bit stealing game

Chapter 56 The Temple of Seth
I spread my arms and stuck myself in the hole, so I didn't fall all the way in.But the arm was almost broken by the impact just now.

"what happened?"

Lou Shiqi and He Rongchuan heard the noise and ran back, they were also surprised to see half of my body in the ground, and hurried over to pull me.The hole trembled as they approached.

"Don't get too close, the soil is loose!" I yelled.

The footsteps behind paused, and as expected, they moved over cautiously.The two grabbed my arms, one on the left and the other on the right, and then they pulled me out.

The three of us withdrew far away, and when the floating soil sank, a man-made hole appeared.

I gritted my teeth and wondered who would be so vicious to dig a hole at the base of the wall, for fear that the sand would collapse if the sand couldn't bear it.

"Did you step on the temple like this last year?" Lou Shiqi looked at the entrance in front of him in amazement, and did not forget to say sarcastic remarks. "I can be regarded as having seen it."

Hearing him say that made me a little confused.I thought in my heart that I had offended the Lord of the Land in Egypt or something, so I wanted to drag me into the ground at every turn.

After a while, everyone heard the sound and rushed over.

After asking about the situation, Patrick looked intently at the scene on the stone pillar and suddenly clapped his hands: "It's a Senet game!"

We've all heard of Senet.But isn't that what Toth and Kongsu played when they bet?The moon god Kongsu also lost the power beyond the full moon for this.

Jacqueline saw that Patrick was immersed in the mural, so she had to hold back her desire to see what was going on, and explained to us: "In fact, Senet is a general term for a kind of customs clearance game, and it usually appears in the tomb as a funeral .As for the entrance that appeared here," she said, and couldn't help but glance at the game scene, and then at me. "Did you just operate it according to the drawing on it?"

I nodded in embarrassment, and added: "But I haven't finished it, so I'm going to leave."

"That's right." Jacqueline suddenly realized. "Actually, what is painted on this pillar is just an ordinary expression of Senet, there are no specific rules, and it is incomplete. It should be that you just accidentally unlocked the game, which triggered the entrance."

Everyone was speechless for a while.Think I'm so bored that I'll hopscotch when I see the underline.

Li Yuan looked at me, and then asked Jacqueline: "What if the solution is wrong? What will happen if she makes a mistake?"

I shivered belatedly.Although they are all chess games, after all, Senet is not like our Chinese Go, which is a matter of life and death.It would be unimaginable if I made a wrong step.

No one answered Li Yuan.

Later, I looked through old Blake's notes and found that he had mentioned about the Temple of Seth that someone knew how to play the Senet game, but he didn't write about the specific method.

Fortunately, if the game is not cleared, the penalty is just not being able to find the entrance, not a wrong entrance.

Everyone glanced at me first, and then consecrated the sudden entrance with their eyes.

Yano looked at me with a funny face: "Yu, you are really unexpected."

I said nothing.

Someone took a flashlight and took a photo, only to find that there are steps under the seemingly bottomless hole.

If I hadn't been quick-eyed and quick-handed just now, I would have hung myself in the air at the beginning, and I would have fallen on the steps.

Lou Shiqi looked at the situation and took a look at me.If it weren't for the crowd, I really want to punch that cheap smiling face.

But now I can only smile in embarrassment, and turn to study the hole that appeared out of thin air with everyone.

It can be seen from the ground that the steps have twelve floors, and the height between each step is about [-] centimeters.At the bottom there is a corridor leading straight to the front.Go any further, and the light won't get in.

Although we still can't see the true face of this thing under the ground, we know that the Temple of Seth that we are looking for is probably buried there.

From this point of view, if the statue of the god whose face was destroyed is still standing in place, then it can indeed be regarded as the pioneer of this underground building.

Not much to say, Boothwell walked into the passage first.Morgan asked Alex to stay outside, and followed him in.Meng Weiqing glanced at Teacher Bai, seeing the latter nod, he also turned on the flashlight and walked down.

The villagers standing on the side seemed to have known such a place for a long time, and they didn't show any surprise, and they didn't stop anyone from going down.It's just that the solemn expression on his face makes people feel uncomfortable.

Jacqueline went up to talk to the man in Arabic for a while, then came back and said to us: "This man told me that someone also came to look for the temple below here 12 years ago. There should be no danger inside, but what is it? He doesn't know the situation."

Carl couldn't hold back anymore.Seeing that Meng Weiqing and the others had not come up after going down for a while, he was a little anxious.He yelled: "Bruce! I'll go down and have a look first." After getting a response, he plunged down.

And Bruce, who was called, continued to look at the mural of Thutmose III and the sun god in a leisurely manner, and then gently stroked the sacrifice held by the pharaoh in another sacrificial scene, Show some deep look.

Noticing my gaze, he withdrew his hand and stuffed the slightly pale hand back into the thin leather glove.

"Then I'll go down and have a look too." After Bruce finished speaking, Jacqueline followed after hearing the words.

Patrick was still studying the stone pillar with the game of Senet painted on it, and his face was almost glued to it.But it was still pulled out by Jacqueline's words "Maybe there are more murals underneath", and she quickly stepped up the steps.

We were looked at by the few remaining people.

Yano said, "Let's go down and take a look too?" Li Yuan and Alex nodded, and Rhea's eyes lit up.

Remembering the leader's instructions, Lou Shiqi and I both looked at Teacher Bai.

Teacher Bai thought for a while and said, "Su Shang, can you stay up there with Rong Chuan? If Professor Luo comes later, please tell him about the situation for me. Xiao Wang and I will go down and have a look."

Rhea was a little reluctant, but still said: "Okay, then hurry up."

I am a little surprised.

Rhea was obviously very interested in entering the Temple of Seth, but she was willing to wait for Teacher Bai's arrangement.After all, a willful person can put the overall situation first, which really makes me look at her with admiration.And Teacher Bai called her Su Shang, a name I heard Lao Zhang's sister call her once.It seems that the relationship between Rhea and 279 is indeed very close.

Teacher Bai took the lead, and Lou Shiqi walked down behind him.Arno and Alex nodded to us and also disappeared into the cave.

I looked at the steps leading down to the ground.

If there is really a temple below, it will be much more difficult than digging a temple in the Valley of the Kings.After all, when building an underground building in the desert, it is a miracle that the sand did not collapse the underground part.

Li Yuan patted me on the shoulder, signaling to go down and have a look together.

I hold him.Then he walked up to the locals who were watching coldly and asked, "What's going on with that?"

I mean the disfigured statue of the god.Because Arabic is too bad to express it, I can only use body language instead.

Although there is no evidence, I think this is probably the nameless god.If the person who destroyed it is still in the village, or if someone has clues about the facial features of this nameless god, it may help us determine who this god is.

The locals looked at it and told us in English: "Those who built the mosque destroyed it, but they left long ago. People here feel bad luck, and basically don't come here much."

Indeed, these are some basic operations of past religions.

When Christianity arrived in Greece and Rome, it was the first to destroy other people's temples, because monotheism and polytheism are irreconcilable.The Qur'an also requires that there should be no idol worship, so it is not uncommon to see undistorted statues of gods in places with mosques.

However, the true face of Lushan Mountain, the nameless god that we have been searching for in vain, was destroyed because of religious reasons, which is really ironic.

Li Yuan and I exchanged glances, and we both saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

He turned on the flashlight and walked into the entrance before I did.

As soon as I thought that one of the temples that Thutmose III hid in the [Temple of Horus] record was below, I took a deep breath and stepped on the steps I hadn't stepped on just now.

Dare to ask where the road is, the road is under your feet.

After going down the steps, there is a corridor right in front of you.

There is not much space at the entrance, Li Yuan has to move forward to give me a place to stay.

The corridor is slightly wider, but Li Yuan and I can only walk through it side by side.There are murals on the walls on both sides and above the head, but most of them are common scenes, so we didn't stay long.

After stepping on it, I found that the corridor has some slopes, and it goes down more and more.After about a dozen steps, the road under my feet suddenly turned to the left.We followed the turn, and the flashlight first shone at the end of the passage not far away.

A falcon-headed Horus is painted on the stone wall at the end.He stands on his side, with his hands stretched forward, as he appears on all ancient Egyptian murals.It seems to be showing us the way.

In the direction of his finger, there is a door that has been opened.On the left and right of the stone gate are the images of the gods Osiris and Amon.

I walked in and knew I was in the right place this time.

There's a hole in the sky under the ground.

The main hall in front of me is at least three or four meters high, about ten meters wide, and more than 20 meters deep.The four walls and the ceiling are painted with colorful intaglio carvings, and even the ground is carved with patterns.

There are only several kinds of settings in ancient Egyptian temples - those that worship the gods, those that praise the pharaoh's achievements, and those that guarantee the pharaoh's birth.The features are a huge statue of a god, a statue of a pharaoh plus a mural, and the last one emphasizes the glory that the gods gave to the pharaoh.

But this temple doesn't quite fit either category.

And this hall is not full of painted columns.It stands to reason that such a high ceiling requires at least a few load-bearing columns, but the strange thing is that there are no such pillars here.

The murals on both sides are the experience of Thutmose III under the guidance of the god of the underworld and the sun god, which is completely the follow-up to the two mural walls on the ground.

Thutmose III followed Osiris and Amon to go through the trial and board the sun-golden ship respectively, and finally the two parties converged in the scene of the wall in the middle.

On the wall facing us, Seth, the god of the desert, stood before the gods of the sun and the gods of the dead, fighting Apaip, the serpent who swallowed the river Styx.Thutmose III, holding the tribute in his hand, is also standing on the sun golden ship.Above this battle, the Eye of Horus watched in silence.

In front of the stone wall, echoing the murals, an altar with the statue removed is supported by layers of lotus petals.If you stand directly in front of the altar, the tribute in the hands of Thutmose III on the mural seems to be delivered to the altar.

This is similar to the structure of [Temple of Omniscience] and [Temple of Horus].

Below the altar, there are long steps.On both sides of the steps stand two statues taller than a person, and each statue depicts two images.Thutmose III stood beside Seth, one man and one god all stepped forward with their left feet.

In the language of statues in ancient Egypt, this is a fighting posture.

The statue is tall and solemn, and under the limited light, it looks particularly impersonal and oppressive.

I went around to the back of the statue on the left, and it was indeed full of inscriptions.

Jacqueline, who has seen both sides of the statue, translated it.The general idea is that Thutmose III wanted Seth.The young pharaoh went deep into the desert guarded by Seth, the god of strength, to find something.God and Pharaoh then confronted a common enemy.

"But I don't know exactly what this word is." Jacqueline pointed to the cuneiform script next to Seth's name, "What is Seth's?"

Patrick also looked at it for a long time, and said hesitantly: "It seems to be the bone of Seth."

Bone of Seth?

The bone of Seth also appeared in the murals of the Temple of Horus under the construction site of the Sino-Egyptian archaeological team, but the two probably didn't go in to see it.The French archaeological team before World War II seems to have only left rubbings of the zodiac signs on the ceiling of the Temple of Horus, so Jacqueline did not know the inscriptions on the bones of Seth.

I was thinking about whether to mention it, when I heard them talking about what the Bone of Seth might be, and why I haven't read the relevant records.

I was right when I thought about it.The statement about the Bone of Seth is more like unofficial history, and there is no mention of it in any literature.

In addition, I have some doubts myself.Where is the bone of Seth mentioned in the Temple of Seth? Even the ancient Egyptians were not so careless about taboos.

With this hesitation, he missed the opportunity to strike up a conversation.

Everything was familiar except the statue.

Except for the main figure in the middle of the mural, the upper and lower spaces are filled with sacrifices, sacrifices and prisoners of war.

Li Yuan and the others also finished looking at the murals in the main hall, and were standing solemnly beside the base of the altar.I went up and saw a string of Arabic covering the inscription that should have been inscribed here.

Boothwell read it in English: "In your blood."

Suddenly, there was a chill in the airless room.

Arno shrank his neck uncomfortably, and Alex couldn't help taking a step back.When she retreated, she just bumped into Li Yuan.Li Yuan helped Alex's arm, but his eyes did not leave the altar.

I go down the steps.

Lou Shiqi raised his head, looked at the tall statues of Seth and Thutmose III in front of him and asked, "Isn't Seth a bad man? Why do you want to build a temple for him?"

"In addition to the god of the desert, Set also has a title called "Lord of Strength" (great of strength). In some pyramid texts, it is mentioned that the power of the king is the power of Set, so it is likely that Thutmose III The purpose of this place is to borrow Seth’s power. But if you ask for it, you have to show it? Generally, the filial piety that a pharaoh gives to a god is to build a temple.”

I looked at the murals behind the altar again, and continued: "In the beginning of ancient Egyptian mythology, when the sun god Ra traveled to the underworld at night, Seth was guarding him, and every time he killed the serpent Apaip It's all Seth. You look at the murals of Seth poking Apepu with a weapon to make him spit out the water in his stomach so that the golden sun ship can continue sailing through the night. And these gods The position on the sun golden ship is also particular. Under normal circumstances, Seth with the jackal head stands behind Osiris, and Horus stands behind himself. But when facing danger, the god of the sky Horus will stand in front."

Lou Shiqi looked at the mural wall above.

The gods all stared straight ahead, at their formidable enemies, and did not take a look at the mortals below.

"But Horus doesn't appear here, only one eye is exposed. Is it dangerous or not?" He turned to look at me.

Where do I know where to go.There are so many strange places in this temple, even it itself is inexplicable.

Why did Thutmose III build such a temple in a remote desert?There is no shop in front of the village, and it is not the only way for Egypt to communicate with the outside world.Is it to suppress evil?
What is the danger in this hall, so that the gods on the murals are facing enemies?
Before waiting for my answer, Lou Shiqi didn't investigate further. "I heard that in the murals of the Temple of Philae, it was said that the gods drained Seth's blood for fear of his resurrection. Where did this saying come from?"

I was questioned.

"Lou'er, you asked the wrong person for the hundred thousand questions. I only know that it's a legend. But I don't know who spread it. I can't guarantee whether it's true or not."

Lou Shiqi nodded without understanding, and asked after a while: "Then this altar requires people to sacrifice blood, who is it to resurrect?"

The moment I heard the question clearly, I couldn't help being stunned.

This is the third time [Take Your Blood as a Sacrifice] has appeared.And it was superfluous to rewrite it in Arabic.

Hassan and the others, as expelled priests, why did they do everything possible to find them here?

The Egyptians said that dripping blood on the altar was to verify the ancient blood.But what is the purpose after verification?
Could it really be like what Lou Shiqi said, to revive something?

(End of this chapter)