bit stealing game

Chapter 23 Preliminary Exploration of the Underground Temple
After returning from the Christmas dinner at the Chicago house, the China-Egypt archaeological team resumed the excavation of the underground temple.

Originally, the team leader was firmly against it.Because it is likely that in the more than 3000 years since the temple of Maat was built, the temple that was pressed underground has never been opened.The soil layer can isolate the air, and rashly digging up the temple without anti-oxidation conditions is likely to cause damage to its interior.Fortunately, during the cleaning and trial excavation around the temple, the archaeological team found traces of backfilling.

The so-called backfilling is to bury the ruins with soil after excavation. On the surface, there is no difference.However, the soil structure of the backfill is different. The team leader and others are all experienced archaeologists. This typical relic phenomenon can be seen by scraping a few times with a hand shovel.

"It's very likely that the French had already discovered the temple." The team leader pondered for a long time with a pipe in his mouth. "I'll check again and discuss it with our Egyptian colleagues."

Sure enough, the French team has indeed been excavated.This discussion, the Egyptian personnel who wanted to dig out the underground temple, saw that the leader let go, and naturally tried their best to facilitate it.

So after a year's absence, I was finally able to enter this temple that was awakened by my slap for the first time.

It is January [-]th, the Egyptian New Year.The team leader gave the Egyptian staff a day off with pay.Therefore, only some members of the archaeological team from China and Egypt gathered at the construction site today, and the old technician who worked as a child laborer with the French during World War II.

279 naturally also appeared.The people who came were Meng Weiqing, Teacher Bai and Li Yuan.

This is the first time I have seen Li Yuan appearing with someone from 279, and I can feel how much he is valued.As if we were real strangers, there was no communication other than a polite greeting.

Considering that there is still a Maat temple on top of the underground temple, the archaeological team did not uncover all the soil.On the basis of the load-bearing, only one passage was excavated, and we entered this underground building in turn.

Because it is buried deep in the ground, there is no sunlight in the corridor.Being in it has the illusion of walking into a long tomb passage, and it also has a sense of solemnity and mystery.In fact, the Temple of Karnak had no light in the original itself, but the existing ruins are only broken walls.Perhaps such a dark and profound atmosphere is the original atmosphere of the temple.

According to the shape of the ancient Egyptian temple, we entered the main building, which is the core of the temple.It is well preserved here, with complex murals and bright colors, as if a sacrifice was held the day before yesterday.

We came in by the south door.

The whole room is about three meters high.The west wall depicts the scene of Pharaoh Thutmose III offering sacrifices to the gods and receiving the favor of the gods; the murals on the east wall depict the construction history of the temple; the opposite north wall is still in the dark depths, according to the law It should be a wall of merit.And hanging above our heads is the starry sky abstracted by the Egyptians.

Sure enough, the French had been to this temple.

The place where the sacrifices were originally placed was empty, and some tools were still scattered on the stone steps under the altar.It seems that this mural was rubbed in a hurry.I don't know whether it was the limited shooting technology at the time or the murals on the wall were very important, and even the photos alone were not enough.

I leaned in front of the mural and squinted my eyes in doubt.

Could it be that the French mastered advanced antioxidant technology in the last century?Why did the temple they unearthed still retain such a vivid appearance?

I looked north along the western wall.I have no achievements in ancient Egyptian, so I can only speculate based on the murals that this may have been built when Thutmose III was a priest.

"Can I build a temple when I'm a priest?" The team leader and others are still exploring this space. Li Yuan calmly followed me to look at the murals and asked some questions from time to time.

I calmly shook my head.

"As far as I know, this is the first piece in the history of ancient Egyptian art. But Thutmose III himself was sent down from the pharaoh to become a priest. Maybe there is room for manoeuvrability in building a temple in advance."

Although the portrayal of Thutmose III as a priest and as a pharaoh is somewhat unexpected, it is not the point that I care about here.

The entire western wall is a scene of offering sacrifices to the gods.However, only Thutmose III, who was a priest or pharaoh, appeared in the appellation, and the name of God did not appear.Where there should be images of gods, the body is still normal, but the head as the logo is a group of fuzzy figures.

I deliberately went to the east wall and the north wall to scan around, and asked a few people, but no one saw the appearance or description of the god.

This is very inconsistent with the rules of ancient Egyptian stereotyped art.

In ancient Egypt, temples were the merits offered by the pharaoh to the gods, and the appearance of the gods' names in their murals was a very important part.For example, in the Temple of the Sun God, the names of the God Amon or the God Ra will appear repeatedly, accompanied by: "Pharaoh sacrificed something to the God Amon, and the God Amon bestowed stability and prosperity" and so on.

And the gods of Egypt will have their unique head portraits.For example, Amon, the sun god, is the image of an adult man with two upright ostrich feathers on his head; Sekhmet is the head of a lion; Horus is the head of an eagle; Konsu has the moon on his head.Regular, unchanging.

But the god of this temple wears something similar to element clusters or rays of light on his neck.I don't know if this god is so noble that people can't know his appearance and title, or this is a variant description of a certain god at that time.It's like the god Aten is the image of the sun, instead of appearing as a human or a ram like other sun gods.But even so, the vague graphics are too abstract after all.

Here comes the problem.There is no title or image of a god here, so who was this temple of Thutmose III built for?

It can't really be like what Ali said, it's for the god from the desert.

I went around to the altar again.

The altar faces south, the base is about one meter high, and it is lifted by more than ten steps.There should have been a statue of a god on it, but now there is only a gold base with a thin layer of dust on it, which is shabby no matter how you look at it.

Judging from this, the absent idols should also be made of gold, or made of other precious metals.Fortunately, the French archaeological team that came in earlier was not so greedy in the last century, and they still plan to come back to conduct excavation research.Otherwise, even the base may have to be removed, and the murals will not be spared.

I leaned closer to the pedestal to look at the inscription on it, but the name of God did not appear.

It seems that this temple does not have a clear ownership of the gods.But no matter who was here at the beginning, Thutmose III should respect him very much.

Because the limited sunlight penetrating the building is unbiased and falls right on the altar without the statue*.

In the belief system of ancient Egypt, the names of the gods had great power, but at the same time they could also be a means of restraining them.Or is this the pharaoh protecting the god?
Li Yuan lowered his head and asked me what I was thinking about.

I said puzzledly: "I was wondering who is this temple for?"

"Is it for Horus?"

I look up.On the back of the empty altar, there are indeed elements of gods that I have overlooked.

It was the left eye of Horus.

From our point of view, it is like hanging on the altar to guard the statue that should be there.

Just as I was about to go over to take a closer look at the murals on the north wall, I was stopped by Li Yuan: "Do you see any words here?"

I followed his fingers to look over.I only looked at the table top of the pedestal just now, and didn't notice that there is a circle of inscriptions in the groove wall where the statue is placed.I walked around the altar.Unlike the inscriptions on the frescoes, the hieroglyphs are used here.

Li Yuan waited patiently for me to finish my transfer.

Under the tricky sunlight, I stared at the circle of inscriptions uncertainly: "Here it says [Take Your Blood as a Sacrifice]."

I raised my eyes hesitantly, and Li Yuan was also looking at me.He frowned slightly.The calculated light falls on Li Yuan's face, as if he is the god statue placed here.

I felt that this idea was unlucky, so I continued: "Maybe I am not good at learning, I have to look at the murals behind here."

That's a wall of merit.

There are some ancient Egyptian-style exotic flowers, plants, and rare animals painted on it, all of which were spoils of war during the expedition of Thutmose III, or paid tribute by outsiders.In addition, many battle scenes were painted, and the enemy army was often defeated under the pharaoh's attack.Without exception, these achievements and treasures were presented to the nameless god [You don't know who] by Thutmose III.

Just now, the Egyptian personnel Sade discovered a hidden compartment under the sacrificial cabinet on the east wall, and it was very likely that there were papyrus records in it.The team leader and others were surrounding the place, and Mr. Wen walked outside the temple, perhaps to contact the Fae Center to find the archaeological records again.

Now only me, Li Yuan and Mr. Bai who came to hear the news are paying attention to the mural.

None of the three of us had a light, and the sunlight couldn’t reach the north wall behind the altar, so it was a bit difficult for me to see.Li Yuan thoughtfully turned on the flashlight on his mobile phone and illuminated the area in front of me.

As I was watching, I suddenly heard Teacher Bai say, "Xiao Wang, come and see what this is?"

I responded with a cry and leaned over to look.Teacher Bai's place was a little darker, but he didn't seem to be affected. He pointed to something entrusted to a group of gods by the priest Thutmose III and asked, "Do you know what this is? I seem to be Not seen in Egyptian art."

I squinted my eyes and looked up and down for a long time without seeing clearly, Li Yuan then followed the light.

I can't tell why by light.

This is a pile of things similar to sesame candies, black and neatly stacked on a tray.On top of this pile of things, there is the Eye of Horus floating.

"There are words written on this side." Li Yuan shook the phone slightly.The light had been steady until then.

I was just looking at those sesame candies, ignoring the inscriptions on them.

Meng Weiqing also came over, and he asked me: "Wang Yu, do you know what is written here?"

I'd love to impress them, but deciphering ancient Egyptian writing isn't really my strong suit.But now that all the teachers who know cuneiform have gone out, I can only bite the bullet and try.

The inscription is read from the upper right.There are a few words I don't know, but luckily they're not too obscure.Its meaning is roughly:
[Thutmose III offered the bones of Seth to the noble god, and the gods gave Thutmose III strength and stability*].

The name of such-and-such god did not appear in other ancient Egyptian languages, and I don't know how to translate it.There were other inscriptions beside that sentence, but they were deliberately scraped off.

Now the translation of the inscription on this mural has been translated, but I just feel more confused.The inscriptions that were left behind were incomprehensible, and the ones that were deliberately erased did not know what message they conveyed.

Meng Weiqing and Teacher Bai at the side listened, but they both looked thoughtful.

"What is the bone of Set, the bone of the desert god?" Lou Shiqi, who came to ask us to go up to meet the team leader and others, also joined the discussion.

Under the light of Li Yuan's hand, I turned my head like an owl and looked at the plate of offerings carefully again.Although the doubts are still increasing, but this time I can see something.

"If I understand correctly, this is probably a plate of iron ore."

　[The limited sunlight penetrating into this building is impartial, just falling on the altar that lacks the statue*]

　　This is very important in the religious rituals of ancient Egypt, because it is equivalent to offering the sun to the god.Of course, sometimes the situation is reversed.

　　[The gods gave Thutmose III strength and stability*]

　　In the temple or some other religious occasions, the pharaoh would show that he offered sacrifices to the gods (usually wine, spices, etc.), and the gods gave back to the pharaoh himself or Egypt's prosperity, harvest and (regime/social) stability.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)