The Source

by James A. Michener

Any recent date would be acceptable, but around 1950 A.D. was logical, since the bullet showed signs of aging, and he wrote that down; but he had no sooner done so than he erased the A.D. in some embarrassment and substituted C.E. He was working in a Jewish country which had formerly been a Muslim country, and here the use of Anno Domini was frowned upon; yet the world-wide system of dating had to be respected, and that required a Before Christ and an After Christ whether Muslims and Jews liked it or not,

whether Anglophobes liked that or not. So Cullinane wrote his date 1950 C.E., which had originally signified Christian Era but which was now universally read as Common Era. Dates before Jesus were written B.C.E., Before the Common Era, and this satisfied everyone.

“Before he does,” the English photographer interrupted, “what’s Makor mean?” “Sorry,” Tabari said. “Old Hebrew word. Makor. Source.”

strigil,

for in those infinitely distant ages gods had not yet been called forth by the hunger of men.

spoor

Men had not yet discovered that the forces of the world could be propitiated by conscious acts of subservience;

epochal

inchoate

propitiated

apotheosis

inchoately

verities

At what point did women discover that they were more functional as women if they wore some ornament to differentiate themselves from men?

A woman requires jewelry as a man requires food.

ziggurats.

hegemony