"The priests will offer sacrifices to you, and the priests will open their arms to you with the sacrifices of the earth, just as they offer the last bit of water in the bowl to Imhotep."
— From a tombstone inscription from the reign of Amenhotep III (1391-1353 BC)
Stone, disease, medicine, bird …
Edwin's expression changed, and the deep wrinkles on his forehead became more and more like ravines. "You mean, you mean … Imhotep?"
"Yes, George, that's what I think." Ford paused before saying the name, "Imhotep."
Imhotep was one of the only two civilians in Egyptian civilization to be deified after death. The other was Amenhotep, the son of Hap.
In the style of the Holy Book, Imhotep's name was:% ¥% ¥% ¥% ¥.
It meant that he was the peacemaker.
"You see, there is a bird in Imhotep's name — an owl. This is the symbol of his name," Ford said. Although he had a thousand thoughts, he did not know how to organize them. "Imhotep was the ancient Egyptian god of medicine, and Imhotep was also a great architect. He presided over the construction of the Zakara Pyramid — the first stone building in human history. He was the inventor of stone architecture."
"Herry, you really reminded me, Imhotep …" Edwin murmured. When he looked at the Holy Book again, his eyes were a little dazed.
"Also, it was Imhotep who pioneered the practice of emptying the organs of the dead and making them into mummies. I don't know if this makes sense, but without the organs, the flesh will also rot, and in the end, won't there only be some bones left? Imhotep's understanding of eternity and immortality cannot be separated from stone. "
Ford said some of his thoughts, and in his heart, some archaeological knowledge about Imhotep kept surging.
Imhotep was the prime minister of Djoser, the pharaoh of the Third Dynasty in ancient Egypt in the 27th century BC.
According to legend, Djoser dreamed that he was walking on a ladder that extended into the sky, and when he woke up, he asked Imhotep to build a tomb that would lead to the sky. Before that, Egyptian civilization did not have the stepped pyramids that modern people are familiar with, and the tombs of the pharaohs were just huge rectangular mud-brick tombs.
Imhotep designed and presided over the construction of the first real Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser. Although compared to the later Great Pyramid of Giza and other behemoths, the 62.5-meter-high pyramid seemed simple, it was indeed the beginning of the pyramid and the beginning of stone architecture.
This was Imhotep's great performance in architecture, but the Egyptians revered him for his medical skills.
He founded the first medical school in history, two thousand years before Hippocrates, the father of medicine in Greek civilization.
In modern times, there was no direct archaeological evidence to prove that Imhotep was a doctor, or that he could heal and save people. However, in the thousands of years of Egyptian civilization, he was gradually worshipped and deified. More than 1,300 years after his death, a tombstone from the time of Amenhotep III during the New Kingdom — this was the first written evidence that modern people had unearthed that directly mentioned Imhotep. He was already a god. More than 2,200 years after his death, in the 30th Dynasty of Egypt, a large number of related papyri and statues proved that this person had medical and healing abilities.
The center of Imhotep's worship was in Memphis, which was very, very far from here, but the world had never found the location of Imhotep's tomb.
"Imhotep … Then what? Herry, you don't think that this is the water bowl of Imhotep's tomb, do you? Or is it the water bowl used to worship Imhotep? "
Edwin's excitement from the little clue he had just received was immediately replaced by more confusion and greater anxiety.
Without waiting for Ford to say anything, he said, "That's not possible. Paul has investigated the sellers. They are just a few small characters. They have no ability to smuggle relics from Memphis or from the Pyramid of Djoser. They should have found a small tomb near this city. And, look, these birds are not owls. These birds look like … I don't know how to say it, but they are not owls … "
"George, owls are Imhotep, but these birds can be followers of Imhotep, or they can also be doctors."
"Then how do you explain the geography? How do you explain this sentence? "
Ford saw that his old friend was almost out of control with excitement, not at all like the old professor he knew.
"Calm down, calm down!" Ford cried. "George, listen to me slowly."
He wanted to persuade his old friend to have a good rest after the discussion. Even if he had to take some sleeping pills, he would not be able to go on like this.
But when he looked at the four pieces of pottery again, he felt the impact of the "strange attraction" in his heart again …
"I didn't say that these are Imhotep's funerary objects, and they don't seem like Imhotep's worshippers. They are more like his enemies, the rebels. Imhotep was the Pharaoh's prime minister and the high priest of the Sun God. This matches the first sentence of the Holy Book. "
Edwin became impatient again, and his eyes were bloodshot. "The key is the second sentence! Hurley, the second sentence affects the meaning before and after. Stone and disease, so it is Imhotep? If you want to express this person, why not just use an owl? "
"My idea is that stone means pyramid!" Ford had to raise his voice. "The first stone pyramid."
Edwin frowned and stopped. Ford's finger touched the stone rune on the fragment, as if he could go back to ancient times.
"Old friend, we modern people still don't understand how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. There were so many huge stones, and with the level of technology and construction at that time, how could they do it? Even the pyramid of Djoser must have been very difficult to build. It required a lot of manpower, a lot of materials, and a long time. You also know that if Djoser hadn't ruled Egypt for decades, the first stone pyramid would not have been built successfully. Such a grand project can drag down a kingdom. There are too many such examples in the history of human civilization. Think about it, what attitude did the Egyptian civilians and even the ruling class have towards this project? Some people supported it, and some people opposed it. "
Edwin's expression changed again, and he came to a sudden realization. "The rebels … the catastrophe caused by the stones …"
"In the eyes of some rebels, isn't this project stone + disease? It will indeed kill a lot of people. Imhotep is the god of medicine, but in the eyes of the rebels, he is the bringer of disease. They want to kill Imhotep and the other 'birds' and build a new world ruled by God Amon, "Ford said and sighed.
"This is a little bit of my idea. There may have been an uprising at that time, but it failed in the end, and the rebels were executed and expelled."
"Really … old friend, what you said makes sense …" Edwin murmured. "But I always feel that something is wrong, and it doesn't make sense … I feel that it is not clean, not just … Hurley, when you look at this line of Holy Book, don't you feel … even a little, inexplicably …"
Edwin opened his bloodshot eyes and looked at Fordner. "Are you afraid?"
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