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Chapter 23 A First Exploration into the Underground Temple

After returning from a Christmas dinner at their house in Chicago, the China-Egypt archaeological team restarted the excavation of the underground temple.

Originally, the team leader was determined not to support it, because it is possible that in the more than 3,000 years since the Ma'at Temple was built, the temple beneath the ground has never been opened. The soil layer can isolate the air, and there is no resistance.

Excavation of the temple under oxidizing conditions is likely to cause internal damage. Fortunately, the archaeological team discovered traces of backfilling during the cleaning and test excavation around the temple.

The so-called backfilling is to bury the remains with soil after excavation. On the surface, there is no difference. But the structure of the backfilled soil is different. The team leader and others are experienced archaeologists. Just scrape it with a hand shovel.

This typical relic phenomenon can be seen.

"It's very possible that the French had discovered this temple at that time." The team leader thought for a long time while holding his pipe in his mouth. "I will check it again and discuss it with our Egyptian colleagues."

As expected, the French team had indeed carried out excavations. The Egyptian personnel, who wanted to dig out the underground temple themselves, saw that the team leader relented and naturally tried their best to facilitate this discussion.

So after a year's absence, I was finally able to enter the temple that I was slapped awake for the first time.

Today is January 7th, the Egyptian New Year. The team leader gave the Egyptian staff a day off with pay. Therefore, only some members of the Chinese and Egyptian archaeological teams gathered at the construction site today, and those who worked as child laborers with the French during World War II.

The old technician discovered.

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 appear with people from 279, and I can feel how much he is valued. We are like real strangers, and there is no communication except a polite greeting.

.

Considering that there is also a Ma'at temple on top of the underground temple, the archaeological team did not uncover all the soil. After doing a good job of bearing the load, they only excavated one passage, and from there we entered the underground building one by one.

middle.

Because it is buried deep underground, there is no sunlight in the tunnel. When you are in it, you have the illusion of walking into a long tomb passage, and it also has a more solemn and mysterious feeling. In fact, the Karnak Temple itself had no light in the original, but it is only now

Only the ruins of the ruins remain. Perhaps this darkness and depth is the original atmosphere of the temple.

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

We entered through the south door.

The entire room is about three meters high. The west wall depicts the scene of Pharaoh Thutmose III offering sacrifices to the gods and receiving blessings from the gods; the murals on the east wall depict the construction history of the temple; the opposite north wall

Still deep in the darkness, according to the rules, there should be a wall of merit. And hanging above our heads is the starry sky abstracted by the Egyptians.

The French indeed visited this temple.

The place where the sacrifices were originally placed was empty, and some tools were scattered on the stone steps under the altar. It seemed that the mural had been rubbed in a hurry. I don't know if it was because of the limited shooting technology at the time or because it was on that wall.

Murals are so important that even photos alone are not enough.

I walked closer to the mural and squinted my eyes in confusion.

Is it possible that the French mastered advanced antioxidant technology in the last century? Why does the temple they excavated back then still retain such a vivid look?

I looked north along the west wall. I didn't have much knowledge in ancient Egyptian, so I could only guess based on the murals that it might have been built when Thutmose III was a priest.

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

I shook my head calmly.

"As far as I know, this is the first work in the history of ancient Egyptian art. But Thutmose III himself was demoted from pharaoh to priest. Maybe there is room for maneuver by building a temple in advance."

Although the portrayal of Thutmose III as a priest and as a pharaoh is somewhat unexpected, that's not what I care about.

The entire western wall is a scene of sacrifices to the gods. However, only Thutmose III, either as a priest or as a pharaoh, appears in the title. The name of the god does not appear. Instead, there should be places where the image of the god appears.

The body still looks normal, but the head that serves as the logo is a blurry shape.

I specially 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 gods.

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

In ancient Egypt, temples were dedicated to gods by pharaohs, and the names of gods appearing in their murals were an important part. For example, in the temple of the Sun God, the names of God Amun or God Ra would appear repeatedly, and

Accompanied by: "Pharaoh sacrificed something to God Amun, and God Amun gave him stability and prosperity" and so on.

The Egyptian gods all have their own unique heads. For example, the sun god Amun is an adult man with two upright ostrich feathers on his head; Sekhmet has a lion's head; Horus has an eagle's head; and Kongsu has a head on his head.

The moon wheel is quite regular and unchanging.

But the god of this temple carries something like a mass of elements or light on his neck. I don’t know if this god is so noble that people can’t know his appearance and title, or if this is a symbol of respect for someone at that time.

A variant description of the god. It is like the god Aten is the image of the sun, rather than appearing as a human or a ram like other sun gods. But even so, the vague graphics are too abstract.

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

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

I walked around the altar again.

The altar faces north and faces south. The base is about one meter high and is lifted up by more than a dozen steps. There should have been a statue of the god on it, but now there is only a gold base with a thin layer of dust on it. Why?

Look how shabby it is.

Judging from this, the missing statue should also be made of gold, or other precious metals. Fortunately, the French archaeological team that came in earlier was not so greedy in the last century, and they were planning to come back for excavations.

Research. Otherwise, even the base may have to be moved, and the murals will not be spared.

I moved closer to the base to read the inscription on it, but the name of God did not appear.

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

Because the limited sunlight that penetrates deeply into this building falls impartially on the altar without the statue of the god*.

In the belief system of ancient Egypt, the names of gods have great power, but they can also become a means of restricting them. Or is this the pharaoh protecting this god?

Li Yuan lowered his head and asked me what I was thinking about.

I said in confusion: "I wonder who this temple is for?"

"Is it for Horus?"

I raised my head. Sure enough, there were divine elements painted on the back of the empty altar that I had ignored.

That is the left eye of Horus.

From our perspective, it looks like it is hanging on the altar guarding the statue of the god that should be here.

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

I followed his fingers and looked over. Just now, I only looked at the table top of the base, and didn't notice that there was a circle of inscriptions in the groove wall where the statue of the god was placed. I walked around the altar. Different from the inscriptions on the murals, here

It's in hieroglyphics.

Li Yuan waited patiently for me to finish transferring.

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

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

Feeling that this idea was unlucky, I continued: "Maybe I'm not good at studying. I'll have to look at the murals behind this."

That is a wall of achievements.

There are some ancient Egyptian-style paintings on it depicting exotic flowers, plants, and rare animals, all of which were trophies of Thutmose III's expedition or tribute from outsiders. In addition, there are many war scenes painted on it. The enemy troops often

The army was defeated by 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, Egyptian personnel Saad discovered a secret compartment under the sacrifice cabinet on the east wall, where papyrus records may have been placed. The team leader and others were surrounding the place, and Teacher Wen walked out of the temple.

, maybe you need to contact the Fae Center to look for archaeological records again.

Now the only ones paying attention to the mural are me, Li Yuan and Teacher Bai who came after hearing the news.

None of the three of us had a light, and the sunlight could not 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.

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

I responded and leaned over to take a look. The light here of Teacher Bai was darker, but he seemed not to be affected. He pointed at something that was brought to a group of gods by the priest Thutmose III and asked: "You

Do you know what this is? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in Egyptian art.”

I squinted my eyes and looked up and down for a long time without being able to see clearly. Li Yuan then turned the light over.

Even with the help of light, I can't tell you why.

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

"There are words written here." Li Yuan shook the phone slightly. The light had been stable before.

I was just looking at those sesame candies and ignored the inscriptions on them.

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

I really wanted to show off in front of them, but deciphering ancient Egyptian writing was really not my strong point. But now that all the teachers who knew cuneiform writing had gone out, I had no choice but to bite the bullet and give it a try.

This inscription is read from the upper right. There are a few words I don't recognize, but fortunately they are not too obscure. The general meaning is probably:

[Thutmose III offered the bone of Seth to the noble god XX, and the god gave Thutmose III strength and stability*].

The name of that certain god has not appeared 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 scratched off.

Now that the inscriptions on the mural have been translated, I feel even more confused. The inscriptions that were left behind are unclear, and the ones that were deliberately erased do not know what message they conveyed.

Meng Weiqing and Teacher Bai on the side looked thoughtful after listening.

"What are the Bones of Seth, the bones of the Desert God?" Lou Shiqi, who came to ask us to go up and join the team leader and others, joined the discussion after hearing this.

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 my doubts still increased, this time I had some clues.

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

[The limited sunlight that penetrates into this building is impartial and falls right on the altar that is missing the statue of the god*]

This was very important in ancient Egyptian religious rituals, because it was equivalent to sacrificing sunlight to the god. Of course, sometimes the situation was the other way around.

[The gods gave Thutmose III strength and stability*]

The Pharaoh would show that he offered sacrifices to the gods (usually wine, spices, etc.) in the temple or on some other religious occasions, and the gods would give back to the Pharaoh himself or Egypt prosperity, harvest and (regime/society) stability.

(End of chapter)