The owner didn't understand Chinese, but he could guess what they were talking about from their expressions and tone. He pointed to another display cabinet and smiled. "Distinguished guests, if you want to see beautiful women, you should go over there and take a look. There is the beauty that we Egyptians are most proud of, the true beauty of our generation — Queen Nefertari! "
After Jack translated, the unfamiliar name confused everyone. Who was Queen Nefertari? It was the first time they'd heard of such a person.
Zhang Zian explained, "Nefertari was one of the eight queens of the most famous pharaoh in ancient Egypt, Ramses II. She was recognized as the number one beauty of ancient Egypt. The name Nefertari means the prettiest woman. "
In front of Jack and Fina, he didn't say the rest of his words.
Modern Egyptians didn't like Cleopatra very much. One reason was that she was neither ancient Egyptian nor Arab, but Greek. Two, she used her own body to make a deal with foreign enemies. Even if she temporarily preserved the independence of the country, it was still not a good thing to say. In the eyes of the chauvinistic Arabs, this was simply … a disgrace! Whatever humiliation and the like, to hell with it!
When Gao Ke and He He heard this, their interest in Cleopatra immediately shifted to Queen Nefertari. They all ran to another display cabinet, wanting to see what the number one beauty of ancient Egypt looked like.
The owner struck while the iron was hot, pointing to other display cabinets. "Distinguished guests, if you are interested, there is also a plaster statue of Queen Nefertiti. Queen Nefertiti is second only to Queen Nefertari's beauty. She will definitely not disappoint you. "
Out of curiosity, Gao Ke and the rest ran over to another display cabinet to take a look, commenting on the looks of Nefertari and Nefertiti.
Only Zhang Zian didn't move. He wasn't interested in the looks of Nefertari and Nefertiti. If he really wanted to see beautiful women, he could open TikTok.
In the display cabinet in front of him, there was one last plaster statue he hadn't seen.
It was a plaster statue of a woman. Her curly hair was coiled into a bun and held in place with a hair tie. This statue looked like an adult woman from ancient Europe. Although her appearance couldn't be said to be beautiful, it could at least be described as delicate.
This was the plaster head that Fina was staring at.
The owner of the shop had been in the Khan el-Khalili market for quite some time, and he still had a good eye for people. Although Gao Ke and his group were not much, they were obviously university students with ordinary financial conditions. Obviously, they had no intention of paying. Zhang Zian basically didn't say much. His eyes never left Cleopatra VII's display cabinet. Customers who really liked something were like this.
So the owner walked over and asked kindly, "Honorable customer, which plaster statue have you taken a fancy to?"
Jack came over to help them translate.
"Where did this come from?" Zhang Zian asked, pointing at the fourth plaster statue.
"Oh, the original plaster statue is in the collection of the Berlin Museum. It is said to be the closest portrait of Cleopatra VII, but in my opinion, it is also the most uncharacteristic statue. Even a student from the Academy of Fine Arts can easily imitate a similar plaster statue. If the customer is interested, you might want to consider the other three. As the owner, I strongly recommend the second one. "The owner pointed at the full-body statue, which was the one wearing only a crown and not an inch of clothing.
He introduced, "The original full-body statue is in the collection of the St. Petersburg Museum. It fully demonstrates the majesty of Cleopatra VII as a pharaoh. It is the most collectible."
"Ha, ignorant! It's fine if the small people in the marketplace talk about the heavens, but they actually dare to point at a deer as a horse! "
Fina suddenly sneered and said disdainfully.
Of course, the owner didn't understand Fina's words. He just thought that the cat had sneezed.
Zhang Zian knew that although Fina was arrogant, she wouldn't speak without thinking. He pondered over Fina's words a little, then pointed at the full-body statue and asked, "About the origin of this statue, are you sure?"
"Of course!" The owner laughed. "Honorable Chinese customer, I have opened my shop here for more than ten years. If I can even get this wrong, then I might as well close up shop and go home!"
Zhang Zian said calmly, "Is that so? But if I remember correctly, there was only one official pharaoh in the history of ancient Egypt, and that was Hatshepsut. Although Cleopatra VII was famous, she was actually the ruler of ancient Egypt. She was the queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty, but she was not a pharaoh. "
"What?"
When the others heard Zhang Zian's words, they asked in confusion, "Cleopatra wasn't a pharaoh?"
"No," Zhang Zian said with certainty. "A pharaoh's ascension to the throne requires a ceremony. Cleopatra VII was in a rather special period. She had internal and external troubles, so she didn't have the time to prepare and carry out those complicated ceremonies. Of course, this didn't prevent her from being one of the outstanding rulers in the history of ancient Egypt. Although she wasn't a pharaoh, she was better than one. "
The last sentence was, of course, to flatter Fina. Flattery would never work.
The owner's face was a little stiff. He laughed a few times to defend himself. "Haha! Honorable customer, you came prepared. You know the history of ancient Egypt very well. Actually, I know that Cleopatra VII wasn't a pharaoh, but everyone thinks that she was in fact a pharaoh. She just lacked a title. So it's not wrong for me to say that she was a pharaoh. "
The owner's words weren't exactly quibbling. Zhang Zian didn't dwell on this issue too much. He only asked this question to buy time to think about what Fina meant by "pointing at a deer as a horse."
He recalled how Fina had ignored Gao Ke and Xiao Tianyu's comments about this full-body statue. If this full-body statue was really a statue of Cleopatra, it would never have tolerated their comments. It would have attacked them with its claws long ago.
In this world, only Fina had seen Cleopatra alive, so its judgment was unquestionable.
In other words, this full-body statue wearing a triple-snake crown, holding a scepter, and completely naked did not belong to Cleopatra. Then whose full-body statue was it?
Suddenly, he remembered that when Fina was nagging, it had mentioned a name and said that people always confused the owner of this name with Cleopatra, which often made it angry.
That name was … What was it again?
He racked his brains and finally remembered the name that was hard to remember. He pointed to the full-body statue and said, "You're wrong. The real body of this full-body statue is not Cleopatra, but Arsinoe II from earlier."
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