on the official list)
England:
Greensted church, 845 or 1053 (a church of Saxon origin, sharing a lot of construction details with stave churches)
Moses
Moses is known as an early Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, and military leader, to whom the authorship of the Torah (The Books of Moses) is traditionally attributed. He is also an important prophet in Christianity, Islam.
However, many theologists and historians agree that Moses has never lived…
According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born to a Hebrew mother who hid him when a Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave master, he fled and became a shepherd, and was later commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and in the desert for 40 years.
This is the Bible's version. Most archaeologists, historians and theologists believe Moses was a fictional character. No physical evidence have been found to corroborate his existence.
Furthermore, no single author wrote the Torah, the Books of Moses. Research the past 400 years reveal that the Torah was written during a 500 year period, beginning around 900 BC, and edited into "the five books" around 400 BC.
According to the JEDP theory - also known as the documentary hypothesis - the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, known collectively as the Torah or Pentateuch), represent a combination of documents from four originally independent sources:
the J, or Jahwist, source
the E, or Elohist, source
the D, or Deuteronomist, source
the P, or Priestly, source
The editor who combined the sources into the final Pentateuch is known as R, for Redactor.
The book has been published in the following countries
Guardians of the Covenant (2007)
(Original Norwegian title: Paktens voktere)
Aschehoug
ISBN 978-82-03-19263-0
Bokklubben
ISBN 978-82-525-6684-0
Cappelens Bokklubb
ISBN 978-82-02-27837-3
First published: 2007, Aschehoug
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