Plague Doctor

When Herry Fortner talked to George Edwin on the phone, he thought the other person was exaggerating. A few pottery fragments were usually just a few pottery fragments. But he and Edwin have been old friends for more than 20 years, and they have identified many truly rare cultural relics together, so they are not without doubts in their hearts. They are no longer young people in their twenties studying archeology in Cambridge. Now, I won't be so emotional for a long time.

Furthermore, the Nubian region at the junction of Egypt and Sudan is an important excavation site for ancient monuments, with many temples, fortresses, tombs, etc. During the New Kingdom period - 1553 BC - 1085 BC, ancient Egypt annexed this place, so although it is remote, good things can be unearthed.

So after the phone call ended, Henry Fortner left immediately and took a plane from Lundy to this place.

Only three days have passed since I communicated with him by phone.

However, when Fortner walked into Edwin's local office, he was shocked and said, "George, you look bad."

Although Edwin is 57 years old, due to his long-term fitness, he was a member of the rowing team when he was studying in Cambridge, and his body is very strong.

But now, Edwin's face was hunched, with two dark circles under his eyes. He looked very haggard and lifeless, perhaps because his eyes were bloodshot and even a little weird.

Because of his close relationship with the other party, Fortner was not polite and did not hide his surprise and worry, "Did you have a bad sleep?"

"Hello, old friend." Edwin greeted, then turned and walked towards the desk, "I haven't slept much in the past few days..."

"Because of those pieces of pottery?" Fortner followed up in confusion.

This office is not big. There is nothing except a desk, some identification tools and some imitations of cultural relics in a few cabinets on the wall. You can see the street outside from the window, but at this time, Edwin pulled him Close the curtains tightly.

"Yes, that's right...I can't figure out what the holy words above mean...Herry, I feel like there's a secret in there and we have to uncover it...Maybe Jean-François - Champollion had the same feeling when he looked at the Rosetta Stone..."

"Wow." Fortner couldn't help but exclaimed self-deprecatingly when he heard Champollion's name.

who are they? Underground dealer in Egyptian antiquities. Even at Christie's auctions, they don't show their faces.

Fortner felt really ashamed to put his and Edwin's names together with Champollion.

Moreover, how can those few pottery fragments be compared with the Rosetta Stone? This old friend of mine is really tired...

"Heri, if you come here and take a look, you will know that these fragments have a strange attraction..."

"It better be," Fortner said, still joking as he walked away. "I haven't experienced any attraction in my wife in a long time."

Edwin ignored his old friend's joke and operated a safe on his desk. He slowly entered the password in circles, and the safe made a chirping sound.

Fortner knew that the other party had bought the four fragments for a lot of money. "Didn't you say that the sellers said there were better things? Have you gone to see them?" He watched the safe being opened, and then Edwin carefully and ceremoniously took out the contents of the box.

"Not yet..." Edwin said, "I want to wait until you come to see it and discuss it later."

The four fragments were taken out and placed on a white cloth on the desk. Edwin pieced them together, "What do you think this looks like?"

"A water bowl." Fortner raised his eyebrows. "It's obviously a water bowl."

Ed had been vague and hurried on the phone before, but this was the first time Fortner had seen this for sure.

Bottles, jars, and bowls are common burial objects for ancient Egyptians, because the Egyptian civilization was a civilization built on deserts and semi-deserts, and relied heavily on water from oasis to survive, and these bottles and jars were used to hold water and grains. Used, especially bowls.

Whether the pharaoh was making sacrifices to the gods or conducting funerals, water bowls were used in rituals.

The water bowl can be said to be one of the most common Egyptian cultural relics. Common objects are generally not rare, but they can also be very rare - because they can come from any tomb.

"I think so too, the water bowl..." Edwin's voice was a little hoarse, "Come and look at this holy text on the bowl..."

At this time, Fortner walked to the table. Because the holy text on the bowl was very obvious and clear, he could see it clearly at once, and his heart suddenly lifted.

"Wait..." Fortner was suspicious, but he didn't know what he was suspicious of. The "strange feeling" and "strange attraction" Edwin mentioned seemed to come over him. He had seen so many ancient works. Egyptian artifacts, and countless other legacies of ancient civilizations...

Including the Rosetta Stone, the stunning Rosetta Stone...

It's not like the feeling brought by the thing in front of you. These are obviously just four pottery fragments. Why do they look like a giant tower? This thing is really not simple...

【??????????????????????????????】

Fortner stepped forward, and the more he looked, the more waves surged in his heart, and he understood more clearly how Edwin had been feeling these past few days.

"What do you think?" Edwin asked. "The information I know now is that these fragments were unearthed from a mass grave. They are not mausoleums and have no coffins. They look very much like the graves of rebels. I heard what those sellers said. , they dug up several mummies, they should be the tomb owners."

"this thing…

…" Fortner's face wrinkled, he took off his glasses and shook his head to calm his heart before taking a closer look, "The style of this carving should be no later than the New Kingdom. Old friend, you may actually find a treasure this time. "

"So tell me what you think?" Edwin asked again, looking slightly anxious, "What does this passage mean? Is it the rebel's grave, stone + disease, is it the cause of death of the rebel or the way of rebellion? And the sun God and the ram-headed god, are they expressing the same god, right? God Amun?"

"Let me think about it, let me think about it." Fortner pondered, put on his gloves, and gently touched the surface texture of the fragment. When his fingers gradually came closer to the line of holy writings, he paused slightly, which seemed to be a line. Although the cursed infected text has been sealed in dust for thousands of years, once you touch it, you will still be infected...

Stones + pustules... stones + diseases... disasters caused by stones, stones and medicine...

His mind was confused, but Fortner remembered something again and asked: "Old friend, have you ever wondered why it is a stone?"

"What?" Edwin wondered.

"In Egyptian civilization, stones and medicine, don't you think of anything?" Fortner asked again, "And those birds, why birds? During the New Kingdom, water bowls, do you think of anything?"

Love the Plague Doctor.