Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 809

As a nomad who lived in this generation in ancient times, the Nabataeans showed their strong architectural genius and built the entire city and this magnificent temple.

This building built on the mountain can be described as extremely exquisite, and the building itself belongs to the Greek style.From the outside, it is divided into upper and lower floors, up to 40 meters. There are six huge Corinthian columns on the lower floor, and the gate in the middle is 8 meters high.

There were originally various statues of gods carved between the upper and lower stone pillars of the building facade, but almost all of them were considered pagan gods and were destroyed in the era of religious conversion at the end of Rome.

To this day, on both sides of the gate of this building, the group of vandals left the steps for stepping on. Even in the earliest days, many people believed that those steps were left by the builders.

But in fact this is not the case. The ancient Nabataeans actually built this huge temple from top to bottom. In fact, most of the cliff carvings in ancient times used this construction method.

And this statement has also been confirmed in an unfinished tomb. From this unfinished tomb, it can be seen that the ancient Nabataeans would chisel a natural platform on the rock and use the platform as an operating surface. Then proceed to construction.

In other words, normal buildings often lay the foundation first, and then build up from the bottom up, but this temple is carved out of the rock bit by bit from the top down.

At the beginning, they would dig out the first construction platform along the face.Then work your way down from here.Chisel away the natural rough surface to form a smooth construction surface.

Judging from the photos near the ruins taken by local scholars, there is a rough path on the side and above the temple, with steps dug on it, which should be the relics left when the temple was built.

From the traces left on the construction site, it can be inferred that these ancient people would first use a pickaxe to thoroughly dig out a plane, and then use a hammer and chisel to carve out the building bit by bit.

"I think the whole construction process should be like letting go of a large stone curtain, revealing the hidden masterpieces behind the scenes." Standing in front of the temple door, imagining the outstanding work of the ancients, Liang En was filled with emotion.

The wiser point of the Nabataeans is that the stones produced during the construction of the temple are used for the construction of the city, that is to say, this is not only a construction site, but also a quarry.

In addition to the way it was built, the location of the temple was also crucial: it directly faced the entrance to the city, at the end of a canyon known as the Serpentine Way.

You must know that the formation of this canyon is related to water flow. Although the whole area belongs to the Gobi desert with little rain, but because it is not inland far from the ocean, there will always be some sudden rainstorms, and this canyon called Snake Road is Formed by torrential rain.

But thanks to a series of tunnels and dams, they were able to ensure that those floods didn't rush all the way west to the temple, but were directed north into the city's water storage system.

In other words, the reason why the entire city is located here is because it is at the lowest point of the basin, which can gather water from all directions in the city and provide the city with clean water.

According to the data, all springs within a 15-mile radius of Petra have been mined and collected together with rainwater into more than 200 cisterns in the city, allowing the city to have 5 residents.

After showing the documents that you carry with you.Liang En and the others walked into the interior of the Khazneh Temple that tourists were not allowed to enter, but unlike what they imagined, it was not only empty, but also very small.

"This doesn't look like a temple." Looking at the interior of the temple without any decoration, Joan said in a puzzled tone, because it was different from any temple she had ever seen. "Compared with the outside, this place is too simple."

"Contrary to what you think, this is the temple of the Nabataeans." Liang En pointed at the empty space with an index finger. "It's just that what they worship is different from what we imagined."

"Then what do you think they enshrined?" Joan of Arc looked inside, but found that the space inside was very small, and the head could be seen at a glance, and there were no sculptures or paintings on the walls as decorations.

"No one knows, because it's too simple." Liang En shook his head helplessly. "After all, the technology at the time was the only way to maintain the safety of the temple."

You must know that the entire temple was built under more than 160 feet of hard rock, which means that tens of thousands of stones are pressed on the top of this grotto, and if you do not want the grotto to be crushed, you must transfer this pressure to other places The place.

The ancient Nabataeans were also aware of this, and they purposely made the grotto very narrow, so that the force could be transferred from the two sides of the grotto to the direction of the earth.

In fact, they also want to build a grotto that matches the facade, but if they do that, the force will be directly pressed on the grotto, and then squeezed from the middle down to completely crush the entire grotto.

"If you look carefully, you will find the Amazon female warrior outside, with the head of the Egyptian goddess Isis. The whole facade is very international." After skipping the question that cannot be answered temporarily, Liang En introduced the grotto.

"Considering that they are a nomadic people and are also good at doing business, these things are likely to be caused by foreign influences while doing international trade." Liang En took out his mobile phone and looked at the shooting outside just now while talking. Photo.

"And the decorations on the buildings outside are also full of hints." Liang En said, pointing to the photo on the phone screen. "For example, the eagle on the roof is believed to take the soul of the dead to heaven.

"As for the six statues of Amazon female warriors, they are all dancing with double-edged axes. This is the legendary Amazon's dance of death."

"The most important thing is that the two portraits on the pedestal that have been destroyed are likely to be the ancient Roman twin stars Castor and Poros, who are believed to take human souls to the underworld."

"Everything carved here is closely related to death." Liang En said, pulling Joan of Arc to the entrance of the temple, and then pointed to the ground. "The buildings in the temple are actually related to death, such as this—"

"This should be a drainage pipe." Joan of Arc carefully studied the groove Liang En pointed to, thought for a while, and then said in an uncertain tone.

"But this place should not be exposed to rain, and if you really need to use this thing to drain water, the drainage volume of this thing is too small to take on this responsibility."

"Your analysis is correct, but if you check carefully, you will find that the flow of these liquids is not the water cellars and aqueducts outside, but the interior of the palace." Liang En pointed out the key to deciphering this secret to Jeanne .

"You mean the interior of the palace—" Joan of Arc reacted immediately after being touched, and it turned out that these water channels would concentrate the liquid into the interior of the temple. "This should be used for sacrifices!"

There is an ancient sacrificial method, which is to kill those animals in the temple, and then let the blood flow into a place along those channels, and let the gods enjoy the blood.

It's just that there are many objects of sacrifice for this kind of sacrifice, ranging from gods to the dead.But this temple can't tell who the object of the sacrifice is.

(End of this chapter)