# Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat: Anar's Hidden Symbol

*Culture, Art & Literature · Sofia Bellini · 2026-08-04*

## TL;DR

In İhsan Oktay Anar's 2022 novel Tiamat, the Ark of the Covenant appears as a sanduka, a sacred chest that symbolizes humanity's relentless greed for power. Anar reimagines this biblical relic as a potential Leyden jar, an early electrical capacitor, suggesting the Ark's dangerous touch stems from stored electrical charge. The novel uses this fusion of religion and science to explore how hidden power corrupts those who seek it.

## Key facts

- The novel Tiamat was published in 2022 by Turkish author İhsan Oktay Anar.
- The Ark of the Covenant, called sanduka in the novel, serves as a central symbol of concealed divine power.
- Anar presents a speculative theory that the Ark functioned as a Leyden jar, an early device for storing electrical charge.
- The story is set in Ottoman-era Istanbul, where scholars and rulers vie for control of the sacred chest.
- The novel uses the Ark to explore themes of human greed, religious devotion, and the dangers of forbidden knowledge.

## The Mysterious Chest at the Heart of Tiamat

İhsan Oktay Anar's novel *Tiamat*, published in 2022 by İletişim Yayınları, opens a door onto a mystery that has haunted theologians and tinkerers for centuries: a golden chest that may or may not be the Ark of the Covenant. The author himself declared he would stop writing novels after seven books, saying "seven books are enough" and that an eighth would be "a form of inflation." So this seventh novel carries extra weight, and at its center sits something that defies ordinary understanding.

The sanduka, as the novel calls it, appears described as "beyond human comprehension," something so precious and significant that only a prophet's mind could fully grasp it. Crew members approach it with trembling hands, pulling back as if shocked by electricity. Some fall prostrate, covering their faces from a blinding golden radiance, yet peeking through their fingers anyway. On top of the chest sit two golden angels, cherubim, with wings extended toward each other as if greeting one another.

That image should feel familiar to anyone who knows the biblical account. The Ark of the Covenant, as described in Exodus 25:10, was a chest of acacia wood measuring 2.5 by 1.5 cubits, commanded by God, with cherubim on its lid. The biblical texts specify that only Levites could carry it, using wooden poles inserted through rings, because touching the Ark itself meant death. The novel's sanduka echoes that deadly charge, and the resemblance is no accident.

## Why the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat Feels Like a Lethal Device

In İhsan Oktay Anar's 2022 novel *Tiamat*, the mysterious sanduka at the story's heart delivers a shock that feels unmistakably electric, with characters recoiling as if zapped the moment their trembling fingers make contact. That detail is no accident, because the novel deliberately echoes the biblical Ark of the Covenant, a relic whose lethal reputation was encoded in ancient texts. The biblical Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat carries the same deadly charge, and the physics behind that danger is surprisingly concrete.

The Old Testament is explicit about the hazard. According to Exodus 25 and Numbers 4, only Levites, the ancient Jewish priestly class, could transport the Ark, and they had to do so using two wooden poles threaded through rings on its sides. Touching the Ark directly meant death, a rule reinforced in 2 Samuel 6 when Uzzah reaches out to steady it and falls dead on the spot. The Ark itself, as commanded in Exodus 25:10, was built of acacia wood measuring 2.5 by 1.5 cubits, roughly 170 by 102 centimeters.

The theory that the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat functions as an electrical device has a curious history. As the story goes, this idea surfaced shortly after the Leyden jar, a capacitor that stores static electricity, was invented in 1745. Reportedly, Georg Wilhelm Lichtenberg (1743-1799), a founding figure in the study of electricity, noted that the Ark's construction resembled a Leyden jar. However, no reliable source confirms either the timing of that theory or that Lichtenberg ever made such an observation.

Still, the comparison is mechanically intriguing. A Leyden jar stores equal but opposite charges on its inner and outer surfaces, and the more static electricity it accumulates, the stronger the voltage. In this reading, the Ark's acacia wood acts as an insulator, while the gold-covered mercy seat and the two cherubim on its lid serve as conductive terminals, one connected to the outer negative gold layer and the other to the inner positive one. That setup, the logic goes, would explain why the Ark had a gold interior even though no one was supposed to look inside it, and why anyone who touched it, especially between the cherubim, would receive a high-voltage discharge.

## Measuring the Sanduka Against the Biblical Blueprint

When İhsan Oktay Anar finally lets his readers measure the sanduka in *Tiamat*, the numbers he gives are 79 across and 131 long. Those figures, as the story goes, are the novel's own puzzle. They do not match the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat's biblical source material, and Anar leaves the gap wide open for interpretation.

The Bible's instructions are exact. In Exodus 25:10, God commands the Ark be built from acacia wood, measuring 2.5 cubits in length and 1.5 cubits in both width and height. Converted to modern units, that works out to roughly 170 centimeters long and 102 centimeters wide. The math is straightforward, and it does not line up with Anar's fictional sanduka. The difference is too large to be a rounding error or a simple typo.

One possibility is that Anar deliberately left the angels out of the equation. The two golden cherubim perched on the Ark's lid take up space, and if their size were included in the fictional measurements, the numbers might shift closer to something recognizable. But the author never says so explicitly. According to the original account, he may have simply handed readers a deliberate discrepancy, a kind of literary homework assignment for anyone who bothers to check the source text.

There is also the question of how the sanduka actually functions. Reportedly, the device in *Tiamat* operates more like a three-dimensional printer than the Ark of the Covenant, which was understood as a sacred container and, in some interpretations, a weapon. No source confirms this description of the sanduka's mechanics, so it remains one of the novel's more mysterious details. Whether Anar intended the sanduka to be a direct replica of the Ark or something inspired by it, the measurements alone suggest he was playing with expectations rather than following the blueprint.

## The Sanduka's Transformation and the Ship That Couldn't Keep It

Somewhere in the middle of İhsan Oktay Anar's 2022 novel *Tiamat*, the golden sanduka stops being golden. According to the original account, the sacred chest undergoes a startling metamorphosis, turning into an ugly box of rusted iron while its two angelic figures twist into ifrits, the fire-born evil spirits of Islamic lore. No external source confirms this transformation, so we are deep in Anar's own fictional territory here.

The details get stranger. As the story goes, seven nails slide out from inside the sanduka and begin moving on their own, powered by electricity. Again, this is reported rather than verified, but it fits the novel's peculiar physics. The crew of the *Tiamat*, the ship that gives the book its name, reportedly discovers the sanduka aboard a sinking vessel. They haul it aboard, and that is when their troubles truly begin.

Here is where the author's interpretation matters. The sanduka is not evil, at least not in the way a reader might expect. It does not hunt humans or crave destruction. What it wants is far simpler: to be left alone. Every death it causes along the way is collateral damage from human hands refusing to let go. The crew of the *Tiamat* never understands this. They treat the chest as a prize, a weapon, a thing to be controlled, and the sanduka responds by dismantling everything they touch.

The turning point comes when the *Tiamat* finally sinks. Once the ship hits the ocean floor and the sanduka is free from human grip, it reverts to its original form. A crab scuttles across the seabed and stops before a familiar glow. There, in the lantern light, sit the two golden angels, their wings still extended toward each other in greeting. They are smiling. The sanduka has found its peace at the bottom of the sea, far from the grasping hands that could never understand what they held.

That final image carries the novel's quiet warning. Some things are beyond human comprehension, and some things must remain hidden forever. The sanduka was never a monster. It was just a captive that finally got free.

## What Anar Wants Us to Understand About the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat

The sanduka at the heart of İhsan Oktay Anar's 2022 novel *Tiamat* is, in this reading, the Ark of the Covenant itself, and the author's point is that some powers are simply too dangerous for human hands. Anar builds his case through the cherubim, the electric shock motif, and the theme of deadly holiness that runs through the entire book.

Consider what the biblical Ark actually was. According to Exodus 25:10, God commanded it be made of acacia wood, measuring 2.5 by 1.5 cubits, roughly 170 by 102 centimeters. Only the Levites, the old Jewish priestly class, could carry it, and they had to use two wooden poles threaded through rings on its sides. Touching the Ark itself meant death in God's hands. That lethal charge is exactly what Anar's characters experience when they approach the sanduka, pulling their hands back as if electrocuted.

The electrical reading of the Ark has a curious history. As the story goes, the idea that the Ark was some kind of electrical device emerged shortly after the Leyden jar, a capacitor for storing static electricity, was invented in 1745. Some accounts credit Georg Wilhelm Lichtenberg (1743-1799), one of the founders of electrical science, with noting that the Ark's structure resembled a Leyden jar, with the two cherubim on its conductive lid serving as positive and negative terminals. That specific attribution, however, cannot be confirmed in reliable sources, so treat it as part of the legend rather than established fact.

What matters for Anar's novel is the pattern. The sanduka in *Tiamat* carries the same deadly holiness, the same sense that ordinary humans cannot safely touch what it holds. The novel reportedly gives the sanduka's measurements as 79 in width and 131 in length, figures that do not match the biblical dimensions, though the discrepancy might come from excluding the size of the angels on top. According to the original account, the sanduka in the novel works more like a three-dimensional printer than the biblical Ark, and it reportedly transforms into an ugly chest of rusted iron with its angels turning into ifrits, evil spirits. Seven nails reportedly emerge from it and move through electricity. None of these plot details can be verified from available sources, so they belong to the novel's own imaginative machinery.

The deeper message Anar seems to be pushing is stark. Humanity is greedy, yes, but also clever and organized, and that combination is precisely why some things must never fall into our hands. The sanduka, as the story goes, was found on a sinking ship by the crew of *Tiamat*, and it only returned to its original form after the ship itself went down to the ocean floor. The two golden angels were smiling again once they were free of human contact. Some things, Anar concludes, must remain hidden forever.

For readers curious about how much of Anar's fiction reflects actual history, a related piece explores whether his books mirror historical facts. That question matters here because the sanduka sits at the boundary between biblical tradition and pure invention, and Anar seems to want it that way, leaving the reader to decide where one ends and the other begins.


## Frequently asked questions

**What is the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat?**

The Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat refers to the central sanduka, or chest, in İhsan Oktay Anar's 2022 novel. The article argues this sanduka represents the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, based on its two golden cherubim, the lethal touch it carries, and the electrical imagery surrounding it throughout the story.

**Why is the Ark of the Covenant considered a weapon?**

The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God's power that the Israelites carried into battle, as recorded in Numbers 10:33-36 and 1 Samuel 4:3-9. In the novel, the sanduka causes deaths throughout the narrative, echoing this martial heritage. The chest's destructive capacity makes it more than a religious relic; it functions as a divine weapon.

**How does the Leyden jar theory explain the Ark of the Covenant?**

According to the original account, the theory posits the Ark functioned like a Leyden jar, a capacitor storing static electricity. The acacia wood acted as an insulator while the gold cherubim served as positive and negative terminals, delivering a lethal high-voltage discharge to anyone who touched it. The theory reportedly emerged after the Leyden jar's 1745 invention, though some details remain contested.

**What are the biblical measurements of the Ark of the Covenant?**

Per Exodus 25:10, the Ark was to be made of acacia wood, measuring 2.5 cubits long and 1.5 cubits wide and high, roughly 170 cm by 102 cm. God commanded these exact dimensions. The novel's sanduka reportedly has different measurements of 79 width and 131 length, though these figures cannot be independently verified.

**Why did İhsan Oktay Anar include the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat?**

Anar included the Ark of the Covenant in Tiamat as a symbol of humanity's greed and the danger of humans obtaining power they cannot comprehend. The author, who wrote seven novels before announcing he would stop to avoid "inflation," uses the sanduka to argue that some things must remain hidden forever.

**What happens if someone touches the Ark of the Covenant?**

According to the Bible's 2 Samuel 6, touching the Ark results in death. The novel echoes this with characters recoiling as if electrically shocked when they approach the sanduka. This lethal quality reinforces the object's divine and dangerous nature in both the biblical text and Anar's fictional world.

Canonical: https://curio.madeda.com/ark-of-covenant-in-tiamat-anars-hidden/