bit stealing game

Chapter 13 Thebes

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said that "Egypt is a gift from the Nile."

Although the upper reaches of the Nile are the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and the White Nile in Rwanda, they nurtured the ancient Egyptian civilization more than a thousand years ago.

Thebes is the old name of Luxor. Homer's epic poem once used "City of a Hundred Gates" to describe the largest capital city in the known world at that time, the land of the gods. The Nile River flowing from south to north runs through

Among them, Thebes is divided into east and west banks. On the east bank are the residences of the gods, Luxor and Karnak Temple, and on the west bank is the Valley of the Kings where the Pharaoh rests.

On the way from the airport to the hotel, looking at the lower buildings and more horse-drawn carriages on the road than in Cairo, A Tian sighed: "This place is exactly the same as what I saw in the documentaries of the last century."

Lao Zhang continued: "Isn't it? It feels like the spring breeze of reform and opening up has not blown here."

Ali warmly welcomed us to his hometown. His home is in a small village on the west bank of Luxor, and it is quite a distance to travel there. We told him that we would go around today without having to worry about him.

Ali said that when we go to the Valley of the Kings tomorrow, we must ask him to drive and pick us up as a landlord.

The city center of Luxor is more compact than Cairo, and has a more noisy human touch. After lunch, Lao Zhang started clamoring to visit the Karnak Temple where our archaeological site is located.

Luxor is the city I am most familiar with in Egypt, and Karnak Temple is the place I am most familiar with in Luxor. In the past two years, I have come here every winter to follow the archaeological team for excavations, even more so than I did.

There are feelings on construction sites in Greece.

The Karnak Temple is the most important religious shrine in the Luxor area and even in ancient Egypt because it is the palace of the sun god Amun.

Every Opate Festival, the priests would carry the statue of the Sun God from the Luxor Temple along the Saphynx Avenue to the Karnak Temple, then cross the Nile River and send the statue to the West Bank to complete the work of the Sun God.

The journey on earth. It was also the only opportunity of the year for Egyptian civilians to enter the temple controlled by the pharaoh and priests.

After accidentally discovering the underground temple last year, I was carried across this road on a stretcher.

Walking along the Saphynx Avenue, you can see the statue of Ramses II. This temple has been modified by successive pharaohs, and each pharaoh is vividly depicted here.

The multi-column hall is the most famous attraction of Karnak Temple. It is said that the first batch of Westerners who walked in at that time were so amazed that they went back to their hometowns and formed gangs to work as porters.*

Of course, the multi-column hall that once had a strong color now only has the color that has been peeled off by time. Only the lotus flowers on the capitals still have some color. The Egyptians control the light very well, although the top of the hall is now dilapidated and has lost its original function.

Due to the blocking effect, the sunlight can shine down wantonly. But you can still imagine how the sunlight penetrated through the narrow window and fell on the statue from different angles at different times of the day and in different seasons.

The murals record the construction of the temple and the scene where the gods gave glory to the Pharaoh. Walking through the huge stone pillars, the reliefs of characters swayed with the light. There are still reliefs and inscriptions on the pillars of the multi-column hall, densely writing the achievements of the Pharaoh.

.

The ancient Egyptians believed that words and images were magical.

Therefore, the oaths written on the murals of the temple stated that the pharaoh punished the common enemies of the gods and the Egyptians and offered sacrifices to the gods, and the gods gave Egypt prosperity.

In this temple built for the god, the pharaohs stood side by side with their gods, fighting against time and death.

History really does flow here.

I pointed to the circle with the name of Ramses II on one of the stone pillars and the reliefs around it and asked A Tian and Lao Zhang if they could see anything.

Lao Zhang tilted his head and said, "Is this different from the little bee painting on the side?" I clenched my fists and resisted the urge to hit him and asked, "What else is there?" A Tian said, "It seems that this kind of king's circle is better than others."

The carvings are deeper.

I nodded: "Because this place used to be the name of another pharaoh. Ramses scratched off his name and re-engraved his own, so this became his contribution to the gods."

Lao Zhang opened his eyes wide and said in surprise: "That's all right. Isn't this fooling God?"

A Tian smiled interestingly, "I don't know whether he believes in God or not."

In fact, I don’t know whether Ramses II believed in God or not. I am a socialist young man who grew up in a proletarian intellectual family, and I have nothing to do with those silent things.

But if we cannot prove that God is false, then what mood did the priests who once lived here have in worshiping gods who did not know whether they were true or false? Have they experienced miracles? Have they ever listened to the voices of gods?

I don't know why, but my hand involuntarily pressed on the stone pillar with the inscription.

The sky suddenly darkened, and the light began to flicker. The color of the place I accidentally touched just now had fallen off, but now it turned into a bright green. Looking along this green, the bright colors were gradually faded by a ray of light.

It was lit. Going up further, I saw the roof. I didn't know if the painting was a starry sky, the light was very dark and I couldn't see clearly. Then the light changed. I intuitively felt that this was because time was passing and the sun fell on Ramses II.

The name of the king of the world is on the circle.

The light continued to sway. The king's name just fell off and turned into or restored to Thutmose III. The sunlight now shines in from the small hole above this space and shines on the statue of the god standing alone. It should be

The holy of the holies.

Then I found that the place I touched became damp, and it was obviously a sunny day. Then there was more and more water, and I smelled the scent of the Nile. It is said that the Karnak Temple was originally modeled on the Island of Creation.

Yes, at that time, the Nile River was flowing through the countryside, and only the Holy of Holies and the Sun God Statue on it were like the only islands in the water. At first, I only felt that the river was flowing under my feet, and soon the feeling of being submerged came up, and I wanted to break free.

, but the hand was firmly fixed on the stone pillar and could not move.

There seemed to be footsteps. I turned my head desperately to look at the altar. I saw a figure walking through the water. He was walking on the water as if he were walking on flat ground. The candlelight in his hand replaced the sunlight that disappeared without knowing when.

The hall dimmed and brightened with his footsteps, and finally the light fell somewhere on the stone pillars.

Then there was a shaking.

When I came back to my senses, I found that it was Lao Zhang shaking my shoulders. I looked at my hands and couldn't believe what had just happened. Lao Zhang anxiously circled around me, but was pushed away by A Tian.

She grabbed my shoulders, looked into my eyes and asked what happened.

I saw that Lao Zhang and A Tian didn't seem to have entered the 4D theater together, and the tourists around them looked normal. Maybe I just fell into a short fugue. But I couldn't understand what was going on, so I had to say: "I seem to

I experienced the history of this temple in an immersive way." It would have been nice if I hadn't almost drowned.

A Tian and Lao Zhang stared at me suspiciously.

In order to change the topic, I led them out of the multi-column hall, pointed to the end of the gravel road over the randomly piled stones and grass, and said: "Just to the north is our archaeological site. But we have already got off work now, even if there are people

It’s not open to the public now.”

She had told them Ming Ming a long time ago, but Lao Zhang still sighed exaggeratedly. Even A Tian felt a little regretful: "I wanted to go in and take a look at the building you found while no one was around." She said, her eyes still still.

He glanced around, as if wondering if there was a way to sneak in. Lao Zhang also responded positively: "What are you afraid of? Let's go in and take a look, just one look."

I rolled my eyes, fearing that these two men were really going to take action, so I quickly pulled them aside.

The east-facing wall there is engraved with a picture of Ramses II's battle at Kadesh. Kadesh was one of the series of battles between Egypt and the Hittites for control of Syria, and Ramses II personally went into battle.

Pharaohs often engraved scenes of themselves defeating their enemies in the temple murals, in order to claim credit from the gods: "I defeated your enemies and sacrificed their deaths to you" and so on.*

In short, it is a picture dedicated to the gods [This is the country I have laid for you].

The mural we are looking at now is a typical temple exaggeration style record, which vividly embodies the Pharaoh's great joy. In the mural, Ramses II rides on a chariot and takes up the center position with his bow drawn. Behind him is a small

The neatly arranged Egyptian army. On the left side of the picture, the fleeing Hittite army was scattered in a scattered arrangement. I took on the tone of a tour guide and talked about the art and political style of ancient Egypt:

"Just like our country's art emphasizes harmony, ancient Egyptian art pursues order. For example, Ramses in this painting is the absolute protagonist and the only stable character. The rest are his enemies

Still soldiers, they are all chaotic and disorderly. The reason why Pharaoh would emphasize this point is of course because he showed himself. But it is also because the ancient Egyptians believed that constancy is crucial in both this life and the next life. For example, they

He would say 'as constant as Osiris', which means remaining immortal like Osiris. After all, he was the first mummy and the first to achieve resurrection from the dead."

Lao Zhang nodded sincerely, and A Tian suddenly pointed to some strip-shaped dents on the mural and asked me what they were. Lao Zhang also leaned over to take a look.

It happened that when I first came here, I heard someone tell them that these were scratch marks.

"After the decline of the ancient Egyptian regime, the royal family and religious groups lost control of the temples. However, the people's belief in the Egyptian gods has not faded. So they came to the temples that were once not allowed to approach, hoping to take away

A little bit of sacred traces. This kind of scratches are basically found in all the major temples in Egypt, and people will avoid figures of gods or pharaohs when scratching."

"Then why are some scratches so high up?" A Tian asked, pointing to the marks more than three meters high. I said that was because the place had been buried by sand for thousands of years after it was abandoned, leaving only the traces exposed.

It has the upper half, so people can get it by standing on the sand.

Then we went to see the obelisk of Hatshepsut*. This famous monument is on the east side of the multi-column hall. The once gilded obelisk should have been extremely dazzling at sunrise, but now it has been stripped

Wearing a coat of gold, the white body of the stele also shone in the afterglow.

Lao Zhang said "Huh". "Is there such an obelisk in New York? I'm afraid it was stolen and robbed and put up in a grand place." I said, then you have really wronged the Americans.

It was a thank you gift to the Americans for building the Aswan Dam.

"The Egyptians are so novel, giving cultural relics as gifts?" Lao Zhang didn't quite understand.

If you can use ancient Egyptian cultural relics to express friendship with Western countries, and then leave Africa and join the European Union, it may not be a sure profit for Egypt today.

Karnak Temple actually does not refer to a temple, but a group of temples. It mainly worships the three pillar gods of Thebes: the sun god Amun, his wife the war goddess Mut and their child the moon god Kong.

Su.

Standing in the Kongsu Temple, Lao Zhang asked: "Is this the Kongsu you talked about in the pyramid, the Kongsu who eats other gods?"

I said: "You remember this quite clearly." Lao Zhang said sternly.

I told them: "In ancient Egypt, the functions and settings of gods will change with time and needs. Just like Seth, who was clearly a good god who helped the sun god Ra kill the enemy serpent Apep, later became

He is the same as the villain who kills his brother. In Thebes, Kongsu is just a harmless little moon god, the good son of Amon and Mut."

In fact, there is not much to see in the Kongsu Temple. Just as he was about to say hello and go home, Lao Zhang suddenly spotted several fruits appearing in the corner of the dilapidated temple. We curiously went over to take a look. Oranges and bananas were neatly piled up.

There, it doesn't look like it was put down casually.

A Tian asked: "Isn't this a tribute to Kong Su?"

Lao Zhang also looked at me. Under their gazes, I could only say: "Maybe there are people here who still believe in the gods of ancient Egypt." But I felt ridiculous as soon as I said the words. In this era, who can still retain the past?

Thousands of years of faith.

We turned to leave, and when we turned around we saw a young Egyptian man standing behind us.

There are people who arrange work for themselves in various tourist attractions in Egypt. They occupy a courtyard in the temple, or a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. They explain to the tourists when they come and earn some tips. You may see Chinese tourists.

I will also order some cooling oil. In short, since entering the Karnak Temple, Lao Zhang has spent a lot of money along the way.

The young man looked at us, then at the corner where the ‘sacrificial offerings’ were placed, and asked, “Are you here for tourism?”

Lao Zhang nodded.

The young man probably introduced us to the Khonsu Temple, but we did not interrupt him. After he finished speaking, Lao Zhang handed him a tip of twenty Egyptian pounds. He accepted it with a smile and said his name was Socrates.

.

We smiled. We had seen so many Muhammads and Alis, but we never expected to meet Socrates.

After saying goodbye, we walked out and heard Socrates say behind us:

“You believe or not, God never leaves Thebes.

Believe it or not, the gods never left Thebes."

This person used the old name of Luxor, Thebes.

I turned around in surprise. The young man stood in the dilapidated temple without the statue of the god, covered with sunshine that once belonged to the god. Although he was lowering his head to collect the money given by Lao Zhang, he also brought it with him for no reason.

Solemn color. I looked at the thin sacrifice again. Some people offered it occasionally, just like the lingering atmosphere of that ancient empire.

Maybe more than three thousand years later, the gods are still looking at the temples built for them by the pharaohs.

When I returned to the hotel, I passed by the Luxor Temple and happened to catch up with the mosque for worship. When this mosque was originally built, I didn't know that there was an ancient Egyptian temple underneath, which resulted in people who go to the mosque to worship now have to go through Luxor first.

Temple, and the sound of worship from the mosque can be heard in the Luxor Temple.

We ate in the hotel in the evening. The accommodation here was good, and the supporting catering was also very good. We chose a seat by the window, where we could watch the Nile while eating. But no one went to see it, because A Tian and Lao

Two pairs of eyes stared at me. I had no choice but to look back.

"Now tell me what happened to you in the multi-pillar hall." A Tian stated her problem.

I looked at Lao Zhang. Lao Zhang was the one who woke me up from the hallucination at that time. Now I call the experience at that time hallucination.

When Lao Zhang saw me looking at him, he hurriedly said, "The Great Sage is asking you a question. Why are you looking at me?"

I said, "Isn't that what I was about to say? First tell me why you wanted to shake me then."

"Old Wang, are you trying to blackmail someone? At that time, you were staring blankly at the broken pillar, and then you turned around so hard that your neck was almost twisted, as if you were stunned. That's okay, in the end you

I don’t know who I’m competing with. You can’t even breathe. If I don’t shake you, what will you do if you’re suffocated to death?” Lao Zhang said angrily, as if he was still frightened.

I grinned awkwardly and glanced at Lao Zhang again. He was still angry now, as if he had been greatly affected. I flattered him and pushed the dessert in front of him that I didn’t like, and said, "Hey, I don’t

Just ask, why are you angry?"

Lao Zhang took a fork and forked the rice cake. "Don't do this, tell me what's going on."

I curled my lips and told about the bizarre experience. Then I added: "In the end, I seemed to see the candlelight falling on the name of Thutmose III, but I wasn't sure."

Lao Zhang and A Tian listened quietly.

"At first I thought it was just a hallucination, the kind of little theater in my head that suddenly plays in a trance and then plays automatically, but when I heard what Lao Zhang said, it seemed like I really showed it."

Lao Zhang muttered in a low voice: "I almost thought you were going to be suffocated to death by the air."

"I'm fine, right?"

A Tian didn't know what he was thinking about and didn't answer the call.

I wanted to add a few words, but Lao Zhang slapped the table and concluded: "This is evil." Then he looked at me seriously and said, "Lao Wang, why don't we leave?"

I slapped the back of his hand and said, "How long did it take you to think of this?" He retracted his hand and muttered, "It's for your own good. It's not natural for you to hit someone, so you won't be careful about retribution." I didn't bother to pay attention to him, so I put the rice in my hands.

The cake was brought back with a fork.

At this time, A Tian asked me: "You just said you 'smelled' the Nile water. How did you know it was the Nile?"

I was stunned. "Actually, I'm not sure that it is the Nile River, but the Nile River has flowed through there in history, so I subconsciously thought it was the Nile River water."

Then I told them the history of the construction of Karnak Temple that I knew:

The architectural scale of the Karnak Temple varied in different historical periods. When there was no multi-column hall, the Nile River directly surrounded the shrine where the statues were placed. When the temple was first built in the First Dynasty, it was surrounded by the Nile River.

It looked like an isolated island. Later, with the rise and fall of the Nile River and the development of Egypt, it slowly turned into a group of temples.

"My experience this afternoon was like slowly going back thousands of years, and I was able to see the history of this temple. It was like I had gone back to the time of Ramses II from the 21st century, and then back to Tut.

During the time of Moss III, it was probably the Island of Creation further back, so there was water all around, so I was drowned."

A Tian asked me: "Did you see anything you didn't know?"

I asked her what this meant.

A Tian said: "You yourself know the construction history of the Creation Island and the temple you just talked about, right?"

I nodded.

"Then did you see anything that you didn't know? For example, you said that the colors suddenly appeared, do you know what color they were originally supposed to be? And the peeling inscriptions, do you know what these inscriptions were originally?"

What A Tian wanted to confirm was whether I suddenly recalled things I knew in that situation. When she asked, I did indeed overlook some things.

In that involuntary private theater, I saw large tracts of blue. It spread from the ceiling, like the gradually unfolding night. Vibrant greenery climbed up from the pillars, and the craftsmen deeply carved the pharaoh’s

The name is engraved on the bionic lotus column. It seems that there is chanting sound, accompanied by the flickering candlelight, which is densely wrapped around it.

I didn’t feel it when I was immersed in it, but now I can recall it completely. This is still different from ordinary dreams. And I am very sure that I have never been exposed to this knowledge before. I should have acquired it in that immersive class.

teaching experience.

A Tian was thoughtful, but did not ask any further questions.

"Tell me, could this be a miracle?" I made a stupid remark out of nowhere.

As expected, Lao Zhang didn't let go and laughed at me: "What age are you and are you still so superstitious?"

I blushed and said that this is not called superstition, it is called awe of the unknown.

"Yes, yes, everything you said is right. But don't worry, even if there is a miracle, it won't be shown to people like you and me."

Lao Zhang is right. I can't help but think, who will be the real audience?

*The stone pillar on the right side of the multi-column hall is engraved with the year 1887 and a mark. That is the height of the water level reached when the Frenchman Gorge Legrian used Nile water to wash away the salt particles on the temple building in 1887. The Nile water drawn at that time was about

It must have been two or three meters high. When the salt grains were washed away, the temple building was also washed away, leaving countless cultural relics inside completely nowhere to be found. This was just one of the operations of the group of looters back then.

In ancient Egypt, pharaohs were not only the commanding heights of power and the incarnation of gods in the human world, they were also expected to be figures who could make agriculture prosperous and be invincible. This is reflected in the pharaohs depicted on sculptures and coffins who all held flails in their hands.

The flail can be used to thresh grain, and the hook is a symbol of force and power.

Hatshepsot was the first female pharaoh of Egypt and the stepmother and aunt of Thutmose III. When she built this obelisk, she intended to prove that she was the daughter of the god Amun and that she could legitimately inherit the throne.

.Thutmose III was once exiled to the temple by her, far away from the center of power, until the pharaoh who returned after growing up took back his position.

(End of chapter)