Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 233 The Golden Stele
After discovering the gold-covered stele, Liang En and the others immediately stopped their search and began to translate it.The reason why he did this was, on the one hand, because the stone tablet seemed to be very precious, so he naturally wanted to translate the content on it as soon as possible.

On the other hand, since everyone came out to explore together, and since they have made such an important discovery, they should also leave some opportunities for others.

After all, the entire mining area was discovered by Liang En through the translation of photos of ancient Egyptian temples, and this time he found such a stone tablet wrapped in gold leaf, so he should give others a chance now.

Mr. Scudder was very well prepared when he came out for the expedition this time, and even prepared a simple cultural relics processing laboratory in an RV, so Liang En's next work naturally seemed a lot easier.

"What is the content on this stele?" After several people carefully carried the stele into the caravan, Mr. Scudder, who had been holding up the video camera since the discovery just now, immediately asked.

"I'm not sure, but I can confirm that the figure on the top of the stele is Imhotep." Liang En pointed to the figure inlaid with gemstones and said.

The reason why he is so sure is that when the ancient Egyptians carved statues of gods, each god would be carved according to a certain standard template, and there would not be too much free creation.

So now the statue, sitting on a chair with sagging legs and holding a roll of papyrus, clearly belongs to Imhotep, the ancient Egyptian god of medicine, god of the pyramids and personification of wisdom.

As we all know, the traditional religion believed by the ancient Egyptians is a standard polytheism, but the biggest difference between this Imhotep and other gods is that he is the only one in ancient Egypt who became a god from a man.

According to historical records, he was only a low-ranking official at first, but he possessed profound knowledge and superhuman wisdom, so he was chosen by the then Pharaoh King Djoser.

After being selected, he immediately showed his talent.For example, the tombs in ancient Egypt before him were a kind of trapezoidal sixth-hedron tomb called mastaba, which was made of mud and stones, which looked like a stone tablet lying on the ground.

But after he took office, he completely changed this traditional burial method and chose to build the first pyramid in history near Memphis, the capital of Egypt at that time.

Among other things, he was the author of the earliest surviving medical text, the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus I, and the first true physician known in human history.

At the same time, he also designed the sacrificial rituals of ancient Egypt, and was the first to create the practice of taking out the internal organs of the deceased before making mummies. From a certain point of view, this Imhotep can be regarded as a As versatile as Da Vinci.

However, because he is enshrined as the God of Medicine and a symbol of wisdom, he would not be engraved on the stele under normal circumstances. In addition, ancient Egyptian steles are usually carved on only one side, so this stele must have something special. .

"Did you see anything?" Because Liang En had been checking the stele without saying a word since getting in the car, after waiting for more than half an hour, Mr. Scudder couldn't help but asked.

"I saw something very important." Liang En turned his head and smiled at Mr. Scudder, then said. "The inscriptions on both sides of this stele are carved with a long time interval."

"A circle of precious stones is inlaid around this side, but the side that looks very rough is carved during the third dynasty of ancient Egypt, King Zuo Sei, while the other side, which has a statue of a god, is carved in a very detailed way in the 19th dynasty. Period Engraving from the period of Ramses II."

"That is to say, the engravings on the two sides of this stele are actually 1000 years apart!" After quickly checking the chronology of various ancient Egyptian dynasties on the tablet next to him, Skold's eyes widened in surprise. .

"But why did those ancient Egyptians do this?" Fan Meng, who was next to him, suddenly asked. "I know that the ancient Egyptians had the habit of recycling coffins. Do they have the same attitude towards steles?"

"Uh - no, in fact, most of the stone tablets in ancient Egypt are engraved with characters on one side and patterns on the other side. It is very rare to have characters carved on both sides." Liang En shook his head and said.

The recycling of coffins mentioned by Fan Meng just now is mainly because ancient Egyptian wood is very precious, which makes all wooden products including coffins expensive.

For this reason, many people have used their brains. They steal the coffin from the grave and dump the mummy inside, and then sell it to other people again.

This is why many ancient Egyptian coffins now either have obvious traces of being chiseled and re-carved where the name was originally engraved, or simply have a name that is different from the name on the mummy inside.

But the engraving on both sides of this stone tablet is obviously not for this reason. According to the statement on the stone tablet, the gold foil, gemstones and statue inlays on this stone tablet were all put on the stone tablet under the direct order of Ramses II.

Ramses II was one of the greatest pharaohs in the ancient Egyptian era. Under his rule, the entire 19th dynasty entered a state of prosperity, but also because of his great achievements, the entire dynasty flourished and declined. From a certain point of view, it is very similar to Qianlong.

Because of his great success, he naturally invested a lot of manpower and material resources in mining this turquoise mine on the Sinai Peninsula, and when the workers opened an ancient mine, they found some words carved at the entrance of the mine.

"These words were written by Imhotep himself. Imhotep, the prime minister of King Djoser at that time, inspected the mining area on behalf of the pharaoh, and wrote some warnings about turquoise excavation on the wall— —”

After realizing that everyone around him was looking at him, Liang En didn't hold back, but talked about his translation of the side of the stone tablet that was carved in the era of Ramses II.

"After Imhotep left, the foremen carved those words directly on the wall, and then continued until this ancient laneway was abandoned and closed."

"As a result, I didn't expect this closure to be closed for hundreds of years. It was not until Ramesses II developed this mine on a large scale that this thing reappeared."

"In that era, Imhotep had already completed his transformation from man to god, so the words on the stone wall were naturally regarded as holy objects.

So the workers at that time chiseled out all the stones engraved with characters and the surrounding stones and made them into steles, and then carefully decorated them. "

Having said that, Liang En frowned and paused for a moment, then pointed to the stele and said.

"Theoretically, this stele should have been transported to the capital of Egypt at that time, but I don't know why it couldn't be transported out in the end and was hidden in that cave."

"But it's very lucky for us because we've now found the only remaining Imhotep handwriting in the world. Historically speaking, it's as valuable as the entire mine."

(End of this chapter)