Plague Doctor

[The priests will offer you sacrifices. The priests will open their arms to you with the sacrifices of the earth, just like they offer all the remaining water in the water bowl to Imhotep. 】

——Inscription from a tombstone from the period of Amenhotep III (1391-1353 BC)

Stones, diseases, medicine, birds...

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 thought." Fortner paused before pronouncing the name: "Imhotep."

Imhotep, one of only two civilians in Egyptian civilization who was deified after death, the other being Hapu's son Amenhotep.

In hieroglyphic writing, Imhotep's name is: ??????:??*??

Meaning, one who makes peace.

"You see, Imhotep's name has a bird - an owl, which is the symbol of his name." Fortner said, although he was also thinking a lot and didn't know how to organize it, "Imhotep Imhotep was the god of medicine in ancient Egypt. Imhotep was also a great architect. He presided over the construction of the ladder pyramid of Saqqara - the first stone building in human history. He was the inventor of stone architecture. .”

"Heri, you really reminded me, Imhotep..." Edwin murmured, and when he read the holy text again, his eyes became a little straight.

"Another point is that it was Imhotep who was the first to eviscerate the deceased and make mummies. I don't know if it makes sense to think so, but without the internal organs, the skin and flesh will also rot, and in the end there will only be some bones left. ? Imhotep’s understanding of eternity and immortality cannot be separated from being like a stone.”

Fortner expressed some of his thoughts, and in his heart, some archaeological knowledge about Imhotep continued to surge.

Imhotep was the prime minister of Pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt in the 27th century BC.

According to legend, Djoser once dreamed that he was walking on a ladder extending to the sky. When he woke up, he asked Imhotep to build a tomb that could lead to the sky. Before that time, Egyptian civilization did not have the step pyramids that are familiar to modern people, and the tombs of the pharaohs were nothing more than huge rectangular mud brick tombs.

Imhotep designed and presided over the construction of the first true Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser - although compared with the later behemoths such as the Pyramid of Khufu, this one is only 62.5 meters high. The pyramid looks simple, but it is indeed the beginning of the pyramid and the beginning of stone construction.

This was Imhotep's great performance in architecture, but later Egyptians respected him for medicine.

He established the first medical school in history, a full two thousand years earlier than Hippocrates, the father of medicine in Greek civilization.

There is no direct archaeological evidence in modern times to show that Imhotep was a doctor, or how he treated patients and saved people. However, during the thousands of years of Egyptian civilization, he was gradually worshiped and deified. By the time of his death, 1,300 years later, Many years ago, there was an inscription on a tombstone of Amenhotep III during the New Kingdom - this was the first written evidence unearthed by modern people that directly mentioned Imhotep, who 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 this man and made it clear that he had medical and therapeutic abilities.

The center of Imhotep's worship is in Memphis, which is very far away from here, but the world has never been able to find the location of Imhotep's tomb.

"Imhotep...then what? Heri, you don't think this is the water bowl from Imhotep's tomb, right? Or is it a water bowl used to worship Imhotep?"

Edwin's excitement due to the little suspected clue he just got was immediately replaced by more confusion and greater anxiety.

Without waiting for Fortner to say anything, he said randomly: "It's impossible. Paul has investigated those sellers. They are just a few small players. They have no ability to steal from Memphis or the Pyramid of Djoser." They brought cultural relics here, and they should have found a small tomb near the city. And, you see, these birds are not owls, these birds look like... I don't know how to say it, but they are not owls..."

"George, the owl is Imhotep, but these birds could be followers of Imhotep, or equally doctors."

"Then how do you explain the geographical problem? How do you explain this sentence?"

Fortner saw that his old friend was so excited that he almost lost control. He was not at all like the knowledgeable old doctor he knew.

"Calm down, calm down!" Fortner shouted, "George, listen to me slowly."

After discussing this matter, he really had to persuade this old friend to have a good rest, take some sleeping pills and get some sleep, otherwise he would not be able to continue like this.

But when he took a closer look at the four pottery fragments, he felt the impact of that "weird attraction" again...

"I didn't say this was Imhotep's burial object, nor did it sound like an admirer of Imhotep, but it looked a bit like his enemy - a rebel. Imhotep was the prime minister of the Pharaoh, He is also the high priest of the sun god. This is consistent with the first sacred text."

Edwin became impatient again as he listened, and the bloodshot eyes in his eyes were almost ferocious, "The key is the second sentence! Heri, the second sentence affects the meaning of the previous and the next, stones and diseases, so it is Imhotep? What if? To express this person, why not just put an owl on it?”

"My idea, stone means pyramid!" Fortner had to speak a little louder, "The first stone pyramid."

Edwin frowned and paused. Fortner's finger touched the stone character on the fragment, as if he could return to that ancient era.

"Old friend, we modern people have never been able to figure out how those ancient Egyptians built the pyramids? With so many huge stones, how to do it with the level of technology and construction at that time? Even the Pyramid of Djoser It must have been very difficult to build, requiring a lot of manpower, a lot of materials, and a long time. You also know that if Djoser had not ruled Egypt for decades, the first stone pyramid would not have been successfully built. In this way A grand project can bring down a kingdom. There are too many such examples in the history of human civilization. Think about it, what was the attitude of the Egyptian civilians and even the ruling class at that time towards this project? If someone supported it, then There was objection.”

Edwin's expression changed again, and he seemed to be a little awakened, "The rebels...the catastrophe caused by the stone..."

"In the eyes of some rebels, isn't this project just rocks + disease? It will indeed kill many people. Imhotep is the god of medicine, but in the eyes of the rebels, he is the bringer of disease. We must kill Imhotep and the other 'birds' and create a new world ruled by the god Amun."

Fortner said with a sigh, "This is my little thought, there may have been an uprising at that time, and it finally failed, and the rebels were executed and deported."

"Really...Old friend, what you said makes sense..." Edwin murmured, "But I always feel that something is wrong, a bit unreasonable...I feel that it is unclean and unfair...Herry, When you look at this line of holy writings, don't you have... even a little bit, inexplicable..."

Edwin opened his bloodshot eyes and looked at Fortner, "Are you afraid?"

Love the Plague Doctor.