The African land was described as an "ante-chamber to the Holy Land" and a Nachtasyl (temporary night shelter), but other groups felt that accepting the offer would make it more difficult to establish a Jewish state in Ottoman Palestine, and also that the Jewish nation would not be able to claim itself as native to that land, since there were no historic or culture links between the Hebrews and East Africa.
The hieroglyphics in the antechamber to auditorium come from an Egyptian hymn to the gods Amun and Aten in the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 B.C.).
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Hieroglyphs are incorporated in the antechamber decorations and the floor tiles depict a large scarab beetle.
A room in Pyrrhus's palace at Buthrotum; an antechamber separating the apartments of Titus and Bérénice in Rome; Agamemnon's camp at Aulis; an antechamber in the temple at Jerusalem: by choosing such vague and remote settings Racine gives his plays a universal character, and the presentation of conflicting and hesitating states of mind is not hampered by an undue insistence on material surroundings.
To the right of the antechamber is the burial chamber; to the left is another small room, a Serdab.
Mother Elizabeth and an (imagined) demonic Mary Magdalene (who has relapsed from sainthood, back into the sex worker the church once claimed she was) debate desire and chastity within what seems to be a heavenly antechamber.